Comprehensive Integrative Paper (CIP)
Following the completion of coursework, all Ph.D. students are required to submit a Comprehensive Integrative Paper (CIP), which serves as the program's comprehensive exam. The CIP must be submitted within three months of completing coursework.
Once students receive a passing grade on their CIP, they advance to candidacy for the PhD degree and can begin working on their dissertation proposal.
Dissertation
Doctoral education prepares scholars who both understand what is known and discover what is yet unknown. [These scholars] invent new forms of understanding as they move their fields ahead" (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2008). The Silver School of Social Work doctoral program is designed to train scholars and researchers who will develop new knowledge and advance the Social Work profession and related fields. The dissertation is the part of the doctoral program through which students demonstrate their ability to contribute ongoing research and scholarship. Students are qualified to begin a dissertation upon successful completion of all coursework and the Comprehensive Integrative Paper (CIP).
