Obtaining a Ph.D.

These resources aim to help doctoral students complete their programs, develop themselves as professionals, and prepare for their post-academic careers while still in graduate school.  The skills doctoral students need and stages they pass through in the course of completing their programs are grouped in roughly chronological order, beginning with "Entering into a Doctoral Program" and progressing through to "Dissertations."  Additional resources are at the bottom of the page.  The links included on these pages are by no means exhaustive, and we welcome suggestions for further additions at envision@u.washington.edu.

Entering into a Doctoral Program
Covers deciding which programs and schools to target, what questions to ask, how the application process works, and evaluating different programs and schools.

Surviving Graduate School
Gives an overview of what skills are needed to survive and thrive in graduate school, how to deal with the academic and personal pressures of doctoral programs, the general stages doctoral students move through, and where to go for further information.

On-line Portfolios
Includes links to portfolio designs, tools, and examples of on-line portfolios from around the country that go beyond traditional CVs and resumes to give a multi-faceted view of the author's teaching and professional experiences. 

Teaching
Includes discussion groups, articles, websites, and Promising Practices that deal with preparing doctoral students to teach.  

Choosing a Committee/Advisor
Offers advice about how to choose a committee/advisor, what questions to ask, how to set expectations and resolve common problems, and more.

Preparing for Comprehensive/Qualifying Exams
Covers preparing for comprehensive/qualifying exams in a very general sense.  

Conferences and Presentations
Covers how to present research at conferences and presentations.

Research and Publishing
Offers strategies for identifying viable paper topics, writing polished articles, and getting them published, as well as resources useful for researching, documenting, and formatting papers.  

Dissertations
Includes web resources aimed at helping doctoral students through the dissertation process, specific advice, research and formatting tools, sample guidelines for traditional and electronic dissertations, places for publishing the dissertation, a bibliography of articles about dissertations, and a link to dissertation-related Promising Practices.

Additional Resources

Publications
An annotated list of publications that cover varying topics above.

Professional Development Promising Practices
Innovative professional development activities, programs, and resources at universities and organizations across the nation.

University of Washington Resources
Professional development resources especially useful for University of Washington doctoral students.