School of Leadership and Church Ministry

10.1 Length of the Dissertation

The text of the dissertation must conform to the following normative length requirements: be no less than 150 pages and no more than 300 pages. These page limitations apply to the chapters of the dissertation and do not include the preliminary pages, appendices, or other referential matters.   

Students may petition the Dissertation Committee for the waiver of normative length requirements.

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10.2 Preparing the Defense Copy of the Completed Dissertation

The completed dissertation must follow all matters of style. Detailed information on the format and order of pages in the dissertation can be found in The Southern Seminary Manual of Style. The title page of the dissertation must bear the same title as approved by the seminary faculty, no exceptions.

The defense copies of the dissertation are due in the LEAD Office a minimum of two weeks prior to the defense hearing. In the EDD and Cohort PhD, the defense copies are due no later than March 1st.

The number of defense copies printed on regular paper is as follows:

1.      One copy for the Dissertation Committee Chair;

2.      One copy for the Second Reader;

3.      One copy for the External Reader, if any; and

4.      One copy for final style checking.

Note: Failure to submit sufficient copies of the defense copy of the dissertation at least two weeks prior to the oral defense open hearing will result in the cancellation of the hearing, possibly delaying graduation.

Once the defense copies of the dissertation are submitted, no further changes can be made to the document.

Students who discover minor changes that are needed in the dissertation after the defense copies are submitted should make note of the changes and identify them during the open hearing.

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10.3 The Dissertation Defense Hearing

10.3.1 The Presentation of Findings

The oral defense of the completed dissertation is an open hearing that includes the student, the Dissertation Committee, student colleagues, and other SBTS faculty.  The following guidelines and expectations are designed to aid the student in preparation for the defense hearing.

1. During open hearings, students take 30 minutes to present an overview of the research process, the raw data gathered, and the meanings, implications, and applications of the research findings.

2. This presentation is then followed by a 20 minute dialogue with the Dissertation Committee and others attending the open hearing. The purpose of this dialogue is to help students refine, and/or clarify the research findings and conclusions. 

3. The 30 minute student presentation during the dissertation defense hearing should focus largely on meanings rather than processes. 

4. The dissertation defense hearing must include the use of a PowerPoint slideshow (or equivalent) or color overhead transparencies. The style of the presentation is formal (business formal dress) and professional (quality of presentation materials). 

5. PowerPoint slides and color overhead transparencies must use 30 point minimum font size, and no more than six lines of text per slide or overhead transparency. 

6. If the computer or projector fail to work, the presentation must be made using a presentation handout.

10.1.2 Presentation Content for Social Science Designs

For social science research designs (descriptive research, ethnographic research, historiographic research, or experimental methodologies and their variants), the dissertation defense presentation must consist of the following slides or color overhead transparencies in the following order:

1.      Dissertation Title (15-17 words maximum) followed by the Research Purpose Statement;

2.      Research Questions or Hypotheses as appropriate to the research design;

3.      Population and Sample;

4.      Synopsis of the Research Process;

5.      Analysis of Findings using key tables and figures—meanings proposed by the data should be stated in short one sentence summary statements;

6.      Research Implications and the Precedent Literature;

7.      Research Applications for Ministry Praxis;

8.      Evaluation of the Current Research Design;

9.      Suggestions for Further Research; and

10. What you have learned through the exploration of the dissertation topic.

10.1.3 Presentation Content for Humanities Designs 

For humanities research designs, the dissertation defense presentation must consist of the following slides or color overhead transparencies in the following order:

1.      Dissertation Title (15-17 words maximum) followed by the Research Thesis;

2.      Focus Statements;

3.      Synopsis of the Research Process;

4.      Synopsis of the findings in each chapter using short formative and summative quotations, and key tables and figures when possible—meanings proposed by the data should be stated in short one sentence summary statements;

5.      Research Implications and the Precedent Literature;

6.      Research Applications for Ministry Praxis;

7.      Evaluation of the Current Research Design;

8.      Suggestions for Further Research; and

9.      What you have learned through the exploration of the dissertation topic.

10.1.4 Hearing Process and Protocols

The Dissertation Committee will recommend necessary changes to the dissertation during the open hearing rather than in a closed session including or excluding the defending student.

Doctoral students are required to bring a tape recorder to the open hearing in order to free themselves to interact with the Dissertation Committee rather than focusing on taking notes on changes to the final copy of the dissertation that are made during the hearing.

EDD and CPhD students are strongly encouraged to attend the Spring dissertation defense hearings even if they will not be defending a dissertation themselves. EDD and CPhD students who do not defend the dissertation in March must come to campus to defend the dissertation in open hearing during Fall or Spring semester. EdD and CPhD defense hearings cannot be scheduled during July or November EdD seminars, January term, or immediately prior to or following Fall or Spring semester.

Resident PhD students must defend the dissertation during the semester no later than October 15 (Fall) or April 1st (Spring). PhD defense hearings cannot be scheduled during January or Summer terms. PhD defense hearings cannot be scheduled during November or March EDD seminars, or immediately prior to or following Fall or Spring semester.

The prospectus hearing and dissertation hearing cannot occur in the same semester.

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10.4 Dissertation Evaluation

Students must receive a grade of “B” (8.0) or higher on the dissertation to graduate. A grade of  “B-" or below on the dissertation will require a rewrite of specified sections of the document as determined by the Dissertation Committee.

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10.5 Submission of the Final Paper Copies of the Dissertation

10.5.1 Approval of Final Draft

The final hardcopies of the dissertation are due in the LEAD Office no later than May 1st for Spring graduation, or December 1st for Fall graduation.

Please keep in mind that the final copy of the dissertation is in essence equivalent to a printed and bound book. Most professionals would be unlikely to consider a book trustworthy or reliable if it is full of spelling errors, grammar errors, and looks shabby. Most professionals would probably refrain from acquiring future volumes from a publisher that produced poor quality work. Thus it is with the dissertation. It is the penultimate professional document that demonstrates the highest caliber of academic preparation and skill. Grade school errors are not appropriate, and are in fact an insult to the students, the faculty, and the institution. Spelling, grammar, and style errors are easy enough to correct if students are conscientious about their work, and take pride in the final product.

The dissertation ultimately says a lot about the researcher more than anything else. It is easy for students to convince themselves that those errors really don't matter, but when someone else picks up their study and finds them in mass quantities, the researcher’s personal and professional credibility is brought into question. THEREFORE, final copies of dissertations that evidence excessive error of grammar, spelling, punctuation or style may be rejected and graduation delayed until an acceptable copy is received.

10.5.2 Requirements for Printing and Submitting the Final Draft

Due to library archival needs, all copies of the final version of the dissertation must be printed on 20 to 24 pound acid-free paper, or 20 to 24 pound 100% cotton bond paper.

The required minimum number of paper copies of the completed dissertation and their distribution after binding are as follows:

1.      One copy for the Dissertation Committee Chair;

2.      One copy for the LEAD School Doctoral Resource Center;

3.      One copy for the student ;

4.      One additional copy for the student;

5.      One copy for library circulation; and

6.      One copy for the library archives.

If the student desires more than two personal copies, the additional copies must be submitted at the same time as the original and the other copies. Additional personal copies must also be on the required archive-quality paper. It usually takes 3-6 months for dissertation copies to be bound.

Inkjet copies of the dissertation are prohibited. Students must submit laser quality final documents.

Photocopies can be made of a single master copy of the dissertation, but all photocopies must appear as clear and clean as the original, and must be photocopied onto the requisite archival paper.

Students must separate the approval pages from each dissertation and insert a clearly marked placeholder sheet where the approval pages should appear. The approval pages must be placed in a folder at the top of the stack of dissertations to be bound. The LEAD School Office will arrange for the requisite signatures and re-insert the pages.

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10.6 Submission of the Final Electronic Copy of the Dissertation

In addition to the hard copies of the dissertation, students must submit an electronic copy of the dissertation as an Acrobat PDF file. An Acrobat PDF file can be created using Acrobat, the full software version of the freeware Adobe Reader available on the Internet. The full version of Acrobat allows for the printing of a word processing document with all formatting intact—the resulting Acrobat PDF file is readable by both PC and Macintosh platforms.

Many word processing programs now include PDF creation capabilities without having to purchase Acrobat. Adobe offers a PDF file creation service for persons who do not own a copy of Acrobat. Please consult the Adobe website for details on this service at: http://www.adobe.com.

The electronic copy of the dissertation as an Acrobat PDF file is made available through the LEAD School e-Library. Students may not submit the completed dissertation in any other electronic format.  Failure to submit the PDF version will delay graduation.

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10.7 Dissertation Submission Forms and Filing for Copyright

Doctoral students must submit the proper forms permitting copyrighting and microfilming at the time the final copies are submitted. These forms are available through the LEAD School Office. Students retain copyright of the completed dissertation. Information about copyright law can be found at the ProQuest web site at http://www.umi.com/.

The student seminary account will be charged the requisite and current fees for filing the copyright, microfilming the dissertation by ProQuest, publishing the abstract in Dissertation Abstracts International, binding the original plus the minimum requisite copies of the dissertation, and binding of any additional copies of the dissertation.

Students do not submit a check with the submission forms even though the ProQuest form says to do so.

As part of the copyright process, the seminary retains the right to reproduce and disseminate the dissertation in any form and by any means for any purposes chosen by the seminary.  This includes use in the classroom as a model for instructional purposes.

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10.8 Dissertation Copyright Page

The copyright page of the dissertation must contain the information contained in the example below and appear at the bottom of the copyright page in the dissertation. Please note that the 3rd and previous editions of the Southern Seminary Style Manual do not contain this new copyright statement:

Student, Joe E. 2004. Dissertation title sentence style: Capitalize only the first word of the first and second phrase, or Proper Names. Ed.D. (or Ph.D.) dissertation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

© Copyright 2004. Joe E. Student.

All Rights Reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including without limitation preservation or instruction.

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