PhD Milestones & Exams

A student who has been admitted to the Graduate School and has been accepted by the department or committee in charge of a major program in which the doctorate is offered may begin working toward a doctoral degree. The qualifying examination is administered by the major department or graduate program and is given early in the student's program. The dissertation committee must be formed by the academic year semester following the Qualifying Examination. 

Successful completion of the Qualifying Examination indicates the student’s potential for successfully completing Ph.D. study, though it does not ensure that a Doctor of Philosophy degree will be granted. 

Criteria set by the Graduate School:  

https://gradschool.psu.edu/graduate-education-policies/gcac/gcac-600/gcac-604-qualifying-exam/

1. All students must complete the Qualifying Examination administered by the Graduate Faculty in the graduate major program. 

2. The purpose of the Qualifying Examination is to: assess whether the student is capable of conducting doctoral work based on evidence of critical thinking or other measures that the graduate faculty of the program view as important to a successful doctoral student. 

3. The decision to pass the student on the Qualifying Examination must be made by the graduate faculty or a designated committee of graduate faculty in the program. 

4. The Qualifying Examination must be taken within three semesters (summer sessions do not count) of entry into the doctoral program. 

5. The student must be registered as a full-time or part-time degree student for the semester (excluding summer session) in which the Qualifying Examination is taken.  

ROSS AND CAROL NESE COLLEGE OF NURSING PROCEDURE: QUALIFYING EXAMINATION 

Overview and Purpose 

All PhD students who enter the program take the Qualifying Exam, consistent with the University Graduate School Qualifying Examination Policy. Required examinations, including the Qualifying Exam, should not be scheduled during University holidays, including Fall, Winter, or Spring Break.  

The Qualifying Examination determines the student’s potential for completing doctoral study. Successful completion of the examination signifies the student’s potential and the faculty’s commitment, based upon that potential, to provide scholarly resources needed to complete continuing course work and the dissertation. Students who do not take the Qualifying Examination and those who do not successfully pass the Qualifying Examination may not continue in the doctoral program. 

Eligibility and Scheduling 

To be eligible to take the Qualifying Exam, students must have successfully acquired (with a grade of B or above) 18 course credits (usually two full semesters, maximum of three semesters), with a grade point average of 3.00 or greater in the PhD program and be in good standing. The exam cannot be taken if there is an incomplete or deferred grade in any course.  

Students in dual-title degrees should complete the Qualifying Exam in consultation with their Adviser and the PhD Program Director. The exam must be completed within four semesters.  

The deadline for the oral portion of the Qualifying Examination is Week 8 of the semester in which it is being taken unless the student obtains written permission of the PhD Program Director. This mid-semester deadline is to allow time for any possible remediation within the same semester. Should remediation be needed, the second Qualifying Examination must be completed prior to the last withdrawal date in the semester during the semester in which the original exam was taken. For the exact date of this deadline, refer to the University’s Academic Calendar. 

Content 

The Qualifying Examination consists of written and oral components. The focus of both elements of the examination is a substantive discussion of a concept with relevance to the student’s phenomenon of interest, within the perspective afforded by the discipline of nursing. Alternatively, the student may produce a substantive exposition of the state of the science in an area of inquiry and research of relevance to the discipline of nursing. Although there is no requirement that the Qualifying Examination be publishable, students are encouraged to think about transforming this examination into a scholarly publication.

1. Written Component - The written component of the examination is constituted by a scholarly paper. The written component may not exceed 20 double-spaced, typed pages of text (references not included) and should be prepared in keeping with the current American Psychological Association standards unless permission has been received from the Adviser for a different citation format. 

2. Oral Component - The oral component of the examination is constituted by an oral defense of that paper by the student for the Qualifying Examination Committee. The oral component is scheduled for one hour and should consist of a brief introduction of how and why the student chose the topic and a brief summary of the paper, not to exceed 10 minutes, followed by questions posed by the committee, and discussion. 

Evaluation 

All four members of the Qualifying Examination Committee evaluate the written and oral components. The evaluation system for the Qualifying Examination is Pass/Fail, with a minimum of three out of the four Committee members in agreement.  

The criteria for evaluating both the written and the oral components are:  

1. Form and organization of the written component. 

2. Relevance, critique, and integration of the supporting literature, and the student’s synthesis and conclusion. 

3. The student’s ability to communicate both in writing and orally on an abstract level. 

4. The student’s ability to translate specifics to a higher level of generalization and develop ideas for future direction.  

If the student Fails either or both parts of the examination, both portions of the Qualifying Examination must be retaken and a grade of Pass must be achieved, with at least three of the four Committee members in agreement. During this re-testing time, students must consult with their Adviser and the PhD Program Director for approval prior to enrolling in further courses. The examination must be retaken with the same Committee unless a substitute member is approved by the PhD Program Director. The examination may be retaken only once with no extension of the deadlines mentioned above. Failure to pass both parts of the examination on the second attempt will result in the student being withdrawn from the PhD program. 

Qualifying Examination Committee 

Committee Composition: 

1. The Qualifying Examination Committee is a standing committee of the PhD Council consisting of three R level faculty one of which is an appointed Chair.  

2. Additionally, each student will select a faculty member to serve on their Committee as a content expert.  

• The content expert must be an R level faculty member at Penn State.  Dual-title students' content expert must be faculty who are affiliated with the Department in which their dual-title is housed. 

• Students should consult with their chosen content expert and complete the Qualifying Exam Content Expert Form to confirm their willingness to participate.  

• Questions about faculty eligibility to serve on committees should be addressed to the PhD Program Director as soon as possible to avoid delays in examination. 

3. The total number of committee members will be four. If a student’s selected content expert is already a standing committee member, the PhD Program Director will appoint another ad hoc faculty member to serve on the committee. 

4. Students are also encouraged to include their Adviser in the oral component of the exam even when they are not the content expert. In this case, the Adviser would not be a voting Committee member, but could be in the room to witness the oral exam.   

Revision Approved by PhD Council, April 10, 2023.

Examination Procedures 

1. The Qualifying Examinations Committee Chair will meet with all first year PhD students and review the exam process during as part of standing orientation processes.   

2. After discussion with their Adviser, the student selects the topic to be addressed. The topic usually will be a concept that contributes to the student’s understanding of a particular area of interest that will likely be pursued further in the dissertation. The student must identify the body of literature that will help explain, describe, and analyze the topic, and then focus the analysis on a deconstruction of the literature. This process, again negotiated with the Adviser, could be in the form of a formal concept analysis, an examination of the state of the science for that topic, or various other methods of concept deconstruction appropriate for their area of interest.  

3. The Adviser guides the student in the preparation of the written component by discussing the relevant literature as well as the general structure and specific content of the paper. The Adviser will review and comment on no more than one complete draft of the written component. This review is at the discretion of the Adviser; no other person will read the paper prior to formal submission of the examination to the Adviser. With the Adviser’s approval, students may receive writing assistance from one of the Penn State writing centers for structure but not content of the examination. The Adviser may also help the student to prepare for the oral examination. 

4. Examination materials will be submitted via CANVAS. Final papers will also be submitted through the Turnitin software integrated into CANVAS. 

5. Scheduling for the exam will be completed by the Graduate Program Administrative Support in conjunction with the Committee and student. Dates and times of examinations and deadlines for written material submission will be communicated at least four weeks prior to the initial examination, and two weeks prior to re-examinations. 

6. The student may bring a copy of the written examination and related notes to the oral examination. 

Reporting Examination Outcome 

1. Students will be notified of their examination results by the committee immediately following their oral examination, after committee deliberation. All students will also receive a written notification sharing the results of their examination and in the case of an unsuccessful examination, rationale for the student’s lack of success on the examination. A copy of this letter will also be sent to the student’s Adviser.  

2. Within 30 days of examination completion, the PhD Program Director will provide appropriate documentation to the Graduate School. 

Approved by the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing Graduate Affairs Committee June 8, 2020 

Because the Ph.D. program is offered as resident instruction, the Ross & Carol Nese College of Nursing strongly encourages conduct of the Comprhensive Examination in-person.  However, the comprehensive examination may be held fully in-person, fully remote, or hybrid with some individuals participating in-person while others participate remotely.  Descriptions of these options are immediately below: 

1. Fully in-person: the entire committee and the student are physically in the same room.

2. Fully remote: the entire committee and the student participate via University-licensed interactive audio-video technology.

3. Hybrid: individual members of the committee and/or student may participate in person or via University-licensed interactive audio-visual technology.

Individuals taking part in the oral Comprehensive Examination in-person must participate at the campus location of the graduate center offering the program to ensure the technological reliability, confidentiality, and safety of all participants.

Those participating via distance must use University-licensed interactive audio-visual technology. If unable to connect with video, audio-only participation is allowed.

Please see Fox Graduate School GCAC 606 Comprehensive Exam—Research Doctorate for more information on the 3 options for examination mode and the processes for determining examination mode.

A doctoral student becomes a doctoral candidate upon successful completion of the comprehensive examination. Successful completion of the comprehensive examination marks the candidate’s progression into dissertation research after the completion of course work. The format of the examination is determined by the doctoral committee with respect to the Graduate School criteria. 

1. 1. The examination is intended to evaluate the candidate’s mastery of the major (and if appropriate, minor) field. 

   2. The exam is administered when the student “has substantially completed coursework.” 

   3. A candidate for a doctoral degree must have satisfied the English competence and the communication and foreign language requirement before taking the comprehensive examination. 

   4. All candidates are required to have a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 for work done at the University at the time the comprehensive examination is given and may not have deferred or missing grades. 

   5. The student must be registered as a full-time or part-time student for the semester in which the comprehensive examination is taken. 

   6. The examination is scheduled and announced officially by the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services upon recommendation of the department or program head. Two weeks’ notice is required by the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services for scheduling this examination.  

   7. A favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the committee is required to pass. In case of failure, it is the responsibility of the doctoral committee to determine whether the candidate may take another examination. Students who are provided an opportunity to take the examination a second time but who fail the examination on the second attempt are terminated from the program. 

   8. The results are reported to the Office of Graduate Enrollment Services.  

   9. The comprehensive examination may be held fully in-person, fully remote, or hybrid with some individuals participating in-person while others participate remotely.  

   10. Special arrangements, i.e., requirements for meeting participation via distance, should be communicated to the student and the doctoral committee members well in advance of the examination.  

ROSS AND CAROL NESE COLLEGE OF NURSING PROCEDURE: COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION 

In the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, the purpose of Comprehensive Examination is to evaluate the student’s:

1. Mastery of knowledge of their specialty within the doctoral program. 

2. Knowledge and competency essential for conducting scholarly, scientific inquiry in nursing. 

3. Ability to integrate nursing and interdisciplinary knowledge within their specialty area. 

4. Ability to appropriately select, apply, and evaluate the tools of scientific inquiry in nursing. 

Policy 

1. The Comprehensive Examination is designed, administered, and evaluated for each individual by the student’s doctoral committee. 

2. The Comprehensive Examination is taken at the completion of a substantial portion of coursework and may be taken before or concurrent with the dissertation proposal. 

3. The student’s doctoral committee must adhere to all policies of the Graduate School (See Graduate Bulletin at:  https://bulletins.psu.edu/graduate/programs/majors/nursing/ 

4. The Comprehensive Examination is developed for the student by their doctoral committee and consists of both written and oral components. 

5. The Comprehensive Examination consists of oral and written components that address broad areas of study, methodologies and the phenomena of interest. The student is provided with a set of questions generated by the committee. The student has 14 days in which to provide written answers to the questions. The exam is typically written off-site with full access to reference resources.  

6. Following submission of written responses, the student and committee members meet to conduct an oral comprehensive examination (at least 14 days after the submission date) during which time the student is provided the opportunity to respond to questions. Oral examination may include follow-up to the written work or other areas (at the discretion of the committee). Oral examinations are generally scheduled for two hours.  

Outcome 

1. 1. The examination process results in a pass or fail determination. 

   2. The examination results must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the doctoral committee. 

   3. Students who fail the examination on the first attempt may repeat it once. 

   4. Students who fail the examination the second time are terminated from the PhD program. 

The Chair (or Adviser) of the Dissertation Committee will be responsible for completing and sending the scanned copy of the signed Comprehensive Examination form to the Director of the Ph.D. Program and the Associate Dean for Graduate Education so that they are aware of the outcome of the examination. 

Approved by the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing Graduate Faculty: April 2021 

In the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, each student is required to conduct an original and independent research project, which adds to nursing’s body of knowledge, and to communicate the research report in a written dissertation. A written dissertation proposal is required and must be approved at a proposal hearing by a two-thirds vote of the student’s dissertation committee. This hearing is called the Dissertation Proposal Defense (The defense is required for both the traditional and alternate dissertation format). 

The purpose of the dissertation proposal defense is to structure a time during which the candidate may address questions raised by committee members in response to their research plan. The coming together of the student and committee members provides an ideal opportunity for scholarly dialogue and clarification of the candidate’s dissertation. 

Timing of the defense: The Dissertation Proposal Defense occurs after the student has successfully passed his or her Comprehensive Examination. The defense is scheduled at the discretion of the Dissertation Committee and may occur immediately following the oral comprehensive examination or at a later date. 

Procedure for the scheduling the defense: The following activities are closely coordinated with the Dissertation Chair: 

1. Submit a copy of a well-developed proposal to the dissertation chairperson, and to the other members of the committee. 

2. Schedule an approval meeting (approximate time 2 hours). Allow at least two weeks from submission of the proposal to date of approval meeting. 

3. There are no Graduate School forms to complete; however, a Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing Dissertation Proposal Defense form should be completed. (See the Staff Assistant for the Graduate Programs.) 

Evaluation: The defense is graded by the committee as pass or fail. It is not uncommon to pass with specified major or minor revisions. In the event of failure, the committee (under the guidance of the Chair) determines the appropriate course of action for re-writing and defending a revised proposal. 

Approved by the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing Graduate Faculty: April 2002

(Defense of Completed Dissertation)

GCAC-608 Final Oral Examination - Research Doctorate (psu.edu) 

The Final Oral Examination marks the student’s completion of the program and is administered and evaluated by the doctoral committee. It consists of an oral presentation of the dissertation by the candidate and a period of questions and responses. These questions will relate in large part to the dissertation, but may cover the candidate’s whole program of study, since one of the purposes of the examination is to assess the general scholarly attainments of the candidate. The portion of the examination in which the dissertation is presented is open to the public; an additional closed session (including only the candidate and committee) may be held at the discretion of the chair/committee. A two-thirds vote is also required for approval of the final oral defense. The written dissertation must also receive final approval from the committee and the Director of the Ph.D. Program. 

The Graduate School notes that: Both the dissertation adviser and the student are responsible for ensuring the completion of a draft of the dissertation and for adequate consultation with members of the dissertation committee well in advance of the oral examination. Major revisions to the dissertation should be completed before this examination. The dissertation should be in its final draft, with appropriate notes, bibliography, tables, etc., at the time of the oral examination; both the content and style should be correct and polished by the time this final draft of the dissertation is in the hands of the committee. 

The final oral examination (dissertation defense) may be conducted in one of three formats: entirely in person, entirely remote, or in a hybrid format where some participants are present in person while others join remotely.

These formats include the following options:

1. Fully in-person: the entire committee and the student are physically in the same room.

2. Fully remote: the entire committee and the student participate via University-licensed interactive audio-video technology.

3. Hybrid: individual members of the committee and/or student may participate in person or via University-licensed interactive audio-visual technology.

Individuals taking part in the Final Oral Examination in-person must participate at the campus location of the graduate center offering the program to ensure the technological reliability, confidentiality, and safety of all participants.

Those participating via distance must use University-licensed interactive audio-visual technology. If unable to connect with video, audio-only participation is allowed.

The student must be registered as a full-time or part-time degree student for the semester in which the final oral examination is taken. Students should allow at least 2 weeks for the committee to read and comment on the dissertation whenever it is sent out for review.  

Completion of the requirements of a doctoral degree program entails acceptance of the dissertation, as indicated by the signatures of at least two-thirds of the doctoral committee, including the dissertation adviser, committee chair and the Associate Dean for Graduate Education on the doctoral approval page. The dissertation must also satisfy the editorial standards of the Graduate School, so that it constitutes a suitable archival document for inclusion in the University Libraries. Thus, it is to be noted that passage of the final oral examination is necessary but not sufficient for award of the degree; the dissertation must be accepted, as the ultimate step. 

On the morning of the exam, committee members will receive an email with a link and instructions for entering their rating for the student's exam into LionPath.  A favorable vote of at least two-thirds of the committee members is required for passing. Passing the oral examination is essential but not sufficient for graduation there is another step in the process which follows submssion of the final dissertation to the Fox Graduate School. 

Once the final dissertation is submitted by the student to the Fox Graduate School, the Dissertation Committee will receive an email to review and approve the dissertation electronically. 

Thesis Dissertation - Deadlines, Handbook, Guidance can be found at https://gradschool.psu.edu/academics/theses-and-dissertations

All candidates for the Ph.D. in Nursing are required to complete a dissertation. Development of the dissertation proposal is augmented by coursework; however, students should work closely with the dissertation adviser throughout the process. 

The Graduate School, the University Libraries, and the graduate faculty of Penn State have established format standards that a dissertation must meet before receiving final approval as fulfillment of a graduate requirement. The Thesis Office is the unit of the Graduate School responsible for certifying that theses and dissertations have been prepared in accordance with these established regulations. Every dissertation must be reviewed for format only and is not edited for spelling, grammar, or punctuation. 

When a dissertation is submitted to the Thesis Office, it must meet the formatting and deadline requirements set forth in the latest edition of the Thesis Guide. All doctoral dissertations must be submitted electronically. For more information on deadlines, submission, thesis dissertation templates, tips and support, etc. please visit https://gradschool.psu.edu/academics/theses-and-dissertations .

The six steps submission procedures can be found at https://gradschool.psu.edu/academics/theses-and-dissertations/submission-procedure. 

Once the final dissertation is submitted by the student to the Fox Graduate School, the Dissertation Committee will receive an email to review and approve the dissertation electronically. 

DISSERTATION FORMAT 

Students, in consultation with the chair of their dissertation committee, may opt for the 3-Paper Dissertation Option or the Traditional 5-Chapter Dissertation. 

GUIDELINES FOR 3-PAPER DISSERTATION OPTION 

1.) A 3-paper dissertation will consist of five chapters: Introduction, Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3, and Conclusion.

a. The first chapter will provide an introduction to the topic area of the dissertation.

b. Chapters 2-4 will each consist of a standalone manuscript, as prepared for publication.

c. The fifth chapter will provide a robust summary of the research and comprehensive discussion of the body of work presented. 

i. This chapter is required to illustrate how the separate findings from individual papers contribute to a cohesive body of knowledge that aligns with the overarching aim of the dissertation research. 

2.) The student should be first author on all three papers, with co-authors allowed and expected. 

a. Co-authors may be committee members and potentially others, depending on specific situations.

b. Authorship must comply with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. 1

3.) At the time of the final defense, at least one of the three papers should be submitted.  The other two papers should be submission-ready, with target journals identified.

4.) At least two of the three papers should be data-based. The third paper may be a review (systematic, scoping, integrative; narrative review is not recommended), a concept analysis, or other paper type that has been approved by the student's committee. A grant proposal may not serve as the 3rd paper.

5.) All three manuscripts must be full-length papers and adhere to author guidelines for the target peer-reviewed journals.

6.) All three papers must be written post-comps.  A student may not use previously written work (e.g., Qualifying Exam paper) as one of their dissertation manuscripts. The extension of work from previous course work may only be utilized when there has been substantial development of the paper following the comprehensive examination and only with the approval of the Dissertation Committee.

7.) While in the traditional option for the dissertation, the proposal consists of Chapters 1-3 which include the Introduction, Literature Review, and Methods respectively, this is not appropriate for the 3-paper option, given the format described above. Therefore, the proposal for the 3-paper option will consist of the first chapter of the dissertation and a detailed research proposal that meets the expectations of a student’s committee. The detailed research proposal should include a plan for the 3 papers, along with a description of the methods associated with each paper. 

8.) The revised proposal expectations for the 3-paper option should be incorporated into NURS 583: Advanced Seminar in Nursing Science along with the proposal expectations for the traditional dissertation option.

9.) Either the 3-manuscript option or the traditional dissertation option may be selected, as determined collaboratively by the student and the dissertation committee.  

1 International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors.  https://www.icmje.org/ 

Traditional 5-Chapter Dissertation Guidelines

Chapter 1: Introduction (broad overview of the research) 

Chapter 2: Review of the Literature (and conceptual framework) 

Chapter 3: Research Design & Methodology 

Chapter 4: Results or Findings 

Chapter 5: Interpretations, Conclusions, and Recommendations for research and practice, in addition to education and policy, as applicable.

References 

Appendices 

For more detailed information, please reach out to your adviser or dissertation chair or contact the course faculty for NURS 583.

Approved by Graduate Affairs Committee, September 16, 2024