Dissertation only PhD

How can I find out more about the process of dissertation only PhD? How would a dissertation only PhD look to prospective employers (i.e. universities) compared to a regular PhD?

 

Misty:

Welcome to these boards!

A search of these forums using the term "dissertation-only" may be a good start. Such search (performed a minute ago) produces several threads where the issue is discussed by many in here.

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=313845&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

One insightful post was posted by Jack Tracey on 03-05-2005. I hope that I have his permission to re-post his brief contribution here. (Thanks, Jack!)

Re: Dissertation-only PhD:

 

Hi Misty - The first thing I'd say is that, strictly speaking, a dissertation-only doctoral program is not a DL degree. It's just that someone figured out that if it's really just about the research then perhaps the research could be done at a considerable distance from the university. Many schools have residency requirements for various purposes such as participating in graduate seminars, meeting with advisors, etc. You should keep in mind that in many universities around the world, dissertation-only doctoral degrees are the norm. Because of this your question how this might look to prospective employers depends on many things such as what sort of job you're looking for, in what country, how knowledgable/accepting of DL they are, etc. If I had a choice I'd go through a regular program in a regular school (because I think I learn best that way) but I don't have a choice. Beyond all that there have been many books written on "how to write a doctoral dissertation" and you can find a bunch of them mentioned in various thread in the archives. Below is a link to a 35 page pdf document entitled "The Master's Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis" from the UNISA website. (No, it's not a mistake, that's the nomenclature used in South Africa.)
http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/courses/postgrad/docs/emasters.pdf
It may not be identical to what you'll find on other university websites but it'll get you started. Keep asking questions.
Jack

 

Jack:

You will live forever (well, ok, a very, very long time!).

I just mentioned your name and quoted you in a post above - and you almost immediately posted, too! (i.e. "showed up.")

There is a "proverb" (a saying) in South Africa - I believe that it is also prevalent throughout most or much of Africa - that "if you mention someone's name and the person immediately shows up, that person will live forever!"

So, there!

Thanks.

 

Thanks for the thought but I've got a hunch that immortality is a bit overrated. My father is 85 now and still plays golf (finally I can beat him ) Barring unforeseen circumstances I think I'll live long enough as it is. On the other hand, if we can do something about there being only 24 hours in a day, then I'd be interested.

Jack

 

They can be an issue for schools that require at least 18 credits of graduate course work to teach in a specific field. They also tend to be more difficult to manage as you don't have milestones (e.g. proposal defense, course work, etc.).

The research PhD is more of a rule rather than an exeption for Universities in the UK, Australia and South African. The doctorate with course and dissertation is new in these countries and normally granted with different names as DBA, DBL, EdD etc.

 

Re: Re: Dissertation only PhD

This is an excellent point... For example, the State of Arkansas requires 18 semester hours of graduate level credit in a subject for one to teach (e.g., Statistics) to undergrads, so if you earned a foreign, research only Ph.D. after your BA, and then tried to land a college-teaching job in states such as Arkansas, you couldn't teach anything...

Dave

 

Misty,

I suppose that depends partially upon where your dissertation-only PhD hails from. For example, I doubt that the department chairs with their PhDs from Harvard and Yale will scoff at you with your PhD from Oxford or Cambridge. As a matter of fact, most American PhDs will probably be blissfully unaware that British system docs are dissertation only.

 

Re: Re: Dissertation only PhD

Yes, I've seen this referenced several times in the past but I've never seen the solution. Obviously there is a solution to that quandry as there are numerous PhDs from these Commonwealth universities teaching throughout the US. Is it that they have sufficient credits from their Masters training?
Jack

 

Re: Re: Re: Dissertation only PhD

Yes, any graduate credit will count but the requirements present a problem for those of us who are asked to teach multiple subjects. The other solution is simply to take a few classes to back fill.

Dave