Candidacy Requirements

Achieving candidacy ordinarily is accomplished by the end of the second year. In addition to completing the course requirements and summer learning cycle project, students must pass a preliminary examination and complete a literature review for their dissertation topic.

Qualifying examination

The qualifying exam will be completed at the end of the first year of the program in May. To take the exam, the student must have completed the first year of coursework satisfactorily or the giving of the exam may be delayed. The examination consists of two parts, first a written component which is a take-home examination completed over a five day period, and second an oral examination held soon after the written component is completed and graded. All students take both the written and oral exams, after which outcomes are: pass without conditions, pass with conditions (which will be completed within two weeks), or fail. If a student fails after the oral exam, they will be offered the opportunity to retake the qualifying exam. Timing will be determined by the qualifying exam committee, in consultation with the HILS program director, with every effort made to enable retaking the exam before the start of the new academic year.

Literature review

To achieve candidacy, students must complete a systematic review of the literature in a topic area closely related to their dissertation topic. The purpose of the literature review is to assist in refining research questions, ensuring that students have a comprehensive knowledge of their specific topic, and related areas of research, and are able to justify the selection and articulation of the research question(s) which frame their dissertation research. We discuss this in the student seminar in the first year, and important skills are taught in different classes. We do not offer or require courses in systematic review and synthesis (e.g. meta-analysis) but there are many resources for these skills, and we expect students to follow rigorous methods in completing their review.

In general, these reviews should be publishable, and students are encouraged, with the support of their advisor and other faculty, to publish them. The reviews will be assessed by the student’s dissertation planning committee, which should be formed before the end of Winter term in Year 2 of the Program. A dissertation planning committee may be less formal than an approved Dissertation Committee, which is approved by Rackham, but should consist of the student’s faculty advisor, at least one other faculty member from DLHS, and at least one external committee member in an area closely related to the student’s dissertation topic. Candidacy cannot be achieved until the committee approves the literature review.

Advancing to Candidacy

Once you have completed all the requirements required to achieve candidacy, as verified by the program director, the HILS program manager will complete and submit to the Rackham School of Graduate Studies a “Recommendation for Candidacy” form, which certifies that you have completed satisfactorily all department requirements for candidacy. The dates for submission of the forms for each term are listed on the Rackham website at http://www.rackham.umich.edu/students/navigate-degree/candidacy-deadlines.

In the interim, the student should register for 8 credits of LHS 990. Once Rackham has conferred candidacy status the graduate school will change these credits to LHS 995. Each following semester the student registers for 8 credits of LHS 995.

Once approved for candidacy, Rackham will ask you to register for an ORCID, a unique identifier that links you with your publications, patents, and other research-related activities and resources, as well as with your institutional and organizational affiliations.