A. An Overview. The comprehensive examination process is designed to integrate coursework and learning with sequential progress through the Ph.D. program and the dissertation. All students will be required to pass examinations in both tool areas (theory and methods) as well as in one of the two substantive areas (Crime & Justice or Law & Society/Psych-Law). Foundation take-home essay exams for both tool areas will ordinarily be taken in the semester after the respective required tool courses are completed. The area examination process will also consist of take-home essays. The theory, methods, and area exams are open book/open note.
Department-appointed examination committees will be responsible for evaluating the tool foundation exams and the take-home essays in the substantive areas. While preparing for the substantive area exam formats, the student may enroll in one of the research sections, CCJ 6910 or CCJ 7979.
After the comprehensive examinations are passed by the respective examination committees, students will need to pass an oral hearing conducted by their respective supervisory committees and have a dissertation topic approved in order to be admitted into candidacy by the Graduate School.
B. The Tool Foundation Take-home Essays. Students will take Tool Take-home Essays at two different times, one time testing theory and one time testing methods. The exams are comprehensive in that students are expected to read and learn beyond course material. Students should consult with faculty when developing their reading lists and choosing material to study.
For the tool exam, separate readers will grade for the method questions and the theory questions (although some readers may be assigned to both). The respective tool essays should be taken in the term following completion of the required coursework for the tool area. For theory, most students will be expected to take the Foundation Take-home Essays for the first time as early as April of their first year but no later than the fall of their second year. For methods, students will be expected to complete the Foundation Take-home Essays for the first time in the term following the completion of the last course in the methods sequence, as early as April of their second year but no later than fall of their third year.
For both the theory and methods Foundation Take-home Essays, the student will have to answer two questions over three days. The student will have the exam beginning Thursday at 8:00am and should turn it in Saturday at 11:59pm. The days will be announced in advance. The maximum length for each answer will be 12 double-spaced typed pages, excluding references, using 12 point font (Times New Roman, Calibri) and 1 inch margins.
C. The Area Take-home Essays. For the Area Take-home Essays, the students will have to answer two questions over three days. The student will have the exam beginning Thursday at 8:00am and should turn it in by Saturday at 11:59pm. The days will be announced in advance. The maximum length for each answer will be 12 double-spaced typed pages, excluding references, using 12 point font (Times New Roman, Calibri) and 1 inch margins.
D. Oral Hearing for Admission to Candidacy. The graduate school requires a satisfactory defense at an oral hearing and the approval of a dissertation topic by a student’s supervisory committee for admission to candidacy. Students may move to that hearing in one of three ways. They may develop a dissertation grant proposal for funding; they may prepare an IRB proposal for their dissertation research; or they may complete their dissertation proposal. Selecting the last option can allow students to satisfy the graduate school requirement for candidacy and the departmental requirement for successfully defending their dissertation proposal simultaneously. The other options allow students to move to candidacy and can serve as a stepping stone for the dissertation proposal, but neither will satisfy the departmental requirement for the successful defense of a dissertation proposal. That will have to be separately scheduled for a later date. The format and length of the IRB proposal or grant proposal options will be determined in consultation with the dissertation advisory committee.
E. The Timing for Taking Comprehensive Exams and Oral Exam for Admission to Candidacy. Students are encouraged to take comprehensive examinations as soon as they can, followed by the graduate school oral hearing for admission to candidacy. Students are expected to work with their supervisory chair to specify the timing of their exams as part of their plan of study. The timing should take into consideration timely progress toward the Ph.D., the time that is likely to be required to complete the dissertation, and their prospects for funding until the dissertation is finished.
- Tool Exams. Ordinarily, incoming students should pass the written theory exam in the spring term after their fall admission into the program. Students should target to pass the written stat/methods tool exam in the term (usually the spring semester of their second year) following completion of the required methods sequence.
- Area Exams. The target for completing the written area exams should be before the midpoint (January) of the third year after admission into the program so they have time to do their dissertations. At a minimum, the area exams should be scheduled so they have at least one year to prepare and defend their dissertation after they pass the exams.
- Admission to Candidacy Oral Hearing. Students are expected to hold the oral hearing for admission to candidacy after passing their written tool and area examinations. Ordinarily this would occur by the spring of their third year.
F. Other Procedural Matters
- Appointed Examination Committees: The respective tool and area grading/examination committees will consist of three CLS graduate faculty members. The members are appointed for a two-year term by the area faculty. One faculty member will serve as chair of each committee, and one CLS faculty member will coordinate the exams.
- Take-home Exam Offerings: The Take-home Essays will be provided three times a year—at the beginning of the fall and spring terms and at the end of the spring term. The essay questions will be posted in Canvas and answers will need to be submitted in Canvas.
- Grading and Oral Hearing on Take-home Essay Exams: The student will be notified of the outcome within three weeks of turning in the respective exam by the grading/examination committee chair. Each appointed committee member submits a written grade for each exam question along with reasons to the committee chair who compiles the inputs. In addition, each grader submits an indication of whether or not an oral exam or remediation should be required to address concerns about the student’s answers on that particular exam. The chair of the grading/examination committee, in consultation with the members, will provide the outcome and comments to the student and the students’ supervisory committee chair. The four possible grades for the written take-home exams are listed below:
- Pass with Distinction: The student passes all questions and the grading/examination committee considers the answers to be outstanding. The student earns a passing grade on the exam and can continue to study for the next exam (or if they are completed may defend her/his the qualifying dissertation paper).
- Pass: The student passes all questions and the grading/examination committee considers the answers to be adequate. The student earns a passing grade on the exam and can continue to study for the next comprehensive exam (or if they are completed may defend her/his qualifying dissertation paper.
- Remediation, Written and/or Oral: Based on the reading of the exam, the grading/examination committee determines the student needs to remediate the exam. A committee may determine that an oral hearing may be sufficient to clear up problems or may require written remediation.
If an oral hearing is required, the grading committee may require an oral examination on the comprehensive exam answers to allow the student to elaborate on the answers given on the written exam. An oral hearing may be conducted either with or without a written remediation. To pass the exam, the student will need to successfully complete the oral hearing conducted by the exam grading committee. If the oral hearing is not successful, the student will fail the exam and will have only one other opportunity to take the exam. The hearing will be scheduled within 30 days from the date that the exam results are delivered to the student. The grading committee and the student’s supervisory committee chair will conduct the exam, although other faculty members are welcome to attend.
A written remediation will consist of writing a seminar-style paper that addresses areas of weakness identified from the exam; the paper’s topic will be assigned by the comprehensive exam committee. The paper will be due no later than four weeks from the date that the remediation assignment is delivered to the student and will be graded by the grading/examination committee members within three weeks of its receipt. If the student fails this remediation, the student will fail the overall exam and will have only one other opportunity to retake the overall exam. If the student passes the remediation, and the committee has not indicated that an oral exam is necessary, then the student passes the exam.
- Fail: If the student fails both questions, the student fails the exam and must retake it. To allow for additional preparation, re-testing (see below) should occur the next time that the exam is officially offered by the department (see above).
- Re-testing. Only one re-examination is permitted for each written exam (theory, methods, and area) during the process. Each student should be notified of the results through email. The supervisory committee chair, graduate coordinator, and graduate program assistant must also be notified. In addition, a record of the results of each comprehensive exam should be placed in the student’s file by the comprehensive exam committee chair.
- DRC Accommodations. Students needing accommodations for any step in the comprehensive examination process are required to obtain DRC documentation before starting that step of the process. For information, go to: https://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc.
G. Dissertation Proposal. The dissertation proposal shall be of the length and organization as determined by the supervisory committee, and should be sufficient to communicate satisfactorily an understanding of the literature and background of the theoretical and empirical issues and present a feasible and appropriate methodology for the project. A copy of the proposal must be made available for faculty inspection. Notice of the proposal hearing must be given to the Graduate Coordinator and department members at least 10 working days prior to the date of the hearing. As discussed in Section D above, the dissertation proposal can be the vehicle for admission to candidacy, in which case Graduate School rules of notice also apply. Students who use either a research proposal or IRB proposal for admission to candidacy are expected to build their work into a dissertation proposal and successfully defend it at an oral hearing conducted by the Ph.D. supervisory committee. When either a research or IRB proposal has been used for admission to candidacy, the dissertation proposal will ordinarily be defended in the semester after admission to candidacy. Dissertation hearings are not ordinarily scheduled during the summer. All members of the department are invited to attend the proposal hearing.
H. Effective Date. These policies and procedures become effective for the admission class matriculating in the 2020-21 academic year.