Dissertation Submission

Submitting the Doctoral Dissertation

Notification of Readers (NOR):

  • Set up by you or your department prior to dissertation submission. If your department allows students to create the NOR you will see a Notification of Readers tile in the Dissertation Progress Reporting and Submission (DPRS) site. Contact your departmental registrar for questions and assistance.
  • Notify department of your intent to submit by February 15th (spring) or September 1 (fall)
  • Three readers required with a maximum of five allowed. Two must be ladder or ladder-track Yale faculty. All readers must hold a Ph.D. degree and a faculty position or be considered otherwise qualified to evaluate the dissertation.
  • NOR Submission Instructional video

Submission Information:

  • Dissertation submission deadlines:
    • March 15 for spring degree conferral, 5:00 pm
    • October 1 for fall degree conferral, 5:00 pm
    • A PDF copy of your dissertation may be submitted using the degree petition page in the Dissertation Progress Reporting and Submission (DPRS) site at any time within the academic year. Dissertations submitted after the above semester deadlines will be processed for the following degree date
    •  Final changes must be uploaded in DPRS within 30 days of the submission deadline. To make changes to your dissertation after it has been submitted, email dissertationreaders@yale.edu.
    • Upon submission of your dissertation and approval of readers by the DGS, a pdf copy of your dissertation will be automatically sent to all readers.
    • Upon request from a reader, students are required to and responsible for mailing a soft-bound copy of the dissertation to their reader.
  • Submitting Degree Petition and Dissertation in DPRS:

The Degree Petition page in DPRS consists of the degree petition, links to required surveys, and site to upload a pdf of your dissertation. No paper submission is required.

  • ​The dissertation title is populated from the most recent Dissertation Progress Report. You can change the final title on the petition page by clicking the “No” radio button and modifying the title. Click the save button at the bottom of the page to save title prior to submitting the dissertation
  • Survey of Earned Doctorates – submission confirmation page
  • GSAS Exit Survey – upload first page of GSAS Survey that has your email address
  • ProQuest (ETD) Publication Agreement – detail page
  • Upload a pdf of your dissertation

  • Degree Petition and Dissertation Submission Instructional Video

Additional Questions?

Formatting the Doctoral Dissertation

Physical Requirements:

  • Double Spaced
  • Exceptions: block quotations, bibliographic references, captions, footnotes should be Single Spaced, with double space between each entry
  • Saved as a pdf copy to be uploaded on the Degree Petition and Dissertation Submission page in DPRS
  • No paper copy needs to be submitted

Margins: Left side margin of 1.5”, 1” margin on all other sides

Page Numbers

  • 0.5 inch from any edge
  • Preliminary pages are numbered with lower-case roman numerals, except title page and copyright page which are not numbered. The page following the copyright will be numbered (iii) and additional pages will be numbered sequentially
  • The dissertation proper begins with Arabic number “1” and runs consecutively to the end            

Font Size

  • 10- to 12-point font
  • Same font type should be used throughout including header, footnotes, page numbers

Order of Sections:

  1. Abstract
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Front Matter (acknowledgements, list of illustrations or tables, etc.)
  6. Body of Text
  7. Back Matter (Appendices, bibliography, supplemental figures and tables, etc.
  8. Abstract:
  • Placed Immediately preceding the title page
  • Heading centered on page
  • Dissertation title and name of author must match title page
  • Text of abstract below the heading, double spaced
  • Example:

Abstract

Full title of dissertation

Full name of author

Year of PhD award (e.g., 20XX)

  1. Title Page
  • All text centered
  • Month and year of conferral (e.g., May or June 20XX, or December 20XX)
  • See attached example at end of guide
  1. Copyright Notice:
  • Typed 3 inches below top margin
  • Format includes copyright symbol ©
  • Example:

                     © 20__ by Student’s Name

                     All rights reserved.

  • Note: the copyright available through ProQuest is optional and an additional fee.
  1. Tables and Figures:
  • Tables placed as close as possible to their mention in the text.
  • Heading at top of table
  • Consecutive numbering throughout, or by chapter (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2)
  • Captions placed at bottom

(Sample Title Page)

Dissertation Title: Subtitle

(first letter of each word in title should be capitalized)

A Dissertation

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School

of

Yale University

In Candidacy for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

by

[Full Name of Author]

Dissertation Director: [Full  Name of the Advisor(s)]

(or chairperson of advisory committee)

Month Year

(month of graduation, not of submission)

Submission Policy

Dissertations for the Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Doctor of Philosophy degree must be submitted to the Graduate School by 5:00 pm on March 15 for consideration at the May meetings of the degree committees, and by 5:00 pm on October 1 for consideration at the fall meetings of the degree committees. These deadlines have been established to allow sufficient time for readers to make careful evaluations and for departments to review those evaluations and make their recommendations to the Graduate School. No extensions of the deadlines will be granted. Dissertations submitted after the deadlines will be considered during the following term.

In accord with the traditional scholarly ideal that the candidate for a doctorate must make a contribution to knowledge, all dissertations that have been accepted by the Graduate School are made available in the library.

Students must register continuously until either they are awarded the Ph.D. or six years have elapsed since matriculation, whichever occurs first. During the first six years, students must be registered through the term of dissertation submission. Registration beyond the sixth year is not required.

Students who complete all Ph.D. requirements within four continuous years of full-time study in the Ph.D. program will be registered and charged full tuition only through the term in which the dissertation is submitted. Students who have registered part-time or taken a leave of absence must complete the four-year full tuition obligation, regardless of when they submit the dissertation.

The Graduate School does not compel departments to evaluate the dissertations of degree candidates who are no longer registered. In practice, however, departments normally agree to evaluate these dissertations.