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Program information

The purpose of the Ph.D. program is to engage students in advanced academic studies, normally in preparation for an academic career. The community of graduate scholars in this program is engaged in a broad spectrum of critical research involving any number of interdisciplinary approaches conducted on a number of different religious traditions. The faculty members are committed to the training of teaching scholars, making the School of Religious Studies one of few schools that prioritizes offering graduate students opportunities under faculty supervision to teach/lecture during their time in the program.

Admission requirements

Entry into the doctoral program is limited to applicants who have earned an academic Master鈥檚 degree in Religious Studies or Theology in a recognized graduate program, or those who have finished the course requirements of such a program with a minimum CGPA of 3.5/4.0.

Advanced standing (Ph.D. 2) may be granted if the completed Master鈥檚 level work included a thesis in the same area as that of the intended doctoral specialization and involved not less than six (6) courses (18 credits).

It is recommended that French and/or German be included in the bachelor鈥檚 or master鈥檚 work preceding doctoral study. For Asian Religions, students intending to enter the Ph.D. program must have preparation in the appropriate languages, normally Sanskrit or Pali for South Asian religion, Tibetan for Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese and/or Japanese for East Asian religion. For Biblical Studies, students intending to enter the Ph.D. program must have preparation in the appropriate languages, normally Hebrew and Greek.

Applicants for doctoral programs are requested to submit a substantial sample of their scholarly writing (15鈥�20 pages) with their application.

Timeline

Upon admission, students are assigned a Graduate Advisor. This is someone the School believes the student would be interested in working with. This is not their Graduate Supervisor, who will provide thesis supervision, develop a Thesis Proposal and plan a schedule for the Comprehensive Examinations. Students must advise the Student Affairs Coordinator of their supervisor(s) and supervisory committee by October of their first year. Additionally, each year by October 1, students must complete a research tracking progress report to assess degree progress.

Please note that a student who has not completed Comprehensive Examinations by the end of Ph.D. 3 may not qualify for T.A. employment, may not teach as a sessional lecturer and may not commence formal dissertation research and writing. Additionally, students who do not follow the timeline outlined below will not be considered for in-course funding.

Milestones and requirements will be closely followed on MyProgress. The timeline students can expect is as follows:

Ph.D. 1: Course work (by August 31 Year 1) (6 seminars)听
Ph.D. 2: Course work (by August 31 Year 2) (4 seminars)
Ph.D. 3:听Comprehensives (by August 31 Year 3)
Ph.D. 4: 2 Required Languages (by August 31 Year 4)
Ph.D. 5: Thesis Proposal (by April 30 Year 5)
Ph.D. 6: Doktorklub (by April 30 Year 6)

Ph.D. students must complete all program requirements by the end of Ph.D. 7. Please see the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies office website for more on Program Progression and Time Limitation.

Residency requirements

Refers to the number of terms (or years) students must be registered on a full-time basis to complete their program. Students are not permitted to graduate until they have fulfilled the residence requirement (or paid the corresponding fees) in their program.

Candidates admitted to Ph.D. 1 must be registered on a full-time basis for four consecutive years (8 terms) and candidates admitted to Ph.D. 2 must be registered on a full-time basis for three consecutive years (6 terms), after which they will continue as additional session students until completion of the program. Half-time study may be permitted upon request.

Courses

Candidates admitted to Ph.D. 1 take a minimum of six graduate seminars during their first year and four seminars during their Ph.D. 2 year; those admitted to Ph.D. 2 must take a minimum of four graduate seminars. If possible, two seminars should be in their area of specialization, and at least one should be at the 700 level.

Graduate seminars are defined as courses that are 500-level or higher.听 If possible, two seminars should be in their area of specialization.听 Note that RELG 745 is a required course, and one of the four to be taken in Ph.D. 2.听

For a full list of available courses, please refer to听the eCalendar听or Minerva.

Comprehensive exams

During Ph.D. 2 students should approach a member of the faculty to request supervision of the dissertation and to plan the Comprehensive Examinations (Comps). Full-time students normally complete the Comps after course work in Ph.D. 2 and before the beginning of dissertation research in Ph.D. 4. However, students may choose to commence Comps from the beginning of Ph.D. 2. At the latest, the Comprehensive must be completed by the end of Ph.D. 3. The thesis proposal should be submitted shortly after the completion of the Comprehensive, normally by the beginning of Ph.D. 4.

These examinations are designed to ensure that candidates are adequately prepared to undertake the research required for a doctoral thesis and to teach university level courses in their chosen field. They are meant to test students' competence in: (1) their field of specialization; (2) one or two cognate areas. The latter are areas related to the chosen field and are to be determined by the supervisor in consultation with the candidate.听

The School of Religious Studies Guidelines for Comprehensive Examinations complement section 10.4 "Ph.D. Comprehensive Policy" of the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Calendar.

Format

In general, Comprehensive Examinations in the School of Religious Studies follow a standard 3-part format.

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Specifications based on fields of study

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Language requirements

The School of Religious Studies offers courses in primary text source languages, such as Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Biblical Greek, Sanskrit, classical literary Tibetan. The School relies upon other 平特五不中 units for instruction in languages other than those mentioned above.

The successful听completion of at least twelve credits at the post-secondary level听in a language course, or听successful completion of a language examination听administered by the appropriate member of the School, will constitute evidence of the student鈥檚 having the required reading knowledge of the language in question.

Students are required to give their area committee evidence of reading knowledge of two languages other than English. These languages must be chosen from modern languages in which there is a significant amount of scholarship relevant to the student鈥檚 area of research or from classical languages relevant to the student鈥檚 area of research, or a combination of one modern and one classical language.

Research in some disciplines, or on certain thesis topics, may require proficiency in more than two languages besides English. In that case, additional language requirements as required for specialization may be stipulated by the supervisor.

Thesis proposal guidelines:

The thesis proposal is prepared under the direction of your thesis supervisor(s) with the guidance of your research committee and submitted to the Graduate Programs and Policies (GPP) committee for review and approval.

Drafting and submission of the Ph.D. proposal is not undertaken formally until the comprehensive exams are successfully completed.

General guidelines:

• Ph.D. proposal word count: 1500 words maximum (excluding bibliography).
• Your proposal must be submitted two weeks before the meeting of the GPP committee to be considered. Keep review deadlines in mind; they must be respected.
• The Ph.D. candidate is present at the GPP meeting for the discussion and review of the proposal. The student can give a short (3-5 minute) presentation of the proposal or go directly to questions from the committee. Normally only two Ph.D. proposals will be discussed in a GPP meeting.
• Submit your proposal with your name and student number, date, indication of the degree being sought, proposal title, and supervisory signature(s).
• It must be distributed in an unlocked PDF form that allows for highlighting and annotation by GPP committee members.
• Use a standard double-spaced format, with brief supportive footnotes.

Main elements of a proposal:

Apart from the provisional title, there are essentially FIVE main elements of a thesis proposal, which will normally (though not necessarily) appear discretely in the following order.

• Research question and thesis statement: The first section indicates the main subject of inquiry and the principal text(s) concerned. More specifically, it identifies the central task to be undertaken and the primary claim that is being made, a claim that will be elaborated and defended as the dissertation unfolds. Establishing the "problematic" and the "thesis" (that is, the question and the answer) is crucial to the viability of any proposal. Clarity here is essential and the labour required to attain it is an excellent investment. This process normally requires multiple revisions in the drafting the proposal and often involves important refinements or alterations to the version reviewed by the GPP committee. If one cannot formulate convincingly the main problem to be addressed, or the primary aim and claim of the work, the dissertation project is not yet ready to proceed.
• Literature Review: This section should position the thesis in relation to previous scholarship in the area, to show how the proposed project offers an original contribution to scholarly debate or addresses an important gap in the literature. The literature can be grouped into 鈥渟chools鈥� of interpretation, if such exist. A proposal cannot offer a thorough literature review, but should offer an examination of representative studies as a backdrop or a foil for your own inquiry. This normally will involve weeks or months of intensive research and reading, beyond your comprehensives, in order to have a good grasp of the literature relevant to your topic. While some research topics might not have a large body of existing academic literature, this limitation can be explained in the literature review section and literature relevant to the broader thematic concerns of the thesis can be mentioned here.
• Methodology and approach: This section sets out the relevant operating assumptions and the theoretical tools or types of analysis to be employed. The former should be clearly indicated and the latter competently articulated. Assumptions do not have to be defended but their bearing should, as far as possible, be recognized. Analytical tools should be appropriate to the subject matter and their use (or non-use) may require explanation or defence. Proposals dealing with scriptural or foundational documents usually involve various forms of textual, hermeneutical, theological, critical, or historical analysis. Ethnographic topics may entail anthropological, sociological or qualitative ethnographical approaches. Some topics may lend themselves to a mixed-methods approach. How does the approach you are proposing address some of the limitations or difficulties of earlier approaches? Will your theoretical or methodological approach offer something original to scholarship in your field of inquiry?
• Annotated outline: Provide a basic map of your project in the form of an annotated chapter outline. This should evince a coherent structure within which to develop your aims and arguments systematically. Ph.D. perhaps five or six. Descriptions of each should help the committee assess your readiness for the work proposed, though in that work you are not bound to its present outline, which may well undergo significant change dictated by future findings or conceptual adjustments.
• Select bibliography: This should include the main primary texts, or portions thereof, which constitute the focus of the inquiry. Also provide the most relevant critical literature which is most pertinent to the setting up of your own methodology and approach, specifically the most important criticism outlined in the literature review.
  Ph.D. bibliography: 1.5 page minimum (in addition to the proposal).
  You may attach your more extensive bibliography as an appendix if you wish.

General observations:

Keep the main text as clean as possible and make it accessible to those whose expertise is in other fields. Be concise, however, not impressionistic. Your research can and should proceed while you await review. Bear in mind that the labour that leads to a successful thesis proposal is the most important work that will go into your project. Where these elements are sound, the further work based on them is more likely of success and the misery of "thesis neurosis" much less likely. As Aristotle rightly maintained, 鈥渢he beginning is most difficult.鈥� It is perhaps more than half the labour.

Doktorklub protocol

Held monthly during the Fall and Winter terms in the Birks building, Room 100 (Senior Common Room), 鈥楧oktorklub鈥� provides doctoral candidates in the School of Religious Studies with an opportunity to make a formal presentation of their research in the company of their professors and peers. A Doktorklub presentation is a formal requirement of the Ph.D. programme and is customarily scheduled following completion of the other principal degree requirements including courses, comprehensives, language examinations, and formal acceptance of the thesis proposal. Normally 40 to 50 minutes in length, these presentations should consist in a concise summary of the dissertation together with some significant portion of the argument (e.g. a chapter). Doktorklub constitutes a fairly broad, interdisciplinary audience of scholars in Religious Studies; the substance of presentations should be framed accordingly. Presenters are invited to consult their Supervisors in this matter. Presenters at Doktorklub are invited to nominate a formal Responder (either a professor or a peer) who will offer 5 to 10 minutes of comment following the presentation.

The intent of the formal response is to initiate a constructive conversation about the main argument of the presentation. Presenters are asked to provide an abstract (400-500 words max.) of their presentation to be circulated by the convenor in advance to other members of Doktorklub. In addition presenters may wish to include a brief outline of the argument of their dissertation鈥攅.g., a division of chapters鈥攖ogether with any pertinent text or quotations which might serve to illuminate the inquiry and promote the discussion. Regular attendance at Doktorklub is required of all Ph.D. students in the School. By established custom delegates of the Religious Studies Graduate Society provide refreshments in the foyer of Birks after each meeting of Doktorklub. Doktorklub should be completed no later than 30 April of Ph.D. 6.

Procedure for arranging a Doktorklub presentation
Ph.D. candidates should consult with their thesis Supervisor(s) well in advance of applying for a date for their proposed presentation. In the term before they hope to give their Doktorklub presentation, the student should contact studaffairs.relg [at] mcgill.ca (Student Affairs Coordinator) to arrange a presentation date.