Graduate Student Handbook

All requirements for the PhD and MSc degrees in Public Health Sciences must normally be completed within the following time periods (beginning with the term of initial registration), as stipulated by the University Senate:

MSc - Full-time (FT): 6 terms (2 years); Part-time (PT): 15 terms (5 years).

PhD - Full-time (FT) from master’s’ level: 12 terms (4 years); Part-time (PT): 21 terms (7 years).

Transitional students – time limits depend on their particular program requirements.

For computational purposes, a term of full-time enrolment is counted as 1.0, a term of part-time enrolment is counted as 0.5, and an inactive term is counted as 0. You will receive notification if you are nearing your time limit and must complete a "Petition for Extension of Program Time Limit" form indicating your plan of completion (see the GSPA website for more details). This form must be signed by yourself, your thesis supervisor, the SPHS Graduate Officer, and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. You have until the registration deadline to complete this form. Students who register, but fail to have their extensions approved may be asked to withdraw. Students who have been granted an extension of time limit are considered to be on probation, and can be asked to withdraw from the program if progress is not deemed to be satisfactory.

MSc: Full-time Master’s students should complete most or all of their course work during the first two terms they are registered in the program (normally the Fall and Winter terms) and are encouraged complete their thesis proposal by the third term (Spring term).

Sample Timeline for Completion of Full-time

MSc: It is recommended for students to finish their coursework by the end of second or third term. They should complete their thesis proposal writing & defence in the third or fourth term. Students should work on the thesis research & analysis in the fourth or fifth term and the thesis writing & defence during their fifth or sixth term.

PhD: Full-time doctoral students are expected to finish their coursework by the end of the third term. Also, they should begin their comprehensive examinations during the third term and have their oral examination sometime in the 4th term (the Graduate Calendar stipulates that the comprehensive examination requirement must be completed within seven academic terms after initial registration).

Detailed guidelines have been developed for SPHS students concerning the Master’s Thesis, PhD comprehensive exams and PhD proposal and dissertation, respectively. These guidelines are available on the SPHS website and address everything you need to know from how to select your committee, to how to develop the proposal, to writing the thesis, and finally, to the steps involved in scheduling your final defence. The purpose of this section is to outline the School, faculty and university policies that must be followed.

Thesis Proposal Checklist (MSc and PhD)

Title of thesis

• Is the title clear, simple to follow and self-explanatory?
• Does the title create interest in the topic?
• Have you included the School, month and date on your title page?

Abstract (optional for the proposal; consult your supervisor)

Table of Contents (a Table of Tables and Table of Figures may also be included, as appropriate)

• Have you included the heading and page number of all major sections?

Introduction and Overview (recommend: 1-2 pages)

The purpose of this section is to introduce the topic, generate interest in reading the proposal and provide a brief overview of what is to come (main sections of the proposal). In this section, it is appropriate to briefly describe the statement of the problem or issue to be addressed, the state of the art (what is currently known, what is not), and the general or overall purpose of the study.

Remember that here it is important to first generate interest in the topic and convince the reader that it’s worthwhile to keep reading. Do not dive into the literature immediately.

• Have you oriented the reader to the main theme of the thesis through a general introduction?
• Have you created interest in the topic of the thesis?
• Have you given a brief overview of the main sections and ideas of the proposal?
• Have you written a transition paragraph from the introduction to the literature review?

Literature Review (recommend: 5-10 pages in consultation with your supervisor)

Remember to organize the literature review according to a logical scheme. Avoid merely stating what other people have said without providing your own summary and critical analysis. Remember to synthesize, integrate, criticize. Keep in mind that “review articles” are the synthesis and opinions of others and should be described accordingly. Use primary sources (original articles) as much as possible

• Have you included key references and sources for your review?
• Have you synthesized and integrated the literature in a meaningful way? Where appropriate, tables or figures may be used in the text or appended.
• Have you shown how the existing literature relates to your research study question(s)?
• Have you avoided merely repeating what others have said or shown, without any organization or critical analysis?
• Have you included a summary and implications section?

Study Rationale (recommend: 2-3 pages)

In this section, you need to state (clearly and succinctly) how your study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge (published, scholarly literature) and/or has applied implications for program or policy planning, development and decision-making. Your contributions may be conceptual, methodological and/or practical in nature.   

• Have you clearly described how your study addresses gaps in the field?
• Have you clearly stated the overall and specific purposes of your study in terms of study questions, hypotheses or issues that will addressed?
• Have you shown what are the scholarly implications (theoretical or practical) of your proposed study?

Methods (recommend: 10-12 pages of text)

This is one of the most important sections of your proposal. Regardless of whether you are proposing to collect new data (in either a laboratory or field setting) and/or perform secondary analysis of existing data sets, it is important that you describe your proposed methods clearly.

• Have you described the basic design or protocol you propose to use (or which was used to collect the data) in relation to your study questions (including advantages and limitations of this approach)? Diagrams are often helpful to illustrate protocols.
• Have you described in detail sample recruitment and selection criteria (including sample size calculations for statistical power when applicable)?
• Have you considered issues of obtaining approval from participating agencies (if applicable), approval from the University of Waterloo Office of Research Ethics and informed consent from study participants? Append draft consent forms if possible.
• Have you described in detail the data collection procedures and instruments? Append a description of the tools (or the tools themselves if in questionnaire form).
• Have you explained how you will analyze the findings? Regardless of whether the data are quantitative or qualitative or both (mixed-methods), you need to justify your choice of analytic procedures (statistical tests, verification procedures, etc.). In some cases, you may also wish to stipulate a priori expectations (consult your advisor).

Results and Discussion (recommend: 3 to 5 pages)

Even though you have not conducted your research it is often useful to think about the results you expect.  Dummy (or mock) tables may be used to help develop your data analysis plan. In this section you should address your study’s strengths and limitations. Additionally, you can provide your thoughts on how your findings will advance knowledge in the field and how the knowledge can be translated into practice. The direction of future research can also be discussed. 

Reference List

• Have you checked that the references are accurate?
• Have you included all the references (and only the references) cited in the text?
• Have you followed an accepted reference style (e.g., American Physiological Society; American Psychological Association) consistently throughout your text and list?

Appendices

• Have you placed supporting documentation in the appendices (e.g., tables summarizing prior studies, program information, proposed tools, assay procedures, draft of human or animal research ethics approval forms, clearance for biohazards etc.).
• Have you titled each appendix and lettered consecutively (A, B, C, etc.) in the same order as cited in the text.

Resources and Timeline (recommend: 2 pages)

In this section, you should outline the resources, equipment and/or training needed to carry out your proposed study. You should also speak to your supervisor concerning the costs associated with the study in question and sources of support. Finally, you should diagram the study timeline (e.g., number of weeks or months) estimated for each phase (e.g., ethics approval, sample recruitment, each phase of data collection, analysis, write-up). Together, you and your committee will determine whether your proposed timeline is realistic and if the study needs to be modified. 

• Have you identified the necessary equipment and resources to carry out your study?
• Have you made clear what funding you will need for your thesis?
• Have you asked your supervisor how much support you can expect and for what activities?
• Have you shown in chart form the phases of the project and what you will be doing during each step?
• Have you given a projected timeline for completion of the project (including number of months estimated for the various phases)?

Master’s Thesis Submission

Once approved, the MSc thesis must meet the specifications as outlined in the Thesis Regulations which can be found on the web under the Graduate Studies home page. Take your thesis over to be checked by the GSPA before you make any copies. Note: The School does not require a bound copy of your thesis but some committee members may request one. Students may be required to submit additional copies if they have more than one academic department and/or supervisor (please check prior to ordering bound copies).

A comprehensive examination consisting of written responses to three questions and an oral examination on the answers must be successfully completed before a PhD student may begin their dissertation research. Normally, doctoral students will begin working on their comprehensive examination after completing all required course work. For full-time students, the process should normally begin in their third academic term and the oral examination should be held before the end of the fourth term. Part-time students are normally expected to begin the comprehensive examination process by the sixth term after first registration. The timing of the examination will be established by the candidate in consultation with their supervisor.

Candidates will be provided with three questions developed by their Comprehensive Examination Committee and a set of key readings. Full-time students are required to submit their written responses to the members of their comprehensive examination committee within eight weeks. Part-time students may have up to a four-week extension, for a maximum of 12 weeks (although many prefer to complete the process in eight weeks). The comprehensive examination committee must decide the part-time student deadline prior to the beginning of the exam. Students may seek writing support during their comprehensive exams, and the University of Waterloo Writing Centre is a recommended resource. Writing support must be limited to sentence-level issues, such as sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  If students use any source of writing support, this must be disclosed in writing to the Chair of their comprehensive exam committee before the end of the comprehensive exam period.

The oral examination should occur within four weeks of submission of the written work. The comprehensive examination requirement must be successfully completed, and the credit approved, before proceeding to the formal presentation of the dissertation proposal.

As noted above, doctoral students must complete the PhD Thesis Proposal Notification Form and submit this form to the Graduate Coordinator at least two weeks prior to scheduling the PhD Proposal Defence meeting. The steps for scheduling the proposal defence and booking rooms are the same as for the Master’s Thesis Proposal, as are the policies regarding absent committee members. Similarly, the supervisor of the committee acts as the Chair for the PhD Proposal Defence and Meeting. At the end of the meeting, the PhD Advisory Committee decides whether or not to grant the student approval to proceed and the conditions of such approval. Similar to the Master’s Proposal, an addendum may be required stipulating changes to the original proposal.

As would be expected, the procedures for the Final PhD Dissertation Defence are more rigorous and set by the university. The PhD Examining Committee (Board) must be arranged at least 8 weeks prior to this defence. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to work with the faculty graduate studies personnel to obtain approval of the external examiner as well as the internal/external member of the examining committee (a UW faculty member from outside the School who is not on the Advisory Committee) from the Associate Dean of Graduate Affairs and members of the faculty graduate affairs committee. A Chair for the final PhD defence will be appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies for the university. While you and your supervisor can discuss suitable experts in your field who may potentially serve as external examiners, the student is not involved in any way with contacting the external examiner.

It is the student’s responsibility, however, to:

• Contact members of your advisory committee concerning possible dates for the final defence;
• Book a room, in consultation with the GSC in the Dean’s Office (most Ph.D. Defences are in BMH 3119);
• Provide copies of the dissertation to all members of your advisory committee, including the appointed internal/external (as well as two additional copies to the GSC--one for the public display and one for the external examiner) at least five weeks in advance of the scheduled PhD defence.

There are a number of policies regarding PhD Defences. For instance, a brief written report prepared by the external examiner is required one week in advance and sent to the Associate Dean’s Office. The supervisor will be allowed to convey general concerns that are outlined in this report to the student. The student is only allowed to read the external’s report, however, after the defence upon request.