Doctorate

Although the Department of Turkish Language and Literature offers only one degree, it offers doctoral programs in two fields of specialization: Old Turkish Literature and New Turkish Literature. Both programs consist of courses equal to 25/28 credits and a doctoral thesis.

Students to be accepted for the doctoral program are expected to have had either their undergraduate or their graduate education in literature. Students are asked to take preliminary preparation courses for one year if necessary.

Thesis

Students who pass the Proficiency exam will register for the thesis.

Thesis Proposal Presentation
Doctoral students who pass the Proficiency exam have to present their thesis proposals to the thesis follow-up committee at the beginning of their sixth semester. A printed copy of the thesis proposal should be submitted to the thesis commission fifteen days prior to its meeting. Students whose thesis proposals are rejected have to submit a new thesis proposal within 3 months. Students whose thesis proposal is rejected for a second time are dismissed from the doctoral program. (The thesis follow-up committee must announce in writing whether a thesis proposal has been approved or not within three days of meeting.) 

Doctoral thesis proposals should be 4500–6000 words, 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced and left-aligned, with page numbers and headers, and the footnotes and bibliography should be written according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Text samples will be provided.

Thesis Period
The thesis period begins in the sixth semester. Doctoral students are expected to defend their dissertations after the end of the eighth semester. Moreover, if the thesis jury considers it necessary, a total of four semesters of additional time can be granted as of the end of the eighth semester, with a re-evaluation every semester. However, in order to request additional time at the end of the eighth semester, students should have completed most of their dissertations and submitted them to the jury.

Thesis advisor
The thesis advisor will be determined at the beginning of the third semester by the department and student.

Thesis Jury
The thesis jury is made up of the three-person follow-up committee and a total of five persons, one from another university.

Thesis Follow-Up Committee
The thesis follow-up committee is formed within one month for those students who have passed the Proficiency exam at the end of fifth semester. The thesis follow-up committee meets twice an academic year (once every semester) to assess the progress reports submitted by students. In this report, the student is expected to summarize what has been achieved in the thesis so far as well as to present the next semester’s work plan. The committee then reports its evaluation of the thesis as successful or unsuccessful. Two consecutive failures or a total of three failures cause the student to be dismissed from the program.

Thesis Follow-Up Report
The thesis follow-up committee meets at the end of the sixth semester. Students present their reports on the progress of their thesis to this body every six months. Reports to be presented to the thesis follow-up committee have to be delivered to committee members fifteen days prior to the meeting. Before presenting a report to the follow-up committee, a doctoral thesis student has to submit at least 50 pages of his/her thesis to his/her advisor.

Thesis Follow-Up Meeting
Doctoral students also attend thesis follow-up seminars along with graduate students three times a semester. (See: Graduate Program)

Thesis Delivery
After the advisor approves the whole thesis, it must be submitted to the jury one month prior to the defense date. Following the approval of the defense, students must submit three bound copies of their dissertations, prepared according to the format indicated by Social Sciences Institute to the Institute, within one month.

Thesis Format

For the thesis format, you can use the graduate thesis office page below.
http://www.sbe.boun.edu.tr/en/thesis/style-guide