Dissertation and Defense

Formatting your Dissertation

Dissertations should be submitted in their final format, in accordance with the guidelines listed on the Harvard Griffin GSAS Formatting Your Dissertation website. The Registrar’s Office will review the document for formatting compliance. Formatting errors may prevent the conferral of the degree and the student may need to apply for the next available degree period. A sample dissertation as well as the Top Ten Common Errors are provided for your convenience.

LaTex Dissertation Template
Harvard Griffin GSAS Sample Dissertation
Dissertation Writing Tips from DMS Alumni
DMS Alumni Dissertations on DASH

Writing Resources

Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) If your dissertation includes previously published works, it is recommended that authors consult their publishing agreements directly to determine whether and to what extent they may have transferred exclusive rights under copyright. The Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) and Copyright First Responders are available to help you determine whether you have retained the necessary rights or requires permission. 

Harvard Griffin GSAS Fellowships and Writing Center
Offers individual writing consultations and workshops. They also run the Writing Oasis which provides a space for accountability, productivity, and peer support.

Academic Resource Center
ARC offers individual coaching, Dissertation Writers Accountability Groups, and many other helpful workshops.

DMS Dissertation Guidelines

The dissertation must show original treatment of a fitting subject, contain a scholarly review of the pertinent literature, give evidence of independent research, and be clearly, logically, and carefully written. Students are expected to give a public seminar on their dissertation research.  

The Ph.D. dissertation is expected to contain a substantial amount of independent research work of publishable quality. In addition to chapters of research, each dissertation must contain Introduction and Conclusion chapters that present the themes of the dissertation and summarize the accomplishments. In some cases, the student has done all of the work in the dissertation; more often portions of the dissertation result from collaborative research. In all dissertations containing collaborative results, the dissertation should indicate concisely who contributed the work.  

For example, a chapter containing multi‐authored, published work must include a complete reference and a brief description of the candidate's and colleagues' contributions. For work that is not published but which resulted from multiple researchers, the contributors must be named, and respective attributions made clearly. This policy allows stylistic flexibility; depending on the amount of collaborative work in the dissertation and the status of publication(s), the attributions can be together at the end of either the Acknowledgments or Introduction sections of the dissertation or before each relevant chapter.  

It is permissible for more than one student to include work from the same collaboration or publication as long as the required attributions are clear, justified, and complete.  

Individual chapters can be that of published articles as long as there are comprehensive Introduction and Conclusion chapters written by the student. Use of actual reprints as a chapter is not permissible. A word document of the published article must be used in place of a reprint as pages in the dissertation must be consecutively numbered. It is recommended that authors consult their publishing agreements directly to determine whether and to what extent they may have transferred exclusive rights under copyright. The Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) is available to help the author determine whether they have retained the necessary rights or requires permission. Please note, however, OSC and the Copyright First Responders are not able to assist with the permissions process itself.

Logistics
Overall, students should reserve 3 hours for their defense: 1 hour for the public seminar and up to 2 hours for the private examination. The title, time, date and place of the exam will be posted on the DMS website and will be announced by email to members of the DMS community.

Defenses can be held in-person, hybrid or via zoom. The student's advisor and defense chair must approve of the format.

Defenses can be held on any of the Harvard and Harvard-affiliate campuses (Broad Institute, Ragon Insitute, affiliate Hospitals etc). Students are responsible for booking their defense room(s). It is recommended that students book a separate, smaller room for the private defense if possible.

• To book a HMS room (TMEC 227, TMEC 250, Cannon Room etc) please request that dmsphddefense@hms.harvard.edu make this reservation on your behalf. To book a smaller HMS room for the private defense, submit the request online at Room Scheduling.
• We recommend making sure that you are familiar with the public seminar room's AV, especially if you plan to hold a hybrid seminar.   

If your defense committee members require parking, please contact your department/advisor or program office for parking; DMS cannot provide assistance in this matter.

Public Seminar

The public seminar lasts no longer than 1 hour, which includes time for the advisor’s introduction, the student’s oral presentation and acknowledgements, and time for audience questions and answers.  The Defense Committee is required to attend the public seminar; however, it is customary for members of the defense committee to hold their questions until the private oral exam.

Private Examination

A private examination follows the public seminar.  Dissertation advisors may be present, but they must not participate in the exam (e.g., answer questions posed by the committee). Initially, the student will be asked to leave the room for a few minutes. During this time, the committee will discuss the merits of the dissertation, any issues with the dissertation, and areas they may want to focus on during the exam.  The student is then asked back into the room for the exam. Each member of the defense committee will direct detailed technical questions as well as broader questions on the conclusions, impact, and limitations of the research to the candidate based on their review of the dissertation and presentation of the seminar. The Defense Chair will moderate the discussion between the panel and the student. 

At the end of the examination, the student is once again asked to step out of the room for several minutes.  The Committee will discuss any corrections needed for the dissertation and whether these corrections need to be reviewed and by whom.  Once the committee determines the outcomes, the student will be asked back into the room and the Committee provides the student with any [minor] changes needed to the dissertation. While it is extremely rare for the student to fail at this stage, the committee will provide recommendations to the student on their research, communication skills, and development as a scientist, as well as delineating the required changes to the dissertation.

Forms

DMS will email the Chair the Record of Final Examination Form prior. 
DMS will request all committee members' signatures on the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate via adobe sign following the defense. DMS will provide the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate once all required corrections have been made and reviewed.

The student and the student's dissertation advisor must select at least four examining committee members: an examination chair (who is a member of the dissertation advisory committee), and three examiners.

The student, arranges the date, time, and place of the examination and seminar after contacting the examination committee. At least four weeks before the scheduled date, the student submits the Program Approval and Proposed Examiners forms and Dissertation Information sheet to the Division of Medical Sciences, along with an abstract and title page.

The Director of Academic Administration of the Division of Medical Sciences, the student’s dissertation advisor and the Program Head will approve the members from a list submitted by the candidate and his or her advisor (the Proposed Examiners form).

The exam committee should be assembled as follows:

Exam Chair: The chair of the exam committee must be a Division of Medical Sciences faculty member and be a member of the student’s Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC). None of the members other than the chair may have served on the student’s DAC.

Examiner 1: In addition to the chair, at least one examiner must be a Division of Medical Sciences faculty member.

Examiner 2: To broaden the examination and enhance its significance, one member of the examination committee must be a faculty member from outside Harvard University.

Examiner 3: Faculty member from any academic institution.

1. The dissertation advisor is not eligible to be an examiner or the chair, but usually attends the exam ex officio.
2. All proposed examiners must be the rank of assistant professor or higher at an academic institution.
3. At least two committee members must be Harvard faculty members. (This can be determined by searching the Harvard Directory)
4. Past collaborators and co-authors are usually not appropriate to be examiners. It is the student’s responsibility to indicate any possible relationship of this kind. Faculty members who have collaborated with the student or the student’s advisor on the student’s area of research within the past five years may not serve on the exam committee. Faculty with whom the student has done a regular laboratory rotation in the process of selecting the dissertation laboratory are eligible if there are no other collaborations. Students may therefore petition DMS to approve examiners whose collaboration with the student or advisor was not directly related to the dissertation research.
5. Emeritus Faculty may not serve on a student's examining committee unless that student has been under the supervision of that faculty member, e.g. the dissertation advisory committee.
6. If the student’s non-Harvard examiner is a former Harvard professor, then the following requirements must be met before s/he is eligible to serve on the committee as an external examiner:
   • the faculty member should have served in their post-Harvard position for at least one year
   • the faculty member should have not participated directly with the student in any other capacity (e.g. as a program advisor, dissertation advisory committee member, qualifying exam committee member) during her/his time at Harvard.
7. An alternate examiner may be requested by the student, the dissertation advisor, the program, or the Division. If an alternate examiner is selected, the alternate must be available to attend the seminar and defense and must receive and read a copy of the dissertation.
8. All exceptions to these rules must be approved by the Executive Director of Division of Medical Sciences.

Students must distribute an electronic copy of the dissertation to the members of the dissertation examination committee not less than 14 days before the examination. Should the dissertation be delivered late to the readers, the examination will be rescheduled unless other arrangements are agreed upon with the chair of the exam and examiners.

The examination committee chair does not function as a voting examiner but may participate in the questioning of the candidate. They are responsible for:

1. contacting all readers not less than 72 hours before the examination to determine whether they find the dissertation generally acceptable. If one or more reader feel that there are substantive deficiencies that must be remedied to make the dissertation acceptable, the chair must contact or meet with the readers, the dissertation advisor, and the candidate to discuss the situation and decide whether to proceed with the examination. The Director of Graduate Studies of the Division of Medical Sciences and the chair of the student’s Ph.D. program should be contacted immediately and kept apprised of the committee’s decisions.
2. making sure that corrections to the dissertation are clearly defined and are carried out and approved in a timely fashion. A specific deadline for completion of corrections must be given to the student.
3. returning Record of Final Exam to the Division of Medical Sciences immediately following the examination. Notifying DMS whether the student has passed their dissertation defense examination and is thus eligible for the Ph.D. If the defense is not successful, the chair of the exam must provide a thorough report to DMS and the student’s program head detailing the areas of substantial deficiency of the dissertation.

Dissertation Acceptance Certificate and Record of Final Examination

The examination committee chair is provided with two forms that should be completed following the examination.

1. The Dissertation Acceptance Certificate must be signed by all readers via Adobe Sign if the candidate passes the examination.  An electronic copy of the certificate is emailed to the student once they receive a clear pass. The student must then digitally attached the certificate to the first page of the final dissertation and submit it electronically to the registrar’s office online 
2. The Record of Final Ph.D. Examination indicates the outcome of the examination and is completed by the examination committee chair. It should be submitted to dmsphddefense@hms.harvard.edu, where it will be filed as the official record of the examination. If there are revisions to the dissertation that require approval of the examiners before the dissertation is formally accepted, an itemized list of the corrections should be given to the student and noted in the Record of Final Examination Form. In addition, the chair should request that corrections be submitted within a reasonable period, normally one month unless corrections are extensive.

2023-2024

Stipend

If a student defends their dissertation before the 15th of the month, the stipend will be terminated at the end of that month. If the student defends on or after the 15th, the next month’s stipend will be the final month the student is paid.

Students are encouraged to speak to their advisors directly about how they should be paid as they complete their graduate work. If an advisor wishes to pay the student for an additional month, beyond what has been explained above, the advisor must notify David Jablon via email as early as possible. David can be reached at dmsaccounting@hms.harvard.edu.  For administrative reasons, a stipend cannot be issued to a student after their graduation/degree conferral date. 

Registration & Health Insurance

Please review the HUSHP graduating students website: https://hushp.harvard.edu/graduating-students

November Degree:
Health Insurance – Coverage ends on July 31
Registration – Previous spring semester.
Students who are uncertain whether they will finish in time for a November degree are encouraged to register for the fall term to avoid late registration fees if they miss the degree deadlines. If they then do finish in time their registration for the term will be cancelled.

November Degree with fall term health insurance:
To receive health insurance through the fall semester, you need to do the following:

• Have your advisor agree to pay for health insurance through the fall semester and contact David Jablon (dmsaccounting@hms.harvard.edu) to notify him. 
• Submit your dissertation online to the registrar through the registrar’s website ON September 7, 2023, ONLY

March Degree:
Health Insurance – Coverage ends on January 31
Registration – Register for the previous fall semester
Students who are uncertain whether they will finish in time for a March degree are encouraged to register for the spring term to avoid late registration fees if they miss the degree deadlines. If they then do finish in time their registration for the term will be cancelled.

May Degree:
Health Insurance – Coverage ends on July 31
Registration – Register for the spring semester

International students should consult with Jennifer Havlicek from the Harvard International Office (HIO) regarding their visa status. 

Students can find information regarding OPT here: https://hio.harvard.edu/stem-opt

For immigration purposes, a student is done once they have completed all degree requirements, so a student who has submitted their final thesis copy to the registrar cannot maintain their immigration status after that. When applying for OPT the dissertation submission date is what should be considered.

Change of Subject Request Form (BBS Students Only)

If you would like to switch their subject area be changed from Biological and Biomedical Sciences to one of the following areas. To do so they must fill out the Change of Subject Request Form and return it to dmsphddefense@hms.harvard.edu  at least one month prior to their defense (The Chair signature should be the BBS Program Head - Davie Van Vactor).

• Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
• Cell Biology
• Developmental and Regenerative Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology and Immunobiology
• Human Biology and Translational Medicine
• Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Dissertation Acceptance Certificate

Following the examination, the candidate must, with the help of the dissertation advisor, make any necessary corrections to the dissertation.  If corrections require review, those revisions should be approved by the examination committee chair or by a faculty member designated by the committee chair, who will then notify the Division of Medical Sciences in writing that all revisions are complete.   

If no corrections are required or once the corrections are complete, the DMS office will email the student an electronic copy of your Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC). Please attach this DAC to your dissertation right before your title page with a blank page immediately following the DAC. No page number should be assigned to this page.  

Submission

Before submitting your dissertation, review your final copy and make sure it abides by all of the formatting requirements set by Harvard Griffin GSAS.   Students can embargo​​ their dissertation for six months, one year, two years, or more. Embargo periods over two years require a signed approval of delayed release form.

The dissertation must be submitted electronically through ProQuest ETD to the FAS Registrar’s Office for approval in order to receive the degree. Dissertations must be received by 11:59 PM on the deadline date for the given degree period. No extensions to this deadline are provided. Any supplemental material or copyright permissions should be included in the submission. Please see the Harvard Griffin GSAS website for more information on dissertation submission or the tutorial on the homepage of the ProQuest ETD submission tool for additional information. 

Review the instructions for submitting your dissertation.

Tips: 

• For Department/Program please select "Medical Sciences"
• Harvard asks students to enter their dissertation committee members as it appears on their signature page. You should enter your defense committee members and exclude your advisor.

After Submission

Once the dissertation is submitted, you will receive an initial email stating that the dissertation has been received. The Registrar’s Office will review the document for formatting compliance, and you will then receive a second email once your dissertation has been approved. Any required changes or corrections will be communicated to you and must be resolved before the degree can be conferred. You will have up to one week past the submission deadline to submit any corrections requested by the Registrar’s Office.   

Make changes to your diploma name via the personal informaiton tab in my.harvard.  

Pick up or Mail your Diploma. If you do not add a diploma mailing address, your diploma will be mailed to your permanent address. You can edit the address as many times as needed until the deadline

HUIT policies on what happens to Harvard accounts and online access after leaving the University

Immediately, you lose access to:

• Zoom
• Harvard Library
• VPN
• Adobe Software and Creative Cloud Storage

365* days after the last day as an active student**, you lose access to:

• Office 365 email, calendar, ProPlus, Sharepoint, OneDrive
• Google Mail, Google Drive and Google Apps (for g.harvard and college.harvard accounts)
• FAS Account, including unix homedir

*365 days for Class of 2021 and 2022- this will be reviewed for subsequent years

** Students are considered to be no longer active on  their degree conferral date, so it’s the same for all degree candidates with each period Nov/March/May.