Degree requirements

The minimum length of a PhD at NTU GIL is 3 years, and the maximum 7 years, although the shortest duration might be somewhat closer to 4.5 years, and the longest exceeding 9 (two years of 休學 ‘temporary rest from school’).

As can be seen in the accompanying figure, there are 5 milestones that you will go through from start to finish.

Milestone 1: Credits

Milestone 1 concerns study credits. As a PhD student you need to take 27 credits. The only really required course is Basic Issues of Cognitive Science. Next, if you haven’t taken any Phonology and/or Syntax before (so it can be waived), you need to take those as well. Further, you need to choose to either take Fieldwork or Statistics — but you can also take both.

When taking classes in the three-year period that is allowed for it, you need to take at least 12 credits in the linguistic area of your major, and 6 in that of your minor.

It is advised to not go over 15 credits per semester, with an ideal amount of 9 to 12 in the beginning. This means that I strongly suggest a heavy first semester and year, which allows for lighter subsequent years when you need to focus on your own original research.

This is also the period where you have to absorb as much literature as possible to gain a solid foundation in your area of interest, as well as develop skills for note taking and bibliography. I is strongly recommend that you use a citation manager like endnote / Zotero, and a note taking app or book, that allows your future you to revisit your notes and get quickly get an idea what a certain paper or book was about.

Milestone 2: QPPQ (see also here in Chinese)

The hardest milestone to reach in our institute is that of becoming a candidate. This is done by publishing (at least) two articles: 1 in a first tiered journal, and 1 in a second or first tiered journal. Book chapters may also count, if your adviser agrees with it. You have to be the single or first author for it to count.

After obtaining the second acceptance, you should submit these to the GIL faculty meeting, held at least twice per semester, where it can be decided if you qualify for the status of candidate.

Since QPPQ is the hardest step, it is strongly advised to begin sooner (perhaps semester 2 of the first year) to work on your research, identifying a target journal etc. In the past, this has been the step where most PhD students got stuck for a while. This step is not bound to time (except the 7 year limit of course), but the sooner you are done with it, the better.

You may have noticed that there are no requirements of conference presentations. At NTU GIL the MA degree requires at least one conference presentation (poster or oral); but for the PhD degree it is assumed that you also participate in conferences, in order to improve your research and to network.

So what I have done in the past is working on a term paper for a class, developing it for a conference, and subsequently submit it to a journal for publication. This is a way to improve the solidity of your argument, although other ways certainly exist.

Milestone 3: Proposal

After you become a candidate (technically, the day after) you can present the first outline and draft of your dissertation. There are no clear-cut guidelines on what should be present in this proposal, but most advisers will agree on the identification of a research gap in the literature, the research questions that follow from this, methodology and data and tentative results and implications. Make sure you stress what your original contribution to the knowledge in this field is.

The committee of the proposal consists of at least 5 academics, of which at least one has to be from a different institution (can be international as well, but then videochat is used during this defense). These 5 (adviser + 4 others) are usually contacted by the student — which for me was an unexpected twist. Also, be on time or even early with figuring out dates.

Milestone 4: Dissertation and defense

After you passed your proposal exam, there is at least one semester that you have for working on your dissertation. This is the step I can give the least amount of advice because it is very personal. What is important, though, is that the committee in principle stays the same as the proposal. That means that it is okay to switch academics who have turned out not to be as relevant to your research as you would have thought before.

Milestone 5: Corrections and graduation

Hooray! If you have made it this far, congratulations! The only thing remaining are the corrections based on the feedback of your committee and the formal lay-out etc. required by the library. After this you are basically graduated. You did it!