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State examination, internal defence and final defence of the dissertation

State examination, internal defenceexamination and final defence of the dissertation

The Doctoral State Doctoral Examination (I) and the Dissertation Defense (III) are two distinct events in the current Doctoral Program in Religious Studies. The State Doctoral Examination in Religious Studies (SDZ) takes place in the 5th or 7th semester of study at the latest (taking into account the time of any interruptions) according to the recommended curriculum. Students who have still entered the old programme (matriculation up to and including PS 2021) may, at their own choice, take the examination and the defence either separately according to the parameters of the current programme or together at the end of their studies.

I. Doctoral State Doctoral Examination

The course of the State Doctoral Examination is obligatorily described in the IS MU and should be identical to the following extended description.

The State Doctoral Examination in Religious Studies (SDZ) takes place in the 5th or 7th semester of studystudies. atA the latest (taking into account the time of any interruption) according to the recommended study plan.

The entry requirementprerequisite for the examination is the completion ofthe a study to be submitted for peer review (course RLDrA09).RLDrA09 Draft Article.

The application for the SDZexam is made by the PhD student at the beginning of the semester through the studyOffice departmentfor Studies on the prescribed form. He/she informs the supervisor and the chair of the departmental board about the submission of the application.

SDZThe doctoral state examination is conducted orally and consists of the following parts:

1) PresentationPosition andpaper defencein the study of theses on topics in contemporary religious studies for the state doctoral examinationreligions

At least ten working days prior to the SST,state exam, the PhD student shall submitsubmits a brief argumentative textposition - thesispaper, summarizing the main content of thetheir presentationpresentation, -sending it by email viato the Institute'smanaging secretariat.assistants of the department (sekretariat-reli@phil.muni.cz).

The thesisposition paper should be in the form of a text file of 3-5 standard pages (5400-9000 characters including spaces and bibliographical references)spaces). TheyIt must be accompanied bycontain a title, the author's name and surname, and a running footnotereferences (there is no bibliographic standard, but we recommend the Harvard "parenthetical" standardstyle rather than footnotesfootnotes), inand thisa case).final list of references.

The thesisposition paper should present aan creativeoriginal position onconcerning a current, more general religious studies topicproblem that is not identical towith the dissertation topic. ThesesIt must be based on a clear and convincing argument understandable to a non-specialist religiousaudience studiesin audience.the study of religions. They should therefore not get bogged downdrown in highly specialized details, but should present a more general argument that can be critically debated inat the examination.

InAt the examination, the PhDcandidate student will presentpresents the thesisposition paper in a maximum of 15 minutes.minutes. He/she mayThe use presentationof software (PowerPoint, etc.; in most cases thisslides is recommended).recommended.

The committee evaluates the originality, quality and persuasiveness of both the written thesesposition submittedpaper and theirits presentation and subsequent performanceparticipation in the debate. The weightingweight of this part in the overall assessment of the examination is 50%.

2) Discussion of concepts and topics in contemporarystudy religiousof studiesreligions

Together with the thesis,position paper, the doctoral candidate shall submitsubmits a list of literature divided into two groupsreadings by emaile-mail viato the Institute'smanaging secretariatassistants atof leastthe departments. The list must be sent ten working days before the state doctoral examination:examination at the latest, and will have two parts:

(a) theory and methodology of religious studiesstudies; and
(b) the chosen thematic specialisation. 

Each of these groups will contain a minimum of five and a maximum of ten book titles (in the case of a major contribution, this may includebe a study in a journal study or a contribution to ain conference proceedings), including brief annotations written by the doctoral candidate. Taking into account this list of references, the committee will poseask a sub-question on which the PhD studentcandidate will discuss;discuss. thisThis will be followed by a discussion. The weightingweight of this part in the overall evaluation of the oral examination is 50 %50%.

II. Internal defence

The internal defense is a mock defense that takes place approximately halfway through the 7th (or expected penultimate) semester of study in the course RLDrA14 Doctoral Seminar V: Internal Opposition and Dissertation Completion. It takes place after the acceptance of the advanced version of the thesis by the supervisor (i.e., after successful completion of the course Doctoral Seminar IV: Advanced Version of the Dissertation) and is conducted in a similar manner to the actual dissertation defense, i.e., as a conference presentation of the dissertation in the presence of the supervisor and the internal opponent(s) or others present. The presentation is followed by questions and discussion. Around the date of the internal defence, the PhD student also receives written feedback from the supervisor on the dissertation, which is then incorporated into the final dissertation by the submission date.

III. Defence of the dissertation

The dissertation defence takes place at the very end of the study.studies. The doctoral student applies for it after fulfilling his/her study obligations through the studyOffice departmentfor Studies on the prescribed form.

For the submission of the dissertation, see the Dissertation Submission Procedure.

Along withIn the applicationsemester form,of the defence, the PhD student submits electronically the so-calledExtended autoreferatthesis (dissertation thesis)summary.

Autoreferat (dissertation thesis)

The abstract (thesis) is an extended summary of the main results of the thesis.

Use the prescribed template (Czech template for Czech or Slovak written dissertation, English template for English written dissertation) to prepare the thesis statement. Mandatory components of the autoreferat are (the template will guide you):

  1. Czech or Slovak annotation including a list of keywords (for dissertations written in Czech or Slovak);
  2. English abstract including English version of the title and list of keywords;
  3. your own abstract, i.e. an extended summary of the main results of the dissertation in the language of the dissertation, with a minimum of 10 pages in the formatting according to the prescribed template.
  4. a list of references (identical to the list of references in the dissertation itself);
  5. a list of the doctoral student's publications related to the study;
  6. a list of other scientific activities (internships, presentations at conferences, etc.).

Submission

It is submitted electronically to both the study department and the secretariat of the institute (sekretariat-reli@phil.muni.cz) at the same time as the application for the dissertation defence or by agreement with the study department at a later date, but always no later than 10 working days before the examination.

Form

See the prescribed template. The minimum length of the actual thesis abstract is 10 printed pages. This does not include other mandatory components (see table of contents).

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