Curriculum Requirements
Each of the following is required of all students:
(See the SLIS Ph.D. Handbook for details.)
Advisory Committee
Upon enrollment in the program, each doctoral student will be assigned an interim faculty advisory committee. This assignment is made primarily on the basis of the student's background and interests as shown in the application. Before the end of one year in the program, each student must have established an official advisory committee and must submit a committee-approved program of studies outline to the director of the doctoral program. The official committee may, but need not, include members of the assigned interim committee.
The official advisory committee consists of at least three faculty members. Two must be from SLIS and one from the outside minor area. The committee chair, who becomes the student's primary adviser, must be a full-time SLIS faculty member. At least two of the members of the advisory committee, including the chair, must be members of the University Graduate School faculty. The advisory committee shall approve the student's program of study and counsel the student until the passing of the qualifying examinations.
Course Work
Each doctoral student at Indiana University is required to complete at least 90 credit hours of an advanced course of study. Up to 30 credit hours earned in a master's or specialist degree program may be transferred to the doctoral program, provided they meet course currency requirements and are relevant to the student's doctoral area of concentration. Of the 90 credit hours, 60 must be taken at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University.
Students must select at least one minor subject area from those areas of graduate study, outside of SLIS, that have been approved by the University Graduate School. The determination of minimum requirements and examination procedures for the minor is entirely at the discretion of the minor department or program.
Specifics
- Major (21 cr.)
A major area of concentration in information science, consisting of a minimum of 21 credit hours of course work in the selected field of specialization, is required. - Doctoral Research Courses (13 cr.)
We require you to take a four-course sequence of research seminars as part of the Ph.D. program: - Research Skills (9 cr.)
We also require a 9 credit hour research and statistics core component. This core includes (a) a basic graduate-level statistics course, taken outside the school and (b) either an intermediate graduate statistics course or a graduate course in research design. The research skills component may then be completed by passing, with a grade of B or higher, a third graduate-level course in statistics or a course in research design. - Minor (12-15 cr.)
We require that you take at least 12 credit hours of course work, related to your research interest, outside of SLIS. The minor representative must approve the selection of courses in the minor area and will determine the total number of credit hours required for the minor (12 or 15). - Courses Outside the Major
You may complete 21 credit hours of other graduate course work (generally in areas of information science outside of your major area of concentration). These credits can count toward the required 75 non-dissertation credit hours. - Dissertation Credit
Normally, 15 credit hours of deferred dissertation credit may be used to complete the required 90 credit hours. Students should not enroll in S799 until all or most of the 75 non-dissertation credit hours have been completed.
Research Seminars
SLIS doctoral students and faculty meet weekly at the Doctoral Research Seminar, also known informally as "the Friday Forum" where a student or faculty member (and sometimes guest speakers from outside) presents or leads a discussion on a research topic. Typically students present ideas for studies, preliminary research results, or practice conference presentations here.
Qualifying Examinations
When all or nearly all doctoral course work has been completed, SLIS doctoral students must take the qualifying examination. This examination requires the student to prepare and present for faculty review and public defense, a lengthy paper that reviews the theoretical and methodological issues in a given problem area. The problem area to be tackled is determined in conjunction with the student's advisory committee.
Candidacy
If the advisory committee is satisfied with the student's performance in the qualifying examination, the qualifying examination is declared passed, and the student is nominated to candidacy. Admission to candidacy will not be awarded, however, until all required course work has been completed and/or validated.
Seven-Year Rule
The dissertation must be completed within seven years of passing the oral qualifying examination. At this time doctoral candidacy is terminated for students who have not completed the dissertation. Such students may apply for readmission subject to the procedures and criteria current at the time of re-admission.
Annual Review
To assist the Doctoral Steering Committee (DSC) in assessing your progress in the Ph.D. Program, you are required complete an Annual Student Progress Report. This report should consist of sufficient supporting material to enable faculty to review the student's progress and plans for the coming year. In addition to information about your coursework, teaching, research, and service accomplishments over the past year, the completed report must contain the following documentation: 1) a Statement of Research Interests describing both your area(s) of research interest and your plans for the upcoming year; 2) copies of your teaching evaluations for all courses taught; 3) copies of published papers, demos or equivalent; 4) your current Program of Studies form; 5) a current writing sample; and 6) any other supporting documentation you feel demonstrates your progress in the doctoral program over the past year.
It is your responsibility to meet with the members of your Advisory Committee at least one week before the due date to discuss the content of the report. The completed report is reviewed each year by the student's advisory committee and the School's Doctoral Steering Committee. Funding and continued enrollment in the Ph.D. program is contingent on demonstrable progress on the part of the student.
Research Committee
After admission to candidacy, the student must assemble a research committee. The research committee must have at least four members. Three must be from SLIS; the fourth must be from the student's minor. At least one member of the committee must have particular expertise in the research methods to be used in the study. The committee chair must be a full-time faculty member in the student's major area. Usually, the committee chair is also the dissertation director; however, it is acceptable for another committee member with particular expertise in the area of the study to direct the dissertation.
All members of Ph.D. research committees must be members of the University Graduate School faculty. Two must be full members. The committee chair and the dissertation must be full members of the University Graduate School faculty.
Dissertation Prospectus
The student prepares a one-to-two-page dissertation prospectus, should include a clear statement of the questions to be addressed in the study, the research methods to be used, and a discussion of the contribution of the study to theory and/or to practice. This prospectus should be developed prior to finalizing the committee membership, and faculty normally agree to serve on a committee only after they have approved a Dissertation prospectus.
Dissertation Proposal
Students are required to submit a dissertation proposal, a document that is considerably more detailed than the prospectus. The proposal should contain the following elements: a statement of purpose, rationale, literature review, research questions, proposed procedures, sources of data and methods of data collection, pilot study results, methods of data analysis, and the significance of the study. This proposal is defended in a public forum and forms the basis of the research contract for the final dissertation.
After successful defense of the proposal, the dissertation prospectus and nomination of research committee are submitted to the University Graduate School.
Final Oral Defense
After the dissertation manuscript is complete, an oral public examination is scheduled, where the student defends the dissertation research.
