Academic Progress and Degree Requirements

Application to the Program and Designation of the S.J.D. Advisor

Eligibility for Admission into the S.J.D. Program

To be eligible for admission to the S.J.D. program at the School of Law, an applicant must have obtained or be enrolled in a program leading to the equivalent of an advanced law degree (normally an LL.M.) from either an accredited law school within the United States or a recognized university outside of the United States, which degree must be obtained prior to matriculation in the S.J.D. program; and meet such standard and objective English language requirements for S.J.D. admissions that the Office of International and Graduate Programs at the School of Law determines are appropriate.

It is the sense of the faculty of the School of Law that any candidate admitted into the S.J.D. program should normally have attained an overall GPA (or its equivalent) in the course of study leading to their advanced law degree (normally an LL.M.) of at least 3.3/B+ with at least one grade of A- or higher, and have also completed an LL.M. thesis (or its equivalent) attaining an “Honors” designation (or its equivalent); or, in the alternative, have submitted evidence of outstanding professional achievement directly relating to the proposed topic of the dissertation that warrants admission in lieu of the academic standards set out above. Such evidence must be specifically addressed in the personal statement and dissertation proposal and also reflected in LL.M. thesis (or its equivalent) that each applicant must submit as part of the application for admission into the program.

Naming of the Advisor Prior to Application for the Program

Prior to applying to the S.J.D. program, all applicants are required to obtain the agreement of a full-time faculty member at the School of Law to serve as their S.J.D. Advisor. Admissions is limited only to those applicants familiar with the research strengths of the faculty at the School of Law and have a compelling reason to pursue their doctoral research here, under the guidance of one or more of our faculty members.

For otherwise clearly qualified candidates, the Office of International and Graduate Programs and the Coordinator of the S.J.D. Program may assist applicants in the identification of possible advisors who may fit the applicant’s research interests.

Admissions Procedure

The application will be reviewed by an ad hoc admissions committee comprising the Director of International Programs, the full-time faculty member who has tentatively agreed to serve as the applicant’s S.J.D. Advisor, and one other member of the full-time faculty drawn from a pool of faculty members who either hold a doctorate requiring the completion of a dissertation or have prior experience in supervising a doctoral dissertation.

The ad hoc admissions committee shall have the independent authority to reject the application, without review by the Graduate and International Programs Committee. In all cases, however, an ad hoc admissions committee may consult with appropriate additional persons, including, but not limited to, the applicant’s LL.M. thesis advisor or any other person familiar with the applicant’s research abilities and capacities in written English expression.

If the ad hoc admissions committee votes to recommend that the applicant be admitted into the S.J.D. program, this decision shall be conveyed to the Graduate and International Programs Committee, which shall review the recommendation and have final authority to accept or reject the applicant.

Suggested Timetable

Year One: Dissertation Prospectus

• Full Year in residence at the School of Law
• Prospectus submitted by end of the first semester
• Formation of Dissertation Committee

Year Two Through Six: Research and Writing

• Research and writing of the dissertation
• Regular meetings with, and submissions to, advisor
• Annual reports to Graduate and International Programs Committee

Year Seven: Dissertation Defense

• Certification by Dissertation Committee that dissertation is ready for Oral Defense
• Public Oral Defense and conferral of SJD degree

Amendment or Revision of the Regulations

The Faculty of the School of Law authorizes the Graduate and International Programs Committee, in consultation with the Educational Policy Committee, to adopt reasonable amendments or revisions to the SJD Regulations as circumstances warrant. The Graduate and International Programs Committee shall report any such revision or amendment to the full faculty at the next faculty meeting. Notwithstanding this authorization, the faculty of the School of Law retains full authority to revise, amend, replace, or rescind these Regulations.

Requirements

The Two-Semester Residence Requirement (Year One)

Duration of the Residency and the Corresponding Registration Requirement

All candidates admitted into the S.J.D. program are required to spend the first two sequential semesters in the program (Year One) in residence at the School of Law, during which the candidate must register for LAW 7974 SJD Research in each semester. The two-semester residence requirement and registration for LAW 7974 SJD Research in each of the first two semesters cannot be waived or amended except with the approval of the Graduate and International Programs Committee upon a showing of exceptional circumstances.

Preparation of the Dissertation Prospectus

Early in the first semester in residence, the candidate and the Advisor shall establish a meeting schedule, research plan, and timeline for completion of the Dissertation Prospectus and shall submit them to the S.J.D. coordinator and the Graduate and International Programs Committee.

The Dissertation Prospectus must normally be defended by the end of the candidate’s first semester in the program; however, with the approval of the Graduate and International Programs Committee (which shall be freely given at the request of the Advisor), the candidate may be allowed to defend the Dissertation Prospectus no later than the end of the second semester in the Program.

The Dissertation Prospectus shall be submitted to the Graduate and International Programs Committee or its designees (to be called the ‘Prospectus Defense Committee’) according to the procedure specified under Section 2(c) of these Regulations below. The Prospectus Defense Committee shall be comprised of the Advisor and two additional members of the faculty. In reviewing the Dissertation Prospectus, the Prospectus Defense Committee shall ensure that the Dissertation Prospectus expands upon and moves considerably beyond the dissertation proposal that the candidate submitted as part of the application for admission into the program. The Dissertation Prospectus should thus be of sufficient detail (ordinarily between 8000 and 10000 words) to allow the Prospectus Defense Committee to review the research progress of the candidate and, if approved for progress to the next stage, to create a Dissertation Committee with relevant expertise.

The Dissertation Prospectus shall further develop the following required elements of the dissertation proposal submitted as part of the application for admission into the program:

• a clear, law-related research question or problem that will be addressed;
• a review of the literature addressing the question or problem (including any relevant literature from other disciplines, such as economics, sociology, or history) that demonstrates an ongoing debate among scholars, policy makers or other professional groups on the proposed question, or a lack of recognition of, or attention to, the problem;
• an explanation of the methods, theories or approaches to be used to answer the question or resolve the problem and, if an empirical or comparative project, a discussion of the kind of evidence to be produced that will answer the question or resolve the problem; and
• an explanation of the expected contribution of the independent research project to the scholarly literature.

If the candidate contemplates undertaking empirical research involving human subjects as part of the dissertation, the Dissertation Prospectus must specify the candidate’s plans to obtain the necessary approval(s) from the University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) or explain why, in the view of the candidate, such approval(s) are not required.

Submission and Defense of the Dissertation Prospectus

The candidate shall prepare a draft Dissertation Prospectus in a format acceptable to the Advisor. When the Advisor certifies that the Dissertation Prospectus is ready for defense, the Advisor shall forward it to the Prospectus Defense Committee, which schedules a Prospectus Defense.

The Prospectus Defense shall be an in-person meeting and generally last for 60 minutes. The Advisor will chair. The candidate shall be given opportunity to present the Dissertation Prospectus, followed by comments and questions from members of the Prospectus Defense Committee. If deemed helpful by the Advisor, other members of the faculty at the School of Law or external experts may be invited to participate in the Prospectus Defense.

At the conclusion of the Prospectus Defense, the Prospectus Defense Committee shall confer privately and reach one of the following decisions:

• Approve the Dissertation Prospectus and confirm whether the Advisor wishes to continue to serve in that capacity during the Dissertation Stage and Dissertation Defense (the Committee may also suggest a new Advisor if the dissertation topic has substantially changed from the original description); or
• Disapprove the Dissertation Prospectus. In this case, the Prospectus Defense Committee shall return the Prospectus to the candidate with sufficiently detailed written comments to allow the candidate to revise and resubmit.

Any such revision and resubmission shall be governed by the same procedures applicable to the first submission of the Dissertation Prospectus. The first such resubmission shall take place no later than the end of the candidate’s second semester in the program (or, in the case where the candidate has been permitted to defend the Prospectus for the first time in the second semester of residence, no more than 90 days after the Prospectus Defense Committee’s disapproval of the first Prospectus). However, should the Committee not approve the revised and resubmitted second Prospectus, it may either ask the candidate to permanently withdraw from the program or allow the candidate to revise and resubmit a third and final time (which in no case shall take place more than 90 days after the Prospectus Defense Committee’s disapproval of the second Prospectus).

Disapproval of the third and final prospectus shall result in the termination candidate’s candidacy in the program.

When the Prospectus Defense Committee approves the Prospectus and thus determines that the candidate is ready to proceed to the dissertation stage, the members of the Prospectus Defense Committee shall sign a “Prospectus Approval Form” and submit it to the Graduate and International Programs Committee and the Law School Registrar. Upon receipt of this form, the Graduate and International Programs shall, in consultation with the Advisor, form the Dissertation Committee.

Formation of the Dissertation Committee

The Dissertation Committee shall be composed of three members: the Advisor, the Second Reader, and the Third Reader. At least two members of the Dissertation Committee shall be members of the full-time tenured, tenure-track, or clinical faculty of the School of Law. Moreover, at least one member of the Dissertation Committee (normally the Advisor) must be a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member of the School of Law. The Second Reader should normally be a member of the full time tenured, tenure-track, or clinical faculty at the School of Law with sufficient expertise to advise on the dissertation topic and/or research methodology. However, if warranted by the dissertation topic or research methodology, the Second Reader may also be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member at either another division of the University of Connecticut or at another university. The Third Reader should normally be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member at either another division of the University of Connecticut or at another university with sufficient expertise to advise on the dissertation topic and/or research methodology. However, where such a person is already serving as the Second Reader (or where such a person cannot be found to serve), then the Third Reader should normally be a member of the tenured, tenure-track, or clinical faculty at the School of Law. In exceptional circumstances, and only with the approval of the Graduate and International Committee (in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs), the Third Reader may be either a member of the adjunct faculty of the School of Law or some other person of recognized expertise in the topic of the dissertation.

If a member of the Dissertation Committee retires as a full-time tenured, tenure-track, or clinical faculty member of the School of Law but wishes to remain a member of the Dissertation Committee, that person may do so (and also may specifically continue serving as the Advisor if that was the faculty member’s position before retirement). If a member of the Dissertation Committee leaves the faculty of the School of Law not by retirement, that member may continue to serve on Dissertation Committee with the approval of the Dean (in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and the Associate Dean for Faculty and Research), but only if the service is otherwise in compliance with the regulations governing the formation of the Dissertation Committee.

In the event of a vacancy on the Dissertation Committee, the Graduate and International Programs Committee shall name a new member from a list of potential replacements submitted by the Advisor. Any such replacement member must comply with the regulations governing the formation of the Dissertation Committee.

The Second Semester in Residence

Unless the candidate is asked to revise and resubmit the Dissertation Prospectus for a second defense, the purpose of the candidate’s second semester in residence is to further develop a research plan and tentative writing schedule in collaboration with the candidate’s Advisor. The candidate should also take advantage of the second semester to consult widely with the faculty of the School of Law (including members of the Dissertation Committee) regarding the successful completion of the proposed dissertation. If the Dissertation entails empirical research involving human subjects that requires approval(s) from the IRB, the candidate shall initiate the process of obtaining such approval(s) during the second semester in residence.

The Research and Writing of the Dissertation: The Dissertation Stage

Registration Requirements and Duration of the Dissertation Stage and Temporary Withdrawal

In each additional semester following residency (up to and including the semester in which the candidate defends the Dissertation), the candidate shall register for LAW 7976 SJD Continuous Registration. The Dissertation Stage shall last no fewer than one additional semester after residency ends and no more than ten additional semesters after residency ends. If at any time during the Dissertation Stage the candidate wishes to temporarily withdraw from the program, the candidate may do so with the approval of the Advisor and the Graduate and International Programs Committee upon a showing of good cause. If such temporary withdrawal takes place in the course of a semester for which the candidate is registered for LAW 7976 SJD Continuous Registration, neither that semester nor any subsequent semester during the candidate’s temporary withdrawal shall count toward the ten additional semesters for the Dissertation Stage. If the temporary withdrawal lasts less than four semesters (not including the semester in which the candidate withdraws), the candidate may return to the program as of right, subject to any conditions (such as a new defense of a Dissertation Prospectus and/or formation of a new Dissertation Committee) that the Advisor and Graduate and International Programs Committee deem appropriate in the circumstances. If the temporary withdrawal lasts longer than four semesters (not including the semester in which the candidate withdraws), the candidate may only return to the program with the approval of the Advisor and the Graduate and International Programs Committee and be subject to any conditions (such as a new defense of a Dissertation Prospectus and/or formation of a new Dissertation Committee) that the Advisor and Graduate and International Programs Committee deem appropriate in the circumstances.

Submission of Drafts during the Dissertation Stage for Review and Comment by the Advisor and Second Reader

In the first semester following completion of residency, the candidate and Advisor shall establish a schedule for submission of draft dissertation chapters or sections for review and comment by the Advisor and submit such schedule to the Coordinator of the S.J.D. program with a copy to the Graduate and International Programs Committee. The candidate may also submit draft dissertation chapters or sections for review and comment by the Second Reader. However, the candidate may not obtain any review or comment on a draft or partial draft of the Dissertation from the Third Reader prior to the Dissertation Defense.

Annual Progress Reports

The candidate must submit an annual written progress report, signed by the Advisor and the Coordinator of the S.J.D. Program, to the Graduate and International Committee.
The Graduate and International Programs Committee may require more frequent progress reports if they believe helpful to the candidate.

The Dissertation Defense

Stages in the Dissertation Defense

The Dissertation Defense shall be comprised of two stages:

• Written Submission of the Dissertation to the Dissertation Committee
• Oral Defense

The stages of the Dissertation Defense may together require a full 14- week semester to complete (and longer if the candidate is asked to revise and resubmit at any stage), and thus the candidate and the Dissertation Committee should plan accordingly. The initiation of the Dissertation Defense must take place no later than the beginning of the thirteenth semester in the program, i.e., in the eleventh registered semester following the candidate’s completion of the year in residency, excluding any semesters in which the candidate has temporarily withdrawn from the program.

Determination that the Dissertation is Ready for Defense - Length Guidelines

Subject to the length guidelines below, it is the candidate’s right to determine whether the dissertation is ready for submission to the Dissertation Committee for defense; however, in no circumstances may the initiation of the Dissertation Defense take place later than the thirteenth semester in the program (i.e., normally the first semester of Year Seven in the program). In making the decision whether to proceed to the Dissertation Defense, the candidate is strongly urged to heed the advice of the Advisor and Second Reader. To the greatest extent possible at this stage, the dissertation should comply with the Dissertation Format Requirements set out in these Regulations.

In order to be ready for a defense, the length of the dissertation should normally be not less than 250 pages and not more than 400 pages, inclusive of text, citations, appendices and/or references (if any). A candidate may submit a dissertation that falls outside these guidelines with the permission of the Advisor (in consultation with the Second Reader), which permission shall be given on a showing that the nature of the dissertation research or methodology justifies a shorter or longer dissertation.

Written Submission of the Dissertation to the Dissertation Committee

When the candidate decides to proceed to the Dissertation Defense, the candidate shall submit a draft of the dissertation to the Dissertation Committee in an electronic format that will permit electronic review and comment (e.g., using the “Review” function in Microsoft Word). The Dissertation Committee shall be allowed between six and eight weeks to review the written submission of the dissertation. After completing the review of the written submission of the dissertation, the Dissertation Committee shall confer and decide, by majority vote, either:

• To certify that the dissertation is ready for Oral Defense, or
• To return the dissertation to the candidate with written comments on why a majority of the Dissertation Committee believes the dissertation is not ready for Oral Defense; however, the written comments of the Dissertation Committee at this stage shall distinguish those aspects of the dissertation that, in the judgment of a majority of the Committee, require revision as a condition precedent to approving the dissertation for Oral Defense (“mandatory revisions”) from those that the candidate, at his or her discretion, may wish to revise prior to submission of the dissertation for Oral Defense (“non-mandatory revisions”).

If the Dissertation Committee determines that the dissertation is not ready for Oral Defense, then the Committee shall, in conjunction with the candidate, establish a schedule for revision and resubmission of the dissertation to the Dissertation Committee for electronic review and comment; however, in no case may the schedule for revision and resubmission delay the Oral Defense beyond the fifteenth semester in the program, i.e., in the thirteenth registered semester following the candidate’s completion of the year in residence, excluding any semesters in which the candidate has temporarily withdrawn from the program.

Tentative Approval of the Dissertation and Scheduling of the Oral Defense

When the Dissertation Committee certifies that the dissertation is ready for Oral Defense, the members of the Dissertation Committee shall sign a “S.J.D. Tentative Approval Form” and then submit it to the Graduate and International Programs Committee and the Law School Registrar. The S.J.D. Tentative Approval Form shall specify:

• the candidate’s name and the title of the dissertation,
• the agreement of a majority of the Dissertation Committee that the dissertation is ready for Oral Defense, and
• the proposed date for Oral Defense.

Scheduling the Oral Defense

The candidate and the Dissertation Committee shall establish a mutually convenient date and time for the Oral Defense and communicate that date to the Law School Registrar. The Registrar shall schedule the Oral Defense on the public calendar of the Law School, during regular Law School hours in a classroom of adequate size to accommodate interested members of the public. If either the candidate or any member of the Dissertation Committee is unable to attend in person, the Registrar shall schedule the Oral Defense in a classroom in which audiovisual telecommunication is possible.
Subject to the candidate’s desire to undertake any non-mandatory revisions suggested by members of the Dissertation Committee prior to the Oral Defense, the Oral Defense should typically take place within four to six weeks of the Dissertation Committee’s submission of the S.J.D. Tentative Approval Form to the Registrar.

The Oral Defense of the Dissertation

The candidate shall submit the final version of the dissertation in electronic format to the Dissertation Committee and Graduate and International Programs Committee no fewer than twenty-one (21) calendar days before the scheduled date of the Oral Defense. The Oral Defense shall be open to the public. The Advisor shall chair. If either the candidate or any member of the Dissertation Committee is unable to attend in person, the Oral Defense may take place through audiovisual telecommunication, provided that the audiovisual feed is made available in a designated public classroom at the law school, for viewing by interested members of the public.

The public portion of the Oral Defense will typically last two (2) hours. The Advisor may extend the public portion of the Oral Defense as appears necessary in the circumstances, but in no case may the defense extend beyond three (3) hours. The Advisor will open with a brief, organizational statement. The candidate will then receive fifteen (15) minutes to provide an overview of the dissertation, its thesis, methodology, and contribution to the existing literature on the topic. Following the candidate’s presentation, each member of the Dissertation Committee will receive approximately thirty (30) minutes to ask questions and provide comments to the candidate.

At the conclusion of the public portion of the Oral Defense, the Dissertation Committee shall confer in private. During this conference, each member of the Committee will have an opportunity to express his or her views, after which a vote shall be taken. Ideally, the Dissertation Committee shall reach its decision after a thirty (30) minute conference and announce its decision publicly at that time. However, if needed, the Dissertation Committee may take up to seven (7) calendar days after the Oral Defense in order to reach its decision and communicate the decision to the candidate and the public in writing.

In the private conference following the public portion of the Oral Defense, the Dissertation Committee will decide:

• by a majority vote, whether to notify the faculty that the dissertation meets the standards for the degree and to recommend that the S.J.D. degree be awarded to the candidate; and if it does,
• by unanimous vote, that the dissertation is of such outstanding quality that the faculty should award the S.J.D. degree “with honors.”

Rejection of the Dissertation after Initial Oral Defense; Revision and Resubmission; Second and Final Dissertation Defense

If the Dissertation Committee decides, by majority vote, that the dissertation does not meet the standards of the degree, it shall communicate that decision to the candidate in writing, along with a statement of reasons supporting that decision.
In such a case, the candidate may, as of right, within twenty-one (21) calendar days of receiving the Dissertation Committee’s written decision and statement of reasons, request up to two additional semesters to revise and resubmit the dissertation for a second and final Dissertation Defense.

The second and final Dissertation Defense shall be governed by the same procedures governing the initial Dissertation Defense (including both the written submission and the oral defense stages); provided, however, that the decision to proceed to a second and final Dissertation Defense shall in no circumstances extend the period for final completion of the degree requirements beyond the end of the candidate’s fifteenth semester in the program, i.e., in the thirteenth registered semester following the candidate’s completion of the year in residence, excluding any semesters in which the candidate has temporarily withdrawn from the program.

If the Dissertation Committee, after completion of the second and final Dissertation Defense, again determines that the dissertation does not meet the standards of the degree, it shall communicate that decision to the candidate in writing, after which the candidate’s candidacy in the S.J.D. program at the School of Law shall be terminated and no degree shall be awarded.

Award of the S.J.D. Degree and Deposit of a Written Copy of the Dissertation in the Law School Library

If the Dissertation Committee notifies the School of Law faculty that the candidate has met the requirements of the degree, the faculty shall vote to award the S.J.D. degree to the candidate. If, however, the faculty is unable to convene in order to undertake a formal vote, a favorable vote shall be deemed to have been taken if, after 48 hours notice, no faculty member asks the Dean or the Faculty Secretary that an in-person vote be taken. If a faculty member does in fact request a formal, in-person vote, then the Dean or Faculty Secretary shall convene a faculty meeting for that purpose.
The Law School Registrar shall promptly communicate the decision of the faculty to award the degree to the candidate as well as to the University in a manner similar to that required for the award of the Ph.D. in other divisions of the University.
Prior to the award of the S.J.D. degree (the “graduation date”), the candidate shall deposit a definitive written copy of the dissertation in the Law School Library in the manner prescribed in these Regulations below (the “Paper Requirement”) and notify that fact in writing to the Registrar, copied to the Law Librarian.

Dissertation Format Requirements

Abstract

An abstract is required. The body of the abstract may not exceed 350 words in length

Cover page

Using the customary formatting form doctoral dissertations at the University of Connecticut, the cover page shall include the following:

• The title of the dissertation
• The candidate’s full legal name
• The statement: “A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of the Science of Law (S.J.D.) at the University of Connecticut School of Law,” followed by the year of completion.

Minimum margins

The minimum acceptable margins for all pages of the dissertation and the abstract are 1½ inch on left and 1 inch on the top, bottom, and right.

Font and point size

The font shall be Times New Roman with a point size of 12.

Spacing

The text of the dissertation should be double-spaced. Long quotations, footnotes, appendices, bibliographies, and/or references shall be single-spaced, as required by the applicable style (see below).

Photographs and graphics

Photographs and graphics in the dissertation should be printed or photocopied directly on the paper as high quality images. Scanned images must print clearly. If color must be used, only color laser or color photocopy printing is acceptable.

Use of materials copyrighted by others

Any material included that goes beyond “fair use” requires written permission of the copyright owner. Permissions shall be included in the dissertation as an appendix.

Pagination

Preliminary pages (i.e., the approval page, acknowledgments, table of contents, and the like) are to be numbered consecutively using lower case Roman numerals. All pages of the text, appendices (if any), and references must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals.

Landscape pages

The top of a landscape page should be at the left margin and the bottom at the right margin. The page number is to be in the same relative position as on the portrait pages. An easy way to apply page numbers to landscape pages is to run them through the printer twice–once for the text, table, or figure (landscape orientation) and once for the page number (portrait orientation).

Sequence of the main components of the dissertation

The appropriate order of the major sections of the dissertation follows: the abstract, the title page, the copyright page (if needed), the approval page, acknowledgments, table of contents, the text, appendices (if any), and the references. The order of the appendices and the references may be reversed if the appendices are lengthy.

Footnotes, endnotes, citation forms, and references

Footnotes rather than endnotes should be utilized, unless your Dissertation Committee requests otherwise. Legal citations to U.S. law materials should conform to the then-current edition of The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation. Legal citations to foreign law materials may conform either to the citation method that prevails in the legal system from which the foreign legal material comes or to the then-current edition of The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation. All other citations may conform either to the then-current edition of The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation or to a citation, bibliographic, or reference style that prevails in a field in which the dissertation overlaps, by virtue of topic or research methodology.

Legal name

It is recommended that you use their full legal name on the abstract, the title page, and the copyright page (if appropriate). These pages must be formatted accordingly. Student name and title shall appear exactly the same way in all places.

Paper requirement

Prior to the actual awarding of the S.J.D. degree (the “graduation date”), the candidate shall provide a definitive written copy of the dissertation to the Law School Library. All pages must be printed on 8½ by 11 inch white paper that is at least 25% cotton and 20 or 24 lb. weight. This is known as bond or fine-business paper. The University Co-op stocks paper of acceptable quality.

Printing

Either laser printing or photocopying is acceptable. Inkjet printing is not acceptable as it is water-soluble. Double-sided printing is acceptable. Printing should be clear, clean, and dark–no shadows or stray marks.