KEY TERMINOLOGY       

We're not born knowing all the terms and expressions that are used in grad school! This glossary might help if you're confused. 

• Academic Standing: Letter grades in grad school aren't quite like what you received as an undergrad. Most departments roughly have Good, Satisfactory (warning), and Poor (disqualifying) standing options, and update students on their standing annually. Visit the graduate student Academic Standing Policy page for more information. 

• Alt-Ac: Or altac. An academic career that is not a traditional tenure-track job, or a career outside of academia. There are resources if you're curious. 

• Candidacy: Doctoral students advance to candidacy once they've completed all of the requirements for their degree except for their dissertation (see "ABD"). This occurs after the dissertation proposal has been approved by a dissertation committee and the Graduate School. 

• Capstone: The final project before graduation, typically for a master's program. The capstone experience may involve completion of a thesis, a capstone course, a final project, or a comprehensive exam. 

• Citation: A brief description of a source (book, article, web page, image or other) that has been quoted, paraphrased, or used as an authority. Citation format will vary by subject area, so you should be familiar with your field’s style manual. 

• Citation Manager: Software that helps you keep track of your sources and generates bibliographies or works cited. Examples include RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote. EndNote is free for UNC Charlotte students to download, and Atkins Library provides instructions on how to use it. 

• Comprehensive exams: or comps, are exams that must be completed by PhD students. Unlike finals, comprehensive examinations are not linked to any particular course, but rather test knowledge of your departmental field. In most cases, passing comps is required to advance to candidacy, and occurs after the coursework phase is completed. Some master's programs may require completion of a qualifying exam as part of the capstone experience. 

• CV: Short for Curriculum Vitae, which is a special type of resume traditionally used within the academic community. Earned degrees, teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, and related activities are featured. Unlike a resume, a CV tends to be longer and more informational than promotional in tone. 

• Defense: A final oral exam of a student's dissertation or thesis. For doctoral candidates, this meeting is open to all members of the University community and must be announced to campus. 

• DegreeWorks: DegreeWorks helps you stay on track to graduate by giving you an overall glance at your academic progress.  Every semester you should visit my.charlotte.edu to access DegreeWorks. 

• Department Chair: A faculty member in a given academic department, assigned by the dean to manage that department. Their primary role is to examine the operations of the department as a whole and the department’s relationship to their institution more broadly. They are responsible for facilitating faculty mentorship on a formal and an informal level with the staff in their department.

• Dual Certification: A distinctive opportunity for students to receive a supplementary certificate in an academic field alongside the main field of their department. It often requires additional projects and course work.

• Fellowship: A monetary award given to a scholar to pay for their academic pursuits. A fellowship is typically a merit-based scholarship for advanced study of a subject. For a list of Graduate School fellowships administered each spring, visit the Graduate School Fellowships page.

• Graduate Assistantship: Teaching, research or other employment for which a graduate student receives financial support. Log in to Hire-a-Niner to search for Graduate Assistantship openings.

• Graduate Program Director:  GPD for short. This faculty member serves as the coordinator of graduate studies within a program. Make sure you know who your GPD is! 

• Impostor Syndrome: A common phenomenon among graduate students, impostor syndrome is when a high achiever feels like a fraud and fears that everyone will find out that they got where they are by sheer luck. Thankfully, we can recognize and overcome these feelings of self-doubt. 

• Incomplete Grade: A student might receive an "I" if they completed coursework satisfactorily until near the end of the semester, but then was unable to complete the course, possibly including the final exam. If the student does not resolve the “I” within 12 months, the “I” will be changed to “F,” “U,” or “N,” as appropriate. See the Degree Requirements and Academic Policies section of the Graduate Catalog corresponding to the year of your program admission.

• IRB: The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is responsible for the review and approval of all projects involving human subjects. The IRB is charged with protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects to ensure that all are treated physically, psychologically and socially in such a way as to minimize embarrassment and stress, and to avoid harm or other negative effects in compliance with the federal, state and university regulations. All projects involving human subjects conducted by Charlotte faculty, staff, and students must be approved by the IRB regardless of the funding source or location and prior to initiating any portion of the activity. It is especially important that graduate students who use data from human subjects for theses and dissertations be fully aware of this policy. Failure to comply with the IRB review may make it impossible for these documents to be accepted by the Graduate School. 

• Journal: A collection of articles or pieces published periodically. The journals that we refer to in grad school are usually scholarly, peer-reviewed publications. Search Atkins Library for journals by category.

• Literature Review: A summary and synthesis of scholarly research on a specific topic. A lit review is used to demonstrate that you know what research has already been done on your topic, and to help you build on existing scholarship to contextualize your own work. Common in the social sciences and sciences, and usually included in a dissertation.

• Monograph: A scholarly, single volume, in-depth examination of one topic that is written for an academic audience. 

• Office Hours: Set times during which students can meet with professors and teaching assistants to discuss the material being presented in class or other related interests, or pose questions or concerns about the course. Office hours are a valuable opportunity to get one-on-one time with your professors!

• Pass/Fail: A course option where a student enrolls but does not receive a letter grade. A Pass will count toward graduation but will carry no quality points. A Fail will affect the grade point average. 

• Peer Review: A process by which articles in scholarly publications go through an editorial review by a panel of experts. It ensures that the article has met the methodological and ethical research requirements for publication in a scholarly journal. 

• Petition: Petitions are quite common: you'll need to use the graduate petition system if you want to transfer credits, add a class after the add/drop period, request a leave of absence, or ask for other exceptions to be made. 

• Plagiarism: Using another person's ideas or work without assigning credit. It may be intentional or unintentional, but either way it's strictly forbidden. To avoid plagiarizing, see Atkins Library’s resources on plagiarism.  

• Prospectus: A formal proposal of a research project developed to convince a reader (a professor or research committee, a project coordinator, funding agency, or the like) that the research can be carried out and will yield worthwhile results. Usually, a prospectus is developed by PhD students at the beginning of their candidacy phase after exams, and forms the preliminary basis of a dissertation. 

• Reading Day: A day with no classes at the end of the semester. It's intended for preparing for exams or writing papers. 

• Teaching Assistant: A teaching assistant, or TA, is a grad student who is paid to assist a professor with instructional responsibilities. TAs teach classes, typically leading sections, hosting office hours, and grading papers and exams. Most PhD programs have a TA requirement. There are also TA opportunities for master's students. 

• Tenure-track: Or TT for short.  The tenure track is a professor's route to promotion and eventual job security. Most teaching opportunities are not for tenure-track positions. 

• Thesis: A long essay or project involving research at the master's level. Check with your program to find out whether a thesis or another equivalent project is required for graduation.