The thesis advisory committee is an important body that helps each student navigate the shoals of dissertation research. The function of this committee is to periodically review and evaluate progress, provide advice and expertise about the project, and certify when a student has completed sufficient work to begin writing the dissertation. Therefore, the committee should be regarded as an ally and a resource, not an obstacle. On occasion, the thesis committee can help resolve differences between a student and an advisor.
The Thesis Committee is normally comprised of four faculty members, at least two of whom must have primary or secondary appointments in the Department of MCDB and chaired by a primary MCDB faculty member who is not the Thesis Advisor. Additional members may be added if deemed appropriate. The Thesis Committee is assembled by the student in consultation with the Thesis Advisor and approved by the DGS. Faculty members with expertise in the area of the dissertation research are particularly helpful and should be sought out as Thesis Committee members.
Annual Committee meetings must be held before the following dates or the student will be placed on probation:
- 3rd year by February 1st
- 4th & 5th year by April 1st
- 6th year March 1st
Once a meeting is scheduled, a student must advise the Registrar of the date.
Prior to each Committee meeting, the student must send a progress report to the Thesis Committee and the Registrar at least a week prior to the meeting. All previous committee reports should be attached. This system of continuous reporting has a couple of benefits. First, it will make writing your annual committee report easier. It will eliminate the need for the student to include introductory material in (unless the student has switched projects since the last Committee meeting), and it will eliminate the need for the student to restate the goals listed the previous year. Second, it is hoped that this system will make it obvious to both the student and to Committee members whether or not significant progress is being made from year to year.
This system of continuous reporting should not make the student feel compelled to complete the aims stated in the previous report. Research takes unexpected twists and turns, and it may make sense to abandon some or all the goals previously stated in the interests of pursuing a new interesting observation.
The report should include the following:
- Cover Page, it must include:
- The title of the student’s project
- Student’s name and the year of study
- Name of student thesis advisor
- Names of the members of student committee
- Name of the Chairperson of student committee
- The date, time and place of the meeting.
- Introduction
- Introductory information should be kept to a minimum (your committee has heard it before), unless you have switched projects since the last meeting committee
- Results
- Summarize the results you have obtained since the last committee meeting and your interpretation of these results. Describe any problems you have encountered.
- Goals
- State your goals for the next 12 months. Number them for ease of reference in the future.
- Publications
- Students must list any papers already published or submitted for publication. If none, state “none”.
- Figures (as appropriate)
- Tables (as appropriate)
- References
The Annual Report need not be lengthy. A rough guideline is that items two through four should be approximately 1,000 words in length.
If a manuscript is in preparation, an outline of it should be included in the Annual Report. The outline should include:
- The Take-home message
- A List of Subtitled Sections
- A List of Figures and Tables, with brief descriptions of the data to be included in each. On the manuscript outline, it should be mentioned which experiments have already been completed and which remain to be done.
If the student is planning to graduate in the next 12 months, he/she should bring an outline of the thesis. This should include a list of chapters with a brief description of the information to be contained in each, preferably in list format. Publications and/or papers in preparation should be mentioned.
At the committee meeting, the student should plan on giving a brief presentation, about 20 minutes in length, covering the data acquired since the last committee meeting and the plans for the next 12 months. The Committee can aid in interpreting the results, and assessing whether the project is on track, and assist in prioritizing experiments. For students at an advanced stage, the Committee can approve the plans for thesis writing.
At the conclusion of the committee meeting, a Committee Meeting Report must be completed by the Chair of the Committee and returned to the student who is responsible for submitting to the Graduate Registrar.
Dissertation Progress Report
This requirement is for students in their 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th year. Must be completed annually by May 15th. This report is now completed on- line at the following web site: http://www.yale.edu/sis/dpr/