Politics Qualifying Examination.
The qualifying examination (QE) is required of all PhD students and is intended to demonstrate a student’s knowledge and competence in at least two of the program’s four areas of emphasis. The schedule and timeline for the QE process provides the student with a full year of research and writing without the obligation of teaching outside the university, thus motivating completion of the dissertation in a timely and reasonable manner. It also ensures that students will be in excellent shape to apply for intra- and extramural funding for fieldwork and other types of research support the fourth and fifth years. Under this arrangement, students are expected to complete the dissertation in five to six years.
Options and Timing: Politics graduate students are expected to complete the qualifying exam (QE) requirements for advancement toward ABD (all but dissertation) status during their third year in the program although, with the approval of the student's advisor and the Politics Graduate Committee, this can be done earlier by students with appropriate prior preparation (e.g., coursework taken during completion of an M.A. at another institution).
There are two options for meeting the QE requirements—exams (Option Y) or field statements (Option Z). Both take a year to complete and are intended to result in ABD status at the end of the third year. The student must select one of the two options, and notify the Department of this choice, no later than the second week of the Spring Quarter of his/her second year in the program. Whichever option the student selects, the QE process is completed by the submission of an approved dissertation prospectus at the end of Spring Quarter of the third year.
Research seminar: Students are required to enroll in a research seminar, for 2 units (Poli 295A), during the Spring Quarter of their second year. This seminar provides a setting in which the student can define and frame either their field statement topics or the areas to be addressed in their exams (see below). The student may, if s/he so chooses, to register for 5 units and begin to write the first of the two field statements in this seminar (Poli 295B).
Evaluation: All stages of the QE process are evaluated by a QE Committee composed of four faculty from the politics department, from a variety of areas (the QE Committee is not necessarily the same as the Graduate Committee). The student has two opportunities to pass the QEs, after which the student is asked to leave the program.
Bureaucratic Formalities: The necessary paperwork must be submitted in order to proceed with the QE and advance to candidacy. Please consult with the graduate assistant on these matters.
OPTION Y: QE EXAMS
The QE exams are structured in form and content to allow students to obtain 1) the teaching credentials that they need (as many will need to teach starting ABD), and 2) the foundation needed to move onto their dissertation. The exam option proceeds in two steps: the First Qualifying Exam and the
Dissertation Literature Exam
. The timeline for completion of exams is as follows:
First Qualifying Exam: In this exam, students must display knowledge and the ability to develop arguments that integrate across two emphases, thereby attesting to competence in them. During the Spring Quarter of their second year, students selecting Option Y must also indicate the two emphases to be integrated in their exam. This exam is designed to explicitly to avoid reification of the PhD Program’s four areas of emphasis (as reflected in the four core courses). It is a 72-hour take-home exam.
The reading list for preparation will consist of assigned materials from the appropriate core courses plus a supplemental, but broader, reading list of about 40 books and articles. The supplemental lists will be compiled by faculty who teach and work in the specific emphases, and are meant to provide continuity in coverage as faculty rotate in teaching core courses.
The exam will be evaluated by the QE Committee on the basis of the student’s 1) critical and scholarly integration of the questions into coherent essays; and 2) demonstrated familiarity with the materials on the reading lists.
Dissertation Literature Exam: In this exam, students must address a literature relevant to their dissertation plans. It is also a 72-hour take-home exam.
The reading list for this exam should be quite general, address a “problematic,” and need not fit either traditional political science fields nor the PhD Program’s emphases. This is not a prospectus. Such a problematic could, for example, draw on the following general areas, within which the empirical or theoretical problem or issue may be broadly defined: gender and politics, global governance, nationalism, citizenship and democracy, immigration, culture, power and politics, political economy, race and ethnicity, specific geographic areas, and comparative studies.
For this exam, the student will work with the two politics faculty to devise an appropriate bibliography and set of exam questions. Preparation for this exam can be the beginning of a longer conversation that offers an ideal background for the development of specific dissertation questions and the prospectus (see “Dissertation,” below).
The exam will be evaluated by the QE Committee on the basis of the comprehensiveness and argumentation presented in the responses to the questions, and the inclusion of a critique of lacunae in the literatures as well as discussion of how such gaps could be addressed. Should the QE Committee judge the work to be “not passing”, it will provide a brief explanation of the reasons for this judgment.
OPTION Z: QE FIELD STATEMENTS
In this option, the QE process is based on two written field statements, each approximately 35 pages in length. In the field statements, the student should demonstrate competence in the literatures and intellectual debates about significant political issues relevant to at least two of the programs’ four emphases and the prospective dissertation. A field statement must be more than just a summation or description of relevant literature or a reading list; it should provide analysis, critical argument, and discussion of key themes and suggest critiques and alternative approaches, where appropriate. Ideally, students ought to be able to generate a course syllabus and/or annotated bibliography from the field statement.
This option is structured in form and content to allow students to obtain 1) the teaching credentials that they need (as many will need to teach starting ABD), and 2) the foundation needed to move onto their dissertation. Option Z proceeds in two steps: the Emphases-based field statement and the Dissertation literature field statement. The timeline for completion of the field statements is as follows:
- Emphases-based field statement must be completed by the end of Fall Quarter of the student’s third year in the program;
- Dissertation literature field statement must be completed by the end of the Winter Quarter of the student’s third year in the program.
The emphases-based field statement is intended to integrate across two or more of the PhD Program’s emphases. During the Spring Quarter of their second year, students selecting Option Z must also indicate which emphases are to be integrated in their first field statement. The field statement will be based on two or more reading lists that consist of assigned materials from the appropriate core courses plus a supplemental, but broader, reading list of about 40 books and articles. The supplemental lists will be compiled by faculty who teach and work in the specific emphases, and are meant to provide continuity in coverage as faculty rotate in teaching core courses.
Students are encouraged, in particular, to write this field statement with a particular topic or problematic in mind, which need not be related to the dissertation. They should also assess the shortcomings and lacunae of the bodies of literature addressed as they might relate to this topic or problematic (for further details, please see the Department’s handout on QE field statements).
The second field statement should address a thesis-oriented problematic and provide a literature review in preparation for the prospectus and thesis.
The dissertation literature field statement should be in the nature of a problem statement and literature review in preparation for the prospectus and thesis. Such a problematic could, for example, draw on the following general areas, within which the empirical or theoretical problem or issue may be broadly defined: gender and politics, global governance, nationalism, citizenship and democracy, immigration, culture, power and politics, political economy, race and ethnicity, specific geographic areas, and comparative studies.
For this field statement, the student will work with two Politics faculty (who are likely also to be members of the student’s thesis committee) to devise an appropriate problematic and a preliminary bibliography. This focus may be developed in conjunction with directed reading courses or in the Spring research seminar, although students are permitted to prepare them independently. In the latter case, the student will be expected to consult regularly with her/his advisor about the substance of the second field statement.
Review procedure: Each field statement will be reviewed by sponsor faculty and, if deemed satisfactory, forwarded to the QE Committee by the end of the second week of the quarter following the one in which it was submitted. The Committee will then have four weeks to provide comments to the student, and the student then has two weeks to respond to those comments, if s/he chooses to do so. There is no requirement that a student reply to each and every comment, but issues not so addressed can become part of the question and answer portion of the examination.
Dissertation prospectus
Every candidate for the Ph.D. must submit a dissertation prospectus by the end of their third year of residence at UCSC or the end of the quarter after completing the QE process, whichever comes later. Students who have not submitted prospectuses by the second quarter following QEs will receive the lowest priority for financial support, unless an extension has been granted by the Politics Graduate Committee.
After approval of the prospectus by the QE Committee, the student will be judged to have passed the department’s qualifying requirements and will be ABD.
Although many aspects of the dissertation may change as research progresses, the prospectus provides the candidate with a “road map”. It provides an opportunity for members of the Department to help sharpen her/his approach, suggest sources of information, and help minimize the chance of research duplication. It also provides the candidate with the chance to describe the dissertation project and get feedback from political scientists who include both specialists and non-specialists in his/her field, which can prove useful in clarifying the project and applying for research funding. By submitting a prospectus, the candidate can receive a commitment from the Department on the scope and orientation of the dissertation before she/he has undertaken the major research effort.
The prospectus shall be approximately 15 pages and set forth (not necessarily in this order):
- The political problem the student wishes to address.
- The specific questions he/she plans to examine.
- The significance of the research for larger theoretical and political concerns in the study of politics.
- The research strategy and methodology she/he intends to use.
- The principal sources that are available.
- The qualifications or limitations that may attend the results, and a projected timetable for completing the dissertation.
- A proposed table of contents and a bibliography.
The student shall prepare the prospectus in consultation with two members of the department who agree to serve as co-sponsors and prospective members of the student’s dissertation committee (a third sponsor from within or outside the department may be added). The two sponsors’ written approval is necessary before the prospectus can be submitted to the QE Committee. Students shall submit their prospectus together with both sponsors’ approval in writing to the graduate assistant by deadlines set by the department, towards the end of the Spring, Fall and Winter quarters. The prospectus is then reviewed by the QE Committee.
The prospectus will be defended by the candidate in an oral examination before the QE Committee approximately two weeks after submission. At least one sponsor should be present for the prospectus defense. Following the exam and discussion of the prospectus, the QE Committee will write the candidate and sponsors enumerating the points raised. The prospectus defense is a conversation that the student has on his/her dissertation plans with politics faculty who are not (necessarily) specialists in the field. It does not substitute the conversation that the student has with the advisors, who have followed the development of the prospectus, signed it off for examination, and then follow the student in dissertation research. It is a conversation intended to offer the perspective of politics faculty from different fields – hence enriching in its own - but different - way.
Three outcomes are possible:
- 1. The QE Committee may approve the prospectus, perhaps with additional clarification of specific points;
- 2. If the QE Committee finds that more extensive work is needed to produce an adequate prospectus, it may request that the student revise and resubmit the prospectus; or
- 3. If the QE Committee finds that the project is not feasible or has already been carried out by others, it may recommend that the project be abandoned. In this case, the student will be required to prepare a new prospectus.
The approved prospectus must be filed with the department's graduate assistant.
