Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) requires a dissertation or doctoral project for all doctoral candidates and a thesis for all thesis option master’s candidates. The thesis, dissertation, and doctoral project should be presented in a scholarly, well-integrated, and properly documented manner, and should contain original work completed by the student under the supervision of an advisory committee. The information provided on this page is intended to assist students with information regarding formatting, deadlines, and submission of the thesis, dissertation, or doctoral project.

Quick Links

Selection of T/D/DP Chair

(Form #1)

  • Thesis/Doctoral students should consult the PVAMU Approved Thesis/Dissertation Faculty List to select a Chair.
  • The Chair initiates the Chair Agreement form #1 which is routed to the student and others for approval.
  • After all the approvals are collected, the Chair uploads the completed Chair Agreement form and student’s degree plan to Graduate Studies Sharepoint Site.

Selection of Committee Members & T/D/DP Approval

(Form #2&3)

Scheduling of Proposal Meeting

(Form #4*)

  • The Chair schedules the Thesis/Dissertation/Doctoral Project Proposal Defense. The selected/desired date must meet a minimum of 10-day criteria for scheduling the defense requirements.
  • The Chair is responsible for attaching inside Form 4, the proposal defense dissertation/thesis/Doctoral Project & Turnitin plagiarism report with maximum similarity percentage of 10% or less.

Proposal Feedback

(Form #5A* – 5B*)

  • The Chair submits the completed Thesis/Dissertation/Doctoral Project Proposal Feedback forms to Graduate Studies SharePoint site *(Required for doctoral students and optional for thesis students).
  • The Chair initiates the Form 5B, summarizing the Committee Members’ comments and required changes from Forms 5A.

IRB/IBC/IACUC Approval

(Form #6)

  • The Chair initiates the IRB/IBC/IACUC Approval form #6 and the student completes it. The chair then uploads the completed form to Graduate Studies SharePoint site.

Final Scheduling of the Final Defense

(Form #7)

  • The Chair completes the Request to Schedule Final Defense form #7.
  • The Chair submits the completed Final Defense Schedule form to Graduate Studies SharePoint site. The selected/desired date must meet a minimum of 10-day criteria for scheduling the defense requirements.
  • The Chair is responsible for attaching inside Form 7, the final defense dissertation/ thesis draft & Turnitin plagiarism report with maximum similarity percentage of 10% or less.

Final Defense Evaluation

(Form #8A* – 8B)

  • *The Chair initiates form 8A and the Committee Members complete the Final Defense Evaluation by Committee Member forms listed below.

Final TDDP Approval  for Publication

(Form #9A – 9B)

  • The Chair submits the completed Thesis/Dissertation/Doctoral Project Publishing form 9A (
     based on the committee comments) for Dissertation/Doctoral Project to Graduate Studies SharePoint site.
  • The Chair submits the completed Thesis/Dissertation/Doctoral Project Publishing form 9B (
     based on the committee comments) for Thesis to Graduate Studies SharePoint site.
  • The Chair is responsible for attaching inside Form 9 the final dissertation/thesis & Turnitin plagiarism report with maximum similarity percentage of 10% or less.
  • The student is responsible for submitting the final thesis/dissertation directly to Office of Graduate Studies: jadwilliams@pvamu.edu in MS Word format along with the  Turnitin plagiarism report with maximum similarity percentage of 10% or less.
  • The final edition of the Thesis/Dissertation/Doctoral Project must be approved by the Office of Graduate Studies 30 days from the commencement ceremony!!

Digital Commons Publication

(Form #10)