Graduate students must submit their dissertation/thesis to their major professor before distributing it to their advisory committee. The dissertation may be written as a series of papers already published or ready for publication, along with an introduction/literature survey as the first chapter and a review of all the results and their significance in the last chapter. Generally, a dissertation should contain four or five chapters. Once approved by the major professor, the dissertation/thesis must be submitted to the advisory committee at least two weeks before the defense. In addition, doctoral candidates must notify Susan White (whites@uga.edu) at least three weeks in advance of the final defense. This notification must include the dissertation title, time, place, and committee members. Susan will then notify the Graduate School no later than two weeks in advance of the final defense. At the January 17, 2024 meeting of Graduate Council, the following policy was approved: Per the Graduate Bulletin, the master's thesis demonstrates independent judgment in developing a problem from primary sources, and a dissertation represents originality in research, independent thinking, scholarly ability, and technical mastery of a field of study. It is the responsibility of the advisory committee to review and evaluate the thesis or dissertation as a representation of a student's individual effort. As such, the use of generative AI in theses and dissertations is considered unauthorized assistance per the Academic Code of Honesty and is prohibited unless specifically authorized by members of the advisory committee for use within the approved scope. If approved by the advisory committee, the extent of generative AI usage shoudl be disclosed in a statement within the thesis or dissertation. The required defense, and the required ‘exit seminar’ for doctoral candidates, may be held together with the defense immediately following the seminar, or they may be decoupled. If your exit seminar does not immediately precede your defense, you will briefly summarize your research during the defense with the committee only. Your exit seminar and defense can happen anytime within the same semester. However, a full-hour public seminar is required of doctoral candidates for graduation from our department. To schedule your exit seminar, please contact Susan White (whites@uga.edu). Given that the usual seminar room, B118 Life Sciences, is subject to centralized classroom and event scheduling, you are strongly encouraged to initiate a room reservation request through Susan early in the semester in which you anticipate defending. Schedule a Zoom exit seminar if all of your committee members cannot participate in person. The Graduate School requires that all of your committee members participate at the defense, either in person or by Skype or Zoom. After the defense, students may be required by their advisory committee to make revisions to the dissertation/thesis prior to submitting the final ETD to the Graduate School. Genetics Department Graduation Checklist All theses/dissertations must be submitted electronically by the deadline for the semester published on the Graduate School's website. If you have applied for graduation and find you will not be able to meet one of the submission deadlines, you must notify the Graduate School prior to the deadline, or your file may be placed on inactive status. Email gradinfo@uga.edu. Graduate students must register for a minimum of 3 hours in at least two semesters per academic year (Fall, Spring, Summer), including the 3 hours of graduate credit that is required for registration during the semester in which degree requirements are completed. To review the Graduate Enrollment policy, please click here. back to main page
