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Comprehensive Exams

PhD Comprehensive Exams

The departmental aim is for PhD students to take their exams and advance to candidacy at the end of Year 3. The exam is meant to demonstrate knowledge skills that are vital to the successful completion of one’s proposed dissertational research. These include: a clear articulation of the problem to be investigated; proficiency in the relevant literature; knowledge and a well-designed plan of relevant methods, including competency in the field-language of their research. At the point of their written and oral exams, students will be assessed on these points and given a cumulative judgement of passing, passing with revisions, or unsatisfactory. ‘Passing’ will allow the student to advance to candidacy. ‘Passing with revisions’ will afford the student one semester to resubmit their proposal and exams. ‘Unsatisfactory’ will trigger an “F” grade for their 994 course, effectively ending their time in the program.

Prior to their exam, students in all subfields should submit to their committee the following:

Proposal of Dissertational Research

The formal proposal charts the direction and details of student’s intended dissertational research. Typically it is an expanded version of a proposal they have used to apply for research funding. The department dissertation proposal should clearly articulate:

  • an overview of the context and research questions to be investigated
  • a review of the relevant scholarly literature
  • a detailed discussion of the research methods to be deployed
  • a statement of the student’s relevant experience and credentials

Additional Documents

Students should submit, along with their proposal, the following:

  • a current CV
  • IRB Approval: A statement noting the date of approval of the proposal by the University’s Institutional Review Board on the Use of Human Subjects in Research. If approval is pending, that should be noted. IRB applications should be submitted well in advance of the examinations.
  • Statement of Language Competency: Students should include a short (one-page) statement explaining their training and proficiency in the field-language of their dissertational study. The departmental policy on language competency is stated below.

Language Competency

Ensuring competency in one’s field-language is an important facet of anthropological research. Students, in collaboration with their committee, will ensure these needs are met at the time a student advances to candidacy. This is considered a requirement for advancing to candidacy and will be adjudicated by the student’s committee, who should have experience in the appropriate world area. In the event the committee is not qualified to assess the student’s proficiency in their field-language, a third-party source may be consulted to assess proficiency.

Comprehensive Exam Requirements by Subfield

The exam process is designed to reflect actual practices of scholars in their respective subfields. The exam involves written and oral components, as well as the review of attending materials like one’s dissertation proposal. The exam structure and sequences by subfield are as follows:

Archaeology Exam

In Year 3, an archaeology student will compile three reading lists, in consultation with their advisor. A list may emphasize a theoretical framework, methodology, region or culture, or time period. Topics should be chosen that will further the student’s dissertation research, as expressed in their dissertation proposal. These lists, and the dissertation proposal, will form the basis for a series of questions that the student will have 2 weeks to answer. The number of questions should not exceed 6. No answer should exceed 5000 words. Answers should not directly pull text from the dissertation proposal but should address the questions in a thoughtful, novel manner. Students should take their exams in Year 3 or 4. The goal of the PhD Exam is to stress-test the dissertation proposal. Exam questions should focus on problems like fitting data to models, explicating methods, or addressing specific theoretical problems and should not involve pasting text from the dissertation proposal.

Biological Anthropology Exam

In the fall semester of Year 3, students should submit a reading list and 1200-word research prospectus to their committee. The prospectus should be divided into at least 3 areas with a paragraph providing their rationale (for example, theory, methods, area (subject and/or geographic)). The committee will provide feedback and approve the student to proceed to the PhD examinations. Students will then submit their dissertation proposal to the committee to schedule their oral exams by the end of the third year. For the examinations the committee will generate questions based on the agreed reading list and proposal. The chair, with the committee, will develop questions and provide them to the student, who will have a 5-day period to complete the exam. Students will be provided with a word limit (approximately 2500 words excluding references). It is recommended that students spend 2 days preparing and 3 days writing (1 question/day). The committee will consider the reading list, prospectus and proposal, written and oral examinations, and all other departmental requirements before approving admission to candidacy. The exam is meant to evaluate depth of knowledge, command of theoretical and empirical basis of the area of expertise, and training in appropriate methodology.

Sociocultural Anthropology Exam

Taken at the end of Year 3, the comprehensive exams for students in sociocultural anthropology will assess the products created through the following three step process: At the end of their fourth semester, they will submit their Research Development Essay (discussed previously) to their committee and begin collaboratively formulating their reading lists. In their fifth semester, they will further develop their project through a fifteen to twenty-page review of literature relevant to their proposed dissertational research. In their sixth semester, they will submit and defend their department dissertation proposal. These three documents (research development essay, literature review, final proposal) will be assessed as a set during their oral exams with their committee, with particular attention to the student’s development through the program and their specific preparation (concerning research design literature, methods, language, etc) for their proposed dissertational research. This mode of evaluation focuses on the broad scholarly development of the student while directing them toward the specific demands of their project. The evaluation, moreover, models necessary skills that students will employ throughout their professional careers.

Announcement of Exams

The time and place of the written and oral examinations will be announced by memorandum to the entire department at least two weeks in advance of the scheduled date of the examinations (see Appendix F for the suggested form for the covering memo to accompany the documents preceding the exams). PhD examinations will not be held between Fall and Spring semesters, or during the summer, scheduled holiday periods or within-semester breaks, except with the prior, unanimous consent of the faculty. It should be noted that the faculty almost never grant exceptions to this policy. Permission of the full faculty is needed for a student to go beyond the eighth semester in the program without having taken the exams.

Administering and Reporting Exams

It is the responsibility of the chairperson of the dissertation committee to submit the required forms and administer the exam.

Exam questions, responses, and attending documents should be put on file in the departmental office. Any non-committee member who wishes to attend the oral examination must inform the committee chairperson within one week of the exam. It is expected that the committee will consider both written and oral performance in reaching its final evaluation of the student. The student will be expected to defend any answer on the written examination with which faculty members were dissatisfied and to be examined on their working knowledge of fields relevant to their proposed research. The oral examination also includes an evaluation of the quality and feasibility of the student’s dissertation proposal.

The committee chairperson will report the results of the written and oral examinations to the Departmental Chairperson as promptly as possible, and the latter will arrange to have the results of the examination reported to the entire department. It is also the committee chairperson’s responsibility to submit, in duplicate, the Doctoral Exam Report form.

Following successful completion of the written and oral examinations, the student should fill out the top half of the Application for Admission to Candidacy in duplicate, and give these forms to his or her committee chairperson. The committee chairperson should fill in the requested information concerning language requirements, verify that all other requirements have been met, and pass the forms to the Director of Graduate Studies, who is to sign them and forward one copy to the Graduate School.