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The Graduate School of Geography offers a major, minor and electives for undergraduates and a Ph.D. program. Qualified Clark undergraduates can take advantage of an accelerated fifth year program that leads to a B.A./M.A. in Geographic Information Science. An M.A. in Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment is available through a shared program with the Department of International Development, Community and Environment. |
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Ph.D. in Geography: Dissertation
Dissertation Proposal
A formal proposal for dissertation work which normally should not exceed 30 pages, must be completed and approved by the student's dissertation committee.
(a) The proposal must be approved by the committee within two semesters of the completion of the doctoral exams. The Director must approve any extensions to this limit.
(b) The dissertation proposal committee consists of a minimum of four faculty: the supervisor (or first reader), a second reader and two reviewers. At least three members of the committee must be regular appointments of the School and one is from outside the department (this person may also be from outside the university). The Director must approve all dissertation proposal committees.
(c) At least one formal meeting (a proposal defense) must be held with at least three members of the committee in which a draft proposal is submitted and discussed. The proposed defense can be held during the months of June, July and August only by unanimous consent of the committee and Director.
(d) The dissertation proposal should be a concise, focused document. A good model is the NSF dissertation grant proposal document which focuses on a concise statement of theory, original contribution of the research, previous findings, methodology and the research plan. This will also facilitate the development of grant proposals to NSF and other groups. Normally the proposal should not exceed 30 pages. Indeed, a fifteen page document is usually reasonable and appropriate.
Title page--proposed title of dissertation; name of student; name and signature of 1st and 2nd readers, and the names of two reviewers; date of submission; a 50-100 word abstract typed (single spaced) stating concisely the nature of the problem to be pursued, objectives of the study, and data and methods to be employed.
Introduction and Justification--A specific statement of the problem as a researchable issue, including its relationship to past and present research.
Literature Review--Discussion of the pertinent literature and placing the proposal in context.
Procedure--Discussion of the research objectives and design, and the data to be employed.
Timetable--A rough timetable for the research, analysis, and writing phases.
Bibliography--Works which most clearly relate to the study as sources of theory, data, or methodology should be cited. While the bibliography should reflect a thorough awareness of the literature, it need not be all-inclusive.
A final proposal must be signed by all committee members. With approval of the first reader, the student submits 3 copies of the proposal, and sufficient copies of the proposal abstract for distribution to the faculty to the Director of the School who then forwards the abstracts to the faculty and places proposal copies on review in Geography office for a two-week review period. At the end of that period, if no objections have been raised to the first reader, formal approval is granted by the Director. If objections are raised, the committee and the student will assess the case and determine what alterations in the proposal, if any, are needed. Once approved, this proposal has a four year validity limit. If, at the end of this period, the dissertation is not completed, the proposal must be recertified (see residence requirements).
Dissertation Defense and Presentation
The dissertation involves a process of interaction with and approval by a dissertation committee.
(a) The dissertation committee consists of a minimum of four faculty (two readers and two reviewers), at least three of whom are regular appointments, and one of whom is from outside the department. In special circumstances and with the approval of the Director, one other member closely connected with the school may be included in the "regular appointment" category. The chairperson of the committee (the first reader) must be a regular appointment of the department. Normally, the members of this committee are the same as those for the student's Dissertation Proposal Committee. The Director must approve all dissertation committees.
(b) A complete draft of the thesis (a typed version of all chapters, figures, tables and bibliography) is defended at a working session of the committee. This "defensible draft" should have already been subject to extensive criticism and re-writing. With the approval of the first reader, the student forwards sufficient copies of an abstract to the Director at least one month prior to the working session, who distributes these to the faculty. Also in preparation for the working session, two copies of the defensible draft must be placed on review in the Geography office for a two week period. The draft copies must be displayed during the academic year when the school is in session. Comments from the faculty are considered during the working session, which is open to any faculty member wishing to attend. The working session can be held during the months of June, July and August only by unanimous consent of the committee and the Director. A written outline of the main comments and suggested changes made at the working session is approved by the committee members, with copies given to the student, the Director, and faculty members involved with the dissertation (i.e. those on the committee and those providing comments).
(c) A final version incorporating changes suggested at the draft stage is approved by the dissertation committee and a letter of approval forwarded to the Director who places the final draft of the dissertation on display for two weeks. This display must be completed by May 30 of each year.
(d) At the suggestion of the dissertation committee and the Director, and with the approval of the graduate student, a public presentation and dissertation signing ceremony may be scheduled. The presentation should be scheduled at a time designed to facilitate maximum participation of the members of the School. The student delivers a formal dissertation presentation, not to exceed about 30 minutes in length and takes questions from the committee and other members of the audience.
Three Article Dissertation (TAD)
Preamble: From the development of a dissertation grant proposal or dissertation defense materials, which ever comes first, through the completion of the dissertation, a clear understanding must be made between the doctoral candidate and the advisor (and in some cases the committee) in regard to authorship of publications related to the materials in the dissertation.
I. Guiding Structure and Rules
A. The TAD constitutes a dissertation volume composed of (i) an introductory chapter addressing the general problem in which the three articles are encapsulated, (ii) at least three stand alone articles (SAA) related to a coherent research problem, and (iii) a summary/conclusion that sets the overall contribution of the research in context.
i. The introductory chapter establishes (i) the broader problem or topic of study and how the three SAAs fit within it, and (ii) provides the relevant literature review and discussion of methods employed in the dissertation research but not found in any of the three articles.
ii. The SAAs constitute original research, review, or conceptual-philosophical contributions to geographical or geographical-related scholarship.
iii. The concluding chapter summarizes-reviews the findings of the SAAs and specifies the contributions that each article and the three-article set make to science/knowledge more broadly, the specific dissertation problem/topic, and the discipline awarding the dissertation degree.
B. The entire dissertation is initially and primarily written by the doctoral candidate regardless of the subsequent revisions and authorship of the articles submitted for publication.
C. The introductory and concluding chapters must follow the style of Annals AAG and contain individual bibliographies. The “article” chapters must follow the style of the journal to which it will be submitted for consideration of publication. The formatting of dissertation must be consistent with the dissertation submission rules of Clark University.
D. Each chapter of the dissertation must contain the requisite tables, graphics, and bibliography, regardless of redundancy that may appear owing to the 3-article format.
E. The dissertation may have prefaces/acknowledgements, appendixes, and other complementary sections as needed.
II. The Stand Alone Articles (SAA)
A. Each SAA is a complete and publishable research contribution or review unto itself following the content and length of a “research article” as defined by major journals (i.e, those journals reviewed by the Social Science Citation Index, the Science Citation Index or the Arts and Humanities Citation Index).
B. None of the three articles can be published in any other dissertation.
C. Each article must be submitted for consideration of publication (either previous or subsequent to the completion of the dissertation) to a major journal (see II A) consistent with the research discipline, subfield, or interdisciplinary area of the dissertation author. It is the responsibility of the dissertation committee to ensure that the journals in question are appropriate and the advisor’s responsibility to ensure that the submissions are made.
D. Authorship of the articles in their submitted form must include the dissertation author as (i) the sole author of at least one article and (ii) the lead author of any multiple authored submissions. In the dissertation, each SAA will carry a footnote describing if that contribution is to be submitted as single or multiple authored, and the order of the dissertation author if multiple in kind.
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Academic Catalog & Requirements
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Additional Resources
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