Milestones to Completion of the PhD

MILESTONE #1: QUALIFYING EXAMINATION (QUALIFYING FOR CANDIDACY)

Note: The GS6 form, Program of Study, must have been filed prior to the initiation of the qualifying exam. The qualifying exam cannot be taken if the GS6 form is not on file with the Graduate School. The student must be in good standing with the Graduate School with a GPA of at least 3.00. The intention to hold a PhD qualifying examination must be publicized 2 weeks prior to the event by the adviser. This information should go to the Graduate School, the Department Head, and the Graduate Program Director.

The main purpose of the qualifying exam is to assess the extent to which each ORS PhD student has achieved mastery of core program content, as related to their area of research focus. The qualifying exam also establishes the student’s readiness for future doctoral study. Accordingly, the qualifying exam is both “backward-looking” (i.e., determining what the student has learned up to this point in the program, as related to the program core) and “forward-looking” (i.e., the exam is a segue to the formal dissertation proposal). Evidence of mastery enables the student and dissertation committee to proceed with confidence to the dissertation phase of their program. Per the Graduate Bulletin, “A qualifying examination shall be administered at least two terms before the final examination to determine whether the student is qualified to continue toward the doctorate.” That is, a student must have two semesters between the qualifying examination and the dissertation defense. For additional information, please refer to requirements for all graduate degrees in the Graduate Bulletin.

Students are expected to complete their qualifying examination by the end of their fifth semester. The majority of (if not all) required core courses should be completed prior to taking the qualifying examination. The student’s doctoral committee, in consultation with the graduate student, will determine the exact timing of this examination and its content. Content of the examination will vary from student to student and is up to the discretion of the doctoral committee. Preparation and format of the exam should follow the below descriptions of “Preparation Work” and “Formal Examination,” respectively. The results of the written exam must be satisfactory to the committee before moving to the oral portion of the exam. The oral defense of the examination will be administered by the graduate student’s committee and should take place no later than two weeks after the written exam. Students who fail to successfully complete the written or oral component of the comprehensive exam will, at the discretion of the student’s doctoral committee, be given no more than one attempt to retake the examination. As per the graduate school requirements (see Graduate Bulletin), the reexamination must be held not later than 12 months after the first examination, but not earlier than two months after the first examination unless the student agrees to a shorter time period. Failure to pass the second exam results in dismissal from the Graduate School. In order to assure full information to all concerned (student, major professor, all committee members, department head, Graduate School), the intention to hold a PhD qualifying examination is to be publicized two weeks in advance by the adviser. The student is responsible for obtaining the Report of Qualifying Examination Report of Qualifying Examination (GS16) form from the Graduate School website and returning it, appropriately completed, after the conclusion of the examination. Satisfactory completion of the qualifying exam and submission of GS16 establishes the student’s official candidacy for the PhD degree. The student is responsible for filing the completed GS16 with the Graduate School within two business days following completion of the exam.

POTENTIAL QUALIFYING EXAM SCENARIOS
• If a PhD student completes their qualifying examination during the Spring 2021 semester, their final examination cannot be administered until Fall 2021 semester. Spring 2021 and Summer 2021 count as the two terms.
• If a PhD student completes their qualifying examination during the Summer 2021 semester, their final examination cannot be administered until the Spring 2022 semester. Summer and Fall 2021 count as the two terms.

PREPARATION WORK
At the discretion of the student’s committee, the student will be asked to submit preparatory work in advance to receiving written qualifying exam questions. Example preparatory work might include some or all of the following, and may also include additional preparation at the committee’s discretion:
1. Student submits a literature review that forms the background and rationale for the dissertation.
2. Student submits an extensive reading list based upon their intended dissertation topic. Works on the list are selected by the student in consultation with the committee.
Based on the areas of importance or areas for growth of the student’s knowledge/competencies, the committee creates a set of questions designed to further develop the student’s knowledge/competencies.

QUALIFYING EXAM FORMAT
1. Student has a timed writing period (e.g. 2 weeks) to respond to the committee’s questions.
2. Committee reviews the written response.
3. An oral exam is conducted, consisting of Q & A based on the student’s written work.
4. One qualifying exam question will be common across students, with wording similar to the following:
“You will graduate with a Doctor of Philosophy in Occupation and Rehabilitation Science (ORS), and therefore must be able to situate your research within the context of ORS. To this end, how might your anticipated dissertation research specifically draw from existing literature and concepts of occupation science and rehabilitation science? What contributions do you believe your anticipated dissertation research will make to these fields and why are those contributions needed/important?”
This question is made available to students as they enter the PhD program. While the student’s committee may modify the question, it should be largely consistent with the above. The intention of asking this question for all students is to ensure they are able to articulate, organize, carryout, and interpret their own research within ORS.

MILESTONE #2: DISSERTATION PROPOSAL DOCUMENT

The dissertation proposal is a plan outlining the student’s intended dissertation work. In most cases, research conducted as part of the dissertation is completed following the proposal. In rare, cases research conducted prior to the proposal may be considered as part of the dissertation. However, the student’s committee must approve such pre-proposal research, the research must logically fit with and inform the dissertation topic, and the committee retains the right to deem prior work as an unacceptable part of the dissertation. In general, the proposal write-up and presentation should follow a format similar to the final dissertation manuscript and oral defense (see “Milestone #3: Dissertation”, below). The following items should also be included in the proposal document and presentation:1. Timeline for overall project
2. Dissemination and authorship plan
3. Funding plan

To ensure continued progress on milestones, students are strongly encouraged to complete and present the dissertation proposal no later than the semester following the completion of the qualifying exam. The proposal is presented to the entire doctoral committee for approval.

PROPOSAL DEFENSE
1. Student provides committee members with the written proposal at least two weeks prior to the scheduled proposal defense.
2. Student delivers a brief presentation (e.g. 15 to 20 minutes).
3. Discussion period during which:
a. the student addresses committee members’ questions about the written document and oral presentation
b. the student and committee agree upon necessary changes to the dissertation research plan with questions/answers
4. After the discussion, the student contracts to complete recommended modifications (if any).

MILESTONE #3: DISSERTATION

All PhD candidates are required to prepare a written dissertation document and to present the dissertation in an oral defense. The dissertation must demonstrate substantial independent investigation. Dissertations may take several forms depending upon the nature of the science, size of the study(ies), and expectations of the advisor and doctoral committee. Some examples include:
• Student completes a series of progressive and/or related studies on a specified topic
• Student completes a single, large study with multiple related hypotheses

Importantly, at or before the point of proposing the dissertation, the student, their advisor, and the committee should communicate expectations and agree upon a planned study or set of studies to fulfill the dissertation requirement. Although the dissertation is planned and executed with the guidance and supervision of the advisor and doctoral committee, the student must assume primary responsibility for the content and format of the dissertation document and presentation. The candidate must submit to the Graduate School the Thesis/Dissertation Submission Form (GS30) form and submit their dissertation electronically by the published deadline date listed on the Graduate School website. Suggestions for preparation of the manuscript may be found in the Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guide. The student should also communicate with their advisor and committee regarding additional formatting expectations for the dissertation document.

IN GENERAL, THE DISSERTATION MANUSCRIPT AND PRESENTATION MUST MINIMALLY DESCRIBE THE FOLLOWING:

1. Introduction: literature review, rationale, significance, relation to the ORS framework
2. Methods of investigation: hypotheses or research questions; regulatory compliance (e.g., IRB approval); description of sample, research methodology/protocol, data and statistical analyses.
3. Results: relative to stated hypotheses or research questions
4. Discussion: synthesis of findings, implications for future research, relation of findings to ORS framework

DISSERTATION DEFENSE
An oral defense of the dissertation must be satisfactorily completed with the student’s doctoral committee. As per the Graduate Bulletin, dissertation defenses are open to all members of the University community and the public at large. In order to assure timely notification across the entire campus, advisors should announce this information to the University community and public at large at least 2 weeks in advance. Students must successfully defend before being eligible to walk at graduation.
Ideally, at least 1 study from your dissertation should be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal prior to graduation, with the remaining studies being submission ready (journal has been identified; manuscript is prepared according the journal guidelines; only final edits/peer review remain).
An external reviewer may be invited to review the dissertation manuscript and/or to participate by attending and/or submitting written questions to the committee chair prior to the defense. The external reviewer is a non-voting, non-committee member who is invited to comment on the student’s dissertation.