Doctoral Program

A Ph.D. graduate must have demonstrated both breadth and depth of knowledge in their discipline. The requirements for a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science can be summarized as follows:

1. To ensure that the student is sufficiently prepared for Ph.D. research and for writing a Ph.D. dissertation, they are required to complete the Ph.D. Candidacy Assessment by the end of 24 months following initial registration in the Ph.D. program.
2. The student must fulfill a residency requirement of at least 18 months. Residency is defined as living in, or near Saskatoon, regular attendance on campus, regular interaction with the student's supervisor, and participation in the affairs of the student's research lab and/or of the department.
3. The student must complete least 6 credit units at the graduate-level, as determined by the student's advisory committee.
4. Students must regularly attend the CMPT 990 seminar series during the period of their residency.
5. The student must complete a thesis, designated as CMPT 996, which is judged to be a substantial and worthwhile contribution to knowledge in Computer Science.
6. Ph.D. students are required to present the results of their thesis research in the Department Seminar Series.
7. Completion of the GSR 960 ethics course (for students starting September 2007 or later).

It is the student's responsibility to ensure all requirements of the Program of Studies have been completed, registration is current, outstanding fees are paid, and University deadlines are met for convocation.

A Ph.D. graduate must have demonstrated both breadth and depth of knowledge in their discipline. The requirements for a Ph.D. degree in Applied Computing can be summarized as follows:

1. To ensure that the student is sufficiently prepared for Ph.D. research and for writing a Ph.D. dissertation, they are required to complete the Ph.D. Candidacy Assessment by the end of 24 months following initial registration in the Ph.D. program.
2. The student must fulfill a residency requirement of at least 18 months. Residency is defined as living in, or near Saskatoon, regular attendance on campus, regular interaction with the student's supervisor, and participation in the affairs of the student's research lab and/or of the department.
3. The student must complete least six (6) credit units at the graduate-level, including at least three (3) credits worth of graduate-level coursework from the Department of Computer Science, numbered 800-879 or 898. Three (3) credits can be chosen from the cognate discipline(s), as approved by the Advisory Committee.
4. Students must regularly attend the CMPT 990 seminar series during the period of their residency.
5. The student must complete a thesis, designated as CMPT 996, which is judged to be a substantial and worthwhile contribution to knowledge in Computer Science.
6. Ph.D. students are required to present the results of their thesis research in the Department Seminar Series.
7. Completion of the GSR 960 ethics course.

It is the student's responsibility to ensure all requirements of the Program of Studies have been completed, registration is current, outstanding fees are paid, and University deadlines are met for convocation.

The Doctoral Candidacy Assessment requirements for students who started the Ph.D. in Computer Science or Applied Computing on or after May 1, 2024 are below. For students who started before May 1, 2024, they can choose to complete either the Comprehensive Exam, or the Candidate Assessment. 

Purpose

The purpose of the PhD Candidacy Assessment is to ensure that a student is sufficiently prepared for PhD research and for writing a PhD dissertation.  

Format

The proposed Doctoral Candidacy Assessment will involve the Ph.D. student preparing a document, giving a presentation to the Advisory Committee, followed by a question period.

The document will contain a proposed research topic, background literature relevant to the proposed topic, together with a preliminary proposal.

Specifically, a written document of at most 30 pages is prepared by the Ph.D. student and will be comprised of:

• An introduction to a proposed thesis topic;
• A literature survey that discusses relevant works, and identifies necessary future research directions in the area of the proposed topic (20 pages maximum);
• A preliminary proposal, which will include:
  • research objectives and/or hypotheses;
  • a dataset plan (if appropriate) that includes identification of relevant datasets that could be used in the proposed research and/or a plan to create or curate such datasets; and
  • a description and justification of methodologies that could be used to achieve the research objectives or test research hypothesis including potential measures of success
    AND/OR
    a description of what will be built/developed and metrics to measure success; and
• A discussion of how the proposed research fits within the existing literature with an emphasis on demonstrating the novelty of the proposed research.

There will be a meeting with the Advisory Committee which will be scheduled at least two weeks after the document is submitted. For students who start on or after May 1 2024, the meeting must take place at the latest two years after initial registration, or at the latest three years after initial registration for students who transferred from Master’s to PhD. For students who started before May 1, 2024, there is no time limit. The student will give a presentation of between 15-20 minutes on the existing literature and their proposed research objectives. Then there will be a question period to test the depth of knowledge in the area, and to examine whether the preliminary proposal is appropriate towards a Ph.D. To note, this preliminary proposal is considered “non-binding” and the research objectives can change afterwards. (This is distinct from the Ph.D. Thesis Proposal discussed below). However, if the Advisory Committee unanimously believes that this preliminary proposal is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Ph.D. Proposal, then the student can pass the Ph.D. Thesis Proposal at the same meeting.

Assessment

The oral and written portions of the candidacy assessment will be collectively assessed using the following criteria:

• whether the student has demonstrated sufficient understanding of the current knowledge of the research frontier in their area of research needed to perform new research in the area;
• whether the student has demonstrated that there are sufficiently many open questions in the area for the their doctoral work;
• whether the student has the ability to satisfactorily defend and justify the proposed methods for achieving the research objectives and/or testing the research hypotheses;
• whether the student has shown that the proposed topic and research are appropriately novel and would, if successful, contribute towards the broader field; and
• whether the student has the ability to effectively communicate existing and proposed research in both written and oral form.

Outcome

The outcome of this meeting is that the Doctoral Candidacy Assessment is either satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and this will be noted on this fillable pdf form to be submitted to the department after the Candidacy Assessment. A student that successfully completes the candidacy assessment is deemed a doctoral candidate (e.g., Ph.D. Candidate). The student’s official transcript will note the date when the candidacy assessment was satisfied. After this point, their focus will be on completing the doctoral research and dissertation.

The Annual Review of Status form will be completed at this meeting, and minutes will be taken in it.

A student that does not satisfy the requirements of their candidacy assessment is permitted a second attempt at the recommendation of the academic unit and with the permission of the Dean of the CGPS or designate. A second unsatisfactory outcome will automatically result in a requirement to discontinue from that doctoral program. 

An unsatisfactory candidacy assessment, and/or the denial of a second attempt at the candidacy assessment, may be appealed to the Graduate Academic Affairs Committee of the CGPS on substantive grounds in accordance with Part IV of University Council’s Procedures for Student Appeals in Academic Matters, or on grounds other than substantive academic judgment limited to those outlined in Part V.B.1. 

Before beginning detailed work on the thesis, the student must secure the acceptance of a proposal by his/her Advisory Committee. The proposal will specify, as precisely as possible, the research component of the thesis and its goals.  It will include a tentative layout for the thesis and the initial results of a literature survey, but its main focus will be on the research project and how it is likely to contribute to the discipline in which the thesis research is being carried out. The proposal is accepted only after it has been defended in a meeting of the Advisory Committee, open to interested graduate students and faculty.

Satisfactory completion of the Ph.D. Thesis Proposal should be completed by the end of year 3 following the start of initial registration, or the end of year 4 if they transferred from Master’s to Ph.D. The Ph.D. Thesis Proposal is distinct from the Preliminary Proposal that is part of the Doctoral Candidacy Assessment in that the Ph.D. Proposal is considered to be an agreement between the student and Advisory Committee that their research objectives should be sufficient towards a Ph.D., and any further changes will require another Advisory Committee meeting to approve the changes. However, if the Advisory Committee unanimously believes that the preliminary proposal that is part of the Candidacy Assessment is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Ph.D. Proposal, then the student can pass the Ph.D. Proposal at the Candidacy Assessment meeting. In this case, any further changes to the proposal will require another Advisory Committee meeting to approve the changes.

Graduate students are required to maintain continuous registration in certain courses until their program is complete.

There are three terms for all graduate students:

Term 1 Regular Session (September - December)
Term 2 Regular Session (January - April)
Term 3 Spring/Summer Session (May - August)

COURSE	REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
CMPT 996.0 - Thesis:	In order to maintain your status as a full time student, you must register in this course each and every term (Terms 1, 2, and 3) until you complete your program.
CMPT 990.0 - Seminar:	You must register in this course during every Term 1 and Term 2 (regular session terms) that you spend in your program until you receive credit for the course.  This course is not offered in Term 3 (spring/summer) and registration for Term 3 is not required.

Every student in our Ph.D. program is required to present their thesis research in a seminar. The seminar should be given when the research is sufficiently progressed, but before writing and submitting a Ph.D. thesis. The seminar is to be given during the regular term, September - April 30.

Sections of the CGPS Policies Manual that are most relevant to current graduate students are summarized/paraphrased below. The CGPS Policies and Procedures manual remains the authoritative document for these rules and regulations.

Advisory Committees (CGPS Policies Manual)  It is the responsibility of the Advisory Committee to assist in course selection and definition of research area, provide support and advice, regularly evaluate the student's progress by meeting at least once yearly, to take appropriate and timely action in view of this progress, and to keep records of this evaluation and all actions taken.  

• The graduate chair or designate, as advisory committee chair;
• The supervisor(s);
• A cognate member (faculty member from outside the student's home department); and
• At least two additional members with at least one from member from Computer Science.

Program of Studies (CGPS Policies Manual) Within the first year of a student's registration in a graduate degree program, the Advisory Committee is charged with the responsibility of developing an individualized program of studies on behalf of the student. When signed by the Graduate Chair and approved by the CGPS, the Program of Studies forms a contract between the University and the student such that successful completion of the noted courses and other requirements, passing required examinations and defence of the thesis/exhibition (if applicable) will result in the conferring of the Postgraduate Diploma or degree.

Permission to Submit Thesis for Defence (CGPS Policies Manual) It is expected the student will follow the advice of the Supervisor and the Advisory Committee in establishing when the thesis is ready for examination. A meeting of the advisory committee must take place in order to approve the thesis for defence.

Student-Supervisor Agreement It is important to review this agreement with your supervisor to set clear expectations of your time in the program.

In compliance with CGPS policy, the Graduate Committee meets annually to review the status of every graduate student registered in Computer Science. Prior to this meeting, a report is prepared by each graduate student's supervisor outlining the progress of that student towards his or her degree. Ph.D. students are required to prepare a summary of his/her progress during that year on their Ph.D. thesis research. This information, along with other indicators of the student's performance (i.e. marks in courses, steps taken en route to thesis completion, etc.), is examined and a decision is made on whether or not that student is making acceptable progress in the graduate program. If a student so chooses, he or she may write a short document outlining concerns he or she may have, and this will be added to the information used by the Committee. This document will be kept confidential, even from someone on the Committee, should the student so desire.

This checkpoint should be taken very seriously by both students and faculty members, and every effort should be expended by students to complete courses, and by faculty members to get all marking done, before this meeting so that the student's record is as complete as possible.

PRE-DEFENCE MEETING

Before a thesis may be scheduled for defence, your advisory committee must have a meeting to approve your thesis for defence. For Ph.D. candidates, the committee must meet in person. A thesis may not be released to the external examiner until the advisory committee approves the thesis for defence.

APPOINTMENT OF THE EXTERNAL EXAMINER

As part of your pre-defence meeting, your advisory committee must determine names of potential external examiners. Committees must recommend at least 3 names for Ph.D. exams. For Ph.D. degrees, the external examiner must be from another university.  

The external examiner must have an "arm's length" relationship with the student, supervisor and members of the advisory committee. For detailed information on selection of external examiners, and selection criteria for Ph.D. external examiners, see the CGPS policies manual.

Upon receipt of the suggestions for the external examiner, the graduate program assistant will forward the names to the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (CGPS) for approval. The curriculum vitae of the first choice of External Examiner and a rationale for the choice must be submitted to the CGPS along with notification that the student is ready for defence.

The student must not send a copy of the thesis to the external examiner.  This is handled by the College of Graduate Studies.

SCHEDULING THE ORAL EXAMINATION (THESIS DEFENCE)

Once the external examiner has been approved, the thesis defence can be scheduled. The graduate program assistant or student's supervisor will work with the examining committee to schedule a date and time at which all examiners are available. Students must not contact the external examiner. Sufficient time must be allowed so that the graduate program assistant can get the notification to CGSR at least 4 weeks before the desired defence date. For full details, see the CGSR policies manual.

At least seven days prior to their defence, students must provide a Dissertation Summary (not bound with the thesis) to the CGPS Programs Advisor.

THE WRITING PROCESS AND THESIS STRUCTURE

The production of a thesis is the culmination of any graduate program. The research embodied in the thesis and the actual writing of the document are essential elements of graduate training. Long after course work and term papers are forgotten, the thesis endures as a lasting record of a graduate student's accomplishment. With that in mind, we offer some suggestions on how to approach this challenging task.

The proper presentation of thesis work is very important. The key to good presentation is organization and clarity. Just as a properly organized computer program is the result of applying a methodology during program development, a properly organized thesis is the result of applying a methodology when developing the thesis. A top-down approach using iterative refinement is as applicable to the writing of a thesis (or a paper) as it is to the design of computer systems. A preliminary outline is expanded to a detailed outline, and then to initial drafts of each of the subsections.

Each chapter, section, and subsection should have an introduction (stating the content and purpose), a body, and a conclusion (summarizing the important points presented and possibly establishing a lead-in to the next unit). It is wise to review each thesis chapter, possibly with your thesis supervisor, at each level of refinement. The end product of such a process is almost always more understandable than starting at page one and writing until a final page becomes necessary.

WRITING STYLE

Clarity is very important in scientific writing. Although clarity cannot be equated to simplicity, there is certainly a high degree of correlation. Since the material you are presenting is of a highly technical nature and is difficult enough to understand, the use of highly complex sentence structures will add little to the comprehensibility of a paper or a thesis. Unless you are particularly adept with prose, simple straightforward sentence structures are recommended. A number of commonly accepted rules for good writing style should be followed (for example, always write in the present tense and avoid writing in the first or second person). Most students would benefit from reading some books on the subject of writing style available in the library or bookstore (for example, A Manual for Writers by Kate L. Turabian or The Elements of Style by W. Strunk and E. B. White). A Handbook for Scholars by Mary-Claire van Leunen is recommended as an excellent guide to the technical issues of form. Another useful publication is the Chicago Manual of Style from the University of Chicago.

FORMATTING

The format of a thesis is also important, and it is the student's responsibility to ensure that the correct format is followed. In particular, attention should be given to matters such as title page, table of contents, abstract, list of figures, list of tables, footnotes, quotations, figure captions, table captions, references and citations, and appendices. Each department maintains certain conventions within the guidelines set out by the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (see the guidelines for thesis preparation, available on-line at the College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies web site). It is suggested that previous theses from the Department be examined for guidance. While the use of the computer-based text-processing facilities is encouraged for thesis preparation, the use of such facilities do not provide license for you to depart from acceptable standards--especially with respect to the production and placement of figures and tables, headings, margin size, or the size of print.

Theses may be produced in either the traditional style or the ‘manuscript’ style, which consists of a manuscript, or cohesive series of manuscripts, written in a style suitable for publication in appropriate venues. Details and guidelines for manuscript-based theses are available at CGPS, and it is required that these guidelines be followed. Note that a manuscript-style thesis requires permission of the Advisory Committee. A manuscript-style thesis must meet the same rigorous academic standards as a traditional thesis. It is expected that the author of the thesis will be the primary author on at least one manuscript included in the thesis. It is common for three or more manuscripts to be included in a manuscript-style Ph.D. thesis.

TEMPLATES

These document templates will assist in the production of a thesis document that corresponds to CGPS rules for thesis formatting.

• LaTeX Template (on the Computer Science Department LaTeX page)
• Microsoft Word Templates (provided by CGPS)

The thesis defence is an oral examination, open to all interested members of the department.  Your examining committee will consist of your advisory committee plus an external examiner, and any other members of the faculty that are considered necessary. A thesis defence follows the following general format, but may deviate at the discretion of the chair of the examining committee.

PRESENTATION

You will begin the thesis defence with a short, 10-20 minute presentation that summarizes the major contributions of the thesis.

QUESTIONS

Beginning with the external examiner, each of your examiners will be given the opportunity to ask you questions. These questions may be very general in nature, testing the breadth of your knowledge, or may be very specific in nature, testing the depth of your knowledge. After each examiner has had their turn, additional rounds of questions may be conducted as needed, as determined by the examining committee chair.  

DELIBERATION

At the conclusion of the examination, you will be asked to leave the room while the examining committee discusses your oral examination and your written thesis, and decides upon an outcome. Upon conclusion of these deliberations, you will be called back into the room and informed of the results.  

AFTER THE DEFENCE

If your thesis is accepted, you will need to make any corrections/revisions that your examining committee deems necessary. You will be required to submit an electronic copy of the final, corrected, and revised copy of your thesis to ETD site of the University of Saskatchewan.  You are also asked to submit a bound copy to be kept in the Department of Computer Science. In addition, it is customary to offer bound copies to each member of your examining committee.

Finally, you will need to complete an online application to graduate. This is the student's responsibility.