The qualifying paper (QP) is required of students who have been admitted to the Doctoral program in the Department of Linguistics. It must be completed before the student can pass on to Phase 2 of the program (i.e., the phase during which students conduct their PhD thesis research).

The QP is intended to give the student experience in carrying out a research project that goes beyond what is normally required of a course paper; however the project certainly can evolve out of a course paper. The paper should have the format of a journal submission, and be between 9,000 and 12,000 words in length.

Early in their second year of graduate study, the student should choose a faculty member who will advise the student while he or she is working on the QP. (The faculty member may be, but does not have to be, the same faculty who will direct the student’s dissertation.) The role of the advisor is to guide the student as he or she is carrying out the research and the writing. The student, together with the advisor, select a second committee member (or “reader”), who will read and comment on the QP.

Once the QP has been approved by the advisor, the Director of Graduate Studies will assign a third committee member (or “reader”), and the other members of the QP committee will then read the QP and provide feedback or simply approve the paper if no additional revisions are necessary. When the committee has approved the QP, the three faculty sign the approval form. Students return the form to the Director of Graduate Study after all three faculty have signed the form, and (s)he will also sign it. Finally, the form is sent to the graduate secretary, so that (s)he can enter the information into our student database and file the form in the student’s file.

Students are required to make an oral presentation of their QP research at the end of their fifth semester (at the latest), and to finish their QP by the end of the sixth semester (at the latest). Upon completion of a student’s QP, the faculty as a whole will either determine whether (s)he should passed onto Phase 2 of the PhD program. In the event a student is not passed onto the P.D phase of the program, (s)he will earn a terminal MA and will leave the program.