The student must prepare for and pass an oral preliminary examination. This examination will consist of giving a short talk on a topic suggested by the student or student's advisor to a committee of at least four faculty members. Prior to the actual examination, the student must present to all the committee members a 15 to 20 page write-up, outlining th area to be covered, written in a clear style and with consistent notation. Appended to the write-up there must be a list of references which, together with the write-up, will indicate the scope and depth of the talk. The list of references will normally contain about 10 entries and both it and the write-up must be approved by the entire committee before the examination can be scheduled.
The conduct of the examination will be as follows. The committee may ask questions during the talk or afterwards. The student may consult notes, but is expected to display a mastery of the subject matter as defined by the list of references. The scope of the questions will normally be directed to the subject matter of the talk but may by natural extension include any relevant topic. The student's advisor may not serve as chairman, but does appoint the chairman.
Once the student passes the preliminary examination, he/she is a dissertator. Work on the dissertation always begins before completion of the preliminary examination, however.
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