The Ph.D. in information studies expands SLIS' mission and vision by educating students to thoroughly understand the discipline of information studies; develop expertise in using the various research methods necessary for investigation in the field; conduct effective, sustained research; and understand the ways in which information in all its forms is produced, recorded, organized, preserved, retrieved, communicated, managed, and used. Additionally SLIS seeks to educate researchers that are able to understand the ways in which people's information-related activity shapes - and is shaped by - information technologies, information structures, and information institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums. The answers to the research questions posed in information studies help to improve information systems and services, to guide information policy, and to enrich life in today's information society.
The Ph.D. program offers students ongoing opportunities for close interaction with outstanding faculty who have international reputations in their areas of research; a carefully designed doctoral curriculum with the flexibility to allow students to pursue individual academic and career goals; and the vast academic resources of OU itself, capable of supporting sophisticated, interdisciplinary, and innovative scholarly investigation.
Graduates of the program will be prepared to engage in creative research, ordinarily as part of a career in university teaching or in policymaking or consulting for corporate, non-profit, or governmental institutions, and in professional leadership for information institutions.
The goals of the Ph.D. program in information studies are below:
Ph.D. in Information Studies Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the program, graduates will be able to:
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The admission policy of the Ph.D. in Information Studies degree program has as its goal the selection of persons who are academically well qualified and who exhibit a potential for contributions in the area of improving information systems and services, guiding information policy, and enriching life in today's information society. The School of Library and Information Studies encourages applications from students with diverse educational, geographical, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds.
In addition to meeting the general requirements for admission to the Graduate College, applicants must also meet the admissions requirements for the Ph.D. in Information Studies degree program.
Fall 2025 Graduate Application Available: Wednesday, August 28th, 2024
Completed Applications Due: Wednesday, January 15th, 2025
Note: late or incomplete applications will not be considered after the January 15th deadline.
Applications Under Review by Doctoral Program Committee: Wednesday, August 28th, 2024 to Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025
Admissions Decisions Distributed: By Tuesday, April 15th, 2025
All students must apply through using the University of Oklahoma Graduate Application. Application fees cannot be waived. Our Ph.D. program only admits students to start annually during the Fall semester. Applications must be received prior to the January 15th deadline to be considered. Only complete applications including all supplemental documents (personal statement, research/writing sample, resume/CV, and letters of recommendation) will be considered for admittance if received prior to the deadline, no late applications will be accepted or considered.
Your personal statement should address the following:
Include a writing sample that demonstrates your ability to produce academic or professional writing. This can be a published article, a major term paper from previous coursework, a chapter from a thesis, or a research paper. The sample should be in English and preferably recent work.
Your resume or CV should be a detailed document that provides a summary of your past academic and work experiences. Please include your qualifications, education, relevant work experience, and other awards or merits.
The letters of recommendation should be from persons familiar with the applicant's scholastic or employment record (letters from personal friends or family are not appropriate).
Applications will be evaluated holistically based on student undergraduate and graduate work. Applicants must meet the minimum 3.0 GPA requirement (based on a 4.0 scale) from their most recent degree.
Scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). Scores more than 5 years old are generally considered unreliable and are not acceptable. If you have a completed master’s degree with a 3.0 or higher GPA, you do not need to include GRE scores in your application. However, if you are currently in a graduate program and do not wish to take the GRE, if accepted to the program, you will be granted a conditional admission until you finish the degree and can demonstrate that you have attained a 3.0.
The SLIS doctoral program's requirements are structured as below:
1. Theory and Methodology (15 credit hours)
Required Classes (9 credit hours)
Outside Methodology Classes (6 credit hours)
Two additional methodology courses must be taken outside of SLIS prior to taking the written portion of the General Exam. SLIS maintains a list of approved courses and students can work with their advisors on selecting two.
2. Major Specialization (12 credit hours)
Four courses focused on creating a major area of specialization must be approved by the committee chair (advisor) and graduate liaison.
3. Doctoral Seminar (8 credit hours – 4 courses of 2 credit hours each)
Doctoral students are required to enroll in four semesters of LIS 6962 Doctoral Seminar. This course will rotate among a variety of core LIS topics.
Doctoral students are required to take four elective courses. Two of these must be chosen from graduate courses (Ph.D. level) offered in the School of Library and Information Studies; two more must be chosen from graduate courses offered outside of SLIS.
The number of credit hours in this category is flexible to accommodate students who need more or fewer dissertation hours. Up to 30 hours from a previous completed master's in LIS or related field may be counted with permission of the committee chair (advisor) and graduate liaison. Courses that can count are restricted by the Graduate College to those that received A or B grades and no independent courses are allowed. Other restrictions are noted in the Graduate College Bulletin.
The prerequisite for dissertation hours is the successful completion of the general examination. These hours consist of directed research culminating in the completion of the Doctoral dissertation. 10 to 13 hours.
A faculty adviser is assigned when the student is recommended for admission to the School. Upon acceptance to the program and prior to the completion of the first year of the Ph.D. program, any student in the program must form an advisory conference committee as required by the Graduate College.
Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA throughout the program. If a student's GPA falls below 3.0, the student will be placed on academic probation according to the Graduate College's policies and procedures.
For specific requirements and procedures, refer to the Graduate College Bulletin.
Doctoral Student Advising
The following document is provided to assist doctoral students and their advisors in planning the coursework for the degree:
Doctoral Program Planning Form (pdf)
This form is an internal SLIS form and is intended to help students, with input from their advisor and committee (the Advisory Conference Committee), to create a coursework plan for their Ph.D. program. In the last semester before they sit for the doctoral general exam students will be required to submit a formal coursework plan to the Graduate College on a form called the Advisory Conference Report (doc).
Doctoral Program Timeline
The Graduate College has these time in degree requirements:
Graduate College Bulletin 8.2.5 Time Limit for Completion of the Doctoral Degree
A student who enters the doctoral program with a bachelor’s degree is expected to pass the general examination within five calendar years of the student’s first enrollment in a graduate course applied to the doctoral degree.
A student who enters the doctoral program with a master’s degree is expected to pass the general examination within four calendar years of the student’s first enrollment in a graduate course applied to the doctoral degree which was not applied to the master’s degree.
A doctoral candidate is expected to complete all degree requirements, including the defense and final submission of the dissertation, within five calendar years after passing the general examination.
8.2.5.1 Extensions for the Doctoral Degree
If an academic unit determines that additional time is needed for a student to complete the doctoral general examination or all degree requirements, the student’s committee should request that the dean of the Graduate College approve an extension.
The written request for extension should explain why additional time is necessary and specify when the student is expected to complete the exam or the outstanding degree requirements. The request also must be endorsed by the graduate liaison and the student’s committee.
SLIS internal policy states:
It is expected that the dissertation proposal defense will occur within one academic year of successful completion of the student’s General Exam. However, that timeline is flexible as long as the student is making progress as determined by their Advisor. If an extension is needed, it is incumbent upon the student to clearly explain why the proposal is delayed.
General Exam Instructions (pdf)
Approved by the SLIS Faculty March 6, 2023.
General Exam Instructions: Graduate College Bulletin
The Graduate College Steps to Degree is a great resource for dates and forms.
The Written Exam
The General Exam for the PhD in Information Science is intended to reflect a student’s knowledge, expertise, and ability to synthesize in their specialized areas of information science.
The goals of the General Exam are to:
The General Exam includes both a written and oral portion. The Advisory Conference will evaluate both the parts of the exam based on the student’s breadth and depth of knowledge, ability to write a scholarly analysis, establish the significance of the issues and problems, defense of the content and methodology, and suggestions of potential new directions of inquiry and/or discussion.
The components of General Exam and its preparation are as follows:
Dissertation Proposal Protocols
Dissertation Proposal Protocols (pdf)
What is the Dissertation Proposal?
All doctoral students of OU SLIS are required to prepare and successfully defend the dissertation proposal. The dissertation represents a piece of original research that contributes to the knowledge base of the field. The proposal establishes the foundation on which the student will undertake dissertation research.
The student’s advisor is their primary guide for putting together a solid proposal. While other members of the Advisory Conference Committee may provide advice in their areas of expertise, it is expected that the student will work most closely with their advisor to make sure the proposal is ready for committee review. However, doctoral students are advised to also work with their committee on drafts of the document, allowing sufficient time for reading and revising prior to the formal defense.
The dissertation proposal forms a blueprint for the dissertation itself and serves as an agreement between the Advisory Conference Committee and the student about the research that needs to be done for the dissertation has a typical length of 20-40 double spaced pages. The proposal should detail the research methods and techniques to be used in conducting the dissertation topic. It also should address the relevance of the dissertation topic to the field of information science, describe the conceptual and research content in which the proposed study is located, specify the originality or uniqueness of the proposal, and review the research and other literature relevant to the topic.
The proposal should include research goals and objectives; a literature review; methodology to be used; timelines for the work; potential limitations; and any other elements deemed appropriate by the Advisory Conference Committee.
The dissertation proposal should be considered a draft of the first three chapters of your dissertation, with the following:
Cover Page
Chapter 1: An Introduction that is a clear introductory statement of the problem to be researched. The dissertation must represent an original contribution to the field, which must be made clear in this section. The introduction should include an overview of the problem; the significance of the research problem; identification of a gap in existing research; and the rationale for the current study, including research goals and objectives. This section should also include research questions to be addressed or hypotheses to be tested.
Chapter 2: Literature Review: This section contains a review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature in the specific areas of the dissertation. Contrasting existing work with the proposed work, the literature review should show why and how there is a gap in the research.
Chapter 3: Methodology: This section describes the research methods that will be used for the dissertation, including reasons for using the methodology and citations to appropriate sources; and the research plan, including data collection and protocols, types of data to be collected, if doing human subjects research, how many people will participate and how the student arrived at that decision; data analysis methods; and approximate timelines. It is important to be realistic about the data collection plan. As well, this section should include potential challenges and contingency plans if the research plan does not work.
Defending the Proposal
The defense is an oral examination presented to the student’s Advisory Conference Committee.
While the proposal is being written, the student and the student’s advisor should consider the best time for the student to defend. As the timing is not prescribed by the OU Graduate College, it will be up to the student and the advisor to determine what is most appropriate.
Once the proposal is written, the student will send it to the Advisory Conference Committee no less than one month before the student would like to defend.
When the Advisory Conference Committee determines that the proposal is ready for defense, the student will schedule the defense, which includes arranging for the date and location. Other faculty members and students are encouraged to attend the proposal defense meeting.
During the proposal defense, the student will provide a brief presentation of up to 40 minutes to outline their proposed research. After the presentation, the Advisory Conference Committee will ask questions and provide feedback. As well, the Advisory Conference Committee, in conjunction with the student, will decide in advance if the general audience will be permitted to ask questions and/or make comments after the Committee’s questions and feedback. After all questions have been asked and suggestions made, the student and general audience will be asked to leave the room while the committee deliberates. The process will take no more than three hours.
After the Defense
The Advisory Conference Committee will discuss the relevance and efficacy of the arguments and methods stated. The Committee may approve the proposal for continuation or recommend revisions to be completed prior to approval. The student may be required to significantly revise the proposal and even hold a second proposal meeting before proceeding with the research.
When the Advisory Conference Committee has accepted the proposal, the student is then expected to complete their study according to the proposal as written and approved. Any changes to the goals, objectives, methods, plan, or other major element of the dissertation work must be approved by the Advisor in consultation with the other members of the committee.
Timeline
It is expected that the dissertation proposal defense will occur within one academic year of successful completion of the student’s General Exam. However, that timeline is flexible as long as the student is making progress as determined by their Advisor. If an extension is needed, it is incumbent upon the student to clearly explain why the proposal is delayed.
Continuous Enrollment
From the Graduate Bulletin: Enrollment Requirements for Dissertation Research.
Enrollment Requirements for Dissertation Research
Approved by Faculty 3/2/23
