Congratulations! You are a graduate student in one of the top psychology departments in the country. Your admission to this program is the result of a rigorous selection process, and so you should be proud of yourself for this achievement. The goal of the graduate training program to which you have been admitted is to turn you into a first-rate scientist, scholar, teacher, and practitioner.

The “Graduate Program” in this department is a Ph.D. program. This is true even though those who enter our program without a Master’s degree are required to obtain one. The expectation is that you will continue after the Master’s and get your Ph.D. We therefore refer to the Master’s portion of the Graduate Program as your “Master’s Program”, and the post-Master’s portion as the “Doctoral Program.” Terminal Master’s are normally granted only in cases in which the student has completed all Master’s requirements and a decision is made not to continue in our Graduate Program.

The Psychology Department is divided into six Interest Groups. These are:

1. Behavioral Neuroscience

2. Clinical

3. Cognitive

4. Ecological / Community

5. Industrial / Organizational

6. Social / Personality

Each IG has a chair who is chosen every couple of years by the relevant IG. The department maintains an up-to-date list of IG chairs and members.

These interest groups run separate Graduate Training programs. They are described in Section 6 of this Handbook. You were admitted into one of these training programs and therefore you have a home Interest Group. Each IG has developed its own set of guidelines for its training program. Those are included in this document in Section 6.

The main body of this handbook describes the guidelines that are department-wide. The University guidebook entitled “Academic Programs” describes policies that are – yes, you guessed it – university-wide. All University rules must be followed and our department has little power to override them; all departmental policies must be followed in addition to those; and all IG guidelines and regulations must be followed in addition to those defined by the University and the Department.

1.2 How to Use this Document

The main body of this Handbook summarizes the department-wide policies of our Graduate Programs. Section 6 describe the guidelines for each IG. Most departmental forms that you need to fill out can be downloaded from this Handbook (some University forms are available here). The files are in MSWord format, so you can fill them in electronically.

The Handbook is divided into seven main sections:

The first section describes the regulations for the Master’s Program. The information is organized chronologically, starting with matters you need to take care of when you first arrive on campus.

The second section describes the regulations for the Doctoral Program. This information is also described chronologically.

For each of these first two sections, the forms that you will need to fill out as part of our requirements are provided as links and given in the appropriate locations. For example, the form for your ”Master’s Plan of Study Committee” can be downloaded from this site.

The third section is about Graduate School beyond the requirements.

The fourth focuses on the resources that are available to you as a graduate student in the psych department at MSU.

The fifth discusses issues related to research, giving talks, and publishing papers.

The sixth section describes the regulations that are specific to the different Interest Groups.

The seventh and final section lists university-wide materials and resources. You’ll find links to the Graduate School, the relevant parts of the “Academic Programs” Handbook, links to information about Grievance Procedures, and so on.

Please send comments, suggestions for changes, and problems with broken links to Chip Shank (shank@msu.edu).

2 Degree Requirements, Guidelines, and Forms

2.1 Master’s Program

Definition: You are considered to be in the Master’s Program if you were admitted to the Graduate Program in the department of psychology and you don’t have a Master’s Degree from another source.

2.1.1 You’ve arrived at MSU

One of your first items of business (besides minor things like finding a place to live and so on) will be to make sure you know your Personal Identification Number. This task might be the easiest of your graduate career: You were awarded your PIN when you applied to MSU. Your PIN is the letter “A” followed by eight digits. This piece of information is important—it’s who you are, as far as the university machines are concerned.

In addition, once you have a PIN you can get your Pilot account as well. “Pilot” is the system that lets you do things electronically at MSU, including access email, library resources, your student record, and so on. Your pilot account is something@msu.edu. Pilot also reserves a small amount of AFS space for you—space on the server which you can use to create personal web pages.

2.1.2 Take care of your financial support paperwork

Most of you have been admitted with some sort of financial support. Support sources come in four main types:

1) teaching assistantships (TA)

2) research assistantships (RA)

3) MSU fellowships (e.g., University Distinguished Fellowships, Competitive Doctoral Enrichment Fellowships)

4) External fellowships (e.g., from the National Science Foundation)

When you were admitted to the program, you were told whether you would be on a fellowship or some type of assistantship.

After your first year in the program, you will need to fill out a form in the spring which asks whether you wish to be considered for a TA. The Chair will then inform you about your support for the next academic year.

To avoid any unpleasant surprises, it is important for you to stay in touch with your advisor, your committee, and your IG as a whole. Make sure you know whether you are considered to be making good progress, and don’t be shy about asking what sort of support you can expect to have for the upcoming academic year. Every year, your advisor and the IG to which he/she belongs should provide you with a written letter evaluating your progress in the Graduate Program.

The level of support varies slightly depending on the source. In the 2002-2003 Academic Year, RAs begin at $1,180 (Level 1) and $1,337 (Level 2) each month of the 9-month academic year. TAs begin at $1,180 and $1,292 for Level 1 and 2 respectively. These amounts are higher than the University-mandated minimums. A 9-credit per semester tuition waiver is included. Other benefits are included as well, including health insurance. TAs and RAs must be registered for a minimum of 6 credits to be eligible. The same is true for some fellowships. Click here for more information about Graduate Assistantships.

Summer support is normally not provided by the department unless the student actually teaches a summer course. Students receive summer support in the form of a research assistantship if they have made such an agreement for support with their advisor. Summer stipends include a four credit tuition waiver. You are required to enroll in 3 credits to hold a summer assistantship. Typically, those will be research credits – 890s or 899s.

Department Policies Regarding Graduate Assistantships:

1. Satisfactory academic progress and demonstrated ability to perform the specific graduate assistantship assignments are the major criteria for assigning initial and continuing support to students. A student receiving an assistantship must be enrolled for a minimum number of credits that depend upon the terms of the assistantship. In general the minimum enrollment with a ½ time assistantship is 6 credits and the maximum is 12 credits, but check with the Associate Chairperson’s office when you receive your appointment to be certain you do not enroll for fewer credits than necessary or more than allowed.

2. A student can generally expect to receive 8-10 semesters of support, excluding summers. Unfortunately, this is in no way a guarantee of support, and some students may get no support. This policy does put financial pressure on students who take more than 4-5 years to complete their work. Students and faculty, on the students' behalf, are urged to seek funds to help relieve the increased financial pressure.

3. Graduate assistantships are compensated at three levels by University regulation. The minimum requirements for appointment are:

Level 1 -- graduate student, bachelor's degree and less than one year's experience as a graduate assistant

Level 2 -- graduate student, master's degree (30 credits or equivalent) and/or one year's experience as a graduate assistant

Senior -- graduate student, master's degree (or equivalent) and have at least two year's experience as a graduate assistant (or equivalent experience at the faculty level). Advancement to senior level is not automatic and typically occurs with a research assistantship if funding permits.

Within the Psychology Department a student may be appointed to Level 1 or 2 when the student meets the minimum requirements. The move to Senior level is an option available to the department. To move to Senior level a student must meet the minimum requirements plus the requirement of presenting a letter from a faculty member stating that the student has demonstrated ability to perform as an instructor in a particular area, e.g., statistics, laboratory courses.

2.1.3 Register for courses

It is important to talk to your advisor and the other faculty and grad students in your interest group about the best courses to take for your Master’s. Your Plan of Study is the formal document describing the courses etc. that you plan to take as part of your Master’s Program. This section focuses on a few procedural matters.

First, go to http://www.msu.edu/students/ and click on “Schedule of Courses” to see what is being offered and by whom. Enrollment in courses is done either over the web or by telephone.

Second, some courses have prerequisites or other sorts of restrictions placed on them that will make it impossible for you to enroll electronically. To get an override, contact the relevant faculty member and ask him/her to email the Graduate Secretary. The email message should give your name and PID, the course and semester for which the override is requested, and it should state that the faculty member permits you to enroll. This email message must come from the faculty member, not from the student who wants the override.

Third, all students will receive a billing statement from the University verifying enrollment schedule and tuition expenses. Tuition waivers, student loans, and graduate office scholarships will be reflected on the billing statement. If there is an amount due, be sure to submit payment by the due date or your enrollment will be canceled. You will have to initiate the enrollment procedure again and be subject to a late enrollment fee. The billing receipt is to be returned to the appropriate office even if there is no amount due. However it will also indicate the minimum amount due if the student chooses the deferred payment option.

More information about enrollment and registration procedures can be found at http://www.esp.msu.edu/.

To obtain a Master’s degree you must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of coursework and research credits. There are two types of Master’s programs in the department: “Plan A” and “Plan B”. Graduate students in a Plan A Master’s program write a formal Master’s thesis. Graduate students in the Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, and Clinical (since 2002) Graduate Programs do a Plan B Master’s. Other students outside of these Interest Groups may do a Plan B Master’s if the advisor and IG decide it is appropriate. All graduate students pursuing a Plan A Master’s must have a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 credits of 899 (Thesis Research), and no more than 3 credits of 890s (Special Problems). Students in the Plan B program cannot sign up for 899s, and must have a minimum of 890 credits as decided by their programs.

Most Interest Groups require that their students also take Psy 815, “Quantitative Research Design and Analysis in Psychology”, or its equivalent. Most require a second quantitative course as well at the Master’s level. Note that it is a departmental regulation that you must pass 815 (or equivalent) in order to be awarded a Ph.D. degree.

Finally, another restriction you should be aware of is that no more than 6 of your 30 credits may come from courses at the 400 level.

The rest of your credits will be made up of courses that are recommended to you by your advisor and committee, and/or that are required by your Interest Group.

2.1.4 Find your / an advisor

Some of you might already know who your advisor is—he or she is the person who contacted you during the admissions process, who might be supporting you on a research grant, or who has simply said “I will be your advisor when you get here.” Make sure you meet with this person as soon as possible after you arrive in East Lansing. He or she is one of the most valuable resources you have for information, guidance, and advice. Make sure you do not register for courses until you have at least spoken to your advisor about the possibilities.

Others will need to locate an advisor once they are on campus. Talk to the other graduate students to get ideas. Try to work with an advisor who has scientific interests that are close to yours. Try to work with someone who is not overwhelmed with other commitments and will therefore give you the time you need. You should have found your (at least first-year) advisor within a couple of weeks of arriving on campus.

You should make sure you have a formal meeting with your advisor within a month of your arrival on campus. During this meeting, you should (1) discuss courses you should take in your first year, (2) talk about who will be on your guidance committee, and (3) begin to explore research ideas.

2.1.5 Set up Master’s Plan of Study committee

What is a Plan of Study? See below.

Your Master’s Plan of Study committee is also known as your Guidance Committee.

You have an advisor, so you have one committee member for your Master’s Plan of Study. Normally, the advisor is also the committee chair. In general, your Chair will come from your home Interest Group.

How many members do you need? The minimum is three, including your advisor. Here are the restrictions on committee membership:

· 2 of the 3 must be regular members of the psychology department

· Only 1 of the 3 may be an adjunct member of the psychology department

· Only 1 of the 3 may be an Emeritus faculty member

Definitions:

Regular faculty member: someone who has a tenure-track or tenured appointment at MSU.

Adjunct member of the psychology department: A regular faculty member who has an appointment in some other department at MSU, but is officially on our department’s list of adjunct faculty. (Normally, adjunct faculty have strong secondary interests in psychology.) Here is a more formal definition from the Faculty Handbook, and this is a list of adjunct faculty in psychology <link>

Emeritus faculty: Faculty who have retired from the university but maintains a courtesy appointment. Click here for a more formal definition.

You may have more than 3 members if you wish, in which case you are permitted to have more than 1 adjunct member, more than 1 Emeritus member, and so on. However, the regular committee members must out-number the others.

Keep in mind that your Guidance Committee (= Your Plan of Study Committee) is there to look out for your scientific interests. Their input will help you design a scientifically sound project that has a reasonable likelihood of working out. Therefore, you should ask people to serve on your committee who have useful expertise and who will be available to meet with you and give you advice.

2.1.6 Write your Plan of Study

Master’s Plan of Study Form

Your Plan of Study is an extremely important document, so make sure you put a lot of thought into preparing it. Work on it with your advisor and, possibly, your committee members as well. The Plan of Study contains information about

The substantive courses you will take
The number of research credits you will sign up for
Your thesis topic
Your committee members

You must make sure you put down the appropriate numbers of 890s and 899s, because the College of Social Sciences and the Graduate School will hold you to them. In other words, all and only the credits on the Plan of Study form count towards your 890 and 899 grades.

You submit your plan of study to the Associate Chairperson for your departmental file. The plan of study must be signed by all members of your Plan of Study committee and is not official until it has received departmental approval. The Plan of Study must be filed before the end of your second semester as a graduate student for you to remain eligible for fall registration.

The Plan of Study may be amended with a Master’s Plan of Study Amendment Form. As you can see from the form, before it is official it must be signed by you, the Chair of your Guidance Committee, and the Associate Chairperson.

2.1.7 Write Master’s Proposal

Your Master’s Proposal is a formal description of the project you will conduct for your Master’s thesis. It normally includes an Introduction, Methods, Analyses, and Hypotheses/Predictions sections for each of the experiments / studies you will be conducting; and complete References. Put a lot of thought into your proposal; it will be the core of your Master’s thesis write-up, so the more work you do now, the less you’ll have to do later. Also, be explicit, clear, and complete, so your Guidance Committee can really understand what you want to do and can then give you proper advice. The ultimate goal is for you to prepare a thesis proposal that leads eventually to a publishable article.

You should have defended your Master’s thesis proposal by the end of your first year in the Master’s Program. You must be enrolled as a student in the semester in which you defend your Master’s proposal (including the summer). You do not necessarily have to be enrolled for 899 credits, however.

Your Master’s thesis proposal defense will probably be your first formal meeting, so it’s worthwhile setting up good habits from the beginning. Here are tips for setting up committee meetings:

Decide when you want your meeting to be held—approximately! Make sure the dates you’re thinking of are several weeks in the future. Contact your committee members with possible dates and times, and make sure you’ve booked an appropriate room. Make sure you give your document to your committee at least two weeks prior to the date of the defense! This is extremely important: Committee members are busy people and they need lead time. Also, give your committee members a flawless (from your point of view) draft. No typos, no spelling mistakes, no grammatical errors, all arguments air-tight, and so on.

Be particularly careful when setting up meetings for the summer. Most faculty are on 9-month appointments, so they are under no obligation to meet during the other 3 months. Most will be cooperative, but faculty travel for pleasure and for research during the summer, and they often leave for extended periods. Therefore, you should check early with your committee members to make sure they are willing to meet in the summer, and to find out when they will be available.

Once your proposal is accepted by your committee, have them fill out the Plan A Master’s Proposal Form. This form and an electronic (i.e., disk or computer file) copy of your proposal needs to be filed with the Department's Graduate Office as soon as possible after your proposal is accepted.

2.1.8 Write and Defend Master’s thesis

There will come a point in your second year in the Master’s Program when you and your advisor decide your master’s project is complete. You will then write up the study according to the guidelines that are appropriate given your area of work. As stated above, set up a defense meeting, giving committee members appropriate lead time. The guidelines concerning formatting of the thesis are on the web.

After your defense, your committee will decide whether you have passed or failed. Usually, even when the decision is “Pass”, you will have some revisions to do. You should bring three copies of the Report on MA Level Achievements form to the meeting. If you have done a Plan B Master’s (e.g., if you are in the Clinical, Behavioral Neuroscience, or Cognitive Psychology Interest Group), bring a Master's Plan B Completion form. Each of these forms should be returned to the Graduate Secretary in the Associate Chairperson’s office.

2.1.9 Get Master’s degree

All Master’s degree candidates must be enrolled during the semester in which they orally defend their thesis or dissertation. It is not necessary that the student be enrolled in 899 (Master’s thesis) credits per se. For registration in the semester you plan on receiving your degree, you must complete an application for graduation to begin the procedure by which the various offices involved will be notified of your intention to graduate. Refer to http://www.esp.msu.edu for the specific deadline for submission of your thesis or dissertation. All required forms must be in the appropriate offices by that date. No exceptions will be made to this University regulation.

After all signatures have been obtained on your M.A. Level Achievement form, file all three copies with the Graduate Secretary in the Associate Chairperson's Office. You must submit the original unbound thesis to the Associate Dean of The Graduate School (room 118 Linton Hall) and a bound copy to the department Graduate Office. Additional copies are optional, although normally the chairperson of the M.A. committee receives a copy also. (Please keep in mind that some thesis committee chairpersons expect to receive a copy.) Upon receipt of your bound thesis, multiple copies of the abstract will be available for distribution in the department mail room and then the thesis will be placed in the department's library of theses and dissertations.

2.1.10 Admission to the Ph.D. program

Your committee reviews all of your work and makes a recommendation to your Interest Group on your admission to the Ph.D. program. Your IG then makes a recommendation on your admission to the Ph.D. program to the chairperson of the department. A form is provided for this purpose.

Keep in mind that admission to the Ph.D. program is not automatic. Students are not recommended for the Ph.D. for a variety of reasons. The written feedback you have received from your advisor and Interest Group as well as your general conversations with your committee should serve to keep you well-informed about your progress in the program.

2.1.11 Time limits

There are two types of time limits: extremely highly recommended, and official.

Extremely Highly Recommended: You should complete all requirements for the Master’s degree within two years of the start of your Master’s Program, and three at the very latest.

University Time Limits: All requirements for the degree must be completed within 6 years of taking the first course on your Master’s Plan of Study.

2.2 Ph.D. Program

Definition: You are considered to be in the Ph.D. Program if you were admitted to the Graduate Program in the department of psychology and you have a Master’s Degree (from MSU or some other institution) that is accepted by the Interest Group that admitted you.

2.2.1 Arrive at MSU (get PID etc.)

2.2.2 Take care of financial support - Click HERE to See 2.1.2

2.2.3 Register for courses

It is important to talk to your advisor and the other faculty and grad students in your interest group about the best courses to take for your Ph.D. Your Plan of Study (see below) is the formal document describing the courses etc. that you plan to take as part of your Ph.D. Program. This section focuses on a few procedural matters.

First, go to http://www.msu.edu/students/ and click on “Schedule of Courses” to see what is being offered and by whom. Enrollment in courses is done either over the web or by telephone.

More information about enrollment and registration procedures can be found at http://www.esp.msu.edu/.

There are few specific course requirements for the Ph.D. Most of them will be determined by you and your committee and will be described in your Doctoral Plan of Study. There are just two requirements:

1) You must complete Psy 815 (or equivalent) and a second quantitative course. This is a departmental requirement.

2) You must complete a minimum of 24 credit hours of 999. (You receive credit for those 999s when the Ph.D. is awarded.) This is a University requirement.

Some students who begin their Graduate Program at the Master’s level in our department find that they have completed all their coursework before beginning the Doctoral Program. Those students would only have to take 999 credits, but keep in mind that you must sign up for 6 credits every semester to maintain official full-time student status.

2.2.4 Find your / an advisor

See 2.1.4.

2.2.5 Set up Doctoral Plan of Study (= Guidance) Committee and Doctoral Dissertation Committee

The existence of these two committees is one of the most confusing things about our Graduate Program.

When you first begin your Doctoral program, you will create a Doctoral Guidance (=Plan of Study) Committee. The Doctoral Guidance Committee must consist of four MSU regular faculty, three of whom are regular (non-adjunct or Emeritus) members of the psychology department. The chairperson of the committee must be a member of the student’s Interest Group. No more than one of the four faculty may be Adjunct, Emeritus, or from outside the psychology department.

The Doctoral Guidance Committee works with you to develop your Plan of Study (that’s why it’s also referred to as your Plan of Study committee), and they sign off on it. They are also the committee for your comprehensive exams.

Our department uses the term “Dissertation Committee” to refer to the committee that supervises the dissertation itself and signs off on the proposal and final product. Often, the Dissertation Committee is made up of the same people as the original Guidance Committee. But some students in some Interest Groups prefer to change their committee makeup, in part to take advantage of different faculty members’ expertise. Thus, the Dissertation Committee might be the same as the original Guidance Committee, or it might be different. If the Dissertation Committee is different, you must submit a form to Amend your Doctoral Plan of Study.

The regulations concerning who may serve on Doctoral Dissertation Committees are essentially the same as those for the Doctoral Guidance / Plan of Study Committee: It must be composed of at least four faculty, three of whom are regular department members. No more than one of the four may be adjunct in psychology. An adjunct faculty member may co-chair a dissertation along with a regular member of the department. The chair of your dissertation must come from the Interest Group to which you were admitted. Also, the Associate Chair of the Psychology Department has the discretion to add a committee member to any Doctoral Committee.

Keep in mind that the University uses only the term “Doctoral Guidance Committee”. The name “Doctoral Dissertation Committee” is purely internal terminology; the University continues to view this committee as your Guidance / Plan of Study Committee.

The University requires that a Dean’s Representative - a representative of the College of Social Science who is NOT a member of the psychology department - be present at the final oral defense of the dissertation. He or she votes on the dissertation. Some students handle this requirement by asking someone from outside the department to serve on the Dissertation Committee right from the beginning. This practice is especially appropriate for students doing interdisciplinary research. The Dean’s Representative may come from any unit on campus except psychology (the person may be an adjunct member of our department, however). I don’t know of any case in which the student’s selection was not accepted by the College.

Those who do not appoint a Dean’s Representative for the Dissertation Committee from the beginning must do so before the scheduled date for the oral defense of the dissertation. See section 2.2.10.

Finally, it is a University regulation that you cannot change committee members within 60 days before the date of the oral defense.

2.2.6 Write your Plan of Study

Your Doctoral Plan of Study is an extremely important document, so make sure you put a lot of thought into preparing it. Work on it with your advisor and, possibly, your committee members as well. The Plan of Study contains information about:

The substantive courses you will take that you did not already take for the Master’s degree
The number of 999 research credits you will sign up for (do not put any 890s or 899s on your Doctoral Plan of Study)
Your dissertation subject
Your committee members
Your plans for your Comprehensive Examinations

You must make sure you put down the appropriate numbers of 999s, because the College of Social Sciences and the Graduate School will hold you to them. In other words, all and only the credits on the Plan of Study form count towards your 999 grade.

The Plan of Study must be signed by all members of your doctoral Guidance committee and is not official until it has received departmental approval. The Doctoral Plan of Study form must be filed with the Associate Chairperson before the end of your second semester as a doctoral student for you to remain eligible for fall registration.

The form for your Doctoral Plan of Study is a University form. Here are the College and University requirements for filling out the form:

· Type in all necessary information before obtaining committee members' signatures.

· Names and department affiliation (if not Psychology) of the committee members should be typed on the form underneath the signature line.

· The guidance committee report should be reviewed regularly by the committee, in particular at the time the student passes the Comprehensive Examinations.

The Doctoral Plan of Study may be amended with Doctoral Level Amendments Form. Before the amendments are official, the form must be signed by you, the Chair of your Guidance Committee, and the Associate Chairperson.

2.2.7 Write your comprehensive examinations

One of the main items on your agenda as a Doctoral student is to pass your comprehensive exams. The format, structure, and content are determined almost entirely by Interest Groups and the Guidance Committee, so consult Section 6 for important information.

The College of Social Science strictly enforces a number of regulations concerning comps.

· The names of the examiners should be typed on the MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Record of Comprehensive Examinations form (which you must obtain from the Department's Graduate Office), and each examiner should sign or initial next to his or her name.

· The student must be enrolled for at least one credit the semester in which the exams are passed.

· Copies of all written comprehensive exams must be turned into the Department's Graduate Office. The University requires the Department to keep written comprehensive exams on file for at least three years. The Psychology Department will accept electronic (i.e., disk or computer file) copies of these exams.

2.2.8 Time Limits for Comprehensive Exams

· All comps must be passed WITHIN FIVE YEARS from the time when a student begins the first class at MSU that appears on his or her Doctoral Plan of Study.

· Requests for time extensions

o Requests for time extensions should be made by the chair of the student’s committee and endorsed by the Associate Chair.

o Requests should be made for a specific time period, normally no longer than one year. Make the request for an extension through (specific semester, year).

o In the rare case where a request is being made for an extension for more than one year, a specific time frame for the completion of all remaining requirements should be attached.

o When a time extension is approved for a Ph.D. candidate, the student is required to retake the comprehensive examinations. If the student believes there is justification for not requiring a retake of the comps, he or she must request this exception in writing as part of the request for the time extension.

o All requests approved at the College level will be forwarded to the Graduate School for approval.

There is an internal form called Doctoral Level Comprehensive Examination Report which we use in our department. Each individual examiner fills one out and indicates whether he or she is satisfied with the comps portion to which he/she was assigned.

You should have passed your comps before you schedule your meeting to defend your dissertation proposal.

2.2.9 Write Dissertation Proposal

You’re now at perhaps the most important stage in your graduate career: You’re ready to write your dissertation! The first step is to write a dissertation proposal. It normally includes an Introduction, Methods, Analyses, and Hypotheses / Predictions sections for each of the experiments / studies you will be conducting; and complete References. Put a lot of thought into your proposal; it will be the core of your dissertation write-up, so the more work you do now, the less you’ll have to do later. Also, be explicit, clear, and complete, so your Guidance Committee can really understand what you want to do and can then give you proper advice. The ultimate goal is for you to prepare a dissertation proposal that leads eventually to an article that will be published in one of the major scientific journals in your field.

Your Guidance Committee approves your Dissertation proposal at your proposal defense meeting. Take a copy of the Doctoral Level Approval of Dissertation Proposal form, so it can be filled out at the meeting. This form, along with an electronic (i.e., disk or computer file) copy of the accepted dissertation proposal should be filed with the Graduate Secretary as soon as possible after your proposal has been accepted.

Students in the Clinical Interest Group must have an approved dissertation proposal on file before they may apply for predoctoral internships.

2.2.10 Write and Defend the Dissertation

Once your proposal is defended, your major task is to complete the research, write it up in the form of a dissertation, and defend it. The structure and content of the dissertation is one of the most critical matters that will be decided between you and your advisor, with input from your Guidance Committee. There is a dissertation support group on campus http://writing.msu.edu/content/grad.html, which you might find a helpful resource as you go through the various stages of writing your dissertation. The formatting guide for dissertations is helpful as well http://www.grad.msu.edu/format.htm.

The University requires that a Dean’s Representative - a representative of the College of Social Science who is NOT a member of the psychology department - be present at the oral defense of the dissertation. He or she votes on the dissertation. Some students handle this requirement by asking someone from outside the department to serve on the Dissertation Committee right from the beginning. This practice is especially appropriate for students doing interdisciplinary research. The Dean’s Representative may come from any unit on campus except psychology (the person may be an adjunct member of our department, however). I don’t know of any case in which the student’s selection was not accepted by the College.

Those who do not appoint a Dean’s Representative for the Dissertation Committee from the beginning must do so before the scheduled exam date. At least 3 weeks prior to the exam, submit an approved draft of your dissertation to the Associate Dean of Social Science, Rm. 202 Berkey Hall, along with the necessary form indicating the date, time, and place of the defense. The Dean’s office will let you know who will serve as the Dean’s representative. The Dean also reserves the right to postpone the oral defense if sufficient notice is not given.

The Department of Psychology strongly encourages all dissertation committees and doctoral students to arrange for a public presentation of the dissertation as part of, or in addition to, the oral defense. The Ph.D. Notification of Final Oral Examination form should be filled out to allow the presentation to be advertised. In cases where a public presentation is not made, a public invitation to attend the oral examination will be made. Announcements and scheduling of rooms must be made three weeks prior to the oral defense. When scheduling rooms for the oral defense, be sure adequate seating is available to accommodate public attendance.

Most importantly, remember that your dissertation is an extremely significant piece of work; many have revolutionized entire scientific fields. Write a dissertation you will be proud of for the rest of your life.

2.2.11 Get your Ph.D. and graduate

To graduate in a particular semester, Ph.D. students should have a copy of their dissertation ready for their committee by the middle of the semester. Time is needed for the College to assign the Dean’s Representative and a student must allow for possible revisions before the oral defense. The completed dissertation must be physically present in the Graduate School before the last day of the semester for the degree to be granted that semester.

At the end of your oral examination, the following forms must be completed and returned to the office of the Associate Chairperson:

1. "Action on Dissertation at Final Oral Examination". This form requires the signature of the chairperson of your dissertation committee.

2. "Record of Completion of Requirements for Doctoral, Diploma and Specialist Degree Candidates". This form requires the signature of all members of your dissertation committee, including the Dean's representative.

3. "Ph.D. Placement Report". This is your statement on job or educational plans after receiving your degree.

Submit an unbound original copy of your dissertation to the Graduate School, and a bound copy to the Associate Chairperson's office. Additional copies, as with the Master's degree, are optional; normally the chairperson of your guidance committee also receives a copy. (Please keep in mind that some dissertation chairpersons expect to receive a copy.) Upon receipt of your bound dissertation, multiple copies of the abstract will be distributed in the Departmental mail room and the dissertation will be placed in the Department Library of theses and dissertations.

2.2.12 Time limits for Doctoral Program

There are two types of time limits: extremely highly recommended, and official.

Extremely Highly Recommended: You should complete all requirements for the Ph.D within two years of starting the Doctoral Program, and three at the latest.

UniversityTime Limits: All requirements for the Ph.D. degree must be completed within 8 years of taking the first course on your Doctoral Plan of Study. Application for extensions of the 8-year period of time toward degree must be submitted by the department for approval by the Dean of the College and the Dean of the Graduate School. Upon approval of the extension, doctoral comprehensive examinations must be passed again.

3 Graduate Studies Beyond the Requirements

This section is about not just meeting requirements but also doing the things that will make you successful. In addition to what is described here, take a look at Psychgrad.Org: it’s a wonderful site for information about how to succeed in graduate school.

3.1 What does it mean to be a graduate student?

A Graduate Student is someone who is educated and trained as the new generation of scientists, scholars, and practitioners. It is no exaggeration to say that our fields move forward to the extent that you are trained well. Therefore, you should think about the requirements etc. as means to an end. The end is for you to become the best scientist, teacher, practitioner, and overall scholar. The means are things like theses, research projects, committees, assistantship tasks, and so on. Keep focused on your fundamental goals, and try not to get sidetracked by minor problems and distractions!

From the perspective of this fundamental goal, then, it is important to think about graduate school beyond the requirements. This section, then highlights some of these other issues.

3.2 How do I know if I’m making good progress?

It is critical that you know where you stand with your advisor, your Interest Group, and the department as a whole. It is a university regulation that you receive written feedback every year from your advisor stating explicitly how he/she (and relevant others such as committee members, the IG) views your progress, and what is expected of you in the short run (say, the next year) and long run (the years that remain in your graduate career). Normally, students receive this letter before the end of the Spring semester for every year (and usually sooner). If you don’t have such a letter by late May, tell your advisor that you’d like one.

In addition, you should always feel free to ask your advisor and your committee members how they think you’re doing. This sort of informal feedback can often be extremely useful. And certainly if you have any concerns, you should make sure to have a candid conversation with your advisor, and any other faculty members you trust.

Another way to assess how you’re doing is to look at the more senior graduate students in your program, especially the ones who are generally thought of as successful (one usually knows who those people are). Consider what they do and what milestones they’ve reached, and then think about your own progress. This standard is obviously not flawless, but it’s one possibly relevant piece of information.

Perhaps the most important indicator of your progress is whether you are in a position to get a good job after graduate school—however you define “good”. For an academic position, for instance, you’ll likely find that you need 2-5 publications in journals that are respected in your field, a few conference presentations, and strong letters of recommendation from your advisor and at least a couple of other people who know your work. Those of you being trained in more practice-oriented fields will need to demonstrate competence in importance practice areas. You should consult with your advisor and others in your IG to learn what the appropriate amount of experience is given your area of work. More generally, ask your advisor and other people whose opinion you respect what a strong vita looks like in your particular field, and then aim to develop such a vita while you’re in grad school.

3.3 Leaves of absence

Students may take a leave if they wish to or need to. We HIGHLY recommend that you consult with your advisor and perhaps also your committee before beginning the leave. You and your advisor should prepare a memo that addresses the following points in writing:

--your request and the dept response that you are being granted a leave

--any conditions and/or expectations about when and under what conditions you will return

--expectations about classes

--any reassignment of assistantship duties

--whether you will resume ongoing research projects or begin new ones.

In general, be as detailed and explicit as possible. Once you and your advisor have prepared the memo, sign it and bring it to the Graduate office. (Again, keep a copy for your records.) The Graduate Program Director will sign it too and then the memo will be put in your file.

The university and college do not formally recognize a leave of absence status. The category exists entirely at the level of the department. There are a couple of university rules you need to be aware of, however. If you are not registered for two semesters in a row, then you must complete an application for readmission. (This is just a form; it is not the full application that you filled out for admission, and there is no fee.) Second, your program clock keeps ticking, and so all time limits continue to be in force. You may apply for a time limits waiver, and under the circumstances it is likely to be granted. These are points that should be addressed in the letter referred to above: the number of semesters you expect to be gone, the conditions for readmission if you are gone more than two semesters, and your mutual understanding about extensions of time limits.

3.4 Attending colloquia and other seminars and presentations

It is important that you become a broadly educated scholar in psychology. Therefore, you should attend talks, presentations, colloquia, and so on, even if they are outside your area. The department website lists upcoming events for all Interest Groups and for the department as a whole.

You also should attend any job talks—presentations given by people who are interviewing for faculty or postdoctoral positions in the department. You can learn a great deal about how to prepare (or how not to prepare) a job talk yourself. You might find the information useful should you ultimately be required to give such a presentation yourself for some position that you have applied for. It’s a particularly good idea to attend the job talk together with your advisor and then have a one-on-one discussion about do’s and don’t’s.

3.5 Projects beyond the requirements

Your master's thesis and dissertation are certainly two important research products that provide you with important credentials. However, a successful graduate student should consider them only a small part of the process in developing himself or herself academically and professionally. It is critical that you are involved on a variety of projects, varying the type and extent of your involvement on each so you get the most out of each experience. For research projects, consider not just studies on which you take the lead, but also studies on which you serve as a second-author or as some other type of supporting role. Being involved in a wide variety of projects not only expands your knowledge and skills in many directions, but it also increases the chances of having a number of quality publications and presentations by the time you're ready to apply for jobs. At the same time, don't spread yourself too thin that you can't be meaningfully involved in any project. In sum, make sure you're involved in research beyond just what is required for the degrees.

Section 3.3 above highlights the importance of attending talks and colloquia. It is important that you gain some experience giving oral presentations yourself. All of the Interest Groups have regular brown bags and colloquium series, and those can provide you with a forum in which to practice your speaking skills, present research, and get feedback from your fellow students and from the faculty, and so on.

3.6 Your relationship with your advisor, committee members

Your advisor is the most significant person in your life as a graduate student. Make sure the two of you have a cordial relationship based on mutual respect. Be sure you meet on some regular basis, perhaps one that the two of you formalize when you develop your Plans of Study. Your advisor is your best source for information about your science, and he or she is best able to advise you about what you need to do to be competitive in your relevant job market. Your advisor also likely knows about sources of funding you might be able to tap into, conferences etc. that you should attend, experiences you should gain, and journals you should aim to publish in.

Your committee is an extension of the advisor, in many cases. You should see your committee as a resource. They are there to help guide you in your graduate career, along with your advisor. Put a lot of thought into choosing the people for your committees. They should be knowledgeable in your field, reasonably accessible, and good scholars.

3.7 Keeping a vita

It is a good idea to start keeping a vita from your very first day in Graduate School. Then you can just add to it as you begin to accumulate accomplishments and honors (i.e., frequently!). Talk to your advisor about the right format for your vita—conventions vary somewhat from field to field. You can also find a sample vita here. See also Writing your Vita.

4 Resources available to you

4.1 Email and the web

As described earlier, the University provided you with an email account and access to AFS space. The latter can be used for creation of personal webpages etc.

4.2 Funds for travel and research

The department makes available some funds for student travel and research. Note that the values given below are for the 2000-2001 academic year. They will be updated annually. To apply for these funds, please see Cheryl Forcia in the departmental Business office(forcia@msu.edu).

4.2.1 Funds for travel

A student who is presenting either a talk or a poster at a conference may request $250 for travel. About once during a student’s graduate career at MSU, he or she may apply for $400 from the MSU Graduate School. In order to access these funds the dept must kick in its $250. Therefore, you could receive $650 in total. It makes sense, then, to save this request for your most expensive trip. Although this larger award is usually made only once, occasionally a student receives a second such award. You may obtain from the Associate Chair office a copy of the form for making the request to the Graduate School. You can get the form from the Graduate School’s website as well.

The Council of Graduate Students (COGS) has limited funds available to defray travel expenses. Click here for more information.

4.2.2 Funds for research

In addition to whatever funds you obtain from your advisor and Interest Group, the department also provides a small amount of money for each graduate student to conduct his or her research. In 2001-2002, Master's students could expect to receive up to $75 and Doctoral students up to $250. It is important that you view this source of funds as a back-up to what you normally would receive from your advisor(s) or from your own grant support.

The Graduate School also offers Graduate Student Research Enhancement Awards. These funds are provided to support activities that enhance graduate students’ research projects, and categories covered include travel to participate in workshops, data collection, short courses, and extramural laboratory rotations. Under special circumstances, funding requests to purchase supplies and materials relevant to student’s research will also be considered. The award may not be used to purchase equipment. The awards are intended to match / supplement funds provided by advisors and departments. There is no deadline for submitting requests, and decisions will be made within 3 weeks of receiving the application. Students must be registered the semester that the funds are awarded. Cheryl Forcia and the Graduate Secretary both have more information on this award, including the application form.

4.3 Financial Support (assistantships, stipends, fellowships)

See Sections 2.1.2 and 2.2.2.

4.4 External Funding

Students are encouraged to apply to sources outside of MSU for funds to support themselves in the graduate program and to support their research. The National Science Foundation offers Graduate Fellowships. This part of the NSF website contains all their information about support for graduate students. The National Institutes of Health also welcome applications from graduate students. These are called Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Awards (NRSAs) for M.D./Ph.D. Fellowships. The link provided above is to the section of the NIH Guide that describes how to apply.

The Graduate School’s website also gives information about funding opportunities. Go the link provided and scroll down to “Funding Information”. The document called Funding Guide gives information about internal and external sources of money for graduate students.

Note: This section will be expanded as more information on external funding sources for graduate students becomes available.

5 Conducting Research, Giving Talks, Publishing Papers

5.1 APA Publication Manual

The American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual can be purchased from the APA directly, from Amazon and other online booksellers, and from most university bookstores. The entire contents are not available electronically. The following sites do provide summaries, however:

APA Publication Manual Crib Sheet

APA Style Guide

Guidelines for Writing in APA Style

Psychology with Style: A Hypertext Writing Guide

5.2 Guidelines for authorship and other forms of credit

According to the APA Publication Guide, “authorship is reserved for persons who make primary contribution to and hold primary responsibility for the data, concepts, and interpretation of results for a published work. Authorship encompasses not just the actual writing but also making substantial scientific contributions to a study” (p. 4).

The Guide also recommends that collaborators discuss early on who the authors will be, and in what order they will be listed. Do not make someone an author without consulting him or her; authorship is a responsibility as well as a right, and so people should assent to such a role.

5.3 Rules concerning the use of human subjects

Please see the website for UCRIHS, the University Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects.

5.4 Rules concerning the use of vertebrate animals (who aren’t human)

Please see the website for AUCAUC, the All University Committee on Animal Use and Care.

6 Interest Group Requirements and Guidelines

To maintain the modularity of this Handbook, the sections for each Interest Group are contained in the links below.

6.1 Behavioral Neuroscience

6.2 Cognitive

6.3 Clinical

6.4 Ecological / Community

6.5 Industrial / Organizational

6.6 Social / Personality

Note: there is also a section for Developmental, but that IG no longer exists in this department. The information is only for students admitted in 1999 or earlier.

7 University-wide materials and resources

Academic Calendar

Academic Programs

Descriptions of Courses

Graduate School

Grievance Procedures

Michigan State University

MSU Maps

Registration for Courses