Dear Robert, Thank you for the submission of your dissertation proposal. I believe that the subject you have chosen, (Why is it so Hard to Forgive from a Biblical Perspective..note the spelling change on this last word from PRESPECTIVE on your form) will be a blessing as you complete the research and the writing. Your outline demonstrates that you have already given the project a lot of thought. This letter will serve as official approval for your proposed dissertation project. I am looking forward to working with you in this project and to receiving your finished work for reading and grading. Once you complete the initial work on the front matter, the first ten to fifteen pages of text (including footnotes) and the preliminary bibliography, we ask that you submit this first draft to your advisor for review and any suggestions or corrections that might be given at that time. This may be sent as an E-mail attachment. This early review will help to avoid errors when the final draft is submitted for grading. Your dissertation should be a minimum of 50,000 words or 150 double-spaced, typewritten or computer generated (font size 12, Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman) pages. (The maximum length of the dissertation should be no more than 200 pages.) Your completed work will need to contain a cover page (See Guidelines for Writing Assignments page 22), (acknowledgments, dedication and other pages of front matter are considered optional), a table of contents, the body of the dissertation including footnotes (endnotes or parenthetical documentation is not acceptable), bibliography, and a personal profile with a picture. Further questions may be answered by using Kate Turabians A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (7th Edition). After you have completed writing your dissertation you will need to submit the final draft for grading no later than January first of the year that you intend to graduate. (Note: a digital copy of your work should be included with the loose-leaf copy of the final draft which is submitted for grading.) After the final draft has been carefully reviewed it will be returned to you so that you may make any corrections necessary.
