The Doctoral Dissertation is the culmination of the students' academic experience and clinical training. Students may identify an interest, conduct preliminary work - such as reading - in the area of interest, and consult with faculty regarding a possible topic at any time during the program and are encouraged to do so as early as possible. Course 696 Doctoral Dissertation Preparation Seminar is a required non-credit course in the curriculum that provides assistance to students in understanding the dissertation process and developing a dissertation topic. Students must successfully complete the Community Service Capstone Paper, the Research Methods course, the Statistics course, and course 696 before registering for the Dissertation Proposal and formally beginning work on the dissertation. Students may select a dissertation topic of historical, theoretical, clinical, social, or philosophical interest that will make a contribution to the field of clinical psychology. While students typically choose to undertake an empirically-based dissertation, they are permitted to do a clinical case study or theoretically based dissertation that satisfies the requirements of scholarship and rigor with the approval of their faculty chairperson.

One of the most important phases in preparation of the dissertation is writing the dissertation proposal. Registration for Course 697, Doctoral Dissertation Proposal (1 credit hour), is the first formal step. Students are expected to complete a proposal to the satisfaction of their dissertation committee and to pass an oral defense of the proposal. If the proposal is not completed and defended during the term of registration in Course 697, students must register for Course 695 Doctoral Dissertation Proposal—Continued in subsequent term(s) for zero credit hours and pay the required fee. Students have three terms (one year) from initial registration for Course 697 to complete the dissertation proposal. Failure to produce an approved proposal within one year will result in referral to the Student Comprehensive Evaluation Committee. The completion of the Doctoral Dissertation Proposal is a requirement for students prior to initiating the process of applying for internship. Students applying for internship are expected to make adequate progress on their dissertation (See Internship Handbook available on Scholar 360 for further detail).

Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation and Oral Defense requires students to demonstrate the ability to evaluate, synthesize, integrate, and apply relevant psychological research and practice culminating in a scholarly paper of publishable quality. Although the Oral Defense is focused on the Doctoral Dissertation, it may include areas such as research theory and design, professional psychology, clinical knowledge, and other psychology-related topics and issues.

Dissertation students must meet requirements specified in the edition of the Dissertation Handbook that is current at the time they are registered for Course 697. The School reserves the right to require students to meet any new dissertation requirements when students take longer than two years from the time of registration in Course 697 to complete the dissertation.

Students must register for Doctoral Dissertation (Course 901) within three consecutive terms after approval of their dissertation proposal or in any term in which they are actively working on their dissertation with their committee members. Once students register for dissertation, they must continue registering for three consecutive terms (901, 902, 903). Students completing their internship may be waived of this requirement with the permission of their dissertation chairperson and the Director of Training and Community Service. Such permission will only be granted if the student is not actively engaged in working on their dissertation with the chair and/or any member of their dissertation committee. In those instances where permission is granted, students must register for a total of three terms of dissertation. Students who have failed to complete their dissertation after registering for three terms are required to register for 065 Doctoral Dissertation Continuation until they are approved for the Oral Defense. Students receive a grade of In Progress for any term in which they are making satisfactory progress on their dissertation and a grade of No Progress when they are failing to complete the project in a timely manner. Any student who has received three consecutive grades of NP for either Dissertation Proposal or Dissertation will be automatically referred to the Student Comprehensive Evaluation Committee for review. When a student satisfactorily completes the dissertation proposal or dissertation, a grade of CR (Credit) will be issued and all prior grades of NP and IP will be changed to Credit. Failure to complete the dissertation within two years of completing the internship may result in administrative dismissal from the Psy.D. program.