Doctoral Program

Original research supervised by a faculty member constitutes the major component of work toward the PhD degree. PhD students are not required to complete course work unless it is recommended by the thesis committee or unless the student has been admitted without a Master's degree (see point 4). A Doctoral degree is expected to take five years.

All PhD students are required to present a research proposal and pass a comprehensive examination on their research area within 18 months of their program start date. Each PhD student is expected to deliver a one-hour lecture on their completed doctoral research in one of the departmental lecture series before their doctoral dissertation examination (for details, please see information below).

After 1 month

  • Meet with supervisor to discuss expectations of student and supervisor, degree requirements, policies and timelines
  • Introductory meeting with committee (minimum attendance: supervisor and one committee member), to discuss coursework, composition of committee, and research plan
  • Submit Supervisory Committee Form.

After 8 months

  • Full committee established according to departmental committee requirements
  • Begin any coursework the committee has recommended or required for students without Master's degrees. Courses must be completed with a passing grade of at least 68%,
  • Apply for scholarship funding, if necessary. NSERC, Affiliated Fellowships, and Killam scholarships have the same application process, with a deadline in mid-September
  • Identify research project
  • Obtain reading list for comprehensive exam from each committee member. Begin preparations.
  • Convene committee meeting to discuss proposed research. Begin research.
  • Complete research proposal committee meeting.

After 18 months

Between 18-48 months

  • Convene annual committee meetings to discuss research results from first 18 months, further research plans, coursework and timeline to thesis completion
  • Complete research
  • Complete writing thesis by the end of the fourth year

Between 48-60 months

Please keep in mind that your program will not be closed until the final submission instructions have been completed. If you're aiming for a particular completion date/graduation, give yourself at least a month between the oral examination and your target deadline. After the defence, students are generally given a month to make revisions if needed, and G+PS will close your program about 1-2 weeks after the final submission paperwork and dissertation have been submitted and accepted.

And remember to apply for graduation! Graduation happens in May and November of each year. You can apply for graduation even if you haven’t defended yet (but you won’t be approved to graduate without having completed all your requirements so check the Deadlines page for when your program requirements should be completed for a specific graduate ceremony).

The Doctoral Dissertation exam is administered through the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Dissertation & Thesis Preparation

Thesis template (LaTex)

Thesis template/formatting (Word)

Final Dissertation & Thesis Submission

You are encouraged to use the planning tool and checklist on the G+PS website.

Note that the deadlines for scheduling these exams are sometimes quite early in the term. You can find defense, graduation, and thesis submission deadlines by consulting the G+PS Deadline Centre.