Preliminary Oral Examination and Program of Work

To make satisfactory progress towards a PhD the student should complete the Preliminary Oral Examination after 24-36 months (2-3 years) in residence. One of the big mistakes students make is to wait too long to complete the Preliminary Oral Exam. The right time to do it is as soon as you have sufficient results that you can see light at the end of the tunnel (e.g. you know what you need to do to finish your dissertation). Your Preliminary Oral Exam is not necessarily tied to your admission to candidacy, unless your supervisor makes it one. Therefore, do not feel that you must be in candidacy to complete your Prelims, or that you cannot apply to candidacy until your Prelims are complete.

 The purpose of this examination is to determine the student's grasp of their research problem and to assess future work and goals. The proposal should be approximately 10 double-spaced pages (exclusive of appendices). Copies of this proposal should be submitted to members of your committee at least two weeks before the oral presentation is to be made. This proposal should contain:

•  A description of the problem the objectives of the research

• The proposed methods of conducting the research

• Preliminary results

• The methods of analyzing the data resulting from the research

• Proposed research required to complete the dissertation

• A proposed timeline for completing the dissertation

 Along with the proposal, the student must submit to the committee 1) a Preliminary Oral Exam form, 2) a Doctoral Program of Work and 3) the Learning Outcomes form.

We recommend completing the DocuSign version on the day of your exam, shortly before the exam begins. The Program of Work is a document of the courses you have taken, additional courses that you plan to take, and your prospective dissertation title. There is a minimum requirement of 30 coursework hours for the PhD degree, which includes Dissertation hours, and can be found on your UT Direct under “Graduate Degree Planner”. The student should consult with the supervising professor about the details of the written proposal, the oral presentation, and any proposed coursework (other than dissertation).

The Preliminary Oral Exam will consist of three parts, plus the Program of Work. First the student will submit a short-written summary of proposed research and then present a 30-minute presentation on the proposed research. This will be followed by a question-and-answer session on the research program meant to test the student on his/her fundamental understanding of the fields pertinent to the research.

Following the Preliminary Oral Exam, the Dissertation Committee will deliberate and determine whether the student has an adequate plan for proceeding with his/her proposed research. If the Dissertation Committee feels that a major revision of the plan is needed, a re-examination will be scheduled. The Dissertation Committee will also carefully review the Program of Work and determine if any additional courses should be required.

 The Dissertation Committee determines whether the research topic is appropriate and if the plan of action is adequate. In effect, they are agreeing that if the student executes this program successfully, it should lead to an acceptable dissertation. In addition, the committee is there to advise the student about any difficulties they can foresee with the research plan and to recommend any suggestions that would help the student achieve maximum success in the research. For this reason, it is essential that the student is completely honest and forthcoming about his/her proposed research.

 At the Preliminary Oral, the Dissertation Committee will reach an agreement with the student at the end of the exam regarding the coursework that will be suitable for their PhD, the committee signs the Preliminary Oral Exam form. This form, as well as the completed Program of Work and Learning Outcomes forms, will be turned into (i.e. emailed) to the Graduate Program Coordinator with all the committee members’ printed names and signatures.