Graduate Catalog 2004-2005

The Department of Psychology offers programs leading to the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. Graduate programs in psychology are research oriented, regardless of the special areas of interest the student may have. Four areas of emphasis are available: clinical, industrial-organizational, developmental, as well as neural and cognitive sciences.

Students are encouraged to become engaged in laboratory, library, and field research either independently or in collaboration with members of the faculty. Practice in research, in addition to the required dissertation research, is an integral part of graduate training. The departmental laboratories are well equipped for the investigation of a wide variety of problems in all areas of contemporary psychology.

Students admitted to graduate study in psychology are required to work toward the Ph.D. degree. The M.A. is granted as part of the total program.

Prerequisites to Graduate Work

Applicants should have completed approximately 20 semester hours or 30 quarter hours of undergraduate psychology courses including experimental psychology and statistics. Credit in a related field or pertinent experience may count toward this minimum if approved by the department.

Admission Procedure

Applicants seeking admission to the graduate programs in psychology should follow the instructions outlined in the "Graduate Admission" section of this catalog. Applicants may also download the departmental application materials from our website: www.bgsu.edu/departments/psych/.

Degree Requirements
Master of Arts

Candidates must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate credit. Students are required to take (1) PSYC 624 (methodology in psychology) or a department approved methods course, and (2) PSYC 667 and PSYC 668 (basic statistical theory).

The M.A. degree in psychology is offered under a Plan I-thesis option. Candidates must complete a thesis and perform satisfactorily in an oral defense.

Doctor of Philosophy

Students must complete a minimum of 90 semester hours beyond the baccalaureate degree. Those pursuing a clinical emphasis must also have a full year of internship. It is emphasized that hour requirements are secondary in importance to breadth of understanding evidenced by satisfactory performance on examinations and demonstrated competence in research. The dissertation, and preparation for it, are central to the student's plan of study.

Students are admitted to doctoral study only if there is an available sponsor to guide their research activities throughout the program. Students who enter the program with an M.A. degree from another institution should arrange to be sponsored by a member of the graduate faculty by the end of the first semester on campus.

Early in their program, students must present a plan of study. The plan of study must guarantee that the student finishes the program a broadly-trained psychologist, competent to initiate, conduct, and interpret empirical research. Within this framework, however, the provisions for a doctoral plan of study are quite flexible. The individual plan of study is worked out in collaboration with the sponsor.

Students must complete satisfactorily a sequence of core courses (methodology and statistics) during the first two years. In addition, students are required to take and successfully master content core courses which are general courses covering the major fields of psychological study. A completed master's-level research project should be presented to the student's committee by the end of the second year of study.
Students must take a preliminary examination after they have completed approximately 60 semester hours of approved graduate credit. The examination may be either in the form of a research project presented to the committee or a written and oral examination dealing with the area of emphasis. A student's doctoral committee determines the exact nature of this examination.

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree must complete a dissertation and pass an oral examination over the dissertation.

Graduate Courses

Please access graduate courses online at http://webapps.bgsu.edu/courses/search.php. Graduate courses offered by the Department of Psychology use the prefix: PSYC.