Degree Steps

Step-by-Step
Getting your doctorate in Educational Psychology

The following instructions are from the desk of Helen Katz, Office Support Specialist for Degree Completion, 230 Education, 333-5242.

The following is a detailed guide to tell you:

  • the requirements you have to fulfill,
  • how the process works, and
  • the administrative actions you need to take (in bold italic type), based on the procedures in place at this time.

It is your responsibility to be aware of these requirements and to complete them according to the timetable indicated. You will not be able to propose your doctoral dissertation at your preliminary exam unless the College database shows that all the preceding requirements have been completed.

Some abbreviations and terms used in the following text:
SAAO is the College of Education Student Academic Affairs Office
CCA is a Certificate of Committee Approval
RSPEC is the College of Education Research Specialization Requirement
Thesis, dissertation: The terms “thesis” and “dissertation” essentially mean the same thing and can be used for both master’s and doctoral degree projects. However, except for the official titles of offices, in the following instructions we will use “thesis” when referring to the master’s degree process and “dissertation” for doctoral degrees.
Human subjects form is a specific College form issued by Anne Robertson in the Bureau of Educational Research. It is not the same as the IRB approval letter.

STEP 1
Residency Requirement

 You must take a full course load for two consecutive semesters at some time before you are ready to take your preliminary exam. (See the College of Education Graduate Handbook for a more detailed explanation of the requirements for residency.)

STEP 2

Master’s Degree (This is required for all doctoral students who were admitted to our Ph.D. program without a previous Master’s degree. If you have a previous master’s degree, skip this step and go on to STEP 3.)

 Before scheduling your exam to defend your master’s thesis:

  • Get a human subjects form verifying that your master’s thesis research method was approved. The form will be issued by Anne Robertson in the Bureau of Educational Research, room 38 Education. (This is a specific College form, separate from the IRB approval letter.)
  • Check your course history with your advisor.
    • Have you fulfilled the College of Education course requirements for a master’s degree, including the EPS and EPSY Foundation Course requirements?
    • Do you have any temporary grades -- NR, I, ABS, F that automatically converted from I or NR, or non-thesis research credit DFR -- that need to be changed to permanent grades before your exam can be approved? (DFR grades for EPSY 599 thesis research credits must stay on your academic history until after you pass your master’s exam.)

 Contact Helen if you need assistance resolving any problems with the above matters.

 TWO WEEKS BEFORE YOUR EXAM, email Helen:

  • your tentative thesis title
  • the degree you want to get, either MA or MS
  • the date, time and place of your exam (let Helen know if you need her to find you a room)
  • the members of your committee, including their committee roles (chair, voting member, etc.) and their departments. You are only required to have three faculty members. Please be sure to designate your Director of Research, even if it’s the same person as your advisor.
  • your human subjects approval form as an email attachment (or bring Helen the hard copy)

Helen will input your information into the College database, print an appointment form, get advisor and department signatures, and scan the form to SAAO for College approval and issuance of your exam certificate. When the certificate is ready, she will email your advisor to pick it up, along with a Supplemental Grade Report Form to get your “DFR” grades for thesis research credit converted to “S” grades after successful completion of the exam.

Before the exam, prepare several copies of your Certificate of Committee Approval. Helen will send you further instructions for this requirement.

After the exam, your advisor will return the signed exam certificate, Supplemental Grade Report Form and human subjects approval form to Helen for processing. PLEASE NOTE: Only your advisor or another committee member can pick up and return your exam certificate and Supplemental Grade Report Form. College and university rules prohibit students from transporting these documents. However, you are responsible for your CCAs. After the exam, or after your advisor releases them, take your CCAs signed by all committee members (a College of Education requirement) to Julie Kellogg in room 210C in order to get the signature of Dr. Schwandt, department chair, on all copies. Julie asks that you plan to leave them with her for a couple days. After they are signed, she will put them in your mailbox.

In order to get your master’s degree, you must deposit your thesis with the Graduate College Thesis Office. Before you can do that, its format must be approved by the College of Education Thesis Format Office. Contact that office for questions or to start the format checking process, either before or after you defend your thesis at the master’s exam.

When your thesis is approved by the College of Education Thesis Format Office, you will receive a signed format approval form. Take that form and one signed CCA to the Graduate College Thesis Office along with your abstract.

If you want to use your master’s thesis and exam to fulfill your Early Research Requirement, see Step 3 below for additional instructions.

STEP 3

Early Research Requirement
When you have completed your Early Research project to the satisfaction of your advisor, according to the process described in the College Graduate Handbook, get all the required signatures on your Early Research form and bring it to Helen for recording and processing, along with your human subjects form verifying that your early research method was approved. This form will be issued by Anne Robertson in the Bureau of Educational Research, room 38 Education. (This is a specific College form, separate from the IRB approval letter. If you are using your master’s thesis and exam to fulfill your Early Research requirement, one human subjects form will be sufficient.)

STEP 4

Qualifying Examination. The following is a broad procedure for both general field and special field exams. Specifics such as how you will receive your exam and return your answers are at the discretion of your advisor and vary from student to student. Counseling students, please disregard these instructions, your qualifying exams are handled in a different way by your division.

AT LEAST ONE WEEK BEFORE YOUR EXAM, you or your advisor should bring Helen the exam scheduling form. The form must be signed by your advisor.

Your advisor will give Helen the question(s) for your exam.

She will input your exam information into the College database and provide the exam to you on the scheduled day and time.

Complete your exam answer(s) and return them to Helen by the deadline indicated.

She will copy your answer(s) and distribute them to your readers with grading forms. Your readers will have three weeks to grade your exam.

When Helen receives the grades, she will input them into the College database and distribute them, along with any comments or marked-up answers, according to your advisor’s instructions.

STEP 5

Research Specialization

  • When you have selected the area for your Research Specialization work and made your course plan, complete the RSPEC form.
  • Get signatures from your advisor and the appropriate RSPEC committee chair in the Plan Approval section.
  • Give the signed form to Helen. She will scan a copy to SAAO and hold the original until you need it.
  • After you have completed the RSPEC courses and any other required work, contact Helen to arrange to pick up your form.
  • When your advisor and the RSPEC chair have approved your RSPEC work, ask them both to sign in the Completion Approval section of the form.
  • Return the form to Helen. She will distribute copies to SAAO, you and your advisor, and put the original in your student file.

STEP 6

Preliminary Oral Exam (proposing your doctoral dissertation)

 Before you schedule your exam, check on the following:

  • Have you completed Steps 1 through 5, above? (Prelim exams cannot be approved unless all earlier Ph.D. requirements have been satisfied.)
  • Have you completed the required number and type of credit hours? (See the College Graduate Handbook instructions.)
  • Do you have any temporary grades -- NR, I, ABS, F that automatically converted from I or NR, or non-dissertation research credit DFR -- that need to be changed to permanent grades before your prelim can be approved? (DFR grades for EPSY 599 dissertation research credits must stay on your academic history until after you pass your final exam. They will be removed by the Office of the Registrar during the degree process.)
  • Have you received human subjects approval for your proposed research and has Anne Robertson in the Bureau of Educational Research issued the required human subjects form? (This is a specific College form, separate from the IRB approval letter.)

 Contact Helen if you need assistance resolving any problems with the above matters.

 When all the above is satisfied, you and your advisor can arrange for an exam committee and set a time for the exam. The prelim committee must have at least 4 members. Membership must include:

  • Two or more members who are tenured. 
  • Three of more members who are members of the Graduate College faculty. 
  • One member who is from a different department.

You can have more than one member from a different department. There is no minimum required number of members who must be from EdPsych.

 AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS BEFORE YOUR EXAM, e-mail your exam and committee information to Helen .  She needs:

  • your tentative dissertation title
  • the date, time and place of your exam (let Helen know if you need her to find you a room)
  • the members of your committee, including their committee roles (chair, voting member, etc.) and their departments. Please be sure to designate your Director of Research, even if it’s the same person as your advisor.
  • your human subjects approval form as an email attachment (or bring Helen the hard copy)

IF YOU HAVE A COMMITTEE MEMBER WHO IS NOT A MEMBER OF GRADUATE COLLEGE FACULTY OR WHO IS FROM A DIFFERENT UNIVERSITY, YOU MUST ALSO PROVIDE:

  • Text for a department letter of justification for that member, written by your advisor or director of research. (Typically, your advisor will send the text to Helen in an email so she can use it to create a letter for our department chair to sign.)
  • The prospective member’s CV

Helen will input your information into the College database, produce the committee appointment form, get your advisor and department signatures, and scan the form to SAAO.  Helen must have all your information and any problems resolved in time to get the exam appointment, along with the human subjects form and the member justification material, if needed, to SAAO at least three weeks before the exam date.

When both the College and the Graduate College have approved your committee and exam, the Graduate College will produce the exam certificate and committee appointment letters and send them to Helen. She will prepare your exam certificate and notify your advisor to pick it up, along with your human subjects approval form, before your exam. (Due to both College and Graduate College rules, only your advisor or another faculty member can pick up and return your exam certificate. It cannot be transported by the student.)

After the exam, your advisor will:

  • check off the appropriate grade on the exam certificate and get all your committee members’ signatures
  • complete and sign the human subjects form
  • return both documents to Helen.

Helen will scan your signed exam certificate to SAAO, put a copy in your department file, and send the original to the Office of the Registrar.

STEP 7

Planning Session with College Format Checker

When you are ready to start writing your dissertation, contact the College format checker. You must work closely with the College of Education Thesis Format Office to prepare your dissertation for final format approval after you have successfully defended it.

STEP 8

Final Oral Exam (defending your completed dissertation)

Before you schedule your exam, check on the following:

 Contact Helen if you need assistance resolving any problems with the above matters.

AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS BEFORE YOUR EXAM (SIX WEEKS IF A DISSERTATION TITLE CHANGE MUST BE APPROVED), e-mail your exam and committee information to Helen . She needs:

  • Your name
  • Your dissertation title
  • The date, time and place of your exam (let Helen know if you need her to find you a room)
  • the members of your committee, including their committee roles (chair, voting member, etc.) and their departments. Please be sure to designate your Director of Research, even if it’s the same person as your advisor.

The rules for the membership of your final exam committee are the same as the rules for your prelim committee. Usually your final exam committee is exactly the same as your prelim committee, but membership changes are permissible. If you add a committee member who is not UIUC Graduate Faculty, see above for the procedure to get that member approved.

Helen will input your information into the College database, produce the committee appointment form, and get your advisor and department signatures, and scan the form to SAAO.  She must have all your information and any problems resolved in time to get the exam appointment, along with the human subjects form and the member justification material, if either is needed, to SAAO at least three weeks before the exam date.

When both the College and the Graduate College have approved your committee and exam, the Graduate College will produce the exam certificate and committee appointment letters and send them to Helen Katz. She will prepare your exam certificate and notify your advisor to pick it up before your exam. (Due to both College and Graduate College rules, only your advisor or another faculty member can pick up and return your exam certificate. It cannot be transported by the student.)

After the exam, your advisor will:

  • check off the appropriate grade on the exam certificate and get all your committee members’ signatures
  • complete and sign the human subjects form, if needed
  • return the signed document(s) to Helen.

Helen will scan your signed document(s) to SAAO, put a copy of the exam certificate in your department file, and send the original to the Office of the Registrar.

Before the exam, you will need to prepare several copies of your Certificate of Committee Approval. After the exam get them signed by your committee members. Helen will send you further instructions for this requirement.

PLEASE NOTE: While your advisor is responsible for handling your exam certificate, you are responsible for your CCAs. After the exam, or when your advisor releases them, take your CCAs signed by all committee members to Julie Kellogg in room 210C in order to get the signature of Dr. Schwandt, department chair, on all copies. Julie asks that you plan to leave them with her for a couple days. After they are signed, she will put them in your mailbox. You will need your CCAs for format approval and to deposit your thesis at the Graduate College Thesis Office. You'll have extra copies that are not required for deposit. After deposit, you may keep them or discard them as you wish.

 STEP 9

Final Deposit of Your Dissertation

When your dissertation format is approved by the College of Education Thesis Format Office, you will receive a signed format approval form. Take that form and one signed CCA to the Graduate College Thesis Office along with your ProQuest abstract. (Counseling students should not deposit until internship is completed.)

Congratulations, you’re almost done!

About that Degree List …
You can receive a Ph.D. in October, December or May of each year.  You can receive a master’s degree at any of those conferral dates and also in August. If you receive a degree in August, October or December, you will be eligible to walk in the following May ceremonies, both university and College of Education.

If you want to defend your master’s thesis or your doctoral dissertation in time for a specific degree conferral, you’ll need to plan your work according to the appropriate deadlines published in the College and Grad College websites.

There are three ways to get on a degree list:

  • Complete an application for degree
  • Ask Helen to add your name and expected degree to the pending degree list when she receives it from the Office of the Registrar.
  • When you register for the semester in which you plan to receive a degree, check the degree option.

Counseling Interns who have passed their final exam prior to completing internship cannot receive their degrees earlier than the following October, but can apply to the walk in the College of Education May ceremony before internship completion. There’s a separate procedure for that … of course! Contact the chair of the Counseling Psychology division for that information.

Revised May 2009


Semantic Microformats for Addresses

College of Education
1310 S. 6th St.
ChampaignIL 61820, USA
(217) 333-0960
Fax(217) 333-5847
40.101432-88.230257