#  Dissertation Committee and Defense - Social Anthropology 

 



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The PhD dissertation should normally be around 300 double-spaced pages in length. Given that most reputable academic publishers will not consider unrevised dissertations for publication, students are encouraged to anticipate revision by aiming to stay at or below this optimal length. Any student expecting to defend a dissertation of more than 350 pages should petition for the prior agreement of the faculty, which will base its decision on the student’s research committee’s evaluation and other relevant information.

Students are expected to inform their advisory committee and the Graduate Program Administrator of their intent to defend at least 8 weeks before the intended defense date.

In Social Anthropology the thesis is ordinarily submitted as a monograph . The thesis should be submitted to the committee at least 8 weeks prior to the defense. The committee should indicate that the draft can be defended one month prior to the defense date (one month after receiving the draft) and at this point, comments to be taken into consideration prior to the defense should be returned to the student. A full draft must be made available to the full faculty two weeks prior to the defense. The PhD defense is typically open to the public. After a closed discussion among the committee, the student presents a 20 minute presentation, followed by 60+ minutes of questions by committee members, followed by questions from other attendees. The defense ends with a closed conversation among the committee. After the defense, the committee may require revisions to the dissertation before it is accepted.

Students must follow the departmental [AI policy](https://hu.sharepoint.com/:w:/r/sites/HarvardAnthropologyGraduateStudents/Shared%20Documents/AI%20Policies/2025-11-02_Anthropology%20AI%20Policy%20DRAFT%206.docx?d=w24bc1c18b9e040e0829fa7f70aaf2f95&csf=1&web=1&e=Updudj).