Doctor of Philosophy Degree
The Ph.D. is a research degree requiring professional preparation and
implying a certain level of both knowledge and technical skill as a
historian. We view the training of a historian as an apprenticeship,
not as a period when one mechanically follows a set curriculum.
Therefore, the requirements for completing the degree will be
administered as flexibly as possible within the bounds of the general
university regulations. These requirements state that Ph.D. degrees
"will be awarded after successful completion of at least 90 semester
hours of advanced study and an original investigation reported in an
approved thesis." The University requires Ph.D. students to be in
residence a minimum of four semesters of full-time study.
Fields of study
Students pursuing a doctoral degree are expected to prepare
themselves in three fields of history. At least two of the three fields
must be in the student's major area of concentration (European, U.S.,
or other history). The third field must be in an area not included in
the first two fields; e.g., if the major area is European history the
third area must be in U.S. or other non-European history. If the major
area is U.S. history the third area must be in European or other
non-U.S. history. For some students, a field in a discipline other than
history is an appropriate choice. Students who wish to follow this
course should petition the Graduate Committee before the end of the
second semester.
In general it is expected that the student will prepare thoroughly
in the field taken with his or her advisor, and broadly in the other
two fields. Typically this means taking three courses per semester,
although students are expected also to prepare beyond these courses as
necessary for the qualifying examination. As part of this course work
students are required to take the "Intro. to Doctoral Studies" course
in their first year and no fewer than seven additional graduate
seminars before their qualifying examinations. Not all the additional
seven seminars have to be taken in the History Department. Graduate
students are discouraged from taking undergraduate courses for credit,
but where necessary they should audit such courses to fill in gaps in
their knowledge. When a student feels prepared for the qualifying exam,
has completed all necessary course and seminar work, and has passed the
required foreign language examinations, he or she should ask the
examination committee to set a date for the exam.
Language requirement
Before the beginning of the third semester of study, Ph.D. students
must pass an examination in their principal language of research or, if
the principle language of research is English, in one other language.
This is a minimum requirement. When research needs require it, students
may be asked to present one or more additional languages prior to
taking their qualifying examinations. Students will not be permitted to
take their qualifying examinations until they have satisfied their
language requirements. Language courses do not count in determining
minimum course load. The examination will be administered as follows:
the student's major professor, in consultation with the student, will
select a book or set of articles in the target language that is close
to the student's interest. After the student has had a reasonable
amount of time to review the material, she/he will be asked to
translate a randomly selected passage of about 500 words from the work
in question (or from a closely related work). The selection will be
made by the major professor or other qualified person. The graduate
studies coordinator will handle the mechanics of passing out the exam
etc. The student will have two hours with a dictionary to complete the
translation. The exam will be graded by the appropriate language
department.
Qualifying Examination
The Qualifying Examination for admission to candidacy will normally
be taken before the beginning of the fifth semester and must be taken
before the end of the sixth semester. The Qualifying Examination
consists of three three-hour written exams and a two-hour oral exam.
Students will answer one of two questions in each of the three
three-hour written exams. These written exams will be taken in the week
prior to the oral exam.
The examining committee will consist of three persons: the principal field examiner and two other field examiners.
In order to schedule the examinations, the student must have the
explicit approval of the principal field examiner and the other two
field examiners. Principal advisors may require three semesters of
work. Field examiners will normally require two semesters, except in
world history, which normally requires three. A form declaring the two
field examiners on the student's examination committee must be filed
with the Graduate Committee no later than the end of the second
semester of study.
The student will schedule his or her oral examination before the
beginning of the summer break following the fourth semester of
residency, with the exam taking place late in August. Each of the
examiners will prepare two questions for the written portion of the
qualifying examination and give them to the office staff before leaving
for the summer break. Students will answer one question posed by each
examiner. The student will take the exams during the week prior to the
oral examination.
The student's performance will be assessed on the Qualifying
Examination as a whole. The answers to the questions on the written
exam may provide the oral exam with its point of departure. The
conversation that develops during the oral exam will be as wide-ranging
or specific as the examiners think appropriate. The field examiners
will receive copies of each other's questions and copies of the
student's answers to all questions, but will pass judgment only on the
student's overall performance (both written and oral) in their
respective fields. The exam can have any one of four outcomes: pass
with distinction, pass, provisional pass, or fail. When examiners are
not satisfied with a student's performance, they may at their
discretion assign provisional pass and specify an additional phase of
the examination which may be oral, written, or both. After
re-evaluation, grades of provisional pass are to be converted either to
pass or fail within a time period specified by the exam committee.
Dissertation
After a student has passed the language examinations and the
qualifying examination, the student must have a dissertation committee
composed of three or more tenured or tenure track faculty members
approved by the Department's graduate committee; one member of this
committee must be the student's dissertation director, another must be
from within the department, and a third must be a Rice faculty member
from outside the History Department. As soon as the committee approves
the student's dissertation prospectus, the student must file a petition
for approval of candidacy for the Ph.D. with the Graduate Office (no
later than November 1 of the year preceding receipt of the degree). The
term "Ph.D. candidate" refers only to persons so certified by the
Graduate Office. The university requires that students pursuing the
Ph.D. must be approved for candidacy before the beginning of the ninth
semester of their residency at Rice.
Admission to candidacy also qualifies as completion of the
requirements for an Automatic Master of Arts degree. The Graduate
Studies Coordinator Students will contact the student with details and
deadlines.
Ph.D. candidates must present an original piece of scholarly work in
the form of a dissertation as the final step in completing the degree.
Dissertations may be written on any subject that falls within the
supervisory competence of a permanent member of the History Department,
and is approved by the supervising professor. This faculty member, who
will usually have been the student's advisor in the preparatory stages
prior to the oral examination, indicates his or her approval of the
proposed dissertation by signing the application for admission to
candidacy. A student engaged in full-time dissertation research should
be enrolled for 12 hours of credit per semester. Normally it takes a
minimum of four semesters to complete the dissertation. To take longer
is not unusual, especially if the student takes outside employment
during the interim, or if research in foreign countries is needed. At
some point before the defense of the dissertation, each graduate
student may be asked to present a discussion of his or her work to a
seminar of the faculty and graduate students.
Dissertation Defense
After completing the dissertation, the student must defend it in an
oral examination before his or her dissertation committee. Ph.D.
candidates should be careful to check with the Graduate Studies
Coordinator early in the year they intend to finish their degree to
receive the exact requirements for the format and technical details of
the dissertation, for the deadline for the oral defense, and for the
deadline for submission of the final text. It is extremely important to
ascertain these rules and deadlines accurately, since they are set by
the University Graduate Council and are absolute.
Deadlines
The department expects students to complete their dissertations
within four years after admission to candidacy. This deadline may be
extended if the student presents valid reasons in the form of an
acceptable petition to the departmental graduate committee.
The university sets absolute outside limits beyond the more
restrictive limits established by the History Department. According to
these rules, Ph.D. students must be approved for candidacy before the
beginning of the ninth semester of their residency, and defend their
theses no later than the end of the sixteenth semester. Masters
students must be approved for candidacy before the beginning of the
fifth semester of their residency at Rice. The university requires
Ph.D. students to complete their program, including thesis defense and
any leaves of absence, within ten years of matriculation. Masters
students are required to complete their program, including thesis
defense if any, within five years of initial enrollment. In both cases,
students have a limit of six months from the date of defense to deposit
their theses in the Office of Graduate Studies. These time bounds
include any period in which the student was not enrolled, for whatever
reason. Students are limited to two years of leave of absence. A
student who does not meet the relevant deadline will be dropped from
Rice.