Examination Requirements:

The centerpiece of the Ph.D. Program is the doctoral research and dissertation. There are a series of examinations that the student must successfully complete during his/her career in the PhD Program. The examination procedures provide both an indication that the candidate is ready to peruse this research, and that the research is of appropriate quality and originality.

Qualifying Examination

The primary purpose of the qualifying exam is to determine whether a student appears to be capable of working toward the doctorate and to eliminate doubtful students at an early date before either the student or members of the faculty have invested much time on a questionable venture. The examination also serves other useful purposes, and its content, length, and emphasis should be varied accordingly.

The examination provides an excellent opportunity for finding weaknesses and strengths in a student’s preparation which is necessary for intelligent planning of course work and research programs. Transfer students and students who have interrupted their academic work for extended periods require more penetrating qualifying examinations than those who have recently been in close contact with the graduate faculty. The qualifying examination my be oral, written, or both. The exam should be scheduled during the first semester after the master’s degree is awarded, or after one year of graduate study for students not taking a master’s degree exam.
Upon recommendation of the major professor, the Dean of the Graduate School may accept the result of the final examination for the master’s degree as satisfying the requirement of the Qualifying Exam.

Students who fail the qualifying examination can be allowed to repeat it one time within a period of one year after the first exam. A second failure results in the student’s dismissal from the PhD Program.

General Examination

The general examination is ordinarily the most severe test in the entire program for the doctorate. The content of the exam must be comprehensive enough to demonstrate expert competence over broad segments of the major field and a high degree of familiarity with the content and current progress in one or more minor fields. The exam should be regarded as the culmination of a student’s program in course work. In most cases, the remainder of time spent in obtaining the degree is to be devoted to concentrated work on the dissertation.

The general examination will be written and/or oral according to the rules of the major department. The written part consists of a closed book written examination that covers topics in specified master’s degree courses. In addition, material from other graduate courses may be included. The student is also expected to have a knowledge of appropriate undergraduate courses. Copies of previous examinations are made available to admitted PhD students. Each major department will prepare a written general examination for their students. In addition, the major department will request one, or more, other departments to prepare questions for the examination. The exam should last from one to three days. It is expected that the questions will be graded on a timely basis. In particular, all grades should be presented to the chairman of the major department’s PhD examination committee within three days. The entire department should study the results of the examination and decide on the results. The student should be notified of the results within one week. A candidate can either pass or fail. In rare cases a conditional pass grade can be issued.

Students who receive the grade of pass or conditional pass will be allowed to take the oral portion of the general exam. This is an exam that assumes the material in the exam as a basis and probes the student’s knowledge in greater depth. The exam usually lasts from one to two hours. The general exam is conducted by the student’s committee. Passing or failing is decided by a vote of the committee. The entire faculty should be aware of the date and time of all exams.

Dissertation Proposal Defense

The student’s advisor must be a full-time member of the major department faculty. However, an outside co-advisor may be chosen subject to approval. One member of the committee must be a full time member of a department outside of the College of Science. Once a suitable topic has been found and agreed on by the advisor, the student must prepare a dissertation proposal. The proposal must indicate the direction that the dissertation will take and procedures that will be used to initiate the research. Ordinarily some preliminary results are included in the proposal. In addition, the proposal must indicate that the student is familiar with the research literature in his/her area. To this end, the proposal must include the results of a thorough literature search. The written dissertation proposal must be accepted by the committee. The thesis advisor is the chairman. The dissertation advisor must be a full-time member of the major department faculty. There must be at least two other members who are full-time faculty of the major department. In addition there must be one member who is full-time faculty from another department outside the college of the major department. If appropriate, an outside expert can be added to the dissertation committee. After the written proposal has been accepted, an oral defense of the proposal is conducted by the examination committee. At this defense the student presents his/her proposal. This defense should not only test the student, but should provide him/her with helpful suggestions. This defense is public and the faculty should be aware of its date and time.

Dissertation

The dissertation must be a contribution to knowledge in their major field of study. The dissertation must demonstrate a mastery of research techniques, ability to do original and independent research, and skill in formulating conclusions that in some way enlarge upon or modify ideas that have been accepted.

The dissertation committee should not approve a dissertation that cannot, in the opinion of the committee, result in one or more papers that will be published in the appropriate outstanding, refereed journals. Once the dissertation has been approved, it must be publicly defended. The student makes an oral presentation of the dissertation material and is subject to questioning by the public. The dissertation committee decides if the candidate has passed the defense. The date and time of the defense must be circulated to the UNO community.

The style and form of the dissertation should follow the accepted practices of the major field concerned. Additional information about acceptable dissertation form is available from the Graduate School or their web page http://grad.uno.edu

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