12. Student Final Doctoral Examination

12.1. Overview

The Final Doctoral Examination is a single examination consisting of three portions: a written dissertation, a research seminar, and an oral examination (the “thesis defense”). All three portions of this examination are administered under the auspices of the NGSP Committee in conjunction with the Graduate School. 

12.2. Dissertation Committee

This Dissertation Committee will consist of the student’s advisor and at least three other graduate faculty members. Selection of the Dissertation Committee is the responsibility of the advisor in consultation with the student. The advisor must also serve as the committee chair. With the approval of the Graduate School, faculty from other universities or persons with special academic or technical expertise may be appointed to the Dissertation Committee. Adjunct appointments are not needed for these members. The Dissertation Committee should provide feedback to students during the conduct of their research and is responsible for determining whether or not the student is ready for the Final Doctoral Examination. Students are encouraged to meet with their Dissertation Committee at least once each year prior to submission of their dissertation to discuss their research plans and receive feedback on their progress and proposed research. The Dissertation Committee should be established as soon after completing the candidacy examination as possible, but no later than the second Friday of the quarter in which the student expects to graduate. The Dissertation Committee does not have to be the same as the Candidacy Examination Committee and should be comprised of faculty with expertise in the area of the student’s thesis project.

12.3. Final Oral Examination Committee

Responsibility for conducting and evaluating the Final Oral Examination rests with the student’s Final Oral Examination Committee. This Committee will consist of all members of the student’s Dissertation Committee plus a Graduate School Representative. Additional Category P graduate faculty members may be added to the Committee, subject to the rules of the NGSP. The advisor serves as chair of the Committee. The Final Oral Examination Committee is responsible for reading the thesis, attending the research seminar and conducting the oral examination. The Graduate School Representative need not attend the research seminar.

12.4. Dissertation

The dissertation is a scholarly contribution to knowledge in the student’s area of specialized research. Throughout the process of dissertation research and writing, the student is expected to demonstrate a high level of knowledge and the capability to function as an independent scholar. The dissertation must conform to the Graduate School format requirements as described in the Guidelines for Preparing and Submitting Theses, Dissertations and D.M.A. Documents, available on the Graduate School web site. The student must submit the complete, typed dissertation draft to the Graduate School for format review at the time the Draft Approval/Notification of Final Oral Examination Form is submitted.

12.5. Dissertation Abstract 

A dissertation abstract, containing the principal findings of the student’s research, must be submitted to the Program Administrator of the NGSP not later than three weeks prior to the scheduled Final Oral Examination. This abstract may be submitted to the NGSP office as an E-mail attachment.

12.6. Draft Approval of Dissertation and Notification of Final Oral Examination

The student must submit a completed, typed dissertation draft to her/his Dissertation Committee for review not fewer than three weeks prior to the date of the Final Oral Examination. Approval of the dissertation draft indicates that the members of the Dissertation Committee judge it to be of sufficient quality to warrant holding the Final Oral Examination. Each Dissertation Committee member indicates approval of the dissertation draft by signing the Draft Approval/ Notification of Final Oral Examination Form that must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than two weeks before the date of the Final Oral Examination. These procedures are all the responsibility of the student. Once the Dean of the Graduate School approves the Final Oral Examination Committee, the Final Oral Examination Report is sent to the advisor.

12.7. Revisions to the Dissertation Draft

Signing of the Draft Approval/Notification of Final Oral Examination Form means that the thesis is of sufficient quality to proceed with the Final Oral Examination but this does not mean that the thesis is acceptable for graduation. Revisions to the Dissertation draft may be requested by the Dissertation Committee both before and after submission of the Draft Approval/Notification of Final Oral Examination Form, and also after the Final Oral Examination prior to final approval.

12.8. Research Seminar

Each doctoral student is required to present a seminar on her/his dissertation findings before graduation. Usually the seminar is scheduled immediately prior to the Final Oral Examination. The Director(s) of the NGSP Committee will not approve the Application to Graduate until such seminar is scheduled. The seminar must be presented and the Research Seminar Report submitted not fewer than sixteen days prior to graduation. Failure to present the research seminar will be considered “lack of reasonable progress,” and permission to graduate will be rescinded. The research seminar will take the form of a full length research seminar, normally about 45 minutes in length, and will be open to all students and faculty of the NGSP and any others that may wish to attend. The research seminar should be advertised to the entire NGSP program at least one week in advance. Time will be allotted after the research seminar for questions from the audience. The Dissertation Committee will attend the research seminar, but anyone in attendance may ask questions. The seminar does not count towards the 2 hour duration of the Final Oral Examination.

12.9. Final Oral Examination

The Final Oral Examination will follow the research seminar, normally on the same day. The oral examination tests originality, independence of thought, the ability to synthesize and interpret, and the quality of research presented. The oral examination concerns principles and historic perspective as well as data and includes, but is not limited to, discussion of the dissertation. The examiners often pursue lines of thought and argument from the data and concepts that have contributed to the research and to its critical evaluation by the student. Only the student and the Final Oral Examination Committee are permitted to attend this examination. The Final Oral Examination must be completed not fewer than sixteen days before graduation. The Examination is administered by the Final Oral Examination Committee and chaired by the advisor. It must take place during announced University business hours, Monday through Friday. The exam should last close to two hours, but should not exceed two hours. The student must be registered for at least three credits during the quarter in which the Final Oral Examination is administered and in the quarter of graduation.

12.10. Graduate School Representative

Once the Final Oral Examination is scheduled, the Dean of the Graduate School appoints a Graduate School representative who will be a Category P member who holds no faculty status in NGSP and is not a member of the Dissertation Committee. Not less than one week before the Final Oral Examination, the student must provide the Graduate School Representative with a typed dissertation draft. In addition to being a full voting member of the Final Oral Examination Committee, the Graduate School Representative reports her/his judgment on the quality of the examination, the dissertation, and the student’s performance to the Graduate School.

If the Graduate School representative judges the dissertation to be unsatisfactory, he or she will advise the student’s advisor and the Dean of the Graduate School of that fact no later than one day prior to the Final Oral Examination. After consulting with the student and the members of the Dissertation Committee, the advisor may elect to hold the Final Oral Examination as scheduled or postpone it until the situation is resolved.

In cases where the Final Oral Examination is reviewed, the Graduate School representative reports to the Graduate Council on the fairness of the conduct of the examination and its conformity to Graduate School rules.

12.11. Postponement

The Final Oral Examination must be held at the time and place scheduled unless circumstances prompt the advisor to postpone it. Before taking such action, the advisor must consult the student and the members of the Dissertation Committee, including the Graduate School Representative, and inform the NGSP Committee and the Dean of the Graduate School.

12.12. Attendance and Participation

All members of the Final Oral Examination Committee must be present during the entire examination and are expected to participate fully in questioning and discussion during the course of the examination and in the decision on results at the end of the examination. No one else may be present during the Final Oral Examination.

12.13. Results

Immediately after the Final Oral Examination, the Examining Committee will meet in closed session with the candidate absent to discuss her/his performance and determine the outcome. A decision on satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance will be determined by vote. Each examiner will indicate her/his judgment by signing the Final Oral Examination Report Form in the appropriate place. This form is to be submitted by the advisor to the Graduate School with a copy to the NGSP Committee no later than the Wednesday two weeks prior to commencement. Failure to meet this deadline will result in the student being removed from the graduation list.

• Satisfactory: The student is considered to have completed the Final Oral Examination successfully when there is a unanimously affirmative vote by the Final Oral Examination Committee members.


• Unsatisfactory: If one or more votes are negative, the student is considered to have performed unsatisfactorily. In such cases, the Committee must determine if a second Final Oral Examination will be permitted and so note on the Final Oral Examination Report Form.

12.14. Second Final Oral Examination

If a second Final Oral Examination is held, the Dissertation Committee must be the same as for the first Final Oral Examination unless the Dean of the Graduate School approves a substitution in advance. Like the first examination, the second examination is not open to persons other than the Final Oral Examination Committee.

12.15. Repeat Examination

No student is permitted to take the Final Oral Examination more than twice. A student whose performance is recorded as unsatisfactory on two attempts at the Final Oral Examination is automatically dismissed from the Graduate School and is not eligible to use the Transfer of Graduate Program procedure to enroll in another doctoral program at The Ohio State University.

12.16. Review

On written appeal by the student or a member of the Final Oral Examination Committee, the Dean of the Graduate School will ask the Graduate Council to review the Final Oral Examination to ensure that it was conducted in conformity with the rules of the NGSP and the Graduate School, fairly and without prejudice to the student. The Council has established review procedures that are available in the Graduate School.

12.17. Final approval and graduation

The final approval of the dissertation cannot occur until the Final Oral Examination has been completed satisfactorily and all changes to the Dissertation required by the Final Oral Examination Committee have been incorporated. Each member of the Dissertation Committee indicates approval by signing the Final Approval Form in the appropriate place. This form must be submitted by the advisor to the Graduate School with a copy to the Program Administrator no later than one week before commencement. The advisor must also sign the title page of the final copy of the dissertation.

12.18. Restricted Material

Dissertations must not contain material restricted from publication.

12.19. Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The Graduate School requires that all doctoral dissertations be submitted electronically through the state’s library network, OhioLINK. You must do this in order to be eligible to graduate. This should be done after you have passed your Final Doctoral Examination and the Final Approval Form has been signed and submitted to the Graduate School. For further information, consult the “Dissertations and Theses” section on the Graduate School web site at http://www.gradsch.osu.edu/ and click ”Polices and Procedures”. From that link, you will be able to access information designed to help walk you through the submission process. You are strongly encouraged to review these instructions before starting the submission process. After you submit the document, the Graduate School will be notified by e-mail from OhioLINK that your document is ready for review. The Graduate School will contact you by e-mail if any corrections are needed, or if your document has been accepted to meet graduation requirements.

The electronic submission of your dissertation or D.M.A. document is only one of the requirements that you will need to fulfill in order to be eligible for graduation. Before the electronic submission of our document, you will need to bring to the Graduate School at 247 University Hall, a completed Doctoral Draft Approval Form, along with a paper copy of your dissertation at least two weeks prior to the date of the Final Oral Examination. The paper copy will be reviewed at this time for formatting and returned to you. The format check cannot be accomplished electronically (ref. VII.14 of the Graduate School Handbook).

12.20. Fees

Fees for the doctoral hood and microfilm processing fees must be paid by the published deadline for the quarter of graduation. Published deadlines can be found on the Graduate School website.

12.21. Application to Graduate

Any student planning to graduate must complete and submit the Application to Graduate form to the Graduate School not later than the second Friday of the quarter in which graduation is expected. The candidate is responsible for obtaining an Application to Graduate Form from the Graduate School. The application is good for that quarter only. Submitting this application indicates that the student expects to complete all degree requirements by the end of that quarter, including meeting all time deadlines. The student, her/his advisor, and the Director(s) of the NGSP must sign the application. The names of the members of the Dissertation Committee must be listed on the application.

12.22. Other Graduation Requirements

To qualify for graduation, NGSP students must also:

• have fulfilled all requirements of the Graduate School and the NGSP as published in this Handbook and the Graduate School Handbook;


• have final grades for all courses received in the Graduate School by the deadline identified by the Registrar’s Office.