What are the application procedures and requirements for doctor of philosophy?

1. Comprehensive Qualification Examination

According to the regulations of the University of Hong Kong, students studying for a doctorate in philosophy must pass the comprehensive qualification examination before defending their thesis, and then they can be qualified as doctoral candidates. The content and form of the exam vary from department to department. Take the examination of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education of the Chinese University of Hong Kong as an example. The school requires students to be fully prepared and submit an application to the department Committee before taking the exam. Usually, the examination is divided into three parts: the specialized research scope of graduate students, research methods and a related research scope, or choose a group of topics within the specialized research scope of graduate students. Graduate students can apply for exemption from any part of the research method subject examination and the other two-part examination. The examination form can be examination, extracurricular examination or other forms, which form is ultimately decided by the relevant examination committee.

Those who pass the examination obtain the qualification of doctoral students, and then formally transfer to the writing of the thesis. Within two years after obtaining the doctoral degree, students must submit a thesis plan, which will be reviewed by the academic affairs office team. After passing, you can finish your thesis within the specified time limit under the guidance of your tutor, and participate in the defense of related papers before graduation. Students who fail the exam will not be qualified as candidates for doctoral students, and can only obtain corresponding low academic qualifications.

The comprehensive qualification examination is mostly used in scientific research mode, and some colleges and universities also use this examination in professional mode. In the application-oriented mode, there is basically no such examination requirement, and students only need to write papers directly after completing certain courses to get a degree.

2. Writing and defense of papers

Dissertation comprehensively embodies the academic quality of doctoral students, such as their scientific research ability and writing level, and is the ultimate embodiment of the hard training and research results during the growth of doctoral students. Universities in Hong Kong have strict requirements on the topic selection, form, content and defense of doctoral dissertations. All doctoral dissertations must be submitted in the required format, and only doctoral degree applicants who have passed the defense can be finally awarded the degree. There is not much difference between the three training modes in this respect, and the most obvious difference is the requirement of topic selection.

First, the writing of the thesis. The writing of a thesis usually involves the requirements of topic selection, form and content.

Requirements for topic selection: Doctoral students with different training modes can voluntarily determine the topic selection method, but there are certain requirements in the research field, which reflects the fundamental differences in the training objectives of the three modes. The scientific research mode requires that the topic of the thesis has "academic value", which can make academic contributions to the development of knowledge in related fields and reach the level of publishing monographs; Professional mode requires students to rationally analyze the problems in practical work by using professional theoretical knowledge; The applied model requires students to pay attention to practical problems in their papers and put forward unique and valuable solutions.

Formal requirements: mainly refers to the word number requirements and the paper format requirements. The number of words required for each major is different. For example, the Chinese University of Hong Kong stipulates that each non-science paper should not exceed 6.5438+0.5 million words in Chinese, 6.5438+0.5 million words in English, 75,000 words in Chinese and 50,000 words in English. In addition, the number of words in the abstract of doctoral thesis is also stipulated by each proofreader. For example, the University of Hong Kong requires the English abstract of a doctoral thesis to be 200-500 words. Format requirements include language, font size, paper specifications, margins, abstract form, binding form and color, submitted books, electronic versions of papers and so on.

There are two requirements in the content: one is the composition of the paper, and the other is the originality of the paper. Regarding the former, it is stipulated that the text of the thesis must contain a complete table of contents, abstracts and statements (stating that any content in the thesis has not been used by other schools to apply for other degrees). The text must include several chapters, such as introduction, literature review, research methods, research conclusions and demonstration process. Among them, the most important thing is to study the conclusion and its arguments, and the arguments should be convincing, otherwise the conclusion may become passive water and trees without roots. As for originality, universities have put forward detailed regulations. Although there are different opinions about "originality", it generally includes the following two points: ① The paper is helpful to expand the knowledge in this field and reflect the ability to discover new facts and criticize independently; ② In the research work, even if it is not original, original methods, perspectives, viewpoints or achievements are put forward. When experts examine papers, they use such standards to measure students' "originality".

In order to make students have a clear understanding of the requirements of thesis writing, some universities have also set up courses to introduce thesis writing. For example, the graduate school of the University of Hong Kong offers compulsory courses such as Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy, with a total duration of 24 hours. This course covers almost all aspects of paper writing, from the content and organization of the paper to how to make the language of each chapter play a successful communication effect. The course will also discuss topics related to the thesis itself, such as finding research gaps, raising research questions, thanking others for their achievements, evaluating relevant literature, demonstrating my research findings and expressing conclusions. In addition, students should practice writing abstracts and research plans, and be familiar with the writing formats of quotations and bibliographies. Practice shows that through the study of this course, students have a systematic understanding of different stages of thesis writing, so as to prepare for the smooth development of thesis creation.

Second, the thesis defense. Doctoral students should submit an application for submitting a thesis four months before the thesis defense. The paper should be submitted to the paper review committee composed of 3-5 famous scholars, and each member must write a written opinion on the paper, clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of the paper and the reasons for whether the doctor's degree can be awarded. After the paper is submitted, the oral or written test of the paper is conducted within four months, that is, the defense. Students who pass the defense will be awarded the corresponding doctorate. If the thesis is considered to meet the degree standard, but it cannot pass the defense, it can be re-examined within one year. If it still fails, the application will be declared unsuccessful. After the examination, the examination committee must make a decision: either grant the doctor's degree, hire a new member to resolve the dispute, suggest revising the thesis and re-take the examination, allow graduation without granting the degree, or recommend granting the corresponding master's degree.