PhD in Information Student Resources

iSchool student

 
Resources for current PhD in Information students may be found here:

Advising

You will be assigned an advisor at the time of admission, but you may choose a different advisor as you progress in the program. You are expected to maintain regular contact with your advisor and should be prepared for each advising meeting. Please communicate with your advisor about any circumstances that may affect their progress in the program.

The director of graduate studies is also a resource for issues or concerns.

Academic Policies

You can find departmental, college and university-wide information related to academic programs, policies, and appeals on the General Catalog and Graduate College websites.

If you feel you have been treated unfairly, there are a number of resources available located in the Summary of Grievance Types and Responsible Parties and the Graduate Grievance Policy .

Title IX: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. The Dean of Students website offers many resources to assist if needed.

The Ombuds Program is in place to assist in effective communication, collaboration and conflict management.

It is your responsibility to be aware of and respond to all College of Information Science and Graduate College policies, requirements, formats and deadlines as they pertain to progression towards and completion of their degree. 

For additional policy information, please see: 

PhD Advisor

The student's PhD advisor is their guide and mentor. They will advise students, encourage them, promote their work and keep them on track. (Eventually, the PhD student may become more of an expert than their advisor in the student's chosen field.)

Students are assigned an advisor during their first year. Students may change advisors with college approval, but are required to always have an advisor in order to maintain satisfactory academic progress.

View College of Information Science Core Faculty

Annual Review

Students and their advisor will complete an annual review of student performance each academic year (typically in April). The annual review form should be submitted to the director of graduate studies for review.

The Graduate Committee reviews each student to ensure satisfactory academic progress. If the major advisor and the committee agree that progress is unsatisfactory, the student will be placed on internal academic probation. The student will then work with the advisor to create a one-year action plan to bring the student back to the expected performance level and get approval from the Graduate Committee. By the following academic review, the student must have successfully completed the action plan and made satisfactory academic progress to remain in the program.

Comprehensive Examinations

In general, we follow the Graduate College guidelines for comprehensive examinations, but have more specific requirements to maintain the high quality of the exams. Exams will involve the minor department to the degree required by that department. The minor cannot be the same as the major. The announcement of comps and their results are handled through the GradPath (see GradPath Forms).

Student options for the exam may vary depending on when they were admitted to the program. We recommend completing the Comprehensive Exam Cover Sheet with the major advisor and committee members to the areas to be covered on the exam.

Essay-Format Exam

An option for students who entered prior to Fall 2018 and the only option for all students who entered Fall 2018 or after:

Question-Based Exam

Option for students who entered prior to Fall 2018:

Dissertation Proposal & Defense

Once students have an approved doctoral Plan of Study on file; have satisfied all coursework, language and residence requirements; and have passed the written and oral portions of the Comprehensive Examination, they may appoint their dissertation committee for defense of the dissertation prospectus and final dissertation defense. 

This committee should include at least four faculty members. Two of these may come from outside of the College of Information Science and all must be tenured, tenure-track or other approved equivalent. Students follow Graduate College guidelines for special provision members. See the Graduate College guidelines on dissertation committees for additional information. 

To form the committee, students complete the Committee Appointment form through GradPath. Announcement of dissertation defense and its result are also handled through the GradPath. See GradPath forms.

Sample Dissertation Outline

  • Introduction
  • Literature Review
  • Theoretical Framework
  • Research Questions
  • Research Plan (Data, Methods, Evaluation, etc.)
  • Assessment of the Success of the Research/Risk Factors

Proposal Format

The written proposal is distributed to committee members in advance of the dissertation defense for multiple rounds of comments.

Oral Defense of Proposal

  • Lasts 1-3 hours
  • Includes a candidate presentation
  • Includes a question-and-answer session
  • Includes committee deliberation (closed to the public)
  • Is good practice for the dissertation defense

Approval of the proposal is recorded in GradPath.


Other Resources