Ph.D. Examinations

1. Minor Fields

Ph.D. candidates are strongly encouraged to take at least one minor field examination by the end of the first year, and to complete the second minor exam by the end of their second year. All minor fields must be completed before the major field exam can be taken. Generally, the department recognizes two types of minor fields. The first is a teaching field. That is, passing a minor field in an area certifies, on a students' record and resume, that the student has mastered the literature and the major issues in another geographical or chronological field such that the student is qualified to teach in that area. (An example would be a minor field in modern Japanese history for an East Asian history student specializing in modern China; or Early Modern European history for a Modern Europeanist.) A second type of minor field is designed to familiarize a student with a range of theoretical, comparative and/or transnational issues, which will be useful in the formulation of a dissertation topic and future research in the student's major field. In some cases this minor field is pursued outside the department (in consultation with the student's adviser): an example might be a minor in the Department of Ethnic Studies for a student working on race and ethnicity in the U.S. In other cases, the student may identify a faculty member or series of faculty members within the department who focus on a particular theme, such as gender, citizenship or imperialism.

The minor field is defined by a reading lists agreed on by the student and the minor field adviser(s). As a guideline, the reading list should encompass about three quarters' worth of coursework (which may be taken up to three faculty members), and include about 50 titles, with 40-70 titles representing a reasonable range, depending on the combination of books and articles. The list is intended to establish what will be expected of the student and to prevent confusion over the material to be covered. The list should be finalized at the beginning of the quarter during which the student plans to complete the minor field.

Completion or evaluation of a minor field takes several forms, depending on the policies of different field groups or individual professors.
1) A one hour oral examination
2) A 3 hour or 24 hour take-home written exam
3) An "un-timed" synthetic essay, 25-30 pages, that organizes the scholarship of the field
4) 3 shorter papers (8-10 pages) encompassing 3 single quarter's worth of reading. This option is especially appropriate in cases where the student is working with more than one faculty member on a minor field.
5) Developing a course syllabus in the field.

Students who fail a minor field examination may petition the Graduate Committee for permission to sit for the examination again at any time during the following two quarters, as long as pre-candidacy time limits are not exceeded. A second failure results automatically in dismissal from the program.

2. The Major Field: Oral Qualifying Examination and Candidacy

Students are normally expected to take their qualifying examination no later than the spring of their third year of study (except as otherwise specified by the individual fields), and are required to do so within four years. Students must fulfill all course work, minor field, and language requirements before taking the qualifying examination. The qualifying examination is an oral test in the student's major field of study, conducted by at least five examiners. A minimum of three examiners must be members of the Department of History, and usually they will be in the student's major field. The fourth can be either a faculty member from inside the department but outside the major field, or someone from another department. The fifth must be a tenured faculty member in another department. The student's minor field adviser(s), whether inside the department or in another department, often serves in this "outside" capacity on the orals committee, although this is not required. Students should consult with their adviser about the composition of the examining committee well before their examination. In addition, the membership of the committee must be approved before the exam by the Department Chair and the Dean of Graduate Studies. The student must meet with the Graduate Coordinator at least 7 weeks prior to the orals date to arrange for the submission of this paperwork and for the scheduling of the exam.

The purpose of the major field oral examination is two-fold: 1) To evaluate the student's knowledge of the major research field and 2) to discuss the student's dissertation project (with the exception of the US field, which holds a separate meeting for this purpose, no later than two months after the exam).

The examination lasts between 2-3 hours, and is structured to give each of the five committee members an opportunity to ask questions of the student, based on the major field reading list. When the prospectus is also under discussion, usually the last half hour is reserved for this purpose. When the exam is over, the student leaves the room and the committee decides whether the student has passed the exam and advanced to candidacy.

a) The major field book list should be drawn up by the student in consultation with the faculty adviser, and should be finalized at least 30 days before the date of the exam. Each major field list will reflect the unique interests of the student, while also incorporating core themes of the field. Some field groups have formal core lists that may comprise a part of each student's total list, while others do not. In all cases, students are expected to organize their major field lists according to the specific themes/nations/issues that have informed their graduate study, since no major field list can be all-inclusive. The number of titles on a major field list should be around 100, with 80 to 120 titles representing a reasonable range. The date of the examination is determined by consultation between the candidate and the examining committee.

b) The discussion of the dissertation project will be framed by a 5-10 page prospectus written by the student and submitted to the committee with the book list, at least 3 weeks before the exam. The purpose of the discussion is to determine the feasibility of the scope of the project and to offer suggestions about source materials and research strategies.

Should a student fail the examination, the examining committee will clarify the weaknesses in the exam, so that the student can prepare to take it a second time. If a second oral examination is warranted, the department requires that it should be taken no later than one quarter after the first examination. If the student fails the oral examination a second time, his or her graduate studies in the department will be terminated.

An M.A. degree may also be awarded to continuing Ph.D. students upon successfully passing the oral qualifying examination. The M.A. is not automatically awarded; students must apply in advance to receive the degree. Students who wish to receive an M.A. degree as part of the Ph.D. program must apply for Master's degree candidacy by the end of the second week of the quarter in which they expect to receive the degree. Please see the Graduate Coordinator regarding this application.

The various requirements noted above apply to students who have done no previous graduate work in history. If a candidate has completed some graduate work before entering UCSD, appropriate adjustments in course work may be approved by general petition to the Graduate Committee. Nevertheless, all candidates are required to meet language requirements, pass field examinations, and complete and defend a dissertation.

3. The Dissertation

1) Research: While the dissertation is the student's principal concern beginning around the fourth year of graduate study, the student is well advised to begin thinking about a topic from his/her first year at UCSD. The research seminars are good venues to explore potential dissertation topics, and the summers of the first and second years can be used for preliminary research, including exploration of archival resources in the United States and abroad. Such early investigations will help in the preparation of a thesis prospectus and will be of special benefit to students who hope to compete for research fellowships in the third or fourth year of study. Most students spend a year--usually their fourth year--doing primary research, either in the field, in archives, or in libraries, depending on the nature of their sources and their location.

2) Writing the Dissertation: After completing all relevant examinations and language requirements, usually beginning in the fourth year, the student is expected to write a dissertation under the supervision of his/her faculty adviser and doctoral committee. The Department of History's guidelines for the dissertation are as follows:

It should:

• Represent an original and significant contribution to knowledge.
• Be based upon primary research.
• Clearly demonstrate the capacity of the student to pursue independent historical research.
• be written in clear and coherent prose.

The scope of the dissertation and its length will depend upon the nature of the problem and the documentation. The department encourages students to complete their research and writing by the end of their sixth year of study, although seven years is still within normal departmental expectations. The scope and and length of the dissertation should therefore be such that a complete project can be executed in no more than three or four years, but it should also be capable of further development for publication as a series of articles in scholarly journals, or as a book.

3) The Dissertation Defense: Students are expected to remain in contact with the members of their doctoral committee throughout the dissertation-writing process. The student may submit draft chapters to the members of their doctoral committee for preliminary suggestions, but the student is required to submit a final copy of the manuscript at least four weeks before the scheduled defense date to each member. At the beginning of the quarter in which the student expects to complete the dissertation, s/he should meet with the graduate coordinator to arrange the filing of the paperwork and the scheduling of the dissertation defense. At the dissertation defense, the student may make an introductory statement about the origins and evolution of the project, and then each of the five committee members has an opportunity to question the student on 1) the conceptualization of the dissertation 2) its theoretical framework 3) its use of evidence 4) its bibliography 5) its contribution to the field and 6) its potential for transformation into a publishable form. The defense lasts for 2 hours and is closed to the general public, although the student may invite specific individuals to attend.

The committee may recommend that the dissertation be approved without changes, in which case the student must simply prepare a final copy that meets the formal formatting requirements established by OGS. The committee may also recommend that the dissertation be approved with minor changes, subject to the oversight of the student's adviser. A third option is that the committee may recommend major revisions and re-submission, in which case the entire committee must be reconvened.

Guidelines for PhD Completion Chart and Program Time Limits