Communication (Ph.D.)

The Communication Department's graduate program policy statement specifies degree requirements, policies, and procedures for communication graduate students. The statements are reviewed and approved by the Faculty Senate's Graduate Studies Committee. Visit the UD ​Graduate Catalog​ to review the Ph.D. degree requirements.

Curriculum

Sixty credit hours are required to complete the Ph.D. degree:

• Twenty-seven credit hours of core curricula, including nine credits each from theory courses, research methodology courses, and statistical methodology courses

• Eighteen credit hours in a focused program of study chosen in consultation with the student’s adviser and/or the Department of Communication’s director of graduate studies

• Six credit hours of elective courses. No more than three of those credit hours may come from an independent study. [For students entering the Ph.D. program with a baccalaureate, these credit hours must be used to complete a 2nd year graduate research project.]

• Students must enroll in the Communication Colloquium series every semester they are enrolled in coursework for a total of up to six semesters.

• Nine credit hours of dissertation credits.

No class may be used to fulfill more than one requirement.

Core curricula (27 credits)

Required Theory Courses (9 credits)

• COMM601 Epistemology and Theory in Communication 3

• COMM606 Foundations of Contemporary Communication Theory 3

• Students must take three additional credits from a theory driven course from a topic within their focused program of study. Students must confer with their advisers to determine which course will best fulfill this requirement. May come from a course outside of the Department of Communication.

Required Research Methodology Courses (9 credits)

• COMM603 Communication Research Methods – Procedures 3

• Students must take six additional credits of research methods courses focused on different research methodologies that would best benefit their own program of study. Students must confer with their advisers to determine which courses will best fulfill their expectations.

Required Statistical Methodology Courses (9 credits)

• COMM604 Communication Research Methods – Analysis 3

• Students must take an additional six statistical methods credits: three credits must be an advanced generalist statistics courses and three credits must be from specialist statistics courses. Students should confer with their advisers to determine which courses will best fulfill the expectations of their program of study.

• It is expected that students will complete no more than 6 of these 12 additional research and statistical methodology credits from outside of the Department of Communication.

Focused program of study (18 credits)

• Students must take 18 credits of communication or related courses, chosen in consultation with the student’s adviser and/or the Department of Communication’s director of graduate studies so the student can build the most appropriate program of study for the student.

• Students may take no more than 6 credits of independent study (COMM866) total as part of their focused program of study

• No more than 9 credits of a student’s focused program of study may be taken outside of the Department of Communication without consultation with the Department of Communication’s director of graduate studies.

Elective Courses or Second-Year Graduate Research (6 credits)

• Students entering the Ph.D. program with a master’s degree will complete 6 credits of elective classes chosen in consultation with their advisor. No more than 3 credits may come from an independent study.

• Students entering the Ph.D. program with a baccalaureate must enroll in COMM868: Research. They are to enroll in 3 credits during their fall semester and 3 credits during their spring semester of their second year.

  • The student is to develop, design, and implement a piece of original research, with guidance from a faculty committee of the student’s choosing.

  • Once the faculty committee is chosen, with one faculty committee member designated as its chair, the student and the chair will work together to develop the idea behind the research project and write a proposal to be presented to the entire faculty committee. The student will meet with the faculty committee to defend the proposal and the faculty committee will evaluate the proposal, make suggestions on how to improve the proposal research project. The proposal should be defended during the first semester of the student’s second year in the program.

  • Once the proposal is completed the student will then proceed to collect all necessary data and write a written report based on their findings. The written report should include an abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, and literature cited section. This research will serve as the basis for an oral defense during the spring semester of their second year, after the written report is submitted to the faculty committee.

  • The research project, including the oral defense and presentation, should be completed by June 30. If revisions of the written report are required by the faculty committee, they are due by July 30.

  • Upon successful completion of their second-year research, students should receive an official letter confirming this passing of a major program milestone from their faculty committee’s chair. A copy of the letter should be provided to the Department of Communication’s director of graduate studies.

  • A document based on original research that served as a basis for a student’s second-year graduate research can be submitted to the University Graduate College as a Thesis to obtain the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in communication.

  • The M.A. is optional for each student and does not advance a student in the program. The written report must be formatted according to the University Graduate College standards. The master’s thesis requires the signatures of the student’s advisor (research committee chair), the chair of the Department of Communication, the College of Arts and Sciences dean, and the dean of the Graduate College. The minimum number of credits required for the M.A. degree in communication with thesis is 24 semester credit hours plus 6 hours of COMM869: Master’s Thesis.

Communication Colloquium (0 credits)

• Students must enroll in the COMM890 – Communication Colloquium each semester they are enrolled in coursework for a total of up to six semesters.

Dissertation (9 credits)

• COMM964 Pre-Candidacy Study (3-12 credits, until candidacy achieved)

  • Candidacy is achieved upon successful completion of written and oral candidacy exams, and defense of your dissertation proposal

• COMM969 Doctoral Dissertation (9 credits)

Dissertation Chair and Committee Selection

Students will select a dissertation chair with approval from their academic advisor (who is usually the same individual) and with approval of the Department of Communication's graduate committee. The student and their dissertation chair will create a dissertation committee at the time the student begins to develop the dissertation proposal. The dissertation committee will include at least two additional faculty members from within the Department of Communication's graduate faculty. Students must also name at least one dissertation committee member from outside of the Department of Communication with approval of their dissertation chair and the Department of Communication's director of graduate studies. The outside committee member can be from another department within University of Delaware, or a faculty member at a different institution. A dissertation committee will have no less than four members and no more than six total members. All Ph.D. dissertation committee members must hold a doctoral degree. Students must complete a Dissertation Committee Form and submit it to the Department of Communication's graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.

Defense of the Dissertation Proposal

​​​A copy of the dissertation proposal must be available to the student’s dissertation committee members at least two weeks in advance of the proposal defense. The dissertation proposal defense will be scheduled only after the student’s advisor has determined that a defense is appropriate. Once the oral defense of the proposal is complete the Doctoral Degree Candidacy Recommendation Form must be completed, signed by all committee members, and submitted to the Department of Communication's graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.

Defense of the Dissertation

​​​The format of the thesis must adhere to the guidelines specified by the University's Thesis and Dissertation Manual.

Prior to scheduling a defense, the candidate must use iThenticate, the university-provided plagiarism detection software, to check their work. The advisor and the director of graduate studies should receive a copy of the iThenticate report prior to submitting the final dissertation draft.

The dissertation defense will be scheduled only after the candidate’s advisor has determined that a defense is appropriate. The dissertation defense will be open to the public, with invitations sent to all Department of Communication faculty and graduate students at least one week prior to the defense date. A copy of the dissertation must be made available to dissertation committee members at least two weeks prior to the dissertation defense. The dissertation is expected to reflect the results of original and significant research written in a scholarly and literate manner worthy of publication. After a successful defense with the candidate’s committee, the dissertation must be approved by the dissertation chair, the chairperson of the Department of Communication, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the dean of the Graduate College.

In addition, once the oral defense of the dissertation is achieved, the Certification of Doctoral Dissertation Defense form must be completed, signed by all committee members, and a PDF of the final dissertation must be submitted to the Department of Communication's graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.

Upon the recommendation of the doctoral student's dissertation committee and the Department of Communication's director of graduate studies, students may be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. The stipulations for admission to doctoral candidacy are that the student has:

1. Had a program of study approved and coursework​ completed
2. Completed one academic year of full-time graduate study in residence at the University of Delaware
3. Successfully completed candidacy examinations
4. Had a dissertation proposal accepted by their dissertation committee
5. Received approval from​​ the Institutional Review Board in the case that their dissertation requires data collection from human participants.​​

The deadline for admission to candidacy for the fall semester is August 31. The deadline for admission to candidacy for the spring semester is January 31. Responsibility for seeing that admission to candidacy is secured at the proper time rests with the student.

Candidacy Examinations

Two written exams and one oral exam will evaluate a student’s knowledge of theory, research, and statistical methodology as they relate to their program of study. One written exam is theory-based, and the other evaluates the student’s competency with research and statistical methodologies. The oral exam takes place after the successful completion of the written exams, and is an opportunity for students to clarify or expand on their written answers, and for faculty to encourage students to further elaborate on their responses.​

Students and their academic advisor must identify three faculty members to serve on the candidacy examination committee by the start of their fifth semester (during year 3). The academic advisor will serve as chair of the examination committee and may also be one of the three individuals who administer the questions of the exam. All other faculty members of the examination committee must be approved by the student’s academic advisor and be a member of the Department of Communication’s approved Ph.D. faculty. Students must complete a Candidacy Examinations Committee Form​ and submit it to the Communication Department’s director of graduate studies.​

Ideally, these exams will be administered over the course of the five-week winter session of the student’s third year of coursework. The timing of the exams are flexible and must be agreed upon by the student and their committee, with the approval of the director of graduate studies. On the first day of the written exam, the student will be presented with a question (or a series of questions) relating their research content area to theory, broadly defined. Students will have two weeks to complete their response. The response must be of high quality, with the eventual goal for it to serve as the basis for the literature review chapter of the student’s dissertation.​​

Within the following three weeks, on a day and time agreed upon between the student and their academic advisor, the student will sit for an in-person, four hour written exam based upon research and statistical methodologies. It is recommended, though not required, that the student’s exam committee have representation of faculty members who have taught at least one of the research or statistical methodology courses the student had previously taken for the preparation of this portion of the exam. It is important that members of the committee have the background necessary to pose methodological questions for this portion of the exam.

It is up to the committee to determine exam questions, with any number of committee members collaborating on each of the two exams. The advisor should coordinate the writing of exam questions. Questions should be submitted by the committee to the graduate academic program coordinator, who will distribute them to the student.

Successful completion of the written exams is required prior to scheduling the oral exam, which should take place no later than three weeks after students are notified of their written exam results.

Students are required to pass all three candidacy examinations. Written exams must be passed before the oral exam takes place. The oral exam must also be successfully completed in order to apply for candidacy status.

Committee members have the following options in evaluating the exams:

• Pass: Students may proceed to the​​ next stage of their degree requirements.

• Conditional Pass: If ​the examination committee determines that the student’s performance was generally acceptable but with a specific deficiency, condition(s) will be specified that the student must satisfy to achieve a pass and remain in the program. These conditions may include re-examination of one or more question areas to be completed within three months.

• Re-examination: This result is appropriate for a student whose performance was unsatisfactory but who displayed evidence ​​of the potential to complete doctoral degree education. Re-examination must be completed within three months. The possible outcomes of this re-examination are pass or failure. The student may not take the exams a third time. The advisor and examination committee will determine on a case-by-case basis the composition of re-examinations.

• ​​​Failure: This result i​​​ndicates that the student is not capable of completing the requirements for the doctoral degree and the student will be recommended for dismissal from the program.​
  
  

Appeals process

A student who has failed their candidacy exams can submit an appeal to the department’s appeals board. Written appeals from the student will be evaluated by the Department of Communication’s graduate committee. If members of the graduate committee are also members of the student’s candidacy exam committee, other members of the Department of Communication’s Ph.D. faculty may serve on the appeals board. A minimum of three faculty members are required to serve on the appeals board.

The student’s appeal must be submitted within ten days of their written notification of failing the exam; the department chair and the director of graduate studies should be made aware that an appeal is forthcoming as soon as possible. The appeal should be in writing and must include the student’s answers to their exam questions as well as a clearly articulated explanation justifying why they believe they should have passed. If a reexamination was given, questions and answers for both sets of exams must be provided.

Upon notification of an appeal from the department chair and/or the director of graduate studies, the student’s exam committee must provide the comments they made in response to the student’s answers and/or a general statement of why the student’s answers were unsatisfactory. The exam committee has ten days from the time of notification from the department chair and/or the director of graduate studies to make this material available.

The appeals board will issue a written decision to the student, the exam committee, the department chair, and the director of graduate studies within 10 days of receiving the full set of appeals material from the student and the committee.

After the departmental appeals process, if the student still receives a failure on their candidacy exams, it will be recommended that the Graduate College dismiss the student. The student may then take advantage of the appeals process at the Graduate College.

Course Forms

Students wishing to enroll in an independent study (COMM866) must complete a graduate-level independent study contract (available through the department), including the steps outlined for creating a proposal. The form must be signed by the faculty member overseeing the independent study, and then forwarded to the director of graduate studies and the department’s associate chair, with the attached proposal, for approval. Once finalized, it will be forwarded to the department’s graduate program coordinator to enroll the student in COMM866.

Curricular Forms

Visit the Graduate College's Academic Support page under "Forms" for the following academic and graduation forms:

• Application for advanced degree: This must be completed by all graduate students in the semester they plan to graduate. The deadlines are September 15 for December degree conferral, December 15 for winter degree conferral, February 15 for May degree conferral, and April 15 for August degree conferral. The completed form should be submitted to the department’s graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.
• Course substitution request form: This form is for any graduate student who would like to use a course not offered by the Department of Communication or not currently on the list of accepted courses for one of the degree requirements to fulfill a degree requirement. Before this form can be completed, the course must be vetted by the student's academic adviser and the Department of Communication's director of graduate studies. Once this course is approved the form must be completed (with required signatures), and submitted to the department’s graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.
• Request for transfer of graduate credit: Prior to the completion of the form linked above the student must get approval from the Department of Communication's director of graduate studies for transferring course credits. A copy of the course's syllabus must be provided in order to be considered. If the director of graduate studies agrees to the transfer the student must complete the above-attached form, acquire the necessary signatures, and submit it to the department’s graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.
• Change of major/concentration: This form is used to request a change in a graduate student’s academic classification when the change occurs within the same program or department. Upon completion of this form, with all the required signatures, the student must submit a copy of the form to the Department of Communication's graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.

Graduate College Forms and Resources for Graduation

• Thesis/dissertation manual: This manual lays out the guidelines of the Graduate College for how an M.A. thesis or a doctoral dissertation must be formatted and written.
• Doctoral dissertation candidacy recommendation: Upon the defense of the dissertation proposal, a Ph.D. student must complete the form linked above. Upon completion of this form, with all the required signatures, the student must submit a copy of the form to the Department of Communication's graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.
• Dissertation defense form: At least two weeks prior to the oral defense of the dissertation the Ph.D. student must complete this online form. This will place their dissertation defense onto the campus-wide dissertation defense schedule.
• Certification of doctoral dissertation defense: Upon successful completion of a candidate’s oral dissertation defense, this form must be completed. The candidate’s advisor and members of the dissertation committee must sign this, indicating if in their opinion the student passed or failed. Upon completion of the oral defense the student must submit a copy of the form to the Department of Communication's graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.
• Request to change dissertation committee: If at any point a Ph.D. student would like to change the members of their dissertation committee they must complete the form linked above. Upon completion of this form, with all the required signatures, the student must submit a copy of the form to the Department of Communication's graduate program coordinator, who will forward it to the Graduate College.
  

Departmental Forms (contact department staff)

• Ph.D. candidacy exams committee form: Ph.D. students must use the form linked above to establish which faculty members are serving on their candidacy exams committee. Once all required signatures from committee members, their academic advisor, and the director of graduate studies are acquired, students must submit this form to the department’s graduate program coordinator.
• Ph.D. candidacy exams oral defense form: This must be completed following a student’s oral candidacy exam. The committee chair and members must sign this form once the student's oral defense is assessed. Upon completion of the oral defense this form must be submitted to the department’s graduate program coordinator.