Degree Requirements: Doctor of Philosophy

The Doctor of Philosophy degree program is planned by the student with the adviser to develop the student's ability to conduct research in a specialized field of education.

Program Plan

Upon admission to a Doctor of Philosophy program, each student is assigned an academic adviser in an area of specialization. The student and adviser plan a program of study to meet the student’s individual goals and general degree requirements. Departments may require that a copy of the program plan be kept on file.

Time Limits

Graduate students and advisers should be guided by the Graduate College policy on doctoral degree time limits. If a time extension is desired, it may be requested by completing a Graduate Student Petition. These petitions are considered and acted upon by the student’s adviser, the department, and the Graduate College. Each individual who has authority to act on the petition may either approve or deny the petition.

Course Requirements for Ph.D. Candidates

All students admitted to a Doctor of Philosophy degree program must fulfill Graduate College requirements for the doctoral degree, departmental requirements, and the following College of Education minimum requirements on the Urbana campus or through Urbana off-campus or online courses:

1. Completion of at least 64 hours beyond the master's degree including:
   1. A minimum of 32 hours of coursework in the major subjects.
   2. At least 4 hours, but no more than 32 hours of dissertation research credit.
   3. No more than 12 hours of independent study credit.
2. In addition to the 64 hours, students must fulfill the Ph.D. Research Specialization Requirements.

Residence

A total of 64 hours of credit beyond the master's degree must be earned in courses on the Urbana campus or through Urbana off-campus or online courses. These 64 hours may include up to 32 hours of dissertation research credit. Courses taken to satisfy the Ph.D. Research Specialization requirement are not counted as part of this 64 hour minimum. Ph.D. continuous residence requirements can be satisfied by two consecutive semesters of full-time (12 hours or more) coursework. Thesis research credit may not be counted in meeting the continuous residence requirements.

In the College of Education, Ph.D. study must include a period of full-time engagement on campus, during which time students are expected to interact with faculty and other students, read widely within and beyond the major field, and contemplate scholarly issues as they relate to professional practice. What the department seeks to ensure by this requirement is a period of complete immersion, with the least possible distractions, in the intellectual, collegial, and cultural life of the discipline, not just that of the campus at large.

During this continuous residence period, a student is expected to participate in non-course work activities available as part of the intellectual activity of the discipline: seminars, colloquies, and informal and often ad hoc discussion groups. Although the quality of the residency cannot be legislated, conditions believed to provide the greatest possible opportunity to achieve the desired quality can be specified. It is the responsibility of the student and adviser to ensure that the spirit, as well as the letter, of this requirement is honored. The student and adviser should plan this period as thoughtfully as any other portion of the doctoral program.

Students not engaged in full-time graduate study may meet the residence requirement by presenting evidence that the spirit of the requirement has been satisfied. This evidence should include full documentation of residence-type activities on campus, approved by the candidate’s adviser.

For those students who hope to satisfy the residence requirement for a period when they were employed full-time, it would be helpful for this documentation to show that at least 25% of their time on the job was devoted to activities in keeping with the spirit of the residence requirement, and to provide a letter from the employer stating that such time was available for the period in question.

Students wishing to fulfill the requirement without full-time enrollment will need to request approval, documenting by letter the activities the student and adviser wish to have considered as meeting the residence requirement. The request should be made to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Education. (Graduate Faculty Action, September 14, 1988)

Early Research Requirement

All Ph.D. students shall conduct and present an educational research study early in their graduate programs. This research should be undertaken with the expectation that it will make a contribution to knowledge in the area of the student’s Ph.D. program. In addition, an important objective of the early research requirement is to familiarize faculty members with new Ph.D. students and their research interests and to examine ways in which these interests might be pursued in the doctoral program.

In the first calendar year of doctoral study, every Ph.D. student, in consultation with his or her adviser, shall form an early research committee consisting of the adviser and two other faculty members. The student should consult with committee members early in the first year to obtain agreement on the nature of the project. Committee members are expected to provide counsel as the early research project develops. Whenever extended work with a faculty member is anticipated, the student should arrange for independent study credit.

The student shall formally present to his or her committee a written and oral report on the early research project. All three members of the committee must approve the work as satisfying the early research requirement for the Ph.D., and they should sign the Early Research Requirement form. The completed Early Research Requirement form must be filed in the department with a copy in the Student Academic Affairs Office.

A student who has completed a master’s dissertation as part of earlier graduate work may, upon the advice of his or her adviser, present that research as the early research project. After hearing the presentation, the Early Research Committee may accept the dissertation as satisfying the early research requirement or, should they judge the dissertation wanting in either quality or relevance to the student’s doctoral program, may recommend that it be revised or that another line of inquiry be pursued for the early research requirement.

A student who enters a master’s degree program with the intent of subsequently pursuing the Ph.D. is encouraged to discuss with his or her adviser the possibility of forming the Early Research Committee prior to conducting the master’s dissertation research. (Graduate Faculty Action, December 9, 1988) For all early research involving the use of human subjects, approval must be obtained from the Office of School-University Research Relations and Human Subjects and verification provided to the department with a copy in the Student Academic Affairs Office.

Evaluation of Academic Progress

Each department in the College of Education has a procedure for evaluating a student’s progress toward the doctoral degree. These procedures have been approved by the Graduate Programs Committee. The evaluation of academic progress, whether by examination or other formal review, results in a decision regarding student progress. When a decision is made that a student is not making satisfactory progress, the student, the adviser, and the Student Academic Affairs Office will be informed in writing by the department. This evaluation will take place no later than the end of the second year after a student enters the Graduate College.

Qualifying Examinations

Ph.D. Research Specialization Requirements

The purpose of the Ph.D. Research Specialization Requirements is to ensure that all Ph.D. candidates in the College of Education have had sufficient coursework and experience to attain proficiency in at least one research methodology and are able to conduct independent dissertation research.

Research Specializations

The four Research Specializations, Evaluative, Interpretive, Qualitative and Quantitative, were chosen to represent the domain of methodologies prevalent in educational research and pursued by our graduate students and faculty. It is intended that the choice of a Research Specialization will be consistent with a student’s dissertation research. While requirements differ for each specialization, all require some combination of introductory and advanced methods coursework, practical experience, and a capstone project. All Research Specializations require a two-stage approval process. Full descriptions of the Ph.D. Research Specialization Requirements are on the Student Academic Affairs Office Web site.

Human Subjects Approval

For all dissertations involving the use of human subjects, approval must be obtained from the Office of School-University Research Relations and Human Subjects prior to the preliminary (oral) examination with verification provided to the department and the Student Academic Affairs Office.

Preliminary (Oral) Examination

The preliminary oral examination follows successful completion of the early research requirement, the qualifying examination, the research specialization requirements, completion of course work, and human subjects approval. In addition, all excused (Ex) grades must be changed to letter grades prior to the oral examination.

The purpose of a preliminary oral examination is for a student to present the rationale and format for the dissertation. During the examination, an agreement is reached between the student and the committee concerning the proposed dissertation. Thus, the examination is held prior to the collection of data or other major work on the dissertation. The student does not have to be registered in order to take the preliminary oral examination if 96 hours of graduate work, including the master’s degree have been completed. The student should consult the department for additional requirements.

Appointment of the Preliminary Oral Examination Committee

The committee must meet the preliminary exam committee requirements of the Graduate College. In addition to these requirements, at least one member must be from outside the student’s field of specialization and the budgetary department of the student and adviser. A request for an exception to these rules must be made in writing by the chairperson and approved by the College of Education Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the Graduate College. For committee members outside of University of Illinois at Urbana, a letter of justification and a resumé must be submitted by the adviser to the College of Education Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In appointing the committee, the adviser nominates members through a Request for Appointment of Prelim Exam Committee form. This form requires the departmental chair/head’s review and approval and should be returned to the Student Academic Affairs Office at least three weeks before the examination.

After the committee is appointed, the preliminary oral examination takes place. The adviser obtains the Certificate of Results of Preliminary Examination form from the department office before the examination and returns the form immediately after the examination. All appointed members must sign the Certificate of Results of Preliminary Examination form.

The Certificate of Results of Preliminary Examination form may indicate positive or negative actions, but it is also possible to ”adjourn” the committee and reconvene it at a later date. The committee may be adjourned for a period of no longer than six months.

The student does not need to be registered at the time of the preliminary oral examination if 96 hours of graduate work (including the master’s degree) have been completed, unless university facilities are being used. However, the examination must be retaken if the doctoral program is not completed within five years of the original examination.

Dissertation

The Ph.D. dissertation is intended to demonstrate the student’s capacity for independent research. In it, the student should make an original contribution to knowledge. (Graduate Faculty Action, February 15, 1973). The dissertation usually requires a year or more of study. Registration in dissertation research hours for on-campus students, or by petition, in absentia after the completion of the required 64 hours beyond the master’s degree is optional. This registration typically comes after the course work is completed and before the time limits are reached. The College of Education does not limit the number of dissertation research hours a student can take, however, no more than 32 hours can be counted toward the Ph.D. and at least 4 hours is expected.

At the time of deposit, students will need at least three copies of the dissertation in its final form. In addition to the two copies required by the Graduate College, one copy of the dissertation in final form should be prepared for the adviser.

Dissertation Editorial Style and Format Approval

The dissertation must be prepared using one of the following commonly accepted editorial styles:

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Harvard Law Review Association. (1991). A uniform system of citation (15th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Author.

Modern Language Association. (1988). MLA handbook for writers of research papers (3rd ed.). New York: Author.

Turabian, K. L. (1987). A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations (5th ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

University of Chicago. (1993). The Chicago manual of style (14th ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago.

NOTE: LaTex is not an acceptable editorial style. However, this typesetting system can be used in conjunction with one of the above editorial styles.

The student will consult with the adviser and dissertation committee members to choose the style to be used. In exceptional circumstances, style manuals not listed above may be used with prior approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In addition, the Thesis Handbook issued by the Graduate College must be followed. In the case of explicit differences between the Graduate College instructions and the style manual selected, the Graduate College instructions take precedence. For example, students choosing the APA style manual should follow the Graduate College instructions rather than those included in the APA manual for insertion of tables and figures. Every dissertation in final manuscript form must be reviewed and approved by the College of Education Thesis Format Office. It is highly recommended that students turn in a draft for a preliminary format after completion of the preliminary oral exam. The student must specify which editorial style has been selected for use. A submission date for the final format review is set before each graduation date. The student should allow a minimum of three to four weeks for the final format review and approval.

Dissertation Abstract

Abstracts for dissertations in the College of Education must include a synopsis of the following information to fully describe the completed study:

1. The problem and its theoretical and educational significance.
2. The research design and/or approach employed (include where appropriate descriptions of subjects and methods).
3. An overview of the results.
4. Conclusions, recommendations, and/or implications.

Final Examination

Final examinations are oral and open to the public. The final examination committee chair is responsible for convening the committee, conducting the examination, and submitting the Certificate of Result of Final Examination to the department.

Appointment of the Final Oral Examination Committee

The committee must meet the final exam committee requirements of the Graduate College. In addition to these requirements, at least one member must be from outside the student’s field of specialization and the budgetary department of the student and adviser. A request for an exception to these rules must be made in writing by the chairperson and approved by the College of Education Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Dean of the Graduate College. For committee members outside of University of Illinois at Urbana, a letter of justification and a resumé must be submitted by the adviser to the College of Education Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In appointing the committee, the adviser nominates members through a Request for Appointment of Final Exam Committee form. This form requires the departmental chair/head’s review and approval and should be returned to the Student Academic Affairs Office at least three weeks before the examination.

The final oral examination will be conducted in a room that will accommodate at least ten people, although a larger room will be reserved if the committee is aware that more people will attend the oral.

The student must present the dissertation to the final examination committee for reading two weeks before the examination; in some cases it may be more reasonable to allow three weeks.

After the committee is appointed, the final examination takes place. The adviser obtains the Certificate of Results of Final Examination form from the department before the examination and returns the form immediately after the examination. The committee should meet in private before beginning the exam. The public cannot ask questions or give input during the exam. At the conclusion of the exam, the committee will meet in private to discuss the results and then inform the candidate of the decision.

All committee members’ signatures are required on three copies of the Certificate of Committee Approval form (two for the Graduate College and one for the department) and one Certificate of Results of Final Examination form (for the Graduate College). Committee members have the right to review the final copy of the dissertation before signing the forms. Only approved committee members may sign these forms. The student may request their signatures on additional approval forms.

Registration for Final Examination for Doctoral Degree

Information on registration requirements can be found on the Graduate College Web site under Requirements for Doctoral Degree.

Dissertation Deposit

After the final examination and format check, two copies of the dissertation and one extra copy of the dissertation abstract are deposited in the Graduate College Office. Students should note the deadline dates for each degree-granting period. At any time after degree requirements have been satisfied and the dissertation has been deposited, the student may request a Verification of Degree.

Students are not eligible to participate in commencement unless they have both defended and deposited the dissertation.