Qualifying Prepatory Courses (First Year, Fall and Spring)-Starting Fall 2022

To develop skills in critical reading, analysis, and synthesis of the literature, students are required to take our two Research Fundamentals courses in their first year. Both courses will include (among other topics) reading and writing assignments. Topics will include: fundamentals of reading and critically analyzing individual primary literature; synthesis of a set of related literature to identify significant gaps in a research area; research question and testable hypothesis development towards rigorous experimental design for addressing open research questions.

These two courses are designed to teach students the fundamental skills they need for developing their own research questions and testable hypotheses, and will help in writing their qualifying exam document.  Students with significant prior research experience (i.e., independent development of research question and hypothesis, as in a MS thesis) can request (with mentor signature) a waiver for one or both of these courses. Waiver of this course requirement is intended to be an exception and not a general rule. Information that will be required includes evidence for prior training and skill attainment in the specific goals of our qualifying exam.

Relevant Forms: 

Relevant Resources:

Qualifying Exam Timelines