December 12, 2002

Doctoral Studies Committee

PhD QUALIFYING PROCEDURE

These changes will take effect in spring 2003.

After considering the recommendations of many doctoral students and faculty members over the past year or so, the doctoral studies committee has these major recommendations about the PhD qualifying exams. The committee is especially interested in emphasizing the two aims of qualifying procedures: giving students the opportunity to display their comprehensive understanding of the field while also giving them the opportunity to display their ability to focus on a specific research problem and, thus, move them forward to their dissertation proposals.

An open-book examination, coupled with an oral interview with the examining committee, and a research statement paper will together constitute the qualifying examination. The research statement paper may be written either before or after taking the open-book examination, depending upon the needs of the student and the examining committee’s agreement. In either case, however, the student cannot proceed to the second part of the examination without having passed the first.

  1. Eliminate the closed book format.
  1. Eliminate the link between the grades on whatever doctoral seminars the program includes or may include and outcomes of the qualifying procedure.
  1. Adopt a two-part approach: (1) open book, short-term responses to questions posed by the faculty and outside member of the student’s committee, followed by an oral examination and (2) a research statement paper to serve as part of the dissertation proposal, to be presented publicly.
  1. The open-book examination will have the following characteristics:
  • Generally, the open-book questions will be distributed in the 12th week of the semester.
  • There will be four questions on the open-book portion.
  • The student’s three-member committee, and an outside member, will serve as the student’s examining committee and will develop these questions.
  • These questions can be written by the committee in concert, one by each individual member, or any combination thereof.
  • These questions, while reflecting the student’s interests and professional goals, will be designed to allow students to demonstrate their comprehensive understanding of the field.
  • Students will have five days to write and submit their written answers to the open-book questions.
  • The responses should be synthetic and comprehensive as well as analytic and focused.
  • Students will participate in an oral discussion of their exam answers. Each student’s oral exam will be scheduled within three weeks of the open-book written exam.
  • The oral exam will ordinarily include only the student and the examining committee.
  • Students will either pass or not pass this part of the qualifying examinations. Students who pass will be able to present a dissertation proposal to the faculty and then enter into candidacy.
  • Students who do not pass will be able to take the open-book portion once more, at a time to be determined by the examining committee.
  1. The research statement paper portion of the qualifying procedure will have the following characteristics:
  • This paper can serve as a first iteration of the student’s problem statement and literature review of the dissertation proposal.
  • The research statement paper should demonstrate the depth and breadth of the student’s understanding of his or her research area.
  • As such, the paper must include explicit, well-grounded discussion of the current state of, important trends in, and research opportunities in this research area.
  • The student’s examining committee, including its outside member, will evaluate this paper.
  • Students will either pass or not pass. Students who pass will be able to present a dissertation proposal to the faculty and then enter into candidacy.
  • Students who do not pass the research statement paper will have one opportunity to rewrite it to the satisfaction of the examining committee. This rewrite will ordinarily be done within the next semester.
  • Each student will present his or her research statement paper publicly, open to all interested parties.
  • The oral discussion of the open-book questions will not usually include discussion of the research statement paper unless the student wishes to include that material.

6.As noted earlier, students may elect, without prejudice, to submit the research statement paper before the open-book and oral portions of the qualifying procedure, or they may elect to complete the open-book and oral portions before submitting the research statement paper. This choice will be informed by consultation between the student and the examining committee, especially the student’s advisor. Students cannot proceed to the second part of the examination without having successfully completed the first, nor can they present a dissertation proposal or advance to candidacy without having completed the open-book, oral, and research statement segments of the qualifying procedure.