Dissertation

Procedures for dissertation proposals, committees, preliminary and final exams, and deposit of the completed dissertation are governed by the Graduate College. Students should see the Graduate College Handbook for elaboration of the procedures and requirements described here.

A dissertation is research on a significant problem or issue in planning. A dissertation must demonstrate rigorous and thorough research, show scholarly originality, and clearly advance knowledge in the subject area. Students should have a dissertation topic in mind and begin to develop a proposal as they are developing their area of specialization and preparing for the qualifying examination.

Dissertation Proposal

Students should recognize that all of their coursework, experiences as a research assistant, and collaborations with advisor and other faculty are preparation for writing their dissertation proposal. The proposal should be developed, written, and defended within six months after passage of the qualifying examination.

Dissertation Committee

A dissertation committee should be formed as early as possible after the successful completion of the qualifying exam. In the PhD in Regional Planning, the dissertation committee is the same as the Final Examination Committee. The purpose of this committee is to assist the student with their research work. Committee members should be chosen for their expertise in the student’s research area, but may also be chosen to give diversity in viewpoint, methodology, or academic discipline. The minimum size of the dissertation committee is four members. At least three of these must be members of the Graduate Faculty and at least two must be tenured. The committee chair and at least one other committee member must be members of the PhD in Regional Planning Program Faculty. Individuals who are not faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign may be included contingent on the approval process established by the Graduate College.

Note: The preliminary exam committee and the final exam committee formally must be appointed by the Graduate College, a process that takes at least two weeks. Therefore, it is essential that the necessary forms (see Graduate College website for the Request for the Appointment of a Doctoral Examination Committee form) be submitted three weeks before the intended examination date.

Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Examination is an oral defense of a written dissertation proposal. An acceptable dissertation proposal and successful Preliminary Examination should indicate 1) that the student has a clear and concise research question appropriate to the PhD in Regional Planning, 2) that answering the research question will produce a significant advance in the research topic, 3) that the research design is adequate to deal with the research question, 4) that the student is familiar with the background literature on the question and topic, and 5) that the student has the scholarly expertise to complete the research. There is no limit to the number of times a proposal can be defended and amended. In some cases the student’s advisor or examination committee will require an additional course to help write or design the proposal or further develop analytical skills critical to the research.

Dissertation Work

After passing the Preliminary Examination a student should sign up for research units under UP599. Students can take a maximum of 32 hours of UP599 dissertation work. To provide flexibility in course work fewer units may be taken. Eight hours of UP599 are the minimum. Students should work with their advisor to find research funding to support their dissertation work. Our experience is that students typically take 4 to 8 hours of UP599 per semester and finish the dissertation work and final defense in one to three years after passing the preliminary exam.

It is important for students to keep in contact with the advisor and other individual committee members to discuss ideas and findings regularly; the should not wait until substantial portions of the work are completed. Committee members in turn should respond promptly with constructive criticism that presents alternative solutions to problems and with assurances, where appropriate, that satisfactory progress is being made.

Final Examination

Procedures for the final examination are governed by the Graduate College. A completed dissertation must be presented to the dissertation committee members and an additional copy must be placed on public display in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning office by the Doctoral Committee at the time it is submitted for final review and defense. Defense of dissertations is oral and open to the public. Students must be registered for the entire term in which they defend. All voting members of the dissertation committee must be present at and participate in final examinations. In exceptional circumstances up to two voting members may participate via electronic communication media. The committee chair and the defending student, however, must be physically present at the final examination.