May 9, 2014

Matthew Blankenship
4825 Kanoy Drive
Lakeland FL 33805
Dear Mr. Blankenship:
UNIVERSITY OF
SOUTH FLORIDA
Congratulations on your admission to candidacy to the doctoral program in Curriculum and
Instruction with an emphasis in Literacy Studies. The following information is provided to assist
you as you proceed through the remainder of your graduate studies. In addition, we are enclosing
a copy of the Checklist of Procedures for Doctoral Programs in Education. You are now at stage
4.0. Please review these procedures carefully so that you will be aware of the sequence in which
certain activities need to take place.
There are certain documents which you will fmd useful as a guide throughout the dissertation
process.
The USF Office of Graduate Studies Catalog which details university and college policies
that govern your doctoral program. The catalog is available on-line at the Graduate
Studies website at http://www.grad.usf.edu.
The College of Education's website at http://www.coedu.usf.edu and select "Important
Downloads/Links" for graduate students.
USF's Office of Graduate Studies Thesis and Dissertation Handbook (latest edition, 2000)
which outlines a prescribed format that students need to follow in the preparation of their
dissertation manuscript. This handbook is available on-line at the Graduate Studies
website at http://www.grad.usf.edu, under "Thesis and Dissertations."
The Publication Manual ofthe American Psychological Association (6th edition), a
complete style manual used in the College of Education, except when superseded by the
Office of Graduate Studies Thesis and Dissertation Handbook. The publication manual is
available at the USF Bookstore.
We recommend that you obtain a copy of each of these documents as soon as possible and
carefully review them. Please also ensure that you have copies of the latest edition of the
documents for your use as substantive changes may be made over time. We strongly recommend
that you begin to follow the prescribed format detailed in the Thesis and Dissertation Handbook
and the AP A publication manual even when writing your proposal, since this can save significant
effort and cost later on.
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Please note that when you submit your proposal to the Graduate Support Office prior to the
proposal defense (EDU 320), it should include the correct title page located at
http://www.coedu.usf.edu under "Advanced Forms." For the writing of the dissertation, there are
a number of interpretations of the Thesis and Dissertation Handbook applied in the Office of
Graduate Studies. Seeking early advice from your Major Professor and the ETD Liaison in the
Office of Graduate Studies (Mr. Matthew Cordner, (ALN 226) is very helpful to most doctoral
students.
For both ethical and legal reasons, USF requires all researchers (including students) who conduct
studies involving human subjects to (1) complete the NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI)
training module (previously known as the NIH course) at the website http://cme.cancer.gov/
(then select "Human Participant Protections Education for Research Teams") or another
approved program, and (2) have their projects reviewed by an Institutional Review Board (IRB)
for the Protection of Human Subjects. Virtually all College of Education studies will require
approval by the IRB. The information and forms used to request this review are available at the
USF Office of Research, Division of Research Compliance (02 Social and Behavioral) website at
http://www.research.usf.edu/cs/download02.htm. Depending on your type of study, you will
choose either the "Application for Initial Review" or the "Exemption Certification Request." At
the proposal defense the Outside Chairperson must verify IRB status of your proposed research
study (see Attachment I, Internal Review Board Information- USF Research Compliance on
Education for Human Subjects Protection.
Each semester a list of deadlines for completing a dissertation are posted on the COEDU Website
and can be accessed at http://www.coedu.usf.edu.
We in the College hope that you will find the remainder of your graduate studies informative and
productive. If there is any way in which we can help you, please do let us know.
Harold Keller, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
cc: Dr. Danielle Dennis, Major Professor
Dr. Diane Yendol-Hoppey, Department Chair
Enclosures