Guidelines for Inorganic Chemistry Comprehensive Examinations

Transcription

1 Guidelines for Inorganic Chemistry Comprehensive Examinations Format and Purpose of the Comprehensive Examination The Inorganic Chemistry Comprehensive Examination is composed of a two-part written component (the research outline and the written examination) followed within four (4) weeks by an oral examination. However, the oral examination may be held as early as two (2) weeks after the written examination. The student will receive a letter outlining the timeline of events leading up to the oral comprehensive no less than three months prior to the date of the oral examination. The student will provide a research outline (maximum 4 pages) to the Examination Committee. This outline will delineate to the Committee the particular focus of the student s research and thereby guide the committee in preparing the written examination. The research outline also serves to evaluate the student s ability to communicate in the written form. The 2 hour written examination will provide an assessment of the student s fundamental understanding of general inorganic chemistry and undergraduate background knowledge. The written examination will then serve as a basis for questioning at the oral. All of these components will be assessed and graded by the committee. If the student fails the written component of the comprehensive examination, the oral examination will still go ahead as scheduled in order to give the candidate an opportunity to defend their written answers, as well as deal with other questions. The 2 hour oral examination is also meant to allow the student to demonstrate their ability to reason and rationalize their responses or opinions in an oral format, which serves to prepare the student for the oral PhD thesis defense, as well as to foster oral communication skills and confidence. These are considered important skills relevant to the progress of a candidate for the PhD degree. The comprehensive examination should focus on the background knowledge of students in their discipline, as well as their preparedness to do research of high quality in their particular fields of study. Examination on the specific thesis research that the student has chosen may be considered secondary to the main purpose of the comprehensive exam, which is to assess the student s general understanding of the sub-discipline. Assessment of the oral component of the examination will take place immediately following the completion of the oral examination. This assessment will be based on the candidate's overall performance in all components of the examination. Timing At least 3 months in advance of the oral component of the exam: a) The members of the exam committee will be made known to the student, b) The date and time of the oral exam shall be set, c) The student will be notified of the nature, topic, scope, date and time of the exam, as well as a timeline for the examination process, d) The student shall be provided with guidelines establishing the subject focus-areas of the written exam. The Examination Committee The examination committee shall consist of five voting members: The Department Head or delegate also the chair of the committee The research supervisor Three other members, only one of these can be an adjunct or an emeritus professor

2 The Dean of Graduate Studies will appoint a non-voting delegate to the committee for the oral examination The suggested composition of the examination committee is two inorganic chemists and one noninorganic. This may be flexible due in part to the number of inorganic chemists in the department and the multidisciplinary nature of many of the projects being pursued in the inorganic stream. It is the responsibility of the research supervisor to recommend members of the committee. Written Components (Research Outline and Written Examination) Three weeks following notification of the date and time of the student s oral comprehensive exam, the student shall submit an outline of their research area with up to ten (10) key references to the Graduate Secretary in Chemistry. This outline should be no longer than four (4) pages in length (excluding the title page but including figures, tables, and references). This will be copied and circulated to all members of the examination committee. This outline should include a list of graduate courses that the student has completed or are in progress. Examples will be provided to the student through a web link and the report should obey the following format: A title page including only the title of the report, the student s name, student number, date of oral exam and the names of the examination committee members cm (Letter) paper size with 1.9 cm margins 12 point Times New Roman font (or equivalent) double spaced, except references, tables and figure captions Within one week of receiving copies of the student s Research Outline, the examination committee shall submit questions to the Graduate Secretary, who will forward copies of the questions to the examination committee. This is to ensure a fair level of difficulty and relevance of the questions, and to prevent possible duplication of questions. These questions will be compiled by the Deputy Head of Graduate Studies (or delegate) with the assistance/advice of the research supervisor(s) to form the written exam based on topics and principles related to general inorganic chemistry and areas relevant to the research area of the student. The goal of the written exam is to evaluate the student s fundamental knowledge of inorganic chemistry (and peripheral topics) related to their research area as described in their outline. This examination is not meant to be an exhaustive survey of the sub-discipline, but rather an evaluation of a cross-section of the most important topics. The exact nature of the questions asked may be guided by, but not limited to, the research outline of the student. Questions on this examination should be based on fundamental inorganic chemistry but should also contain questions on the material covered in the graduate courses taken by the student at Memorial University. The examination will be composed of two sections. The first section will be mandatory relating to fundamental inorganic and general chemistry and all questions must be attempted by the student. The second section will have a variety of questions from which the student chooses a prescribed number which to answer. Questions in this section may be more related to the student s particular area of specialization in inorganic chemistry (e.g. organometallics, solid state, physical inorganic, coordination chemistry, inorganic materials, photochemistry, etc.) The student will not be expected to answer all questions but instead show a good degree of knowledge in some of these areas. [CMK1] Evaluation Five (5) weeks following the submission of the research outline, the student will take the written exam This exam will be 2 hours in length and will be graded (Pass, Pass with Distinction or Fail) by each of

3 the committee members within 3 working days after it has been written. The graded examinations, annotated with constructive criticism, will be copied by the Graduate Secretary and these copies shall be given to the student and student s supervisor. The original graded examinations will be kept on file. The student s supervisor will make suggestions for areas requiring improvement or revision. If the written component is deemed satisfactory by the committee (receiving a grade of Pass or Pass with Distinction) the oral component may focus on questions aimed at probing the student s advanced knowledge of inorganic chemistry. If the written component is deemed unsatisfactory by the committee (receiving a grade of Fail) the oral component will also require the student to defend their written answers and demonstrate that they understand the material. The examiners will submit 2-3 questions to the Chair of the committee at least one week before the oral examination. A copy of the compiled questions will be provided to each examiner prior to the beginning of the examination. Each examiner shall record a grade and comments on the student s answer to each of these questions, as well as any follow-up questions. Oral Component The oral exam will consist of: One round of questioning from the examiners with the student s supervisor being the last to pose questions. An additional round of questions may be conducted if the examination committee deems it necessary for the benefit of the student. The examination committee may use the student s written outline or examination as starting points to begin questioning and to form questions prior to the oral exam as described above. This will depend on the level of satisfaction by the committee with the student s performance on the written examination. The oral exam should be 90 minutes in length but may run up to 2 hours if necessary including, a 10 minute break if required. Evaluation The committee will meet immediately following the oral examination to decide whether the student Passes with Distinction, Passes, or Fails. The criteria for each of these outcomes are indicated in section 4 a-d (pg 464) of the Calendar. In order to pass the comprehensive examination, the student must demonstrate that they have a satisfactory knowledge of the material according to the examination committee. A student who fails the written examination may still receive a Pass in the comprehensive examination if they show improvement in the oral component of the examination. In order to pass with distinction, this rank must be achieved on both the written and oral components.

4 Appendix I -Example timeline For an oral comprehensive examination on Wednesday April 22 nd, 2009, At least one week prior to Wednesday January 28 th - Supervisor must inform the Deputy Head (Graduate Studies) (this conforms to the 3 months required by the university to inform the student of the comprehensive exam) and assemble an examination committee. On or before Wednesday January 28 th - Student must be sent the letter indicating the tentative date of the oral examination and other deadlines as outlined in this example timeline. This will include the dates when the student must hand in their written research outline. The letter should also include a list of undergraduate resources/text books, from which the student should be reviewing material in addition to material from their graduate courses. Wednesday February 18 th Student submits the research outline to the Chair of the examination committee Wednesday February 25 th Examination committee submits questions for written examination to the Graduate Secretary, who forwards copies of the questions to the examination committee. Wednesday March 25 th Written examination. The Examination committee grades the examination within three working days and assigns a pass, pass with distinction or fail grade. Friday March 27 th The student s research supervisor discloses the comments of the committee to the student and establishes the basis for the oral examination. Wednesday April 15 th The examination committee members submit 2-3 questions to the Chair of the committee. The compiled list of oral examination questions will be circulated to the examination committee prior to the exam. Wednesday April 22 nd - Oral Exam The committee will meet immediately following the oral examination to decide whether the student passes with distinction, passes, must be re-examined, or fails. The criteria for each of these outcomes are indicated in section 4 a-d (pg 464) of the Calendar.

5 Appendix II - Example Letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Student January 28 th, 2009 Dear Student, Your comprehensive examination for the Ph.D. degree will be held on Wednesday April 22 nd, 2009 at 9:30 am in a room to be decided. This will be an oral examination in which you will be expected to demonstrate a mastery of your field including, but not necessarily limited to, basic Main Group chemistry, coordination chemistry, organometallics, and characterization methods. Questions on this examination will focus primarily on fundamental inorganic chemistry relevant to your field. There are also two written components to your exam: 1) An outline describing your research area is to be submitted by Wednesday February 18th. This outline should consist of a maximum of 5 pages (including the required title page) and follow the format stated below and in the Guidelines for Inorganic Chemistry Comprehensive Examinations. A title page including only the title of the report, the student s name, student number, date of oral exam and the names of the examination committee members cm page (Letter size) with 1.9 cm margins 12 point - Times New Roman font or equivalent Double spaced, except references, tables and figure captions. There are example outlines at Note also that the inclusion of figures and tables should be used to clarify a point, not simply to take up space, and should be included in the text of your paper. Also, on the webpage cited above there are links to guidelines that describe the very serious academic dishonesty of plagiarism. You are expected to have read and fully understood these guidelines. If you have questions, please contact your supervisor or the Chair of your examination committee. 2) On Wednesday March 25 th you will perform the written examination at 9:30 am in a room to be decided. You will have 1.5 hours to complete this examination, which covers the subject areas relevant to the graduate level courses you have taken at Memorial as well as fundamental inorganic chemistry. This written examination will be graded Pass, Pass with Distinction or Fail. A failing grade on the written examination will result in a reassessment of this material during your oral examination, which will be held no later than 4 weeks following the written examination. A passing grade will result in the focus of your oral examination being directed to an assessment of your advanced, in-depth understanding of your research area. Your oral examination will be between 90 to 120 minutes in length as required. A 10 minute break may be included if deemed necessary by you or the committee. Please contact me if you require any clarification. Your examination committee consists of Dr. Peter Pickup, Chair of the Examination Committee Dr. Francesca Kerton, Supervisor Dr. Sunil Pansare

6 Dr. Laurie Thompson Dr. Christopher Kozak A non-voting committee member appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies Sincerely, Chair of the Examination Committee