At this point in as you near the progress toward completion of your PhD degree, you are an official doctoral candidate, having completed both the Candidacy Evaluation process in a prior semester, followed by completion of (first) and the Progress Review in a semester after completing the Candidacy Evaluation process that also precedes the semester of defense(second) in separate, prior semesters. Including the hours of Dissertation taken in the final semester of your defense, you must accumulate at least 6 or more hours of Dissertation course credits in order to graduate with your PhD degree per Graduate School rules.
Dissertation Defense Step-by-Step
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