Skill Requirement
The four Department Core Courses (above) will provide students with the basic skills required to conduct research in the discipline. In addition, the language and skill requirements may vary for each student in the PhD program. The student’s dissertation committee is responsible for ensuring that the student possesses the skills necessary for the dissertation research and may require additional research skills (e.g., languages, advanced statistics).
Comprehensive Examinations
Comprehensive examinations are scheduled each semester. Candidates will be examined either on two major fields of specialization, or one major and two minor fields. The exams will test understanding of the major concepts, methodology and literature encompassed by the program, and will consist of written questions and an oral examination. The comprehensive examinations may be taken only after the student has completed the Department Core Course Requirement, fulfilled major/minor field requirements, and submitted one satisfactory qualifying paper.
Doctoral Dissertation Requirement
After passing the comprehensive examinations, a student will nominate a dissertation committee, subject to the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies. The committee will consist of a chairperson and at least two other faculty members from within the department and one from outside. The dissertation proposal must be defended by the middle of the fifth month of the semester immediately following that in which the comprehensive exams are passed. Passage of the oral defense constitutes permission to proceed with the writing of the dissertation. Final approval of the dissertation rests with the dissertation committee, and involves both the approval of a reader drawn from the Graduate School faculty outside the department and an oral defense of the completed work.
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
1) Possess extensive knowledge of the academic research in at least two of the following four fields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and public law.
• Be able to identify, discuss, and apply key concepts and major theories.
• Demonstrate expert knowledge of the literature in two fields.
2) Be able to intellectually communicate their perspectives, critical assessments, empirical findings, and conclusions about political topics.
• Be able to explain and defend theoretical arguments and research findings clearly and effectively in writing.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate ideas clearly and persuasively in oral presentations.
• Be able to write a manuscript-length paper presenting a clear thesis supported by relevant research.
3) Demonstrate the analytical skills necessary to think critically about political, social, and economic behavior.
• Be able to identify and critically evaluate the theoretical arguments of scholarly research in political science.
• Demonstrate expertise in the ability to think theoretically about political phenomena and to analyze political ideas conceptually.
• Demonstrate the ability to draw logical inferences from qualitative and quantitative data and to correctly interpret statistical analyses of political behavior and outcomes.
4) Be able to conduct independent scientific research that makes an original contribution to the literature in political science.
• Develop the ability to build innovative theoretical models of political processes and decision-making.
• Demonstrate the ability to propose and test hypotheses about causal relationships in political science.
• Demonstrate the ability to design and execute a dissertation-length scientific investigation of the validity of an original theoretical argument.
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