The Dissertation

The culminating product of the PhD program, the doctoral dissertation is likely to be the longest piece of writing a student has done and represents the culmination of their research as a doctoral candidate. For these reasons, it becomes the most important piece of evidence on the academic job market and in postdoc applications: the fullest and most visible expression of a candidate's intellectual values and accomplishments. 

It is useful for you to be aware from the outset what a dissertation is not. It is not a book, though it may eventually become one: dissertations are typically shorter and more selective in scope than scholarly books. Nor is a dissertation the kind of magisterial summing-up that a scholar may try out following the award of tenure--a speculative or deeply personal work addressed to a general audience, or to oneself, but not focused on any particular audience of intermediate size.

Generally, the dissertation should accomplish two things:
  • It should address an issue that intrigues you deeply and that gives you an opportunity to work on authors and texts you find compelling and who will repay extended study--not by someone else, but by you.
  • The dissertation also should demonstrate the various skills that assistant professors and postdoctoral researchers in literary studies are expected to have: skill at analysis of literary texts, sophistication in historical and/or theoretical framing of issues, and engagement in an ongoing scholarly conversation concerning a topic of importance to the discipline.

A typical dissertation runs between 250 and 300 pages, divided into three-to-five body chapters, with an introductory chapter and, usually, a short conclusion. There is no set minimum or maximum length, but anything below 200 pages will look insubstantial in comparison to others, while anything over 350 pages may suggest a lack of proportion and control of the topic, and may well take too long to write. 

While writing your dissertation, it is important to talk to your committee members about their standards for submitted work. Some faculty are happy to read messy early drafts–or may even demand it. Others prefer only to comment on work that is relatively finished, with citations in place and no part substantially incomplete. Talk to your committee members, also, about how they wish to receive draft chapters–in hard copy or electronic, PDF or word processing doc, etc.

For guidelines on formatting the final copy of your dissertation to the library, consult the GSAS Dissertation Office.

Helping guide you through the process of writing the dissertation is your committee of three faculty members. One member is designated the Dissertation Advisor (sometimes referred to as “sponsor” or “director”), while two are formally called Readers. It is possible for two faculty members to serve as co-Advisors, subject to their agreement and the approval of the DGS. 

As you contemplate potential committee members, you should talk over your ideas with the DGS to help you decide what combination of people will be most useful to you in terms of specific knowledge, advising style, and general academic expectations.  

Advisor

The Advisor must be a faculty member appointed in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. Faculty from outside the Department may serve on your committee but cannot be your Advisor.

The Advisor is directly responsible for overseeing the student’s schedule of research and writing, including ensuring that the student is scheduling regular chapter meetings. The Advisor is also responsible for filling out departmental and GSAS progress reports. 

Readers

The Second and Third Readers are faculty members, drawn from inside or outside the department, who each act as full advisors. Although they do not share all the responsibilities of the lead Advisor, they must review your draft prospectus, offer feedback, and sign off on the final version of the prospectus. Likewise, they will serve on your Dissertation Defense Committee and vote on your candidacy for the PhD.

Non-Departmental Faculty

We recommend that at least two of your three committee members hold appointments in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. Your Advisor must be appointed in the Department. The DGS may refuse to approve committees with a minority of members appointed in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. All external committee members, whether from Columbia or beyond, must be approved by your Advisor and the DGS.

Chapter meetings, in which the entire dissertation committee convenes to discuss each dissertation chapter soon after it is drafted, are an essential and required part of our doctoral program. These meetings have the advantage of providing students with timely and coordinated feedback on each dissertation chapter. They are also great preparation for the Dissertation Defense–the final time your whole committee will get together to discuss your work.

It is the student's responsibility to contact faculty to schedule these meetings, which usually take place in the office of a dissertation committee member. Typically students email faculty members a draft of a chapter and at that time also begin the process of scheduling a chapter meeting. (Some faculty may request hard copies of chapter drafts.) 

When scheduling chapter meetings, plan to give faculty at least two weeks to read your draft chapter. Committees vary in terms of how polished they want drafts to be, so seek explicit instruction from your committee members about their expectations prior to submitting your first chapter. 

The pace at which you hold chapter meetings will depend on many factors, including your research plans, the number and length of the chapters you plan to write, and more. You must submit at least one chapter, and hold your first chapter meeting, by March of the fourth year: that is the minimum requirement to be approved for the dissertation fellowship in year five. We recommend that students aim to have completed the body of the dissertation (i.e., all but the introduction, conclusion, and revisions) by the end of the dissertation fellowship year.

The following dates apply for the 2026-27 academic year:

The department makes available to all students who have completed the M.Phil. degree a full-year of funding in the program free from any teaching obligation. Students are expected to use this dissertation fellowship (DF) year to make significant progress on their dissertations, aiming to have a full draft of the body chapters dne by the end of the year. 

Students must have completed their prospectus and one chapter to be eligible to take the dissertation fellowship. Although some students take the DF in the sixth funded year, the Department generally expects all students to take the DF in year five. Students applying for a sixth-year dissertation fellowship must have drafted at least two chapters of the dissertation. Drafts must be at least 40 pages and in a relatively high state of completion – i.e., with proper citations and references, no sections significantly incomplete or unresolved, no obvious errors of fact or argument.

A list of external fellowships, some of which may lead to an additional year of funding, can be found on the GSAS website at Fellowship Information for Doctoral Students.

During the extended period of dissertation work, it is important to be in touch with other students as well as your advisers. To this end, the department sponsors several research colloquia; you are strongly encouraged to attend the colloquium of most use to you, and to take advantage of opportunities to discuss drafts of your chapters in a workshop setting.

The department also recommends that PhD candidates take advantage of the services offered by the GSAS Writing Studio, including weekly dissertation writing groups, writing workshops, and one-on-one consulting sessions. Students have also found it helpful to share their work with friends, and to create informal writing groups that meet to swap drafts or simply keep one another on task by writing together. Whatever approach works for you, please remember that you don't need to take on this challenge all alone.

Faculty who are on leave shall be ready to work with you regardless and shall be available to meet with you periodically, even if their travel arrangements require meeting online. The only exception to this rule is with protected categories of leave such as family and medical leaves, etc. Regular leaves do not excuse faculty from the requirement to work with the graduate students they have chosen to advise.

The culminating rite of passage of graduate study, the defense should be, and usually is, a very satisfying experience. For complete information about applying for the defense, and rules and regulations governing the defense, please consult the GSAS dissertations defense website.