The preliminary examination tests the student’s competence in a research area and readiness for research on some specific problem. The content of the examination is at the discretion of the examining committee. The examination may consist, for example, of a presentation by the student of papers relevant to a research topic agreed upon by the student and the committee; or it may consist of a proposal for thesis research; or it may involve an oral examination over the material in appropriate courses beyond the qualifying level.

The examining committee normally consists of the student’s advisory committee and an additional member chosen by the graduate committee. The preliminary examination is to be taken by the end of the third semester following the one in which the student completes the qualifying process and at least two semesters before the examination on the thesis.

There are a number of factors to weigh when selecting a committee.

• Prestige of the member in the field of study. The prestige of your committee will also bring prestige to your thesis.
• Ability to communicate with the member. It should be easy for you to exchange ideas with your committee members. In addition, it is important that you get along well with your committee members.
• Availability of member. It is important to have members who will not just rubber stamp everything but will in fact assist you with your work.

Having a non-Purdue committee member adds an extra layer of bureaucracy to completing a Ph.D. The additional committee member is a supernumerary committee member and cannot be one of the three core committee members. There usually needs to be a good reason to have this person explicitly listed as an additional committee member. In most cases there is no advantage to explicitly listing this person on your plan of study. Rather, simply consulting with this person and then providing ample acknowledgment in the thesis is adequate.

A curriculum-vita and an explanation of what this person adds to the committee is required by the department.

As you already know, your dissertation should present original work and results worth publication. Thesis defense is an oral exam presented publicly in front of the examining committee, which normally consists of the student’s advisory committee and one additional faculty member representing an area outside that of the thesis. As you are also aware, you will have to write and present a document–your dissertation–to your examining committee and file it with the Graduate School.

Normally, the department expects the thesis to be completed by the end of the forth semester following the one in which the preliminary examination was passed (extensions to the four-semester requirement are possible). And, of course, you need to start writing your dissertation way before you intend to defend.

The Graduate School “Manual for the Preparation of Graduate Thesis” (6th revision, 1996) is available for download from the GS Thesis/Dissertation Offce web page. A link to a page with a LATEXtemplate that complies with these Graduate School requirements (written and maintained by Mark Senn from ECN) is also available from that page. The page with the LATEXtemplate itself is located here. If you already used this template for your preliminary examination document, your job is simplified.

If you plan on defending and graduating, contact the graduate secretary, Amy Ingram, before the semester in which you are planning to graduate starts. This is because there are various deadlines imposed by the the Graduate School and you don’t want to miss them. She will give you a precise listing of these deadlines and departmental guidelines for graduation for that particular semester.

Below is a rough outline of things to be done. Once again, contact the graduate secretary for more precise and up to date information.

• Two months prior to the exam, discuss with your major professor who the additional member of the examining committee should be (needs to be outside of your research area) and schedule your exam with the examining committee (room scheduling is through the graduate secretary).
• You will need to compete a GS form and bring it to the graduate office 3 - 6 weeks prior to the exam.
• Schedule a time with Dr. Gorman for the review of your thesis. These meetings are to check formatting and to make sure that nothing was missed.
• Around your exam, make sure that the department has all necessary paperwork for your defense, and make sure your adviser picks up and, most importantly, turns in your final examination form.
• The final version of your thesis must be filed with the Graduate School, and another copy goes to the library.

Now you can graduate. Congratulations!