Stage 1: Understanding Expectations

The key to a good relationship with your advisor, your department, and the University of Minnesota is to understand what they expect of you and what you can expect of them. Norms for behaviors, attitudes, and roles exist and your goal is to work with your advisor to agree on what they are (or at least understand the constraints under which you will be working). You will also need to explore what a dissertation means to your advisor, your department, your discipline, and to the University of Minnesota. Without a clear-cut sense of the mutual expectations and responsibilities, you may find your dissertation process derailed before it has even begun.

General Information on Understanding Expectations

• Web page from the Re-envisioning the PhD site with links to pages on selecting an advisor, working out expectations
• Brief commentary on advisor's roles from the Chronicle of Higher Education
• Click on "Relationship with supervisor": PhD: First thoughts to finished writing

Supervision: Mutual Expectations (from Lincoln International University)

1. Facilities and Equipment

• Desk
• Office/room
• Equipment
• Computing facilities

1. Intellectual support

• Setting standards
• Determining feasibility of plans
• Guidance in formulating a topic
• Guidance on research methods
• Guidance on analytical methods
• Discussion of ideas, theory, and results
• Editorial support
• Formatting, graphics, style, and other support in dissertation/manuscript preparation

• Encouragement
• Open to questions
• Comfortable with mistakes, ill-formed or preliminary ideas, ignorance
• Open to discussion of work-life balance issues

• Promoting you in department, institution, and discipline/field
• Helping you find and apply for positions
• Writing letters of recommendation
• Nominating you for awards and prizes

4. Material and Monetary Support

• U of MN Graduate Student Handbook: Money and Jobs
• Teaching Assistantships at U of MN
• Research Assistantships at U of MN
• Other U of MN-TC jobs
• Fellowships
• Grants
• Loans
• Conference funding
• Funding for field work
• Photocopying
• Postage
• Office supplies
• Secretarial support
• Laboratory assistance
• Outside consultants - editorial, statistical

1. What your advisor may expect from you

• Motivation and enthusiasm
• Independence
• Academic competence and willingness to work on areas of weakness
• Ability to express yourself in written and oral formats
• Academic integrity
• Timely updates on progress and difficulties
• Organization, time management, self discipline, ready to seek help if needed

1. How is originality defined in your discipline?
2. How long is a dissertation in terms of pages and chapters?
3. Can it be bound set of manuscripts/articles? If so, is a lit review required as well?
4. What referencing conventions should be followed?
5. Should there be a discussion section in each chapter or in a separate chapter?
6. Should there be a Future Directions and/or Conclusions chapter?
7. How or will credit be shared on any publications/presentations that arise from the dissertation?
8. "Preparation of the Doctoral Thesis/Project at U of MN" (PDF). Some specific considerations include:

• Format
• Published work included in or in lieu of the thesis
• Publication, copyright, and distribution of the thesis

1. What forms do you need to complete? U of MN Doctoral Degree Requirements for Graduation
2. What steps are required in the process?

• Find/accept idea
• Find supervisor (order of these two steps may be reversed)
• Thesis proposal
• Submission timing
• Registration status at U of MN
• Graduation requirements at U of MN
• Registration of candidacy
• Number of copies and places to which they are submitted

1. What is the timeline?

• Graduate School Requirements:

• Thesis proposal must be submitted to the Graduate School the semester after passing preliminary exams
• The final oral examination must be taken within five years of the semester following the preliminary oral exam, or an approved extension for the time limit must be on file
• The dissertation must be submitted to the committee at least two weeks before the defense

• Departmental Requirements:

• Are progress reports required?
• Is there a minimum or maximum time period between submission of the dissertation proposal and the final defense?
• Is there a specific time of year at which a defense must be held?

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