FAQs ABOUT THE PRELIMINARY DEFENCE
Dear PhD students, Dear candidates,
The preliminary defence, or comprehensive examination, is an essential part of the degree conferment procedure. As the regulations regarding the organization of the comprehensive examination have transformed significantly in the past years, we thought it important to gather the most essential information and most frequently asked questions about it.
When shall the preliminary defence be organized?
The preliminary defence may be organized once the doctoral candidate has completed the writing of his/her dissertation and the supervisor reckons that the dissertation, in its current form, is suitable for preliminary defence.
What is a text-matching analysis?
The first step of organizing the preliminary defence is that the candidate shall send his/her dissertation to the Secretary of the Doctoral School of History and Ethnography for the mandatory text-matching analysis. The Secretary of the Doctoral School shall send the dissertation to the competent persons at the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen (crosscheck@lib.unideb.hu), who shall then run the dissertation through a specific search-engine (Turnitin). The results of the analysis are sent to the Secretary of the Doctoral School, who shall forward them to the candidate and the supervisor.
What are the candidate’s statement and the supervisor’s statement, and why are they needed?
The candidate’s statement and the supervisor’s statement are required after the results of the text-matching analysis had been received by the candidate and the supervisor. Subsequently, the candidate shall review the parallel texts (if any) on a case-by-case basis and prepare an explanatory list on these. The student shall requests access at crosscheck@lib.unideb.hu in order for him/her to be able to view the matching results at the end of the dissertation. The explanatory list is part of the candidate’s statement, the text of which shall be placed in the original statement template. The supervisor’s statement is part of the same document, which also confirms that the dissertation was written in accordance with the requirements of scientific ethics. Subsequently, this jointly signed statement shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Doctoral School.
How does the dissertation reach the evaluators of the preliminary defence?
The dissertation, together with the abovementioned statements and the result of the text-matching analysis shall be sent by the Secretary of the Doctoral School to the potential opponents, and the dissertation shall be sent to the other members of the committee. The setup of the composition of the preliminary defence committee by the time the candidate reaches this stage is undoubtedly required for the secretary to be able to send the dissertation out to the members.
How is the preliminary defence committee set up? What needs to be done?
The composition of the preliminary defence committee shall be voted upon by the Doctoral Council of the Doctoral School; thus, the composition must be agreed on by the head of the Doctoral School prior to the preliminary defence. The committee shall be set up in a way that at least five researchers having academicdegrees take part in it and present their opinion on the finished work after the preliminary defence. Another restriction is that the chairperson of the committee must be a core member of the Doctoral School, and one-third of all members with voting rights shall be persons who are not members of the doctoral school.
How is the preliminary defence carried out?
At the preliminary defence the members shall give their opinions on the dissertation and make a decision as towhether they find the dissertation suitable for public defence or not. An official record shall be made on the defence, which shall be signed by all members of the committee. Subsequently, the record and the attached attendance list shall be delivered to the Secretary of the Doctoral School, who transmits it to the secretariat of the Arts and Humanities Doctoral Council. With this, the to-dos regarding the preliminary defence have been completed. The relevant regulations are available at the following links, please study them thoroughly:
If you have any further questions, contact us at: toth.orsolya@arts.unideb.hu