Student Handbook: Written General Exam Guidelines
Successful progression into candidacy for the Ph.D. demands mastery of research approaches and relevant scientific literature. To this end, graduate students in Genome Sciences are now required to write up the plan of their thesis research in the format similar to that required for federal grant proposals. This requirement is intended to encourage thoughtful design of an effective research strategy and comprehensive understanding of the relevant issues at an early stage of the overall research effort. In order to provide a more beneficial experience from planning the research in this manner, members of the thesis advisory committee will review the original proposals and provide constructive criticism of the concepts, plans, and presentation. These critiques will then serve as a basis for the student to prepare a revised proposal prior to the oral examination.
FORMAT: The thesis proposal should be 12-15 pages long (double spaced in 11-point or 12-point font) not including additional pages of figures and references. The various sections and their approximate lengths should be as indicated below:
Research Plan (1 page)
Briefly describe the key issues and how you plan to achieve an experimental solution. You should specify one or more clear-cut hypotheses and define a few (2-5) Specific Aims that will enable you to test each hypothesis.
Background (3-4 pages)
Describe in detail how this problem has been studied in the past, what was learned, what remains unsolved, and why.
Preliminary Findings (2-3 pages)
Describe work you already have done on the problem and discuss your data. If relevant data are lacking, describe related kinds of work you have done and how the skills and findings learned from this work influences your plans for the proposed work.
Methods of Procedure (3-4 pages)
Detail the technical aspects of your planned work with regard to each of your Specific Aims. What specific experimental procedures will you employ? Where applicable, justify your use of the specific procedures chosen as opposed to others that may be available.
Alternative Approaches (1-2 pages)
You should be prepared in your oral examination to discuss how the broader scientific issues you are proposing to address in your work might be studied in another experimental system (preferably in another organism). Outline at least one such alternative approach here in your written preparation.
Significance (1 page)
How might you expect your future findings to advance scientific knowledge more broadly and/or benefit human welfare?
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