Here I am with my dissertation committee after a successful defense. 

Final Deposit

I passed the final exam. My thesis was, indeed, formatted correctly. (There were a couple of "orphans", but the man said he'd ignore those.)

Still to do: pay the microfilming fee and make copies for my department and committee members. But that's nothing compared to what I've already done.

Deposit and Leaving for a Trip

I thought I would deposit my dissertation in the thesis office today (they pass it on to the library). But it took me way too long to finish; and now I see there are one or two things I still need to fix. Luckily the deadline is next week Friday.

Four days ago a department secretary emailed me to ask me to send a dossier to a school in the Northeast. Tomorrow I get on a plane for a campus visit there. Things can move quickly this time of year. Let's hope an acceptable offer can also come quickly.

I Passed

Other than a few minor changes, the committee was happy with my work.

Most of the comments people made about the work were suggestions for things I should work on in future publications. I think they all see that my dissertation offers interesting insights that would be attractive to journal editors and other publishing venues.

Last Minute Changes

Myrdene, one of the people on my committee, is on another dissertation committee with an exam immediately after mine. It turns out that that committee has to meet an hour earlier so an out of town member can leave in time. This means I had to find another room (none were available at the new time in my building) and make sure all four members of my committee were able to come at 9 instead of 10.

Coming Soon

I sent out an announcement for any visitors who want to come to the defense. Monday afternoon is the big event.

Dissertation Defense

Today my friend Xiaoye You successfully defended his dissertation on the history of English language writing instruction in China. It was good to go for two reasons:

1) It's a good chance to see what mine might look like

2) It's nice to show support for people I know and people in my program.

Getting Ready for the Defense

I met with Tony, my advisor, today to discuss his expectations of candidates and of dissertation defenses. He told me that he'd like me to keep my speech at the beginning short (not much over 5 minutes) and to try and provide some details about what I learned from the study, both in terms of results and what I learned as a researcher, and to focus on things the committee does not already know. He pointed out that committee members have already read the dissertation and don't really need a summary before they ask questions.

Formatting

Of course, soon after I turned in the dissertation to my committee, I noticed formatting problems that will need to be fixed before submitting the document to the thesis office. Section title pages are neither numbered nor counted; margins are top 1" left 1.5", right 1", bottom 1.25".

Submitted

Stayed up more or less all night Wednesday night to finish the penultimate draft of the dissertation. Turning individual documents into one big document -- without messing up spacing, fonts, margins, bolding, or other features -- was the largest consumer of my time. Nevertheless, I submitted copies to all four committee members and turned in the form to officially schedule my defense with the graduate school. April 18 10 am.

I also scheduled an appointment with the thesis office for final deposit (the copy that ends up in the library and the copy that goes to Bell and Howell, formerly university microfilms). That office can be scary. If they don't accept your thesis, then they can delay your graduation.

In the meantime, I need to prepare for the oral defense of the dissertation. This is the last exam of my career as a student. Defenses are, in my opinion, a combination of celebration and the last critical evaluation of the candidate. I meet with Tony, my advisor, on Tuesday to clarify his expectations.