Degree Requirements

Degree Requirements for the Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy

1. Seminars: Normally students must take from 12 to 14 seminars in their first two to three years, including the year-long weekly research seminars in their main field, which meets every year. For students in this program, this will most likely be in either American politics or comparative politics.

Each student must complete at least six graded seminars by May of the first year. JDP-Politics students are required to take a two semester core course, “Problems in Social Policy” in their second year of study and a one semester “Workshop in Social Policy” in the Fall of the third year.

Students in the JDP-Politics program must complete 14 seminars by the end of the sixth semester in residence, but only the two term “Problems in Social Policy” course may be counted toward this requirement. (The “Workshop in Social Policy” is equivalent to a field research seminar and hence does not count toward these 14 courses.)

The required seminars must include at least one in each of three of the seven regular fields of study offered by the department. The director of graduate studies (DGS) must approve all course selections.

Students enrolled in the core seminar and the workshop are required to attend the program’s interdisciplinary colloquium, “Dilemmas of Inequality.” In 2007-8, this colloquium will meet over dinner from 6-8:30 pm on selected Tuesdays. The final requirement, the “Advanced Research in Social Policy” must be completed in the student’s last year in the degree program, normally the 10th semester in residence (or the end of the fifth year).

Students may also arrange individualized reading courses. Those who have begun their graduate work in another institution may petition for credit for graduate-level courses taken elsewhere if those courses are substantially similar to graduate seminars offered at Princeton.

By departmental rules, each politics seminar (including those cross-listed with other departments' course offerings) must offer two writing options:(1) a research paper or (2) several short, critical essays. This allows first-year students to choose at least one seminar to satisfy the first-year writing requirement. Introductory seminars may, for pedagogical reasons, offer only the short-essay option. The Social Policy course provides only one option, that of a research paper.

2. Writing: Students write at least three research papers in their seminars, including at least one in the first year, and all students are required to write an article-length directed research paper (“591 paper”) in their second year. The required research paper prepared for the core seminar may be used to satisfy a Politics seminar research paper requirement (and may not be used to complete the requirement for Politics 591 [see below]).

In addition, each student is required to take one term of directed research (POL 591) in the fall of the second year. This project is independent of any seminar. So they can become involved in research and collaboration with faculty as soon as possible, students are required to select their independent work adviser and the general topic of their paper by the midway point of the spring of their first year. These choices must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies in writing. This paper often builds on prior work done in a seminar. The Pol 591 draft is due no later than the first day of the Spring term. Students are required to present the POL 591 paper in the appropriate research seminar during the fall or spring term of the second year. Students revise the Pol 591 draft in light of advisor's comments and discussion at the seminar. The final paper is due by April 30.

Students are urged to use these various research and writing experiences to build toward a dissertation. For example, a student with a promising seminar paper might use POL 591 to do more extensive research on the subject and develop a dissertation proposal based on it.

So that students will write papers of article length, all research papers are limited to 30 pages. This applies to papers written for both seminars and POL 591.

3. General examination: Students complete the General Examination in three fields, usually by October of their third year. They have the option to satisfy one of these fields by taking a sequence of seminars.

Every graduate student must achieve a "Ph.D. pass" on the general examination and be recommended for continuation in the program before undertaking dissertation research. The purpose of the general examination is to ascertain a student's knowledge of political science and social policy and his or her preparedness for advanced research. The best preparation for the exam is extensive seminar work in the department, supplemented as necessary by independent reading and study. The general examination consists of written examinations in three separate fields and an oral examination. Students may opt to take written examinations in two, rather than three, fields on the condition that they complete 14 (rather than the required 12) graded seminars, including a coherent 3-course 500-level sequence in a third field (but not including WWS 507b, 508b, or 508c). These courses must be chosen from outside the fields covered by the two written exams. Normally, at least two of a student's general examination fields are selected from the seven regular examination fields listed in the next paragraph. A student may design a third, “substitute” field to replace the third regular examination field. The core seminar, “Problems in Social Policy,” and an additional related course outside of Politics will fulfill the non-examination "third-field" requirement for students in JDP-Politics and will prepare students in numerous areas covered by the general examinations in American and Comparative politics such inequality, civic participation, and the welfare state.

Substitute fields should cohere with the student's educational and research interests, and must not substantially overlap with the student's other fields. A student may propose either a standard exam from another department (e.g., political economy from Economics), or, in unusual circumstances, a special examination.

The politics faculty regularly gives examinations in the following seven fields: political theory, comparative politics, political systems and cultures, American politics, international relations, public law, and formal and quantitative analysis. Students who wish to be examined in political systems and cultures must specify in advance the major nation or group of nations in which they are specializing. The department currently offers examinations on Africa, China, Europe, India, Japan, Latin America, and Russia and the former Soviet Union. Tests on other parts of the world (e.g., the Near East and Southeast Asia) also have been offered.

All written examinations are four hours long, with an additional hour for preparation. Unless otherwise specified, they are closed-book examinations. The oral examination is conducted by a faculty panel, with one member from each field. Students must stand for the general examination no later than the general examination period immediately following the beginning of the fifth term of enrollment (normally October of the third year). They may opt to take the examination sooner. Students who have completed one or more years of graduate study elsewhere may take the exam as early as May of their first year, if they have completed at least seven graded seminars at Princeton and have been granted sufficient credit for courses taken elsewhere to satisfy the seminar requirement.

4. Teaching: JDP-Politics students lead six precepts (or discussion sections) attached to faculty-taught undergraduate courses during their five years of enrollment, normally after passing the General Examination. This requirement is substantially less than the nine precepts required of regular Politics students, in view of the additional course requirements for students in the joint program.

The requirement of six preceptorials is reduced to three if students graduate within four and a half years or begin a tenure-track job or its equivalent within five years.

Ordinarily students anticipating five years of university support should aim to complete at least three units of precepting by the end of the fourth year, and six by the end of the fifth, unless their research plans dictate a different pattern.

Certain fellowships for which post-generals students may be eligible do not allow teaching during the tenure of the fellowship. These include University honorific fellowships, Prize Fellowships of the University Center for Human Values, and the Fellowship of the Woodrow Wilson Society. Students who expect to be candidates for these fellowships are advised to accelerate their teaching so that their teaching obligation will not interfere with their eligibility.

5. Dissertation: Research and writing of the dissertation normally begins during the third year, after a prospectus has been accepted. When the dissertation has been approved by the student’s advisers, the student must pass a final public oral examination.

The centerpiece of the graduate program is the dissertation, which usually occupies the fourth and fifth years of study. Its purpose is to show the candidate’s mastery of his or her field of specialization, a capacity for independent scholarship, and an ability to reach conclusions that add to what has been previously known. JDP-Politics students are required to present part of their dissertation to their fellow students in the joint program in the mandatory capstone seminar, “Advanced Research in Social Policy.”

PLANNING THE DISSERTATION: THE PROSPECTUS

Usually students begin to develop ideas for the dissertation in seminar papers and reading courses. Beginning late in the second year, students develop a formal plan for the dissertation—the prospectus—in consultation with faculty advisors. The development of the prospectus is governed by four milestones and is expected to be substantially completed by the end of the fifth term of enrollment. To remain in good standing the student must secure final approval of the prospectus no later than the end of the sixth term.

The department sponsors an informal prospectus development workshop to support students preparing their prospectuses.

WRITING AND ADVISING

The writing process itself is highly individualized and takes place in a close relationship with a student’s advisors. Although this relationship is usually highly collaborative, the student bears the primary responsibility for initiating and maintaining contact with his or her advisors.

EVALUATION

When the student and his or her advisors agree that the dissertation is ready, it is defended at a Final Public Oral Examination.