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Stage
4: Comprehensive Examination Paper and Advancement to Doctoral Candidacy
The following information is contained on
this page:
Advancement
to Candidacy
The Comprehensive
Examination process
Scheduling your
exam and, later, the dissertation proposal and defense
The Comprehensive
Examination Proposal
Steps in Completing the
Comprehensive Examination Proposal
Completing the Comprehensive
Examination paper
Time Limit for Completion
of Degree Requirements
Advancement to Candidacy.
You must apply for and be admitted to doctoral candidacy. The UNM "Application
for Candidacy for the Doctoral or MFA Degree" form formally summarizes
your program of doctoral study. This form is available on-line at:
You should fill out this form the semester
you plan to defend the doctoral comprehensive examination and turn it in
to the LLSS Department Office for review by the program administrator and
coordinator. Formal approval of your program is indicated by the signatures
of your Committee on Studies on this form, along with that of the program
coordinator.
The Educational Linguistics Program must
submit the fully approved Application for Candidacy form to OGS once you
have passed the doctoral comprehensive examination and completed the research
skills requirements. It cannot be submitted earlier than this, though if
you have questions that cannot be answered by your committee, you may make
an appointment with OGS to review the form prior to completing the comprehensive
exam. When submitted, the Application for Candidacy form is to be accompanied
by the “Report of Examination” and “Certification of Language or Research
Skill Requirement” forms. After determining that all requirements except
for outstanding coursework and the dissertation have been fulfilled, the
Dean of Graduate Studies will advance the student to candidacy.
The Comprehension
Examination process.
In general, the policies of the College of Education
and the Office of Graduate Studies with regard to Comprehensive Examinations
will be followed. The form of the Educational Linguistics Comprehensive
Examination is a state-of-the-art paper followed by an oral examination.
The Educational Linguistics Program strongly urges that you complete the
Comprehensive Examination process within a maximum of two years.
Scheduling
your exam and, later, the dissertation proposal and defense: You must
set the dates of the comprehensive examination as well as your dissertation
proposal presentation and dissertation defense in consultation with your
Committee on Studies. For the comprehensive exam, an "Announcement of Examination"
form must be processed at least two weeks prior to the date of the examination.
You must notify the coordinator of the
Educational Linguistics Program no later than the fourth week of the semester
in which you intend to defend the comprehensive paper and at least three
working weeks in advance of the intended date of exam. (Two of these three
weeks are required by the Office of Graduate Studies, the other is required
by the Educational Linguistics Program to check the status of the candidate
within the program, and to take any necessary remedial action).
The following procedures are suggested
for scheduling your exams, proposal presentations, and dissertation defense:
| a) |
Consult as early as possible with the
program staff regarding available dates during the semester in question. |
| b) |
Consult immediately with all members of
the Committee on Studies or Dissertation Committee regarding availability.
Obtain a selection of possible dates, not just one date. |
| c) |
Confirm the actual date with the program
coordinator and administrative staff. Dates cannot be considered confirmed
until consultation with the coordinator and the staff has taken place. |
| d) |
Program staff will type up the necessary
paperwork, obtain appropriate signatures and send on to the Office of Graduate
Studies. The completed form must be submitted to the Office of Graduate
Studies no later than two weeks prior to the examination or dissertation
date. |
The Comprehensive
Examination Proposal. The student first proposes a topic/question and
specifies a bibliographical reading list for the topic. The topic and reading
list are approved by the student's Committee on Studies with feedback from
the Educational Linguistics faculty. This proposal should specify the educational
and linguistic theoretical perspectives that you will employ in the paper
and demonstrate how the integration/synthesis of these areas will take
place. Additionally, it will be important to convincingly explain the importance
of this area of study, your perspective on the topic, and how your review
of the literature will make a unique contribution. The length of your comprehensive
examination proposal should be sufficient to address all of the above,
as well as convince the faculty that you are prepared to begin to write
your comprehensive examination paper (described below). A length of no
more than 15 double spaced pages for the text of the comprehensive examination
proposal, not including the bibliography or appendices, is suggested.
Steps in Completing
the Comprehensive Examination Proposal
-
Formulate topic/question: You should be thinking
seriously about potential topics or questions as you are getting near the
end of your coursework. Once the student and chair have agreed on a topic,
the student submits the topic in the form of a written proposal along with
a bibliography to the members of his or her Committee on Studies. The names
of the committee members should be clearly listed on the title page of
the proposal.
-
Committee approves initial topic and reading
list: Once the Committee on Studies conditionally approves the topic and
reading list, the student will present the proposal to the entire Educational
Linguistics concentration faculty. In order to do this, the student is
responsible for contacting the program coordinator and requesting that
his or her proposal presentation be added to the agenda of an upcoming
faculty meeting. Your committee must give the go ahead before you contact
the program coordinator to schedule a date to present at a faculty meeting.
-
Set proposal hearing date: Contact the program
coordinator to find out when the next available faculty meeting will be
held and ask to be put on the agenda. (Note: faculty meetings are held
monthly during the academic year – there are no summer meetings.) You should
notify the program coordinator several weeks in advance that you are intending
to present your proposal. While two weeks is the minimum, it is helpful
to contact the coordinator early to give him/her a ‘heads up’ that it will
be forthcoming.
-
Place copies of proposal in LLSS and Linguistics
Department Offices: You must get a copy of your proposal to the program
administrators in both the Educational Linguistics office (in the LLSS
Department) and the Linguistics Department office no later than two weeks
before the faculty meeting at which you are scheduled to present. You should
also send an electronic copy of your proposal to the program coordinator
and administrator, for dissemination via the faculty listserv. Please note
that you must have your committee’s approval of your proposal draft before
submitting it to the program coordinator and administrator.
-
Comprehensive exam proposal presentation:
You will present your proposal at the scheduled faculty meeting and respond
to questions from faculty. The program coordinator will tell you what time
you are scheduled to present – be sure to arrive early and be ready to
come in when called. At the faculty meeting, you will give a short presentation
of your proposal. The floor is then open for comments and suggestions from
the faculty. Questions will be asked in turn by each of the faculty members.
Since this is a part of the examination process, students are expected
to be the first to respond to all questions. Once the student has answered
a question to the best of his or her ability, the committee members may
provide additional information. Following the question/answer period, the
student will be asked to leave the room so that the faculty can discuss
the proposal in private and raise issues that are of concern. Typically,
a total of 15 minutes of the faculty meeting will be reserved for the (a)
presentation, (b) question/answer, and (c) faculty discussion.
-
Committee approves or requires changes to
final version proposal: Students are responsible for contacting their committee
following the faculty meeting to set up a time to discuss the feedback
from the faculty as a whole. The committee will discuss with the student
the feedback provided by the Educational Linguistics faculty and determine
what changes to the proposal, if any, will be required. You will not come
back to a faculty meeting to present your response to the feedback. However,
your committee may require that you incorporate the feedback into a revised
version of your proposal and submit it to your committee for approval before
you begin write your comprehensive examination paper.
Completing the
Comprehensive Examination paper. Each student is responsible for formulating
his or her own topic/question to be addressed in the comprehensive exam.
The Comprehensive Examination is not original research, but rather a state-of-the-art
paper consisting of a review and synthesis of current educational and linguistic
theoretical perspectives on a topic relevant to Educational Linguistics.
The scope of the comprehensive paper should allow the student to explore
and provide a context for potential dissertation topics. The suggested
maximum length of the paper is 75 double-spaced pages.
The following provides information about
completing the comprehensive exam for the Ph.D. If you have any further
questions, please consult with your committee chair and/or the Educational
Linguistics program coordinator.
-
Start writing paper: Students start
writing their paper after meeting with their committee to discuss the faculty’s
feedback.
-
Draft writing: Students should seek
feedback and guidance from their committee throughout the writing process.
-
Oral defense date: When your committee
determines that you are ready to defend your comprehensive examination
paper, you will work with them to set a date for the oral defense. Students
need to take the following into consideration when setting a date for the
defense:
| 1. |
The program administrator and the program
coordinator must be notified and the appropriate paperwork be completed
no later than the fourth week of the semester in which the student
intends to defend the comprehensive paper. A specific date for defense
does not need to be set at this time. Please note that there is a variety
of paperwork from OGS that must be filled out. You are responsible for
checking with both the program administrator and on the OGS web site to
ensure that you have completed the necessary paperwork to defend your comprehensive
examination. |
| 2. |
When setting the actual date of the defense,
the student must (a) notify the program coordinator and program administrator
and (b) verify with the program administrator that all necessary paperwork
has been completed at least three working weeks in advance of the
intended date of exam. Two of these three weeks are required by the Office
of Graduate Studies, the other is required by the Educational Linguistics
Program to check the status of the student within the program and to take
any necessary remedial action. |
-
Comprehensive paper submission: The final
version of your comprehensive examination paper must be provided to each
of your committee members, as well as the program administrator, at least
two weeks before the scheduled date of the defense. Contact each committee
member to determine whether they prefer a hard or electronic copy. A hard
copy must be provided to the program office.
-
Public defense: A total of two hours are typically
scheduled for a comprehensive examination defense. Contact your committee
chair for information on the expected format of your defense. After you
complete your presentation and response to questions, you will be asked
to leave the room while your committee discusses your performance and determines
whether you (a) pass with distinction, (b) pass, (c) pass with conditions,
or (d) fail. After this discussion, the committee calls the student back
into the room and advises him/her of their decision. If a student passes
with conditions, he/she is notified of the conditions at that time. If
a student fails his/her comprehensive examination, the policy as stated
in the UNM catalog will apply.
Time Limit for
Completion of Degree Requirements. From the date on which you passed
you comprehensive exam, you have five calendar years to complete the dissertation. |
