Doctoral Dissertation

One of the requirements for the Doctor of Naturopathy and Holistic Medicine is to write a Doctoral Dissertation of 320 pages minimum.

The purpose of the Doctoral dissertation is to prepare the student to be a professional in the discipline. Through this preparation, the student learns and demonstrates the ability to conduct independent, original, and significant research. The thesis thus shows that the student is able to:

• identify/define problems,
• generate questions and hypotheses,
• review and summarize the literature,
• apply appropriate methods,
• collect data properly,
• analyze and judge evidence,
• discuss findings,
• produce publishable results,
• engage in a sustained piece of research or argument,
• think and write critically and coherently.

The Doctoral thesis has a weighting of 10 US credit hours and would reflect at least 300 clock hours of work.

Once you have submitted your dissertation you will be invited to defend your doctorate at a ‘viva voce’ (Latin for ‘by live voice’) or oral examination. Students living in faraway lands can conduct this via Skype.