Seminar on Integrative

Paper & Dissertation

Writing
PhD in English Language Program
Integrative Paper Writing
Prerequisite to the course

•  The Integrative Paper replaces the traditional Written Comprehensive

Examination.
– IP requires a student to conduct a comprehensive literature review of his/her approved
dissertation topic.
– This will be evaluated by a reader (an expert on the topic) and the dissertation adviser.
This is a prerequisite to Stage 1 (Proposal) of dissertation writing.
– Students are eligible for enrolment in SDW 301: Seminar on Integrative Paper and
Dissertation Writing only after completing the academic requirements. The student must
secure a certification from the Registrar’s Office regarding the completion of academic
requirements.
Conduct of the Course

• A student will be assigned a mentor based on the expertise, track record in

research, and availability of the latter.
– As the course is research-oriented, the class will meet only for consultation purposes.
Other modes of consultation may be explored, e.g. email, text messaging (at the expense
of the student) etc.
Expected Output
– The student is expected to come up with a comprehensive critical review of the
literature on a topic relevant to English language. The topic of the paper must be fairly
specific but not too narrow.
– The review is not just a synthesis of theories and findings of empirical studies and the
literature. Rather, the students takes a critical look at competing theories by identifying
gaps and limitations, and building a new theory or model does not have to be entirely
new. It may test the applicability of a model in Philippine context, or it may be an
elaboration of existing models or theories.
– The paper may follow the Synthesis-Critique–Proposed Model/Theory organizational
pattern. Alternatively, it may be an extended essay organized in terms of topical divisions
with the critique interwoven into the easy, concluding with a proposed model or theory.
– The paper must be typed, double-spaced on one side of A4 paper. Font type is Bookman
Old Style or Arial and font size is 12 points. Margins on all sides must be 1’’ to 1.25’’.
– Depending on the student’s research interests, the review may be incorporated into
his/her dissertation (Chapter 2).
Evaluation of the Paper
– Since the student is under the supervision of a mentor, the latter will examine drafts of the
paper and will then certify that it is ready for examination by a reader.
– The reader will be appointed by the Graduate Program Coordinator, in consultation with
the mentor.
– Criteria for evaluation include strength and clarity of arguments, soundness of proposed
model or theory, and coherence of the paper. Grade for the paper shall be on a 1.0 scale.
– In principle, no oral defense will be conducted. However, if there is any item in the paper
that the reader wants to clarified, the Graduate Program Coordinator will ask the mentor
and the reader to sit down and thresh out differences in opinion. The student may be
asked to attend the meeting to answer questions from the reader. It is expected that the
mentor and the reader have a meeting of minds at the end of the session.
– Final grade for the course shall come from the following: 60% of the professor’s grade
for the paper and 40% of the grade from the reader.
Honoraria of the Mentor and Reader

• The honoraria of the mentor and the reader will be based on a team-teaching
arrangement for a three-unit course, with the following load assignment: two
units for the mentor and one unit for the reader.
Template 1
Template 2
Exercise 1: Genre Analysis of an IP
Synthesizing &
Critiquing Studies
Exercise 2: Identifying a Research
Area for IP
Exercise 3: Constructing a GANNT
Chart
Dissertation Writing
• As a requirement for graduation in a doctorate degree, a candidate must be
able to defend his/her dissertation proposal and oral examination with at least
a satisfactory rating (1.75).
• Students in the Ph.D. EL program are also required to defend their integrative
paper aside from their doctoral dissertation.
• A student must enroll for dissertation writing prior to stage 1 and enroll as a
continuing student until the final defense within the period prescribed by the
Registrar’s Office.
 Dissertation Proposal
Stage 1
●

●
Chapters 1-3

Manuscript Review
Stage 2
●

●
Completed Manuscript

Oral Defense
Stage 3
●

●
Completed Manuscript
Stage 1-Dissertation Proposal
– Candidate prepares the first three chapters of the paper. He/she consults his/her adviser for approval.
– Chapter 1 should already be well polished.
– Chapter 2 should already contain the extensive literature review. Only the cited authorities should be
reflected in the “Reference” section. Primary references and current ones should be no later than 10 years.
– Chapter 3 should already discuss what methodology, sampling procedure, instruments, and treatment of data
for the problem set in chapter 1.
– References for the study should follow correct technical format (APA style 6th edition).
– Adviser and advisee should work closely in preparing the manuscript prior to the dissertation proposal.
When this is done, the candidate could set the schedule for the proposal presentation. The college secretary
reserves a room for the proposal.
– Candidate has to register with the college secretary and pay the required fees.
– Candidate has to produce the manuscript for the members of the panel who will include the adviser, chair,
four panel members, and secretary. Manuscript has to be submitted a week prior to presentation.
– Candidate presents to the panel who will sit en banc for the approval/disapproval of the dissertation
proposal. The panel members will accomplish a form for this stage.
– The secretary records all proceedings in the form intended for this.
Stage 1-Dissertation Proposal
_ The secretary should be able to summarize important
proceedings and could present these when asked.
– All reports (forms) should be collected by the chair and submitted to the college
secretary.
– The secretary’s notes will be kept by the college secretary and a photocopy should be
given to the candidate for his/her guide during the conduct of the study.
– The chair announces the approval/disapproval of the dissertation proposal. If approved,
the candidate can proceed to the next stage. If revisions are needed, the candidate should
be informed so that these will be done and when approved could proceed to conduct the
study. A certification of approval is given to the candidate
Stage 2- Manuscript Review
– Adviser and advisee should work closely in reading, reviewing and checking the manuscript
prior to subjecting this for examination. This should already contain the completed dissertation.
– The candidate should schedule for the manuscript examination with the college secretary, and
pay the required fees.
– Submit the dissertation manuscript to the panel members one week prior to the scheduled
examination. Each panel member should have the form to write his or her suggestions.
– Panel members together with the adviser sit en banc with the candidate to agree on the
suggestions for improving the paper. Advisers should be familiar/knowledgeable about the
study to be able to clarify the issues in the manuscript.
– The adviser and the advisee should consolidate all suggestions during the discussion of the
panel for easy referral. The secretary could record the consolidated suggestions.
– The candidate with the assistance and supervision of the adviser make the revisions of the paper
as suggested by the panel. Adviser should pre-edit the content and organization of the
manuscript.
Stage 2- Manuscript Review
– The candidate should subject the manuscript for another editing by the identified editor
prior to the finalization of the paper.
– All statistical processing should be done by the statistical unit to preserve the integrity of
the data
– The candidate prepares the final manuscript with the incorporated suggestions/
comments. The adviser has to read the entire manuscript for his/her final “go signal” for
oral defense.
– The candidate for the oral defense will prepare the final copy of the manuscript.
– The candidate has to study the manuscript for mastery before the oral examination.
Stage 3- Oral Defense

– The candidate with the approval of the adviser should have his/her oral examination
scheduled and approved by the program coordinator.
– The candidate has to register with the college secretary for proper recording. All required
fees has to be settled by the candidate. Oral defense has to be done in the college
conference room.
– The panel members sit en banc to ask the oral questions.
– The candidate needs to prepare himself/herself to answer all the questions raised by the
panel members.
– The candidate should answer all questions intelligently to pass the oral examination.
Stage 3- Oral Defense
_ The panel members should give at most three higher-order
questions and rate the candidate according to how he/she
answers the oral questions. Numerical ratings should be indicated as
required by the registrar. The panel member should already prepare
the questions before the examination starts.

– If the candidate fails the oral examination, s/he has to submit for another oral defense.

– The panel members together with the chair will convene to give the final verdict for the candidate.
The chair consolidates the evaluation of all the panel members and announces the result of the oral
exams.

 
Post-defense Requirements
 

– After passing the oral examination, the candidate can finalize his/her manuscript, have
this edited by the university-identified editors, and submit five bound copies of the
approved dissertation.
– The bound copies must contain the approval sheet signed by the committee members and
official acceptance of the dean. They should submit these to the dean (1), program
coordinator (1) and librarian (3) for reference; and one electronic copy in a CD to contain
the dissertation (PDF) and article format of their paper for the Graduate Studies Journal.
–  The CD with transparent case should be labelled as follows:
• Name of Student (Last Name, First Name, Middle Name)
• Program
• Month and Year of Completion
• Name of University
• Name and Signature of Adviser

– The journal article should also follow the prescribed format of the university.
– Submit a copy of the journal article to the Research Unit for inclusion in the search for
Outstanding Dissertation.
Preparing for and Taking the Oral
Examinations
 
• The oral exam is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their cognitive
skills in the research study that they have undertaken, as well as their
presentation/speaking skills, and their ability to communicate and transfer
information. The oral examination given to graduate students when defending
their dissertation is a formal one, where the candidate faces a panel of
examiners with prepared questions for the candidate to answer.
Scheduling of the Oral Defense
– The final oral defense is the last stage of the dissertation presentation. The candidate with the
guidance of his/her adviser must have already incorporated all the consolidated comments and
suggestions of the panel members who examined the manuscript in Stage 2. The result of the
revisions done by the candidate based from the consolidated comments and suggestions given by
the panel should be inserted in the final copy of the dissertation manuscript, which will be
furnished to all the panel members.

– A certification from the adviser and the editor should also accompany the final manuscript. Each
panel member should be given the final manuscript one week prior to the scheduling of the oral
examination to give them ample time to read the manuscript and to formulate their questions.

– The final manuscript should contain all the required sections of the dissertation. In fact, this is
already the final book. The candidate must insert the consolidated suggestions/comments, the
revisions done by the candidate, the certification from the adviser and the editor, and the form
where the panel member could write the questions intended for the oral examination.
– The schedule for oral defense will be announced/posted one week prior to the actual defense.
Preparing for the Oral Defense of the Dissertation

– Prepare a very brief prayer. Your adviser can give a brief introduction. Don’t spend so much
time on preliminaries.
– Present the highlights of the dissertation project (20 min.)
– Evaluation of oral examination is based on your answers to the questions from the examining
committee.
– Be well prepared for your presentation – academically, mentally and physically. Try to be well
rested and focused before your oral defense. Make sure that you look and act professional.
– In your responses, don’t try to memorize all the studies cited, but know the details of key
studies, which form the basis of your investigation.
– You need to be familiar with larger issues, such as basic assumptions, theoretical framework,
paradigm, cross-cultural perspectives, etc.
– More importantly, you need to have a deep understanding of the nature of your research
problem and the major issues involved.
Preparing for the Oral Defense of the Dissertation
-   You may bring with you important materials for easy reference in the course of your
defense, these may include key articles, computer printout of results, etc. You should
have an extra copy of your dissertation at hand, as you may be questioned on specific
sections/pages.
– Don’t answer/speak too fast or too slow and as much as possible, don’t read from your notes.
– Most of the questions are of higher level, one that requires critical analysis, reflective and logical thinking, dealing
with substantial, theoretical and application issues, hence be prepared to answer them. Stay focused.
– Be prepared to clarify and elaborate on your assumptions, theoretical positions, methods, and conclusions. Often
an examiner plays the devil’s advocate to see how well you can think on your own and defend yourself.
– Listen carefully to questions and make sure you understand exactly what is being asked. Follow instructions
exactly - if a short answer is requested, keep it short. If more detail is desired, give a longer response.
– Don’t rush to answer if you are not clear about the question. Do not ramble. If you are not clear about the question
you are entitled to ask for clarification. Try to be concise and direct, but at the same time demonstrate that you
have a good grasp of the complex issues involved. In other words, do not give superficial answers, but at the same
time, do not go beyond what is required of you.
– Put up a good defense without being defensive. Be confident without being cocky. A good defense means that you
can provide strong logical arguments as well as empirical support to defend your position or conclusion. However,
don’t be defensive when people criticize your study.
Preparing for the Oral Defense of the Dissertation
– Don't interrupt a questioner. Get the full question before you answer.
– If you are positive you cannot answer the question, it is best to admit that and go on,
rather than wasting time and focusing the examiner's attention on what you don't know
rather than what you do.
– Watch for signs that the test is over. Be gracious to ask if there are more questions.
– After the oral defense, you can relax and wait for the verdict of the committee.
– Thank the committee and accept the ratings with grace and gratitude.
– If you failed the exam, seek advise from your adviser and review your work. You can
schedule again for another oral examination.
Dissertation Writing Rates
  Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3  
Dissertation Dissertation Manuscript Review Oral Examination  
Committee Proposal Total

         
Adviser P 3,000.00 P 4,000.00 P 3,000.00 P10,000.00

Chair P 1,500.00 P 2,500.00 P 2,000.00 P 6,000.00

Member P 1,000.00 P 2,500.00 P 1,500.00 P 5,000.00

Member P 1,000.00 P 2,500.00 P 1,500.00 P 5,000.00

External Member P 1,000.00 P 2,500.00 P 1,500.00 P 5,000.00

Editor       P 3,500.00

Secretary P 400.00 P 600.00 P 500.00 P 1,500.00

TOTAL P 36,000.00
Enjoy your library hopping!