10 G6.8 Preliminary Examination

Examination times

The preliminary examination must be taken after course requirements have been met. The examination is given in January and August each year.

Examination committee

The examination committee will consist of three faculty members. The advisor’s candidate will serve as chair of the committee and will coordinate with the other two examiners and the candidate to create the reading lists and/or the set of thematic, theoretical or methodological questions to be addressed.

Structure of the examination

The preliminary examination has two parts: one written and one oral.

Written Part

The written part of the exam has two components: first, a series of take-home exams and, second, a 5- to 10-page dissertation prospectus plus bibliography.

1. Take-Home Exams: The candidate is required to answer two of four questions. The candidate shall have a maximum of one week for each take-home exam question. Each question should produce an answer no longer than 3,000 words typed in a standard font, double-spaced, and it must include a bibliography that follows MLA citation format.
2. Dissertation Prospectus: In the semester before taking the Preliminary Examination, a doctoral candidate must take an Independent Reading course (899) designed to work toward the dissertation proposal. A five- to ten-page dissertation prospectus plus bibliography will be submitted to the examination committee members at least one week prior to the oral examination. This prospectus will represent the candidate’s work during the independent reading as well as serve as a document indicating the candidate’s tentative dissertation focus.

Oral Part

An oral examination defense follows the written portions of the Preliminary Examination. The oral exam defense is approximately two hours long, at the discretion of the examining committee. It should cover both the take-home examinations and the dissertation prospectus. In the oral defense, the candidate will clarify, explain or complement the answers provided in their take-home written exams and dissertation prospectus. If the candidate provided satisfactory answers to the take-home exams, the oral exam can be directed mainly towards the defense of the dissertation prospectus. This will be an opportunity for the candidate to share and receive feedback from the committee as well as a way to narrow down the possible dissertation topics.

Evaluation

The candidate will receive a grade of pass or fail in the preliminary examination. A student who fails the exam may retake it once within a month of the failure (after consultation with the adviser). Should the dissertation prospectus be approved, the candidate shall have a maximum of three months to officially defend a dissertation proposal. At the discretion of the examination committee, the prospectus approval may already be considered a proposal defense.