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Field Exam
Important Dates for Spring 2008
- Intent to take the exam: As soon as possible. E-mail the Chair of the DSC, giving the area of the exam and the names of members of the Exam Committee (three in total, at least one from the DSC;
consult the DSC if a DSC faculty member is needed for the committee).
NOTE: Course requirements for the degree need to be complete, and approval of advisor is necessary to take the exam.
- Reading lists approved by Exam Committee, and submitted to DSC: Friday, February 8, 2008
- Questions for the Field Exam approved by Exam Committee, and submitted to DSC: Monday, February 25, 2008.
- Written Exam Examination begins: 9am, Monday, March 24, 2008
- Examination completed: 9am, Monday, April 7, 2008
- Oral Exam: as arranged with exam committee and student at a mutually convenient time during the two weeks following the written exam, or by Monday, April 21, 2008.
Important Dates for Fall 2008
- Intent to take the exam: As soon as possible after the beginning of the fall semester. E-mail the Chair of the DSC, giving the area of the exam and the names of members of the Exam Committee (three in total, at least one from the DSC;
consult the DSC if a DSC faculty member is needed for the committee).
NOTE: Course requirements for the degree need to be complete, and approval of advisor is necessary to take the exam.
- Reading lists are due to be conveyed (by advisors) to DSC by 19 September 2008.
- Reading Lists will be approved by DSC by 3 October 2008.
- Field Exam Questions should be conveyed (by advisors) to DSC by 17 October.
- Doctoral students receive field exams on 7 November.
- Doctoral students turn in field exams on 21st November.
- Oral Examinations by committees after Thanksgiving and before the end of classes.
Reading Lists should be finalized by doctoral students and their committees during August and early September 2008.
Aims
The Field Exam has several aims:
- Demonstrate that the student has read broadly in a significant subarea of LIS, is able to discuss issues and understand connections in that subarea, and is able to apply that knowledge in a manner that is typical in scholarly work.
- Certify that the student has a sufficient breadth and depth of knowledge in the sub-area to pursue scholarly research, teaching, and practice.
- Involve the faculty at large (i.e., not just the Doctoral Studies Committee) in evaluating student's competence.
- Conduct the preparation and the Field Exam itself in a format that realistically mirrors some important aspects of actual scholarly work in which a breadth of knowledge is required, such as participating in journal editorial board discussions, conference and proposal review committees, peer reviews, accreditation visits, and other such evaluations.
Fields
The exam may be taken in one of the following LIS Fields:
- History of Libraries and of Library/Information Science
- Social Informatics
Reading Lists: Spring 2008 | Spring 2005 | Fall 2004a, Fall 2004b, Fall 2004c
- Uses and Users of Information
Reading Lists: Spring 2008 | Fall 2007
- Children's Literature and Youth Services
Reading List: Spring 2008 | Spring 2007
- Information Organization and Access
Reading Lists: Fall 2007 | Spring 2007 | Fall 2005
- Information Policy
- Information Storage and Retrieval
Reading List: Spring 2007
The general idea is that a student's Field is the area from the list above in which they might seek a job, do research, and/or reasonably be asked to teach courses.
The process of defining the scope of each of these is discussed below.
Format and Process
- Students normally have completed their coursework before taking the Field Exam. Each student taking the Field Exam in a given semester establishes a Field Exam Committee to administer and evaluate her/his Field Exam. The student's Field Exam Committee will comprise three GSLIS faculty members. At least one of the three members must be a member of the Doctoral Studies Committee (DSC). The student's Faculty Advisor may be a member of the Field Exam Committee.
- The student, in collaboration with their Faculty Advisor and their Field Exam Committee, will devise a Reading List of approximately 30 works covering the body of knowledge of the Field. This Reading List should be a set of works that reasonably and enduringly spans the scope of the Field. The list should not be the student's or committee's unique view of the Field or of their own research area(s), but instead a basis for a general examination of competence in the Field. If more than one student is taking the Field Exam in the same area, then at least 25 readings will be shared across the lists. Each student's Reading List will be submitted to the DSC for approval. Thus, three groups oversee and validate the Reading List: The student and their Advisor, the student's Field Examination Committee, and the DSC.
Typically, the Reading List is compiled before the semester in which the Field Exam is taken. The Reading List must be supplied to the DSC at least 5 weeks before the date of the Field Exam. Once approved, lists will be shared with the GSLIS community.
- The format of the exam is a two-week take-home. The written exam consists of answering questions that draw on the students' list and any other relevant knowledge of the field. There will normally be five questions. The total length of the completed exam is not to exceed 7500 words (approximately 25-30 pages of double spaced text). Two weeks provides ample time to write the exam and allows sufficient time so that minor schedule interruptions such as short illness or short absences for work will not necessitate extension of the exam period. Any changes in this procedure must be approved by the DSC.
- Within a short period after the written portion of this exam is completed, the student will take a two-hour oral exam administered by their Field Exam Committee. The student will be questioned about their answers to the exam questions, and more generally about the Field and the works on the student's list.
Evaluations of both the written and the oral parts of the exam will be made by the student's Field Exam Committee. The Field Exam will be graded "pass" or "not pass" for the whole exam only. To pass, the student must demonstrate a breadth and depth of knowledge in the Field sufficient to conduct a reasonable scholarly analysis of the research literature, including:
- Establishing the significance of issues, problems, and works,
- Situating works in universes of discourse and of related research,
- Evaluating the quality of the works' content, background, methodology, etc. and defending those evaluations with evidence, and
- Suggesting new, promising lines of inquiry or discussion that derive from the works.
If the evaluation is "not pass," the student may re-take the Field examination once within the following two semesters.
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