Mathematics Education PhD Student Resources

Meet with an academic advisor. This can be the Doctoral Program Director (DPD) but you should also feel welcome to seek the advice of other doctoral faculty, in addition. Use the Roadmaps and the Plan of Work on Canvas to help you navigate the courses. Complete at least 36 credits of coursework including the following:

• Qualitative Methods for Educational Research (EDFD 820)
• Quantitative Methods for Educational Research (EDFD 821)
• Advanced Methods of Quantitative Inquiry in Education (EDFD 822)
• Advanced Qualitative Research in Education (EDFD 823)

Notes and Resources:

• Also take note of “Other Requirements” for publications, presentations, and enrollment below.
• If not enrolling in coursework, sign up for Continuous Matriculation (GRAD DC1)

1. IMPORTANT! Join the Canvas page for Dissertation Organizing Central (D.O.C.) as soon as you receive an invitation. It is up to the doctoral student to read the current dissertation guidelines as described in the Doctoral Student Handbook and become familiar with The Graduate Center requirements. 
2. Meet with the DPD, or your advisor, to discuss your readiness for the comprehensive experience and begin planning.
3. Seek a committee Chair and two additional committee members. Seek advice from multiple members of the faculty and from other doctoral students. You have the option to make changes to this committee after the comprehensive experience before the proposal stage and prior to officially formalizing your committee.
4. The Chair of the committee must be a doctoral faculty member from our program. Committee members do not need to be doctoral faculty members and can be from CSAM or CEHS (or another college, upon approval by the DPD), but no more than one committee member may be from outside of the program.

1. Notify your Chair about receiving integrative essay prompts at least three weeks ahead of anticipated start date. Note that faculty are not expected to be available during the winter (end of December to mid-January) and summer breaks (July and August). Chair consults with committee members on essay prompts and timeline. After agreement, the essay prompts are sent to the student on the date agreed.
2. Student receives essay prompts from the committee Chair and has three weeks to complete two essays. It is advised that the student carefully reviews the instructions and the comps rubric that are provided along with the prompts, as well as the program’s AI policy on Canvas. 
3. Student submits essays to their entire committee. The committee has three weeks to review the essays. 
4. If the responses are satisfactory, a date for the comprehensive experience hearing is set. Major or minor revisions might still be requested. 
5. If the essays are not satisfactory, no hearing is scheduled. 
6. Depending on the quality of the essays, the committee can choose to ask for revisions or fail the student on the first attempt. The student has two attempts to pass the comprehensive experience. If the student fails the first attempt, they may receive new essay prompts for the second attempt. If they fail twice, the student must withdraw from the program.
7. If the student passes, they reach candidacy and can begin work on the literature review.
   1. Submit Form A – Notification of Completion of the Qualifying Assessment and Notification of Admission to Doctoral Candidacy (PDF)
   2. Submit Form B (Approval of Dissertation Committee) to finalize your committee. 
   3. If the candidate wishes to have an external committee member (external to MSU) as a fourth committee member, the student, in consultation with the Chair, must secure approval through Form C.
8. Within three years of reaching candidacy, complete and defend the dissertation proposal.

1. The candidate conducts a review of the literature related to a particular topic in mathematics education and then synthesizes that review to produce a critical analysis of the relevant literature. The candidate should choose a topic related to their potential dissertation topic. The candidate is encouraged to conclude their literature review by highlighting gaps in the extant literature and using the literature to propose future directions of research in the area.
   The literature review must explicitly address the following overarching questions:
   • What are the foundational empirical works related to your particular topic? What are key findings from these and other papers on the topic and how have researchers used these findings to further study the topic? If key findings have not supported further research, describe possible reasons for this.
   • What are the gaps in the current literature and what gaps warrant further study?
   • What theories and methodologies have researchers used to study your topic? How have these theories evolved through the history of mathematics education? 
2. The candidate develops literature review in consultation with the Chair.
3. Once the Chair approves the literature review, the candidate or Chair shares the literature review with the other committee members.
4. For all stages of the dissertation, candidates are encouraged to expect at least two weeks for faculty members to provide feedback.
5. When all committee members agree that the literature review is ready to discuss, the candidate sets a date for a discussion with the committee.
6. The literature review discussion is an informal meeting (with no formal presentation). The Chair will provide guidance to the candidate ahead of time about the format of the discussion. It is expected that the candidate will share and seek feedback about their preliminary ideas for the dissertation.

1. The candidate develops a dissertation proposal in consultation with their Chair.
2. Once the Chair approves the proposal, the candidate shares the proposal with the other committee members. Keep in mind that committee members may not be available in July and August. 
3. Committee members have at least two weeks to review the document.
4. Once all three committee members agree that the proposal is ready to defend, a date is established for the defense. All members of the doctoral community are invited to the defense.
5. Enroll in Dissertation Advisement (MATH 900).
6. Begin IRB application – attend a workshop and complete a tutorial prior to applying.
7. At some point during the development of the proposal, the candidate has a preliminary conversation with their Chair about the potential format of the dissertation: the two options are the conventional 5-chapter dissertation and the 3-article-based dissertation. The templates for these formats are on the Canvas page for Dissertation Organizing Central (D.O.C.) while the Math Ed-specific guidelines for the articles-based dissertation is on our program’s Canvas page. This decision should be integrated into your proposal. Additional conversations about your options should be held with all members of your committee as you develop your proposal.
8. Complete and defend proposal (Proposal Hearing: 20 minute presentation followed by up to 20 minutes of Q&A with the audience).
9. Submit Form D – Approval of Dissertation Proposal (PDF).

1. The candidate will develop a dissertation in consultation with their Chair. The Chair and candidate will jointly choose whether the dissertation will follow a chapter-based or three-article format. The Chair and candidate can decide together whether selected sections of the dissertation should be shared with the committee prior to the submission of the full dissertation.
2. Once the Chair approves the dissertation, the candidate will share the dissertation with the other committee members. Keep in mind that committee members may not be available in July and August. 
3. Committee members have at least two weeks to review the document.
4. Once all committee members agree that the dissertation is ready to defend, a date is established for the defense.
5. Be mindful of the Dissertation Defense and Submission Deadlines from The Graduate Center.
6. Complete the final audit through the registrar’s office the semester prior to anticipated graduation.
7. Submit Form E – Application for Dissertation Defense Date (PDF) by the TGS deadline for the semester in which you aim to graduate.
8. Defend dissertation: 30-minute presentation, up to 30 minutes of Q&A with the non-committee audience members, and up to 60 minutes of defense with the committee. The committee will then convene briefly without the doctoral candidate. When the doctoral candidate returns, the committee will articulate the result including any needed final revisions. 
9. Submit Form F – Report of Dissertation Defense (PDF) to TGS.
10. Review the Dissertation Final Review Checklist. Submit final copy of dissertation for formatting to The Graduate Center.
11. Once approval is received from The Graduate Center, submit the dissertation electronically.

Further information about Doctoral Policies, Procedures & Guidelines and the Dissertation Process is available at the website of The Graduate Center.

Congratulations you have earned your Ph.D. in Mathematics Education!

Notes and Resources

• The MSU Library has a Research Guide about Literature Reviews. The University of Minnesota’s Library has a web-based tutorial, as well.
• Graduate Center Resources for writing your dissertation. We recommend that you write your proposal using a dissertation template and a citation manager.
• To support your writing, we recommend that you book an appointment with a Graduate Writing Support Specialist.

Students in the PhD program will be expected to complete the following activities before defending their dissertation:

• Submit an article viable for publication to a suitable peer-reviewed journal. Such viability and suitability must be approved by the dissertation chair.
• Present a research paper at a national or international conference.

Students must be continuously enrolled during their matriculation in the degree.

• Enroll in Dissertation Advisement (MATH 900) to complete a total of 12 credits of advisement.
• Students who are not taking courses in a particular semester must enroll in Continuous Matriculation (GRAD DC1).
• Enroll in Dissertation Extension (MATH 901) if you’ve completed 12 credits of advisement.