West Virginia University

Candidacy & Dissertation Requirements

All students must show mastery of their major area of study by successful completion of the Candidacy Examination (preliminary comprehensive) designed by the student’s doctoral committee using guidelines developed by each major area faculty.

After students pass their comprehensive exams, they must complete a dissertation proposal that will provide an in-depth overview of their research ideas for their dissertation. Upon approval of the dissertation proposal by

  1. their doctoral committee and
  2. the institutional review board
students will conduct their dissertation research. The faculty will assess the dissertation and its oral defense and will recommend approval based upon the quality of work.

Interdisciplinary PhD in Education