The Graduate Student Dissertation
A student is required to demonstrate ability to perform original research in political science by writing a dissertation that makes a significant contribution to knowledge in the field. The requirement may also be fulfilled in the form of a three-article dissertation by approval of the dissertation committee.
Dissertations must be approved by three committee members, two of whom must be faculty members of the Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The chair must be a member of the Department of Government. Any member of the committee who is not a member of the department must be approved by the dissertation chair. Dissertations must be approved for defense by the committee. The final copies of the dissertation must conform to the requirements described online in The Form of the PhD Dissertation.
Special Examination
After the dissertation has been approved, and after all other degree requirements have been met, a student will take the “special” oral examination, or defense. This examination is focused on the dissertation and on the relevant special field, which is ordinarily one of the fields that the student presented in the general examination, or an approved portion of that field.
Students who defend their dissertation later than six years after taking the general examination must re-take the focus field of the general examination. Approved parental leave extends this period by one year per child, but no other reason for leave does.
Depositing Dissertation Data
Students are required to make available to the Harvard-MIT Data Center all of the quantitative data they have compiled in machine-readable form (together with accompanying explanatory materials) upon which the findings in their dissertation depend. These data will be made available to other users five years after receipt of PhD or sooner, if the PhD recipient permits.
Ten-Year Enrollment Cap
An overall Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) policy has been established that students ordinarily will not be permitted to register beyond their tenth year in the Graduate School. However, exceptions to this rule may be made for students who have taken medical or parental leave or for students with other special circumstances. However, according to GSAS policy, the number of G8s and above may impact the number of offers made during admissions. Students who are administratively withdrawn are free to apply for readmission to GSAS, so as to re-register for the purpose of receiving the degree, when their dissertation is completed.