Dissertation Regulations

The dissertation regulations apply to all program tracks.

When they start thinking about the composition of their doctoral committee, students should make an appointment with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), who will provide guidance about existing policies, and who is ultimately responsible for signing off on the composition of the committee.
At the end of the special examinations, or at the latest within one month thereafter, the candidate shall communicate to the DGS the area of the dissertation and the proposed members of the Dissertation Advisory Committee for the DGS’s approval. Ordinarily, the chair of the Dissertation Advisory Committee shall be an on-ladder faculty member of the Classics department. The two other advisors on the committee shall ordinarily be on-ladder faculty at Harvard University. The DGS shall sign off on the complete proposed committee. Further information about the dissertation advisory committee policy can be found in the Academics and Enrollment section of the Handbook for Students.
Before the end of the semester following the special examinations, the candidate shall meet with the Dissertation Advisory Committee for approval of the prospectus of the dissertation. The prospectus should reflect preliminary research working towards a student's dissertation topic. Its purpose is to ensure that the candidate has done enough work to determine that (a) the project is coherent, is of suitable scope, and has not been done before in the same way, and (b) the candidate has the knowledge and skills to carry it out in reasonable time. The prospectus should include an account of the issues to be investigated, a concise statement of the motivations for the proposed research, a brief overview of previous scholarship, an outline of the approach that will be taken (e.g., methodologies and theories), a breakdown of the proposed chapters, a research bibliography for the project (for which the director will determine the length and style), and a timetable for completion. The recommended length is 20–25 pages. The director shall promptly, by means of the appropriate form (available in the department office), notify the graduate committee of the approved title and the name of the members of the dissertation committee.
The Dissertation Advisory Committee shall, by May 15th of each year, or within twelve months of the prospectus meeting, and on annual occasions thereafter, meet with the candidate to reflect on the progress towards the dissertation and on other aspects of the candidate's professional profile (teaching, attending conferences, giving papers, publishing articles, etc.). The candidate shall submit to the committee a self-report in advance of this meeting, detailing progress towards the dissertation, any problems or setbacks, reflections on teaching, and remarks on professional development in general. After the meeting, the advisor shall prepare a written summary of the discussion, and this report will be made available to the student and the DGS.
The dissertation shall be completed in conformity with the guidelines set out in the dissertations policies found in the Academics and Enrollment section of the Handbook for Students, and the following procedure shall be followed for the submission and defense of the dissertation:
Examination of the dissertation may take one of two forms. PhD candidates can choose to have a private final conversation at which the candidate presents the dissertation only to members of the dissertation committee, or a public defense at which the candidate presents the dissertation to the committee, other members of the department, and any invited guests. In these regulations, "examination" refers to both the private final conversation and the public defense.
When the candidate and the committee agree that the dissertation is ready to be examined, the candidate shall share the entire dissertation with the committee. Candidates must submit their drafts not later than two weeks before the degree application due date specified on the degree calendar for that year. The members of the committee shall have not less than two weeks in which to read the dissertation, after which they shall confer and shall decide by majority vote whether the dissertation examination should proceed. If the decision is positive, the committee members shall also agree on the changes and revisions needed for the dissertation to be approved. A positive committee vote implies that a majority of committee members are prepared to approve the dissertation as it is or with minor revisions. If, in the view of the committee members, substantial work remains to be done on the dissertation, the examination will be postponed to a later date. The director shall communicate the results of the committee discussion to the candidate.
If the committee decides that the examination can proceed, the candidate shall normally have up to four weeks in which to make such changes and revisions as may have been specified by the committee and to submit a revised draft of the dissertation. The committee members shall have at least one week to review this revised draft before the defense takes place.
Examinations of the dissertation for all degree candidates must be held before the Harvard Griffin GSAS deadline for the submission of dissertations to ProQuest. The examination, whether in the form of a private final conversation or in the form of a public defense, shall consist of a full and frank discussion of the dissertation including plans for eventual publication of the results in article or monograph form. Following the discussion, the members of the committee shall decide by majority vote whether to approve the dissertation, and, if the result is positive, shall sign the dissertation acceptance certificate. Harvard Griffin GSAS rules require at least three signatures on the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate.
The dissertation distributed to the committee before the defense shall be accompanied by a summary of not over 600 words. Following the defense, the candidate shall submit this summary, after making any necessary revisions, directly to hscp@fas.harvard.edu for publication in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology.

A note on examinations of the dissertation. The final private conversation takes about an hour. A public defense takes about two hours. Candidates who select a public defense are expected to coordinate with department staff to schedule the event. It begins with a brief summary by the candidate of their work and their dissertation's contribution to scholarship. Following the candidate's presentation, the dissertation committee members will discuss their impressions of the strength and impact of the work and will ask clarifying questions to allow the candidate to better articulate aspects of their project or to address areas of potential further research. The committee may then invite questions or comments from the audience before adjourning the public proceedings for a private discussion with the candidate, addressing, among other things, the potential of the work for publication. The candidate will then be excused while the committee discusses the merits of the work and votes on whether to accept it. Public defense proceedings are open to the wider scholarly community and any of the candidate's invited guests; department graduate students and faculty members are especially encouraged to attend. As such, candidates should be prepared to face questions from a wide variety of perspectives, and to engage clearly and effectively with a non-specialist audience. Please note that the department will not cover travel expenses of degree candidates or committee members for the purpose of holding either a public defense or a final conversation.