Format
The comprehensive exam in the LIS doctoral program consists of a take-home, written comprehensive followed by an oral examination of that written document. This approach allows the student to concentrate on expressing his/her ideas, demonstrating true integration of materials and displaying scholarly depth, creativity and initiative in their preparations for the exam. The format of an oral examination based on the written take-home examination mimics a dissertation defence and thus gives the student practice at defending his/her ideas, while at the same time allowing the student to interact with the faculty regarding the ideas presented in the written examination.
Timing
The comprehensive examination normally is scheduled during the term following the student's completion of coursework (that is, usually by the fourth or fifth term in the program, depending upon course availability). Students who have completed their coursework and are ready to write the comprehensive examination should first discuss the examination with their academic advisor.
Examination Committee
The academic advisor, in consultation with the student, shall identify three faculty members (which may or may not include the academic advisor, and which may include a faculty member from another doctoral program on campus) with expertise relevant to the student's research interests and who agree to serve on the student's comprehensive examination committee. At least two of the faculty members must have doctoral supervisory status, one of whom must have doctoral supervisory status in LIS. One faculty member will be appointed as Chair of the Examination Committee.
The examination committee shall set the examination questions and grading scheme, and shall evaluate both the written responses and the oral defence.
Students should be aware that neither the Faculty of Information and Media Studies nor their academic advisor can guarantee that the proposed examiners will be the examiners present at the time of the exam: examiners may change due to unforeseen circumstances during the process of organizing and finalizing the comprehensive exam.
Reading List
The student shall initiate the process of generating the reading list and shall compile the list, in consultation with the examining committee, in accordance with the Guidelines for the compilation of reading lists for LIS doctoral program comprehensive examinations.
Procedures
The examination committee sets the examination questions and determines a grading scheme for the various elements of the exam. The exam is scheduled in advance by the Chair of the Examination Committee in consultation with the student and other exam committee members. S/he simultaneously arranges dates for the writing of the take home exam and the subsequent oral examination. Upon the setting of the exam dates, the Chair of the Examination Committee shall communicate to the student the number of questions on the exam, what choice (if any) the student will have with respect to the questions to be completed (e.g., choose 2 of 4 questions), and the upper and lower word limits for each response.
The take-home exam is written over a five day period. When the exam is distributed to the student it shall specify the time frame for completion (start date and time, finish date and time), list the questions, specify what choice if any the student has in questions to be completed, and specify the upper and lower word limits for each question. The student is provided with the take-home exam at 9am on a Monday morning. The exam is due back to the Team Leader, Graduate Student Services on Friday at 4pm that same week. The original exam is held in a secure location by the Team Leader, Graduate Student Services. Copies of the submitted exam are provided by 4:30pm on the day of submission to the three members of the Examination Committee.
The Examination Committee assigns a pass/fail grade to the exam (see Grading, below), and the student is notified of the results of the written exam by the Chair of the Examination Committee at 4:30 pm on the Friday following the exam submission. The oral examination follows at the earliest opportunity within the following week (that is, the second week after exam submission). The time set aside for the oral examination normally is two hours, to a maximum of three hours. Upon completion of the oral examination, the examiners consult and render a decision within 24 hours.
If the written exam has been assigned a passing grade, the examiners prepare their questions for the oral examination. Questions on the oral exam must be limited to the scope of the take-home examination and must not stray into other areas. At the student's request, with appropriate notice, the oral exam may be audio recorded.
Grading
The examiners read the take-home exam and each examiner assigns a pass/fail grade. The recorded grade for the exam is the majority of these individual grades.
There are separate marks for each part of the exam, and the student must pass both parts to have passed the comprehensive examination. The grading requirements of the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies apply (i.e., failure is defined as consistent with a numeric grade below 60%). The written exam is assigned a Pass/Fail grade according to the majority of the individual examiner decisions. Thus, each examiner gives the exam a Pass/Fail grade, and the majority of these decisions is recorded as the final grade for the exam. The student is notified of the results of the written exam by the chair of the examining committee the day before the oral exam. The oral exam is also graded as Pass/Fail. Again, each examiner gives the oral exam a Pass/Fail grade, and the grade for the oral exam is determined by the majority of these individual grades. The student is notified of the results of the written exam by the chair of the examining committee once the grade is determined. An overall Pass/Fail grade for the entire exam (oral and written portions) is submitted to the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies: if either of the individual parts of the exam is assigned a failing grade, the overall grade for the exam is Fail.
If the student has failed the written exam, the oral exam will not take place and the student is allowed one retake, consisting of a new written exam with its associated oral examination, at a later date, normally within the same term. If either the written or the oral exam is failed on this second attempt, the student must withdraw from the program.
If the student has passed the written exam, but has failed the oral exam, the student is allowed one retake, consisting of a new written exam with its associated oral examination, at a later date, normally within the same term. If either the written or the oral exam is failed on this second attempt, the student must withdraw from the program.
Updated 11/02/2011