Comprehensive Examination for Ph.D Students
Comprehensive examinations are required by the Faculty of Graduate Studies in all Ph.D. programs. These are typically written over the course of two to four months at the conclusion of the student's coursework and prior to approval of the dissertation proposal. The comprehensive examination for the Ph.D. degree in the Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education entails the preparation of scholarly papers that deal with important and far-reaching questions and related primary sources selected from across the student's program of studies. Typically, one (or two) paper will address scholarly constructs and questions relevant to the explicit academic focus of the proposed dissertation and one will address scholarly constructs and questions to the research methodology. The dissertation committee will decide whether the students' programmatic needs will be best served with (a) the preparation of two or three comprehensive papers and (b) the particular content focus of each of the two or three papers. Coming at the end of the student's coursework, and before the heavily specialized research of the proposal and dissertation, the papers should pursue a more comprehensive goal, in a critical fashion, taking on one or more of the leading questions at the intersection of policy, theory, research, and practice for both areas. One model that might guide students in writing these papers is the scholarly journal Essay Review article that, rather than present the results of an empirical research project, seeks to advance knowledge within a specified field of inquiry by contributing an engaged and systematic scholarly analysis. The first step in the Comprehensives process is for the student to seek approval from their dissertation committee, of a set of questions and related reading lists, to lay out the conceptual and bibliographic scope of the comprehensive papers.
While the actual time frame for writing the papers is decided by the student and her/his supervisory committee, the specific date for submitting the two (or three) papers to the committee must be registered with the Centre's Director at least one month prior to the submission deadline. In preparing the papers, students work with their committee to develop a) a general issue or question that will provide the focus of the argument within each paper and b) a preliminary reading list of key works in the area of 10 or so items for each of the papers. After this initial period of consultation and topic development, students complete the papers independently of the faculty members who are to examine the resulting work. The papers should have the format and length of a typical academic article (5000 - 7000 words).
Within three weeks of submitting the papers, the supervisor will schedule a meeting of the supervisory committee and student to discuss the two (or three) papers. The committee may request that the student revise one or more of the papers before evaluating the comprehensive examination on a Pass/Fail basis. The student has the right to appeal the committee's decision through the Centre's Director. The committee submits the completed Comprehensive Examination Form and the student's two papers to the Office of the Director. The Faculty of Graduate Studies is notified with the appropriate form and signatures. Back to Graduate Info
Thesis (M.A., Ph.D.)"
There are a number of guidebooks to thesis and dissertation writing available in the University bookstore. Instructions for the Preparation of Graduate Thesis is available from the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The conceptualization of the project should be done in close consultation with the student's advisor and committee. All research involving human subjects has to receive approval by following the procedures outlined in the Ethical Review of Activities Involving Human Subjects in Questionnaires, Interviews, Observations, Testing, Video and Audio Tapes etc., available from the Office of Graduate Programs and Research. Given the variety of disciplines in which students work we do not insist on a single style guide for scholarly writing, although we do recommend the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th Ed.) as one that is used by many of the professional journals in education. In the writing of the thesis and course papers, students are expected to avoid the use of sexist language and biased research designs. To that end, students are advised to consult On the Treatment of the Sexes in Research by Jeanne Lapointe & Margrit Eichler and the Publication Manual of the APA. Back to Graduate Info
M.Ed Graduating Paper (CCFI 590)
The graduating paper demonstrates a substantial examination of a topic relevant to the student’s program. Its scope should be roughly equivalent to the amount of work produced for two 500-level 3-credit courses in the Faculty, and will be proportionately less than that of the six-credit M.A. Thesis. Appropriate topics can be drawn from any aspect of the student's graduate program or professional experience and plans, and will tend to be oriented to problems and issues of professional practice in Education. Topics need not be original contributions to knowledge, but can, for example, be the application of knowledge to the field, development of instructional practices or resources, evaluations of practices or resources, critical essays, critical analyses of problems or issues, policy analysis or development, surveys, creative works, documentary work, and other types of projects negotiated with the supervisory committee. In all cases, the scope of the Graduating Paper need not include all of the requirements of the social science research report as described in standard guidebooks to educational research. The Graduating Paper is typically not as comprehensively conceptualized as the M.A. Thesis. Some, but not all of the regularly accepted requirements of methodological rigour will apply equally to the Graduating Paper, because of its limited scope and distinct aims.
The student's supervisor will discuss the criteria to be employed when judging the acceptability of any Graduating Paper; those criteria will be appropriate to the specific nature and aims of the exercise undertaken. The topic and format of the Graduating Paper should be recorded on the CCFI 590 (Graduating Paper) Proposal form
The format of the Graduating Paper is normally that of a written report (submitted in a 3-ring or coil binding). In certain cases, other formats and media will be more appropriate, and these matters will be negotiated as part of the topic approval process. Back to Graduate Info
