KEY STAGES IN DOCTORAL STUDY

Stage One: Beginning

• Inquiry and admission process, including campus visit and interviews
• Reading or review of core introductory works to the field
• Consideration of possible scholarly agenda and dissertation committee members

Stage Two: Pre-Candidacy Coursework

• Completion of core coursework (36 credits) and elective (6 credits) coursework
• Cultivating doctoral expertise in selected scholarly literature, including completion of 
  candidacy examination bibliographies
• Doctoral candidacy examinations

Stage Three: Candidacy Dissertation Writing

• Dissertation proposal defense and start of the dissertation committee
• Completion of post-candidacy seminars (12 credits)
• Final dissertation defense and format approval for submission of dissertation to
  ProQuest