Requirements for the PH.D. Degree

Courses:
Students are required to pass sixteen term courses before the end of their fifth term in the program and to receive grades of Honors in at least two Political Science courses. The Department regularly offers about 60 term courses for graduate students each year. (Yale has two terms each academic year.) Courses are conducted as seminars and typically have small enrollments. Two of the courses may be in departments other than Political Science. Students are normally expected to complete eight courses in the first year, including the required Introduction to the Study of Politics given in the fall term each year, which is graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

As part of the second year of courses, all students are required to take the two-term course in Research and Writing, which is devoted to the preparation of a manuscript based on original research on a topic of the student’s choice. Conducted as a seminar,the course includes all second-year students and is directed by two members of the faculty. Performance in the first-term course (540a) is graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. The second-term course (541b) carries conventional grades that are assigned retroactively to 540a at the end of the second term.

All students must take a one-term graduate-level course in statistical methods, successful completion of which satisfies the statistics requirement. The statistics requirement, the first-year introductory course, and the second-year Research and Writing sequence will count as four of the sixteen credits needed to advance to candidacy.

Language:
Each student must demonstrate elementary reading competence in one foreign language. Such competence is usually demonstrated by taking, or having completed, two years of undergraduate course work in the language or by examination. Alternatively the language requirement can be satisfied by successfully completing two terms of formal theory or two terms of statistical methods at the graduate level, in addition to the required course in statistical methods.

Fields and Field Certification:
Courses are offered in six substantive fields—contemporary theory, political philosophy, international relations, comparative politics, American politics, and political economy—and two methods fields—empirical methods and formal theory. The department also allows students in exceptional cases to petition for the creation of a special field of study which will be certified by successful completion of a comprehensive examination created by the field advisors.

Each student must demonstrate competence in four fields by the end of the fifth term, including at least two of the substantive fields. Competence can be demonstrated either by passing the comprehensive examination in the field or by course work, provided that each student takes at least two comprehensive exams.

The Department offers exams twice a year, in late August and in early January. Each examination is based on a reading list compiled by the faculty within the field and updated each year. Each list offers an introduction and framework for study in the field and preparation for the examination. A committee of faculty within the field grades the exams as Distinguished, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory.

For fields to be certified by course work students are required to satisfactorily complete three courses in the field, where courses in the field are determined by the faculty and the DGS, including one in which a research paper or other independent project is presented. If competence in two fields is to be certified by coursework, each must be represented by three separate and distinct courses. In addition, in each field certified by coursework a research paper or other independent project must be completed and submitted to review by two faculty members in the field, only one of whom may the instructor of the course for which the paper was written. Research and Writing papers may qualify for certification in an appropriate field with the consent of faculty in the field. The field papers are graded as Distinguished, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory.

The Advisor:
During the first year in residence, each student chooses a faculty advisor. The advisor assists the student in planning his or her course work, preparing for field exams, and laying the groundwork for the dissertation. In addition, the advisor works with the student on the dissertation prospectus and the dissertation itself. Students may change, or add, advisors as they wish.

Dissertation Prospectus:
In order to be admitted to candidacy for the PH.D. degree, the student must have a prospectus approved by a dissertation director and two other members of the faculty. This must occur no later than May 1 of the student’s third year of study. The dissertation prospectus should present a summary of the nature and scope of the dissertation research. The prospectus should make clear the significance of the topic and should go into enough detail about research methods and plans to give the reader a clear idea of the research and persuade him or her of its feasibility.

Students are admitted to candidacy by the end of the third year, but only after completion of all requirements, including the Introduction to the Study of Politics course, Research and Writing, the statistics course, the necessary field distributions and certifications, and approval of the dissertation prospectus.

The Dissertation:
Choosing a dissertation topic is a substantial task, begun ordinarily in the second year. The department expects students to ask significant and original questions in defining their topics and to seek out carefully the most suitable methods with which to answer them. Because a wide range of specialties in Political Science is represented in the Department, students normally have no difficulty finding dissertation supervisors with special competence in their subjects, but the aid of faculty from other Departments may be enlisted when necessary. Every major area of the discipline has been represented in the list of dissertations submitted in recent years.

Research Workshops:
During each year in residence, graduate students are expected to participate actively and regularly in one or more of the many research workshops run by the department. Students beyond their fourth term are required to enroll in at least one of the workshops for credit and all workshops are graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. All students are expected to present a research paper of their own at one of these workshops before the end of their fourth year. Workshop participation does not count toward the requirement of sixteen term courses.

Degrees:
M.A. (en route to the PH.D.). The M.A. degree is awarded upon completion of a full year of course work in the program (i.e., at least eight term courses) with an average of High Pass or better. The courses must include one each in at least three of the department’s substantive fields and a graduate-level course in statistical analysis. Language requirements are the same as for the PH.D. degree.

M.Phil. The academic requirements for the M.Phil. degree include all of the requirements for the Ph.D. with the exception of the dissertation.