This handbook was prepared to answer many of the questions often asked about the Psychology Graduate Program and about other aspects of graduate student life at McGill. It should prove useful for all graduate students and faculty. However, procedures and guidelines continually evolve, so this handbook is not meant to be a book of official rules. Rather, it is an interpretation of current practices. When an exact ruling may be critical (e.g., to your standing in the program, your funding, or your career) consult the Graduate Program Director or the Chair. You will find useful the booklet entitled General Information, Faculty Regulations and Research Guidelines from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, as well as the Faculty Calendar. Also you could check periodically the web page of the
Faculty
(http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/).
This Handbook was written over the course of many years by Graduate Program Directors and conscientious members of the Graduate Program Committee. Although it is intended to be consistent with regulations of the University, there may be some discrepancies. The Regulations and Guidelines from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research take precedence if there are any conflicts or errors.
Bärbel Knäuper
Graduate Program Director
September, 2010
The main aim of the graduate program is to provide an environment in which students are encouraged to develop skills and expertise that will serve them during a professional career of teaching, research, and possibly clinical service. Success in the program depends upon a student's ability to properly organize and use the available time and resources. In the Experimental Program, lecture courses and examinations are kept to a minimum, so conceiving and conducting research in the student's own area of interest are the most important activities. In the Clinical Program, there is a fairly heavy course load during the first two years, after which the emphasis shifts to research and professional training.
The Experimental and Clinical Programs are described in some detail below. The sections on Research Training, Course Requirements, and Teaching pertain to both programs. A separate section called Additional Clinical Requirements outlines the additional course work and the clinical practica required of clinical students.
Please note: Students who are accepted into the experimental psychology graduate program cannot “transfer” into the clinical program at a later date. Students interested in the clinical program must apply to the clinical program as if they were new students, and their applications will be considered in the same way as the applications of other new applicants. Current experimental graduate students who are interested in applying for admission to the clinical program in this manner should note that the admission process is highly competitive (approximately 8 of more than 200 applicants are accepted each year) and that they would be well-advised to apply concurrently to the clinical programs at several other universities.
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The Graduate Program is administered by the Graduate Program Director. The Graduate Program Coordinator, handles many of the day-to-day details, e.g., regarding appointment and registration forms, along with the processing of Master's and PhD theses and scheduling oral exams. General policy matters and specific problems are discussed by the Graduate Program Committee, which meets regularly during the academic year. Active graduate student participation on this committee is vital to the success of the Graduate Program, and four student members are chosen each year to represent Clinical and Experimental students at both the Masters and Doctoral levels. However, all graduate students can raise issues at the Graduate Program Committee by discussing them with the Graduate Program Director or with graduate student members on the committee.
Research training refers both to the mastery of a broad base of knowledge in an area of study and to the acquisition of practical skills for conducting and reporting empirical studies. Thus, it includes reading and discussion with relevant faculty to establish the necessary groundwork for the development of a research program, as well as conducting independent research under the supervision and guidance of the thesis supervisor and advisory committee. Students are responsible for seeking supervision for both aspects of research training. Progress in research is monitored each year through the First Year Research Paper, the Research Progress Paper, in subsequent years, the master's thesis or Fast Track/Qualifying Paper (for Experimental students), and the dissertation.
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Every student has an advisory committee (the supervisor and two or three other faculty members) to provide feedback on the students' research. Students should feel free to seek advice and feedback from committee members individually or as a group. Students should provide their committee with copies of the First Year Research Paper, Special Comprehensive, or Research Progress Paper by April 15 or earlier, i.e. well before the annual student review meeting in May, when each student's progress is considered. Students are strongly encouraged to meet with their committee as a group once a year. At such meetings, students normally give a short oral presentation of the current stage of their thesis research and seek constructive feedback. The meeting will be held when the student and/or the supervisor consider it timely in terms of the student's stage of research. This may be in first year when the student is preparing to write the First Year Research Paper, in subsequent years when a critical study is being planned, or when data have been analyzed and interpreted.
Incoming students and their supervisors should set about promptly to form the committee as follows:
1) Every student is accepted by the Department on behalf of a professor who acts as the thesis supervisor. The student, in turn, usually works in the area of the supervisor's research grant. In addition the supervisor, with the help of the student's Program Committee, guides the student in the selection of courses and in the execution of research. The supervisor or a committee member generally acts as internal examiner for the Master's and dissertations. Normally, the student and supervisor jointly make major decisions regarding the student's graduate program and research.
2) The student, in consultation with the thesis supervisor, chooses two or three departmental faculty members (full or associate members) whom the student asks to serve on the committee. Typically these are people working in the same general research area as the student. A faculty member from outside the department may serve as an additional committee member.
The advisory committee usually serves for the student's complete graduate career. However, changes in the composition of the committee can be made when it is deemed desirable by the student and supervisor.
Early each fall, students meet with their supervisor and the other members of their advisory committee (students select the members of their advisory committee in consultation with their supervisor) to map out the objectives for the year. A Graduate Planning Form outlining the agreed upon objectives is submitted to the Graduate Program Director by November. This Graduate Planning Form is designed to evaluate the objectives that he/she had set at the beginning of the year.
The objectives for the year include, among others, research objectives, publication and conference plans, and the following formal milestones:
1) Program requirements. The formal course requirements are discussed in Section 1.4.
2) First Year Research Paper and Research Progress Paper. These papers are related to the student's research. The First Year Research Paper is completed by all students in their first year (see Section 1.3.3). All other students must submit a Research Progress Paper. The form and content of the Research Progress Paper depends on the stage that a student's research has reached. It might involve the theoretical background, methods and results of a study conducted during the year written like in a normal manuscript, or a manuscript submitted for publication that summarizes the student's progress during the year. No formal credit is given for the Research Progress Paper. These papers are due on April 15 and constitute an integral part of students' annual evaluation.
3) Special Comprehensive exam is normally completed by students in PhD 3 (see 1.3.4). The Clinical Special Comprehensive is a formal exam written in the Fall by all Clinical students. The Experimental Special Comprehensive is an in-depth review paper of 30-40 pages on a topic outside the student's thesis research area but within the specialty, e.g. behavioural neuroscience, cognition, language, social. The paper is due April 15 of the PhD 3 year.
4) Additional activities. This category includes courses or internships you feel would increase your expertise on a topic. Three criteria must be met by such activities: a) Justification must be given for why the activity is necessary or desirable. It is assumed that students will not engage in such activities unless there is a clear rationale for doing so. b) Such activities will not exceed the equivalent of one normal course per term. c) If an activity is worth doing, it should be taken for credit.
Each spring, after courses, Comprehensives, and the Research Progress Paper are completed, the supervisor submits to the Graduate Program Coordinator an evaluation of the student's research progress, taking into account feedback from relevant others. At the annual student review in May, faculty members meet to evaluate the extent to which each student has achieved the year's objectives. The evaluation is reported in writing to the student.
Students in MA/MSc1 and PhD1 write a paper to fulfill the requirement of PSYC 601 (Master’s Comprehensive Psychology). This paper is due at the end of the student’s first year in the program (April 15). The content of the First Year Research Paper depends on each student’s background and interests. Its purpose is to encourage students to begin their research in the first year. The form and content will be discussed and agreed on by the supervisor and student, and approved by the student’s advisory committee. The paper should consist of a broad review of the relevant literature on a topic germane to the student's developing research interests. It may additionally contain a research proposal or the methods and results of a study the student conducted during his or her first year. The paper should be detailed enough to show the depth of the work that the student has accomplished. This can often be achieved by a paper that is around 15 to 20 pages long.
The student submits the finished paper no later than April 15th (by email or hard copy, depending on the professors’ preferences) to the supervisor and his/her advisory committee. Students must notify the Graduate Program Coordinator (by email) when the finished paper is submitted. Students who foresee that they will be unable to meet this deadline need to inform the Graduate Program Director (barbel.knauper@mcgill.ca) before April 15, providing a reason for the delay and the expected date of submission.
Based on the feedback from the advisory committee and the supervisor’s own evaluation, the supervisor assigns a letter grade and reports it back to the Graduate Program Coordinator (giovanna.locascio@mcgill.ca) without delay in the beginning of May so that the grade can be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies on time (i.e. mid May).
The First Year Research Paper may form part of a Fast Track/Qualifying Paper, a Master's Thesis, or a dissertation.
Students who entered the program with an MA/MSc are usually exempt from writing a First Year Research Paper. These students submit a Research Progress Paper instead. However, if they have little or no background in psychology, then they may be asked to submit a First Year Research Paper. Students who entered the program with an MA/MSc are also exempt from the Qualifying Paper.
Research Progress Paper (formerly
Annual Interest Paper)
In a year in which a student is not submitting their First Year Research Paper, their Fast Track/Qualifying Paper, their Master's Thesis or their dissertation, they must submit by April 15 (by email or as hardcopy depending on the professors’ preferences) a Research Progress Paper to their supervisor, advisory committee members, and the Graduate Program Coordinator (giovanna.locascio@mcgill.ca). Students who foresee that they will be unable to meet this deadline need to inform the Graduate Program Director (barbel.knauper@mcgill.ca) before April 15, providing a reason for the delay and the expected date of submission.
The form and content of the Research Progress Paper depends on the stage that a student's research has reached during the past year. It might involve the theoretical background, methods and results of a study conducted during the year written like in a normal manuscript, or a manuscript submitted for publication that summarizes the student's progress during the year. The Research Progress Paper may include sections from previous years (e.g. from the General Comprehensive Examination Paper or the Fast Track/Qualifying Paper) and build upon them (e.g. adding the methods and results of a study that was proposed in the General Comprehensive Examination Paper). The student must demonstrate in the Research Progress Paper how they made progress in their research beyond what they had submitted in the previous year. This should be done by explicitly stating in a brief paragraph at the beginning of the paper what parts of the research reported in the paper had been completed before the past year and which parts have been completed during the past year, i.e. are new.
The advisory committee provides feedback (e.g. by e-mail) to the student and supervisor by May 15 so that the supervisor can include this information together with his or her own evaluation of the Research Progress Paper into the student's annual progress evaluation.
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Special Comprehensive Examination is completed by students in PhD 3. It evaluates students’ knowledge in a particular area of psychology that is broader than their research topic. The Clinical Special Comprehensive is a formal exam written in the fall by all clinical students. The Experimental Special Comprehensive is an in-depth review paper of 30-40 pages on a topic outside the student's thesis research area but within the specialty, e.g. behavioural neuroscience, cognition, language, social. The paper is due April 15th of the PhD 3 year. Please note that students regardless have to submit a Research Progress Paper in PhD 3. Writing the Special Comprehensive Exam does not exempt students from reporting on their research progress in that year.
The objective of the Experimental Special Comprehensive is to demonstrate expertise (depth) in a broader area than the student's research topic, namely in one of the six specialty areas. The examination is designed to be both a learning experience and an evaluation of the student. Students are expected to learn by reading, thinking, discussing, and writing over a four or five month period. Faculty evaluate students' abilities to acquire theoretical and empirical knowledge in their specialty, as well as to integrate and critically evaluate this knowledge in good written form. Faculty involvement should consist of helping the student identify some of the key journal articles, engaging with the student in a discussion of controversies and issues, and giving written feedback on at least one draft of the paper. In early Fall of the student's PhD 3 year, a committee of three experts in that specialty area, along with the student, will set the topic. It will normally be phrased in terms of a current issue or controversy in the area. Students will be given an indication of the range of material to be covered and suggestions on how to cover the material, e.g. some critical readings as a start. The paper will take the form of a 30 to 40 page review article similar to those published in the journal Psychological Bulletin. The timing is usually four or five months, with a deadline of April 15 in the PhD 3 year. Evaluation is done by the three professors, including the supervisor, who form the committee for that specialty. Criteria for evaluation will include: identification of important issues, completeness, organization of material, clear and concise communication style, accuracy, evidence of integration of diverse findings, and critical evaluation of research and theories. Based on the feedback from the advisory committee and the supervisor’s own evaluation, he or she assigns a Pass/Fail grade and reports it back to the Graduate Program Coordinator (giovanna.locascio@mcgill.ca) without delay so that the grade can be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies on time (i.e. mid May). Feedback concerning the evaluation and reasons for the evaluation will be documented and provided to the student. In the event of failure, the student will be allowed one repeat of the examination in part or in whole. Conditions for retaking the examination will be communicated in writing to the student, as in the case of the original examination. In the event of a second failure, the student will be asked to withdraw from the PhD program.
The designated areas are as follows:
Cognition, Language, and Perception
Behavioural Neuroscience
Developmental
Social and Personality
Health Psychology
Quantitative Psychology and Modelling
The Clinical Special Comprehensive is a 4½ hour written exam completed in one day early in the Fall of the third year. Questions fall into two sections. The first assesses skills in diagnosis and management of a clinical case. Information about the case will be presented in various forms, including reasons for referral, case history, and test results; students may be asked for an analysis and brief report, as well as an outline of how they would deal with the case. Both an adult and a child case are given and students choose either one. The second section includes academic questions about current issues and problems in clinical psychology relevant to various aspects of psychopathology and intervention procedures. One question must be derived from material specifically covered in a required clinical course. Six questions are presented and students must answer two. Students write the exam in pre-selected rooms with computer facilities so that their answers can be presented in typed form, although written form is accepted. All test answers are identified only by the students' identification number. Grading of each question is accomplished by three staff members selected by the exam coordinator. Letter grades are assigned to each question and then tabulated for the whole exam. Students are then sent a memo describing their status on the exam as well as brief feedback on their performance. Students who fail one or both sections repeat the same within a one year period. A choice is offered to rewrite the exam within one or two months from the date of their failure or to wait until the next class writes in the Fall of the following year. Two consecutive failures are seen as a strong indication for dismissal from the clinical program.
The content, format, timing and names of evaluators for the Clinical Comprehensive Examination will be given in writing to students.
ADDITIONAL OBJECTIVES FOR EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
Students admitted as MA 1 / MSc 1: Master’s Thesis or Fast Track Paper
Students in the Experimental Program who were admitted as MA 1 / MSc 1 will select one of two options in their second year: Either to submit a Master’s Thesis or to submit a Fast Track Paper. Students should discuss these options with their supervisor in their first year.
1. Master's Thesis Option: A Master's Thesis can be submitted after at least three semesters of residency. It must be submitted by April 15 of MA 2 / MSc. It needs to be submitted at the very latest by August 31 of MA 2 / MSc 2.
A Master’s Thesis should demonstrate good scholarship and research ability. Master’s Theses are frequently publishable, and students are encouraged to publish them. However, publishability and originality are not criteria for passing a Master's Thesis and students should not delay completing their Master's degree to meet unnecessarily high standards that are more appropriate to a dissertation. The MA/MSc thesis course numbers are PSYC 690D1, D2 and PSYC 699. Students who foresee that they will be unable to submit the Master’s Thesis by April 15 of MA 2 / MSc 2 need to inform the Graduate Program Director (barbel.knauper@mcgill.ca) before this deadline, providing a reason for the delay and the expected date of submission.
Please consult the thesis preparation and submission website for the thesis submission guidelines: http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/thesis/programs/guidelines/. The Master’s Thesis is to be submitted in form of hardcopies in ACCO black binders. Two copies are to be handed in to the Graduate Program Coordinator and one copy is to be handed in to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
At least two weeks before submission (i.e. by April 1st), the student must submit forms (consult http://mcgill.ca/gps/students/theis/programs/forms/) to the Graduate Program Coordinator. Please take note that the Nomination of Thesis Examiners Form must indicate the title of the thesis, the name of the internal examiner (for traditional Master's Theses this is usually the thesis supervisor; for manuscript-based Master's Theses it has to be another professor from the department), and three suggestions for external examiners (professors outside of the department, but preferably not outside of McGill, who are knowledgeable in the student's area of research). Importantly, students are not permitted to contact the external examiners they intend to nominate. The external examiner's identity remain anonymous until the results of the Master's Thesis are reported. Master's Theses undergo a formal evaluation by the internal and external examiner, resulting in a 'pass' or a 'fail'.
Students who desire to continue their studies in the PhD program upon completion of their Master’s degree must complete an online application form for promotion to PhD 2. They will receive an email informing them when to submit this application by mid-May from the Graduate Program Coordinator.
Students’ application for promotion into the PhD program will be brought to the department’s evaluation meeting in May, where it will be decided to promote the student to PhD 2 if the following criteria are fulfilled: (1) the formal evaluation of the Master’s Thesis had a positive outcome, (2) the student’s progress in the program is evaluated positively, and (3) the student is evaluated as demonstrating good research potential.
b. Fast Track Option: Students who opt for the Fast Track Paper option must complete a piece of research that meets the criteria for a Master’s Thesis. However, the paper summarizing this research needs to be written in the form of a manuscript for a journal. The decision to do the Fast Track Paper option is made by the student and his or her supervisor. The advantage of choosing this option is that the Fast Track Paper can become part of the dissertation. In contrast, the Master’s Thesis cannot be included in the dissertation. It can only be seen as a preliminary study, the conclusions of which may provide the basis of doctoral research.
The Fast Track Paper must be submitted by April 15 of MA 2 / MSc 2. It needs to be submitted at the very latest by August 31 of MA 2 / MSC 2. At the time of submission the student will nominate three professors as readers. One of them will be their supervisor and the other two will usually be professors from the department. One of the nominees may be a professor from outside the department within the Montreal academic community. The paper needs to be submitted in three hardcopies to the Graduate Program Coordinator, who will then distribute them to the nominated readers. If the Fast Track Paper receives a ‘pass’ evaluation from all three readers, the student is required to make a presentation of their research to a research group in the department (the group needs to include at least the advisory committee members and some graduate students). Students will be required to complete an online application form for promotion to PhD 2. They will receive an email informing them when to submit this application by mid-May from the Graduate Program Coordinator.
Students’ application for promotion to PhD 2 will be brought to the department’s evaluation meeting in May, where it will be decided to promote the student to PhD 2 if the following criteria are fulfilled: (1) the Fast Track Paper received a ‘pass’ evaluation, (2) the student’s progress in the program is evaluated positively, and (3) the student is evaluated as demonstrating good research potential.
If the Fast Track Paper is not submitted by August 31st of MA 2 / MSc 2 students are automatically expected to submit a Master's Thesis within the next year.
c. Qualifying Paper Option (students admitted as PhD 1)
Students admitted as PhD 1 must submit a Qualifying Paper by April 15 of PhD 2 to be promoted to PhD 3. The deadlines, procedures and evaluation criteria for submission of a Qualifying Paper are identical with the Fast Track Paper.
Students admitted as PhD 1 will only submit a Master’s Thesis in the exceptional circumstance that they and their supervisors are convinced that they want to end their studies with a terminal Master’s degree. The decision to switch from the PhD program to the Master’s program and submitting a Master's Thesis implies that the student will not be allowed to apply to continue on to do their PhD (McGill University regulation).
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Consult the website of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for
thesis preparation at
http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/thesis/. At least two weeks before
submission, the student must submit forms (consult
http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/thesis/programs/forms/) to the Graduate
Program Coordinator. Please take note that the Nomination of Thesis Examiners
Form must indicate the title of the thesis, the name of the internal examiner
(for traditional dissertations this is usually the thesis supervisor; for
manuscript-based master's theses it has to be another professor from the
department), and three suggestions for external examiners (professors outside of
the department, but preferably not outside of McGill, who are knowledgeable in
the student's area of research). Importantly, students are not permitted to
contact the external examiners they intend to nominate. The external examiner's
identity remains anonymous until the results of the dissertation are reported.
Dissertations undergo a formal evaluation by the internal and external examiner,
resulting in a 'pass' or a 'fail'.
The dissertation is to be submitted in form of hardcopies in ACCO black binders. Two copies are to be handed in to the Graduate Program Coordinator and one copy is to be handed in to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Work on a dissertation is usually begun immediately by students in PhD 2. Students cannot submit a thesis until they complete a total of six semesters of residency at the University. However, dissertations are not typically completed before PhD 4. All requirements for the PhD must be completed by the end of the PhD 7 year. After this point, students will be unable to register again. The purpose of this regulation is to encourage students to complete their theses and qualify for their degree without undue delay. Under exceptional circumstances, if students wish to submit their thesis up to two years after, they may do so only if the department recommends in writing that they be reinstated, and only if the student pays the university back fees for the unregistered terms, for a maximum of five terms.
Guidelines for writing theses are available on the McGill Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/thesis/. In some cases, the thesis will be written in the traditional format. However, if the student has submitted for publication the studies that constitute the thesis, the form of the submitted thesis may be manuscript-based, meaning that it will be a collection of separate studies, written in the form of journal submissions, along with an integrated literature review, connecting text between the manuscripts, and an integrated list of references. Some details about formal thesis requirements are given in Appendix E.
A dissertation must consist of an original contribution to knowledge. Often one large study or several related studies on a single topic are included. In some cases, students, in consultation with their supervisor, may simply decide to stop conducting their ongoing research program and write up the results to date for the degree. In other cases, published papers or submittable manuscripts based on research done in the McGill PhD program can form the core of the thesis. The model of research and the type of dissertation will vary from area to area and from supervisor to supervisor. The student's advisory committee may be helpful in giving advice during the planning and execution of the research, the analysis of data, and the interpretation of results. At most one member might be asked to comment on preliminary drafts of the dissertation.
At least two weeks before a dissertation is to be submitted, the student must hand in the Nomination of Examiners Form (all forms available on the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website) to the Graduate Program Coordinator indicating the title of the thesis, the name of the internal examiner and three suggestions for external examiners. The internal examiner may be the student's supervisor. If the thesis is based on manuscripts submitted or published, the internal examiner will be a professor in the department other than the supervisor (because manuscripts are expected to require a form of collaboration that may put the supervisor in a conflict of interest). The external examiner is a professor outside McGill who is an expert in the area of the student's research. However, to avoid any conflict of interest, the external examiner may not be someone with whom the supervisor or student have previously collaborated (e.g. co-authored papers or been involved in a student supervisor relation). The external examiner's identity remains anonymous until the oral examination has been held.
The Oral Defense Committee usually consists of the thesis supervisor and at most one other person closely involved in the student's supervision (including having read drafts of the thesis). Two other professors from the department will be nominated, along with one person from another department at McGill, or from another university in Montreal, who is knowledgeable in the area of the dissertation (the external member of the Oral Defense Committee). The student should not contact any of the examiners to request their participation; the supervisor or the Graduate Program Coordinator should contact the external member and other committee members to check on his or her willingness to serve at the Oral Defense. Only two members of the Oral Defense Committee, including the supervisor, can have been involved closely in supervising and reading the student's thesis beforehand. In addition, the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies designates a Pro Dean to chair the oral examination. If the student submits a manuscript-based thesis, the supervisor will be on the Oral Defense Committee, but not as the internal examiner; another committee member who has not been involved in supervising the student will sit as the internal examiner. The form to identify who will be on the Oral Defense Committee can be picked up from the Graduate Program Coordinator.
All new students to the Graduate Program, whether in the Experimental or the Clinical Program (MA/MSc1, PhD1, or PhD2) must take this seminar in their first year at McGill. Professors representing the various research areas within the Department will discuss critical issues and developments within their own fields of expertise. General readings will be assigned and students will present brief reports on selected research papers.
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Graduate students in the Psychology Department at McGill are required to take a two-course sequence in statistics and data analysis. The first, 650, emphasizes analysis of variance and other experimental design techniques, while 651 specializes in multiple regression, factor analysis, and other correlational procedures.
All experimental students take these courses in the first year of the program; clinical students take statistics in the second year. Students admitted to the program with a Master's degree from another institution also have to take the courses. If advanced statistics courses have been taken previously, ask the instructor(s) if an exemption is possible. Make sure you obtain a note certifying the exemption and give it to the Graduate Program Coordinator for your record.
It is assumed
in these courses that students come prepared with the level of knowledge of
introductory statistics which is typically acquired in solid
one-semester
courses on the subject commonly given in North American universities. Thus, it
is expected that students are familiar with the concepts underlying hypothesis
testing and estimation of location, dispersion, and correlation at a non-mathematical level and with practical techniques for computing, chi square test,
single predictor regression coefficients, and so on. The text, by G. Ferguson
and Y. Takane, titled "Statistical Analysis in Psychology and Education", McGraw
Hill, Chapters 1 through 13, is an example of the material that instructors in
650 and 651 presume in their courses.
The general purpose of the seminars is to broaden students' knowledge of psychology. This does not preclude students taking lecture, laboratory, or computer courses that will help them acquire additional skills for their research. Each year, six seminars will be offered in the major fields of neuropsychology, science, personality/social, language/development, and quantitative psychology. Students in the Experimental program take four area seminars and those in the Clinical program take two area seminars, at least half of which are from Psychology Department offerings. These include area seminars offered yearly or combined graduate/undergraduate (500 level) courses where graduate students fulfill doctoral requirements (given a 700 level number) with respect to readings and written/oral assignments. The remaining may be taken from graduate course offerings (500 level of higher) in other departments, if the course is considered by the student and supervisor to be important for the student's program. Students submit in writing to the Graduate Program Director their intention to take a non psychology area seminar, along with their supervisor's signature. In the seminars, students will normally produce some substantive evidence of their involvement, in both oral and written form. This may include weekly readings, a series of short written assignments, an oral presentation, and a major paper. The method of evaluation to be used in a seminar must be outlined on a course description distributed early in the term before the end of the drop/add period.
All PhD 2 and PhD 3 students in the Experimental Program are expected to register for one or more area seminars each term until four seminars are completed. This can extend to the PhD 4 year if appropriate. Note that the area seminars are requirements of the PhD program, so most students will not take them for credit until they have completed their Master's degree. Clinical students are required to register for two seminars in non-clinical areas. One of the experimental seminars must be in the area of social psychology and the other in the area of cognitive/affective psychology. It is possible that graduate level course in other departments can fulfill these requirements. A student wishing to take a course in a different department to fulfill one of these requirements should discuss the idea with the Director of Clinical Training. If the course seems suitable, the student will be asked to make a formal written request including a course description to the Clinical Committee. Before registering for area seminars, be sure to read Appendix B, which explains the rather complex numbering system used for these seminars.
Additional seminars to those outlined above are optional, but students can obtain academic credits for further seminars if desired. These extra credits are shown on the student's transcript and while they have no effect on obtaining the PhD at McGill, they may be important for students who transfer to another school or who take a position after graduation in a setting, such as the Quebec CEGEP system, that bases salary upon course credits.
Incoming students may be exempted from "technical" courses such as statistics and clinical diagnostics, if they have already completed equivalent graduate courses. In such cases it is not necessary to transfer credits from previous courses. Students may transfer credits for content courses, such as area seminars, if they have taken equivalent courses at the graduate level and if they have not already used the courses for credit toward another degree. A student can be exempted from, or transfer credit for, a course only if the professor of the course agrees that the course material has been covered. Students entering with a Master's degree in Psychology are normally not required to write the First Year Research Paper (PSYC 601), nor the Qualifying Paper. However, if they have little or no background in psychology, the students may be asked to submit the First Year Research Paper. Students who are exempt from submitting the First Year Research Paper are still required to submit a Research Progress Paper (see section 1.3.2). Students should check with the Graduate Program Director as soon as they enter the program in case they have any questions about exemptions or transfers.
However, the policy for exemptions does not apply to Psychological Theory (PSYC 660). The course is deemed essential, because it provides students with the opportunity to become familiar with the way psychology is studied in the department. Therefore, all entering students, even those who have a Master's degree from another university or those who have taken a psychology pro seminar elsewhere, are required to take PSYC 660 during their first year in the program.
Students are encouraged to become involved in the undergraduate teaching activities of the Department because this is the best way to prepare for a teaching position. Teaching a course also helps to consolidate knowledge in the field. There are two ways to gain such experience.
One way is to obtain a position as a teaching assistant for remuneration. Selection and job criteria are now regulated according to the contract signed by the University and the TA union. There are several parts of this contract that students should become familiar with. One part concerns criteria for eligibility to become a teaching assistant. A second part concerns workload and qualifications for the job.
Students are notified in their letter of acceptance whether or not they will be offered a teaching assistant position. Students who win external fellowships are often restricted to working less than the 180 hours required of a TA, and so are normally discouraged from applying. Also priority is given to students in PhD 1 to PhD 4, and Masters 1 and 2. The Department will post courses for which it seeks teaching assistants in March (for fall courses) and in October (for winter courses). You are asked to apply during the following four weeks by stating your preferences for at least three courses. An effort is made to match the teaching assistantships to the background and preferences of the graduate students, although this is not always possible.
Being a teaching assistant usually involves several hours per week meeting groups of students in a conference, and individually during office hours, as well as helping to grade assignments and examinations. Evaluation of your work as a teaching assistant by the professor of the course will be kept in a file separate from your academic file. A non-remunerative 3-credit teaching internship is also offered to students who want more teaching experience. In conjunction with the professor teaching the course, the student will be involved designing the course, developing a novel framework for organizing a portion of the content, and giving some lectures. Interested students are expected to approach the professor of the course at least two months in advance. The first internship is course PSYC 797 and the second is PSYC 798. These are doctoral level courses and do not overlap with TA duties.
Teaching assistants and interns must select convenient days and times when they will be available to undergraduates taking the course for which they are teaching. Usually, four hours are set aside each week for this purpose, called office hours. You should make sure all the students in your undergraduate course know these office hours, and be sure to let them know your room number, telephone number, and e-mail address. Be sure you are indeed available when you say you will be. If it becomes impossible for some reason, leave a note on your office door and let them know when you will be available.
1) Clinical Course work. Additional courses required of clinical students provide training in diagnostic and therapeutic theory and practice. The required courses are listed under "What to Register for in the Clinical Program" in 1.9.3. Further information about the content of these courses may be obtained from the Director of the Clinical Training Program or from the instructor.
Normally, the first summer in the Clinical Program is devoted to Summer Practicum PSYC 706. The student does not register for the summer term, however clinical students must add the summer courses to their record via MINERVA. This is what we call a continuing course and is included with the courses listed on the registration form in September. Note: Students can with the approval of the supervisor and/or Clinical Director, register for the practicum in the fall session or winter session.
2) Clinical Internships. Students are required to successfully complete one year of full-time internship training in approved settings. Internship training begins when all practica requirements and most other course requirements are completed. It is usually initiated during the third year of the doctoral program. While students may fulfill the internship requirement during a one year period and may receive their training in other cities, most students choose to divide their training into halves which they complete at two different settings in the Montreal area, during their third and fourth years of study. Internship performance is evaluated by the internship supervisors and the internship coordinator.
3) Relationship of Clinical Requirements to Licensure in the Province of Quebec. Several graduate programs in the province, including ours, have recently developed an agreement with the Ordre des psychologues du Quebec that allows licensure applications to be processed quickly - though not guaranteed - upon graduation. These programs must ensure that all students fulfill all requirements listed in the Ordre's Manuel d'agrement. The clinical program has been designed so that students who follow the required curriculum meet these requirements, so it is useful to note that following the procedures described in the Handbook is important not only in relation to graduation but licensure in the province of Quebec. This extends to record keeping. To ensure that all students meet all program requirements, the Director of Clinical Training and Clinical Program Secretary collect information from various sources including students. The issue of licensure is another reason why it is important to respond promptly to requests for information about current and past coursework, etc. In rare cases, the student may be asked to complete additional coursework such as PSYC-780 to make sure that all requirements related to licensure and accreditation of the program are fulfilled. As noted above, the program is designed to fulfill these criteria though this is based on the idea that the student has a substantial undergraduate background in Psychology. Extra coursework should only be an issue for students with a very different academic background. More information about licensure in the Province of Quebec can be found at the Ordre's website: www.ordrepsy.qc.ca.
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Students are accepted into the Graduate Program in Psychology at McGill on the basis of their excellent academic record and on the recommendations of respected academics. The Department assumes that they will continue to do well. The pursuit of excellence in an individually tailored program is encouraged at McGill; competition for grades among graduate students is not. You are therefore encouraged to strive toward your own particular career goals, while maintaining the Program's standards of excellence. It is assumed that students will work as many hours as needed to meet these goals and standards, including evenings and weekends.
Some form of systematic and regular evaluation is necessary in any academic program. The requirements on which this evaluation is based have been outlined above under each of the major areas of your graduate education. We now discuss the normal evaluation procedure and then present information on how the Department deals with issues arising from that evaluation. The following applies to academic evaluation by the Department of Psychology. The University has additional procedures for dealing with student conduct and discipline, grievances (academic and non academic), and sexual harassment. See the Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities, McGill University.
Each Spring, usually the end of May, a faculty meeting is held to review the status of each student in the Graduate Program. Prior to this annual student review meeting, the following (where applicable) will have been submitted to the Graduate Program Director or Coordinator: grades for all courses, results from First Year Research Paper or Special Comprehensive examinations, and reports from the student's advisory committee (e.g. based on the Research Progress Paper). Supervisors and students are responsible for submitting separately and on time the Graduate Student Progress Report forms, which contain at least some of this information. Students are sent the form via e-mail and are expected to complete and return the form by the deadline provided on the form.
The progress of each student is reviewed by the faculty at large. If the student's overall performance is considered satisfactory, the Graduate Program Director informs the student, by letter, of areas in which progress is satisfactory, and points out any areas of concern (e.g., slow progress in getting a research project off the ground). Such areas of concern should be taken seriously by the student, but should not be seen as issues that currently jeopardize the student's standing in the program. The student should discuss the "assessment" letter with his/her supervisor, and if the student is still unclear about the basis and nature of the negative comments (which we expect would not normally be the case), then the student could request the more extensive evaluation discussed below.
If, at the annual student review meeting in May, a student's progress is seen by the faculty as unsatisfactory (a rare occurrence), the student may ask to meet with his or her advisory committee to present reasons why the evaluation was inaccurate. The student may then request a meeting of the Grievance subcommittee of the Graduate Program Committee to present his or her case.
The following are examples of the kinds of circumstances that might lead to the formation of such a subcommittee: (i) a new student does poorly in several courses (a grade below B is a failure in Graduate Faculty) and/or shows little evidence of research ability. (ii) a PhD student fails to show satisfactory progress in thesis research over an extended period of time. (iii) a student completes a Master's thesis, but shows major difficulties conducting research, and is deemed unlikely to successfully complete the PhD program.
A subcommittee is selected by the Graduate Program Committee from its own members in the fall of each year. Because the relevant student and the student's supervisor must not be a member of the subcommittee, it may be necessary to adjust the subcommittee's membership for a particular case. The Graduate Program Director normally chairs the subcommittee, which in addition consists of one academic staff members and two graduate students (who are all members of the Graduate Program Committee). The subcommittee obtains the information it needs in appropriate ways (e.g., by speaking to the supervisor and the student, receiving written presentations from various staff and students), and reports back to the staff in a timely fashion (usually within 2 weeks) with a summary of its conclusions and their basis and with its recommended actions. Naturally, the final actions agreed upon by the Department will depend on the specific case, but examples of what the Department might decide are: (i) recommend that the student (re)takes certain courses, with the student's final status in the program depending on performance in the course(s); (ii) demand evidence of significant progress in research in a specified period; (iii) recommend that the student changes research area and/or supervisor; (iv) recommend that the student leaves the program. As in all other cases, the student would then receive a letter from the Graduate Program Director stating the Department's specific requirements and, if appropriate, a timetable for satisfying those requirements. Because the student would have had extensive opportunity to present information to the subcommittee, it is hoped that the student would agree to the recommendations. If the student cannot accept the Department's views and recommendations, then there are appropriate University procedures available (e.g. the University Grievance Committee, mentioned previously).
There are sometimes special circumstances that cause difficulties for a student or a supervisor during the year which, although not directly reflecting on the student's academic standing, nonetheless might affect academic performance. For instance, a student or a supervisor may discover that they cannot work together for personal or academic reasons, or a student's personal circumstances may be in turmoil for a period of time. Although we hope that such issues normally can be resolved by informal means, all staff and students should feel free to speak to the Graduate Program Director at any time regarding the possibility of setting up a subcommittee of the type just discussed to deal with any such issue. Thus, the existence of such a subcommittee for a student should not be interpreted as necessarily meaning that the student's academic standing in the Department is in question.
Although it is clearly not possible in this handbook to detail all evaluation circumstances that might arise, Section 1.8.2 (below) gives examples of issues that have arisen in the past. Remember, the student representatives on the Graduate Program Committee are well informed on Department affairs and welcome your inquiries. Finally, at all times, a graduate student may ask for additional feedback from his/her supervisor, course instructor, and so on. Insisting on clear and detailed feedback is not rude and it will beneficially serve your interests.
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When a professor undertakes to accept a graduate student and support his or her research, it is assumed that this support will continue for three or four years, as long as the student is in good standing, working on research related to the professor's grant, and doing research of acceptable quality.
Occasionally a student or an supervisor may wish to terminate their association. The only specific implication of such an action is that the student requires another supervisor in the Department, if he or she wishes to remain in the program, and must obtain substitute funding. The Department, and in particular the Graduate Program Director, should be consulted regarding such changes. Cases where the change of supervisor does not run smoothly can be handled by a subcommittee of the Graduate Program Committee of the kind discussed in Section 1.7.
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1) University regulations state that a graduate student who fails one course is not in good standing, and thus can be required to withdraw from the University. It would be unlikely that a single such failure, in the context of an otherwise excellent record, would be used by the Department as a reason to require a student to leave the program.
2) As indicated earlier, student problems sometimes arise because of personality conflict with the supervisor, rather than because of academic weakness. When an evaluation committee is set up, it should ensure that the basis of the student's difficulties is clear and proceed accordingly.
3) All graduate students in Psychology are accepted into the program with the expectation that they will complete a PhD. However, there are no university regulations requiring that a student who completes our master's program be carried on to the PhD program. Nonetheless, if a student is to be awarded a terminal master's degree, then every effort should be made to give the student reasonable warning of this fact and an opportunity to make use of the evaluation process presented earlier.
4) While a graduate student is in good standing, the University as a whole is required to supervise that student's work to the fullest extent possible. This does not mean that an individual department is obliged to supervise the student's research if appropriate staff cannot be found within the department.
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A student can receive an "incomplete" (K) in a course if the requirements have not all been met for legitimate reasons. The professor should advise the student that a "K" will be submitted. The Department is required by Graduate Faculty to have a “K” Submission Form filled out and signed by both the student and professor with the expected date of completion. The student is obliged to submit the required work by the end of the following academic term.
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The student has the right to an impartial and competent review of any mark subject to reasonable administrative arrangements. It is expected that the student will first meet with the faculty member to discuss the mark. The reread conducted by a second reader is a review of the original mark to determine whether it is fair and reasonable. It cannot be conducted unless the student has made a copy to ensure that it has not been changed after the original grading. Conditions and procedures for a reread are described in the Faculty Regulations.
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Registration of returning graduate students in Psychology will take place during the early registration period (via MINERVA) from mid March to July. This has no effect on when fees are due, although payment is required by mid to end of August. You will be charged a $100 late registration fee if you do not complete registration by then, because the University wastes unnecessary time and effort following up late students. Regardless, you are not officially registered until you access MINERVA to register (see 1.9.1), and this can be done without including the courses you plan to take, if you have not yet decided. The Graduate Program Coordinator will be available to explain the registration procedures and program requirements more fully.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research has a time limitation for Masters and Doctoral programs. Candidates for the Master's degree must complete the degree within three years of initial registration. Most masters theses will be completed in a shorter period of time, namely within two years. A student will be requested to withdraw from the program if the thesis is not completed within three years.
Candidates for the doctoral degree must complete the degree at the end of PhD5. They must complete the degree within four years after completing the three years required residency, i.e. at the end of PhD 7. After this point, the student will be unable to register again. The purpose of this regulation is to encourage students to complete their theses and qualify for their degree without undue delay. The time limits will be strictly enforced. Under exceptional circumstances, if students wish to submit their thesis after this time, they have two years in which to do it. They may submit the thesis only if the department recommends in writing that they be reinstated, and only if the student pays the university back fees for the unregistered terms.
Registration is done through the MINERVA website. To ensure a successful registration on MINERVA, refer to the detailed information and Step-by-Step Instructions on the web at (http://www.mcgill.ca/minerva-students/).
1) The MINERVA Course Selection Form can be downloaded from the web (http://upload.mcgill.ca/minerva-students/Minerform.pdf ) and is also available from the Graduate Program Coordinator.
2) Meet with your thesis supervisor to check the study plan with the list of the courses you plan to take in both the fall and winter terms; and get the supervisor's signature on the form (as well as your own!).
3) Return the completed form to the Graduate Program Coordinator for signature.
4) You must register for the Registration Confirmation course “REGN RCGR” in both the fall and winter sessions, in addition to any other regular courses, in order to initiate the registration for each session.
If you have external funding or receive no funds from the department, you must pay your own tuition fees. Payment is required by August. However, if you have no external funding and receive a teaching assistantship from the Department, the Canadian equivalent of your fees will normally be covered by the Department. If you have any questions please ask the Graduate Program Coordinator.
ADMITTED AS MA/MSc 1
Masters 1 (Year 1)
End of Masters 1: Submit First Year Research Paper (April 15)
Masters 2 (Year 2)
End of Masters 2: Submit MA/MSc Thesis of Fast-Track Paper (April 15)
PhD 2 (Year 3)
End of PhD 2: Research Progress Paper (April 15)
PhD 3 (Year 4)
REGISTER FOR THE TERM YOU ARE SUBMITTING THE COMP
End of PhD 3: Submit Special (Doctoral) Comprehensive (April 15)
PhD 4 (Year 5)
End of PhD 4: Research Progress Paper (April 15)
PhD 5
End of PhD 5: Submit Dissertation
Students admitted at the Master's level, must register in Masters 1 and take the
courses listed. The First Year Research Paper (PSYC 601) is due on April 15. It
usually consists of a review of the student's research area along with a
research proposal. Evaluation of performance in the first year is based
primarily on research progress, and on performance in courses and the General
Comprehensive.
On April 15 of the Masters 2 year students submit a Fast-Track Paper. This is a report of research conducted to date, written in the style of a journal article. If this paper is evaluated as acceptable the student proceeds directly to PhD 2. If a student chooses not to submit a Fast-Track Paper or if a submitted paper is not acceptable, then a MA/MSc thesis must be submitted, normally around the end of the second year.
During the PhD 2 and PhD 3 years students take four seminars in different research areas (710-758).
Note that a student who submits an acceptable Fast-Track Paper has the option of using the research described in that paper as part of his or her dissertation. In contrast, a student who submits a MA/MSc thesis cannot use research described in the MA/MSc thesis in his or her dissertation. Thus, the fast-track option should accelerate completion of the PhD.
On April 15 of PhD 3, all students, both fast-tracked and Masters, submit a Special Comprehensive Paper (PSYC 701). This is normally a review of a topic different from the thesis, but in the student's area of interest.
ADMITTED AS PhD 1
PhD 1 (Year 1)
End of PhD 1: Submit First Year Research Paper (April 15)
PhD 2 (Year 2)
End of PhD 2: Submit Qualifying Paper (April 15)
PhD 3 (Year 3)
REGISTER FOR THE TERM YOU ARE SUBMITTING THE COMP
End of PhD 3: Submit Research Progress Paper (April 15)
PhD 4 (Year 4)
End of PhD 4: Submit Research Progress Paper (April 15)
PhD 5 (Year 5)
End of PhD 5: Submit Dissertation
Experimental students admitted at the PhD level, must register in PhD 1 and take
the courses listed. The First Year Research Paper (PSYC 601) is due on April
15. It usually consists of a review of the student’s research area along with a
research proposal. Evaluation of performance in the first year is based
primarily on research progress, and on performance in courses and the First Year
Research Paper.
On April 15 of the second year students submit a Qualifying Paper. This is a report of research conducted to date, written in the style of a journal article. If this paper is evaluated as acceptable the student continues in PhD 3. If a student chooses not to submit a Qualifying Paper of if a submitted paper is not acceptable, then a MA/MSc thesis must be submitted, normally around the end of the second year.
During the PhD 3 and PhD 4 years students take four seminars in different research areas (710-758).
Note that a student who submits an acceptable Qualifying Paper has the option of using the research described in that paper as part of his or her dissertation. The writing of the Qualifying Paper can thus accelerate the completion of the PhD. In contrast, a student who submits a MA/MSc thesis cannot use research described in the MA/MSc thesis in his or her dissertation.
On April 15 of PhD 4, all students, both fast-tracked and Masters, submit a Special Comprehensive Paper (PSYC 701). This is normally a review of a topic different from the thesis, but in the student's area of interest.
Students may substitute graduate courses from other departments for two of the departmental seminars, provided that permission is obtained from the supervisor and the Graduate Program Director. Also, 500 level departmental courses, when offered, are normally given a 700 graduate level number to demonstrate that graduate students meet more advanced requirements, i.e. requirements at the doctoral level.
Students registered in the PhD program who intend to do research on language
acquisition are eligible to apply to the Language Acquisition Option. Please see
the website for additional information -
http://www.psych.mcgill.ca/lap.html/
Year One
PSYC 601 (Winter)
First Year Research Paper (formerly called General Comprehensive Paper)
Literature review and research proposal
Credit Weight: 6
PSYC 615D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Diagnostic Methods (Children)
A review of major assessment strategies for children
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 616D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Practicum Child Diagnostics
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 617D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Diagnostic Methods (Adults)
A review of major assessment strategies for adults
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 618D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Practicum Adult Diagnostics
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 630 (Fall)
Psychopathology: A review of major types of psychopathology with emphasis on
research findings
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 660D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Psychological Theory: A seminar covering a range of topics
A general course taken by all new clinical and experimental students in the
department. Covers the development of major current theoretical ideas about
broad areas of Psychology in light of experimental and clinical evidence.
Credit Weight: 6
PSYC 728 (Fall)
Ethics and Professional Issues: An introduction to the field
History, ethics, methodology, and professional issues.
Credit Weight: 3
End of PhD 1: Submit First Year Research Paper (April 15)
Summer
PSYC 625
Research in Clinical Psychology
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 706
Clinical Practicum: This course provides 450 hours of clinical experience.
Usually it is taken as a full-time 3-4 month experience during the Summer. It is
also possible to arrange to take the course as a 9 hour per week experience
spread across 50 weeks. Other arrangements are also possible depending upon the
placement. Students pursue the Clinical Practicum in a placement approved by the
Department through the Clinical Committee. A list of placements which have been
"pre-approved" by the Department is available from the Clinical Secretary and
the Internship Director. Placements in other settings may be undertaken with
permission.
Credit Weight: 15
Year Two
PSYC 620 (Fall/Winter)
Practicum Psychotherapy: Supervised experience in psychotherapy.
Credit Weight: 6
PSYC 641 D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Psychotherapy: Theory and Research
Conceptual foundations of individual, family, and group treatment modalities,
especially validated techniques; review of empirical evidence concerning
treatment effectiveness and individual differences and cultural differences that
affect outcome; political and organizational influences and constraints on
mental health service delivery.
Credit Weight: 6
PSYC 650 (Fall) Advanced Statistics I
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 651 (Winter) Advanced Statistics II
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 752D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Psychotherapy and Behaviour Change: A case conference course and an associated
practicum in psychotherapy. The case conference course includes case
formulation, discussion of treatment effectiveness, and consideration of issues
around supervision.
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 729 (Winter)
Theory of Assessment
Major issues and related research findings in clinical psychology relevant to
test construction, measurement, and assessment are review.
Credit Weight: 3
PSYC 7XX, 7YY
Students take two experimental seminars in years 2, 3, or 4
One of the experimental seminars must be in an area relevant to social
psychology and interpersonal relationships. This course must be drawn from
courses with the numbering PSYC 722 to PSYC 727. The other experimental seminar
must be in the area of one of the following topics:
cognition,
learning,
sensation, perception, thinking, motivation, or emotion. This course must be
drawn from the following course numbers: PSYC 532, PSYC 716 to 721, or PSYC 740
to PSYC 745. It is possible that Psychology courses with other course numbers
could fulfill these requirements. A student wishing to take a course with a
different course number to fulfill one of these requirements should discuss the
appropriateness of the course to fulfill the requirement with the Director of
Clinical Training; if the course seems suitable, the student will be asked to
make a formal written request including a course description to the Clinical
Committee.
Credit Weight: 3 each
End of PhD 2: Submit Research Progress Paper (April 15)
Year Three
PSYC 701 (Fall
or Winter)
Doctoral Comprehensive Examination (Special Comp)
Credit Weight: 6
PSYC 707 D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
The student may also undertake his/her internship (which
can be undertaken as one full-year full-time experience or two full-year
half-time segments). The course number for the first half is 204-707D/H.
Credit Weight: 15
PSYC 708 D1, D2 (Fall/Winter)
Internships must be completed at sites approved by the Clinical Committee. It is
common for students to undertake their internships in year 4 and/or 5. The
student may also undertake his/her internship (which
can be undertaken as one full-year full-time experience or two full-year
half-time segments). The course number for the first half is 204-708D/H.
Practica and internships must be completed at sites approved by the Clinical
Committee.
Credit Weight: 15
PSYC 730 (Fall)
Clinical Psychology: Biological Methods
The focus of this seminar is on the biological bases of
psychopathology. Students learn about techniques used to investigate the
biological bases of behaviour (e.g., neuroimaging, genetics, psychophysiology,
psychopharmacology).
Credit Weight: 3
End of PhD 3: Submit Research Progress Paper (April 15)
Year Four (Fall/Winter)
Experimental area seminars as needed and/or dissertation and/or internship
End of PhD 4: Submit Research Progress Paper (April 15)
Year Five (Fall/Winter)
Experimental area seminars as needed and/or dissertation and/or internship
End of PhD 5: Submit Dissertation
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The Department of Psychology is located at 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, in the Stewart Biological Sciences Building, between Stanley and Drummond Streets. It occupies floors 6, 7 and 8 in the North and West wings and the 3rd floor of the South wing of the building. The correct form of postal address for any mail sent to the Department is the following:
Individual's name
Department of Psychology
McGill University
1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue
Montreal, QC
H3A 1B1
Phone Number: (514) 398-6100
Fax Number: (514) 398-4896
The Department mail and fax service should not be used for private mail.
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The Chair of the Department is Professor David Zuroff. The Chair’s office is W8/44A. Requests for appointments should be made through Martha Bwititi, his secretary. Complete lists of professors, graduate students and support personnel with their rooms, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers are distributed every fall.
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Ms. Patricia Tuck is the Department Administrative Officer. Her office is in W8/44, telephone is 398-6101, e-mail is patricia.tuck@mcgill.ca.
Ms. Martha Bwititi is the Chair’s Secretary. Her office is in W8/38, telephone is 398-4671, e-mail is martha.bwititi@mcgill.ca.
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Every effort is made to assign each graduate student a desk in one of the students rooms or laboratories. Problems should be taken up with Martha Bwititi, Room W8/38.
Keys for graduate offices should be requested from Nina Pinzarrone, Room W8/26. A $20.00 key deposit is required per key and will be refunded when your key is returned. Supervisors' labs usually have different keys.
Make sure you receive an e-mail address. You are responsible for reading your e-mail frequently, as most departmental information is transmitted weekly by e-mail.
Students generally have access to their supervisor’s laboratory space. Additional space may be available for students who need short-term space for research. See the Space Committee Chairperson.
Students are expected to supply their own stationery needs. Supplies and materials required in connection with teaching assistantships may be obtained from the Department. Under no circumstances should students open desk drawers in the offices or any of the stationery cupboards. Students are not to ask the secretarial staff to type letters, manuscripts, or anything else, for them. Typewriters and computers in secretarial offices are not available for student use. Students should not enter staff offices to use typewriters or computers at any time.
Undergraduate Pool. There is a pool of equipment available for undergraduate experiments, maintained by the lab technician, Morris Eichler (Room W8/9). This can be used by graduate students in the summer. Other equipment for research is usually the responsibility of the supervisor, but often temporary loans of equipment can be made from other professors. Some equipment is bought by the Department for general use. The Equipment Committee (see Appendix A for chairman) is responsible for this.
Department Computing System - Dalbir Bindra Undergraduate Computer Laboratory
The laboratory consists of a General Access Lab and a Teaching Lab.
The General Access Laboratory is located in Room N4/19 of the Stewart Biological Sciences Building. This lab provides word processing, statistical and spreadsheet programs on a variety of IBM Compatible PC's and Macintosh computers. All of the computers are connected to the Department's computer network and provide e-mail and Internet access. Laser printing is available at a minimum charge.
The lab is open to all Psychology and Biology students from 9:00 to 4:30 Monday to Thursday and 9:00 to 3:00 on Friday. The Department's Systems Manager (Mehrdad Khosraviani, W8/6C), and Computer Lab Technician (Morris Eichler, W8/9), are responsible for the day to day operations of the Lab.
The Teaching Lab is located in Room N7/1, and consists 15 IBM Compatible PCs running commercial and locally developed programs as well as provides Internet and laser printing access for laboratory courses.
Psychology students also have access to the Biology-Psychology Computer Laboratory located in Room N4/17. This lab has 39 networked PCs providing services for both laboratory courses and scheduled general access for word processing and statistical work. Laser printing is also available at a minimal charge.
This equipment should be kept clean and in the same order as you found it. Although these are the facilities most often used by graduate students, they should remember that undergraduate students have priority if they are using the computers for course work.
Duplicating Equipment. There are Xerox photocopying machines in W8/1. Specific password codes are used to operate these machines. Graduate students can obtain a password from Ms. Laura Pritchett, and make arrangements to pay her each month for the copies they have made. Individual professors have their own codes for grant funded research, for their courses, and for Department administrative work. Graduate students will have access to the teaching code for a course only if they are a Teaching Assistant and receive permission from the professor in charge of the course. Students may also buy a grey card to be used at machines in the libraries.
Equipment care. It is essential when you use any "public" equipment, such as the operating or histology equipment or the workshop, that you leave it as neat as when you found it. A good way to be excluded from the lab is to disregard this rule. Under no circumstances should instruments or equipment be removed from the operating or histology rooms. Before using any piece of equipment have your supervisor or an experienced graduate student or technician show you how to use it. Misuse of delicate equipment leads to costly repair. In general, equipment that is broken should be reported immediately so that it can be fixed, even if the person noticing the breakage does not need the equipment. This will ensure that equipment is usable when needed. Report it to the undergraduate laboratory technician, Morris Eichler (W8/9).
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Libraries. A large system of libraries is also available to graduate students. Please pick up information leaflets in the McLennan Library. Libraries which contain material relevant to some areas of Psychology include: McLennan (main library), Health Sciences (McIntyre Bldg., 3rd floor), Blacker Wood (animal behavior; Redpath Library, 2nd floor), Education (child development, Education Bldg.), MNI (neurology, MNI, 6th floor), Mathematics (quantitative, Burnside Hall), and Physical Sciences and Engineering (artificial intelligence, main campus). Workshops are frequently available at the McLennan Library on how to use PERUSE the computer literature search program.
Bookstores. The main university bookstore is located on McTavish Street near Sherbrooke. The store sells course texts and stationery supplies as well as a good selection of general interest books, magazines, McGill souvenirs, sweatshirts, and such.
Electronics Shop. Mehrdad Pikarnegar is in charge of the Electronics Shop in W7/11 and is the supervisor of all equipment operations. The Shop is open from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. Mehrdad is available for trouble shooting for a couple of hours each day, and will deal with emergencies as they arise. He will also help design apparatus for specific experiments.
Students are expected to help in building any equipment which they need and to follow the "shop rules" recommended by Mehrdad. If you need some equipment, Mehrdad will advise as to cost and construction time. If Mehrdad 's services are involved in the construction, the research director must make out a requisition slip, giving the account number to which the cost is to be charged. Mehrdad will then give the request a job number, and jobs will be undertaken on a first come first served basis so far as technically feasible. As there is usually a backlog of several weeks, you are advised to plan ahead for any work asked from Mehrdad. A sure way to speed things up is to present Mehrdad with a clear and detailed project description.
Photographic Services. The Biology Department photographer (Robert Lamarche, W2) does photography including photomicroscopy for the Psychology Department. The same priority and billing procedures apply as in the Biology Workshops.
Purchase of Materials. In all cases authorization of the research director must be obtained before any order is placed or a purchase made. Purchases may be reimbursed through an expense report; it is important to get a sales slip, and have your research supervisor initial it, then turn it in to the secretary immediately for payment.
Purchase of Equipment for teaching or general Department use is handled by the Equipment Committee (see Appendix A).
Students must first obtain ethical approval for their research (see website - http://www.mcgill.ca/researchoffice/compliance) for the Ethics Application form, see 3.2.3).
Information regarding the SUBJECT POOL forthcoming.
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The department can provide full support for some students in the form of teaching assistantships and stipends. Also, some university scholarships are available that provide full support. External funding agencies (provincial and federal) are common sources of support and students are expected to apply for master’s or doctoral fellowships of the agencies. The department generally tries to equate roughly the support level of students, at least in the early years of the program. For this reason, it is important that students inform the Graduate Program Coordinator when their financial arrangements change as a result of receiving a fellowship. The following is a list of some sources of support with the various considerations that apply to each:
A. Teaching Assistantships: Some students are accepted into the department with teaching assistant positions, or they may obtain a position when their fellowship finishes. All students who act as teaching assistants receive financial remuneration. They may or may not also receive a departmental stipend.
B. Supervisor Stipend: Some students are supported partly or fully by a stipend from their supervisor’s research grant to pursue thesis-related research consistent with the goals of the grant.
C. Graduate Student Research Assistantships: Sometimes the professor will pay a student in the form of a research assistantship from their research grant. If the work that the student is expected to do as part of this research assistantship is unrelated to the student’s thesis, the number of hours per week are limited to around 180 hours per term or roughly 14 hours/week (i.e. equivalent to a teaching assistantship). This limit on the number of hours that a student can do non-thesis related work applies until the student has submitted his/her thesis (see also below, 2.7.2, Policy on Graduate Student Employment). During a term in which a student holds a teaching assistantship, he or she is expected not to take on any additional work inside or outside of the department.
D. External Fellowships and McGill Major Fellowships (see Appendix D): External fellowships include all fellowships for graduate study funded and administered from outside McGill (e.g. SSHRC, CIHR, NSERC, FRSQ, FQRNT, FQRSC). Some internal fellowships are provided by the Faculty of Science and others by the office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS). Students should consult their websites for further information.
Eligibility. In order to be eligible to apply for internal fellowships, students must simultaneously apply for an external fellowship (e.g., SSHRC, FQRNT, FQRSC, FRSQ, NSERC, CIHR) during the previous fall term. Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are registered at McGill during the fall term must apply for fellowships during that term for fellowship to begin in the summer or fall of the following year.
Deadlines. Most deadlines for internal and external fellowships are from mid September to the end of October and are either due to the department or, for some agencies, directly to the agency. The student is responsible for meeting the deadlines on the various application forms for the current year. Information sessions are provided by the university for applications to the different agencies in September. Students should begin planning their external applications early by drawing up a proposed plan of study and research, and discussing it with two faculty members who can then serve as referees.
Transcripts for external fellowships. Students should request transcripts via MINERVA. The registrar's office sends transcripts directly to departments (or may be picked up) for the three external fellowship programs: NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR. The Graduate Program Coordinator will then ensure that the transcripts are submitted with your application if you have to apply through the department.
E. Quebec Loans and Bursaries: Quebec residents are also eligible for the "Loan and Bursary" program of the Quebec government. Yearly loans are available for qualified applicants and yearly bursaries vary from one student to another, depending on his/her yearly earnings. Students can probably get the loan interest-free if they do not have an internal McGill fellowship. These loans are to be repaid when they finish their graduate studies (i.e., a student starts paying the interest when he or she starts working or no longer has a student status). The forms (available at Student Services, Brown Bldg) should be submitted by the month of May that precedes the school year. The loan is given by September and an additional form is to be filled out to get the bursary. There is also a so-called "strategic" loan that can be applied for when funds are urgently needed because for some reason a bursary payment is late. For more information regarding loans and bursaries, please contact the Student Aid Office, Brown Building, 3600 McTavish Street at the corner of Dr. Penfield.
Working towards a master's and PhD degree is a full time occupation. It is therefore expected that students do not take on employment inside or outside of the department that goes beyond 14 hours per week before the thesis is submitted. This includes teaching assistantships and research assistantships. If half or full time temporary or permanent employment is being offered to students, but they have not yet submitted their thesis, it is essential that they see the Graduate Program Director to discuss the matter. It is not acceptable that taking on employment before submission of the thesis delays the completion of the degree.
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Students who have not been on McGill payroll previously must submit completed income tax and personal data forms (available on-line via MINERVA). If you do not have a Social Insurance number you must apply for one. If you are paid as a teaching or research assistant you will receive your first cheque the end of September. Payments are made on a biweekly basis.
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The residence requirements, for which full fees are paid, are three terms for the Master's degree and four additional terms for the PhD, or six terms for those who enter directly into the PhD program or who are international students. Reduced fees are paid for additional sessions at either the MA or PhD level. All students, regardless of their source of support, pay these fees (see Appendix C or General Information, Faculty Regulations and Research Guidelines, for this year's fees). Students are expected to pay their own fees unless they receive notification that their fees will be waived by the Department, as part of a financial support package. Payment is due before the end of August unless the student has a deferral arrangement with the University. Students are severely restricted if they have outstanding debts. Students may not be able to register or order McGill transcripts if they have a "hold" on their record. Students are encouraged to submit the "payroll fee deduction" form to payroll and student fee account office to deduct bi-weekly payments toward the student's fee account (providing that you are receiving external funding or receiving a stipend).
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Official McGill transcripts should be requested via MINERVA, for applying for jobs or for any reason other than fellowship application. Incoming graduate students must make sure that two copies of the final, official transcript from their undergraduate college, showing the BA/BSc degree granted and the date, are sent to the Graduate Coordinator this is vitally important! These Students are required to inform the Graduate Faculty of any change of address or marital status.
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Pet animals are not to be brought into the building at any time as this poses a serious health hazard for laboratory animals. This is a university regulation and must be adhered to. No laboratory animals should be taken as pets. Smoking is also forbidden in the building.
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The Department supports University regulations concerning sexual harassment and expects its professors, graduate students, teaching assistants, and undergraduates to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the regulations. Sexual harassment is defined in the University Regulations Concerning Complaints of Sexual Harassment as "a display, by word or deed, of sexual attentions towards another individual or group of individuals of a nature which may reasonably be considered to be vexatious or abusive." Any instance of sexual harassment may be reported to the University sexual harassment assessors whose names and telephone numbers are distributed at the departmental orientation.
It is also important to be aware that serious problems and misunderstandings may arise if a teacher dates a student. Therefore, academic staff and teaching assistants are expected to comply with the McGill University Policy on Conflicts of Interest in Academic Supervision and Evaluation found in the Handbook on Student Rights and Responsibilities. The policy states that whenever a professor or teaching assistant is involved in a close personal relationship with a student (e.g. family or amorous relationship), the professor/assistant must terminate the supervisory or evaluative role with respect to that student, and make alternative arrangements for the student's supervision and evaluation.
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In addition to the points given below, the following point, stressed by the Canadian and American Psychological Associations should be noted: All investigators, including the research director, collaborators, students and assistants incur parallel responsibility for the ethical treatment of participants.
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All students working with animals must exercise the greatest care for the welfare and comfort of their animals. Do not bring strays or foundlings into the laboratory, or any new experimental animals without permission. Do not pet or interfere with others' animals and do not take visitors into the animal rooms. As McGill has been a target of "animal liberation" activists, security in the animal quarters is of great importance. Animal rooms are to be kept locked at all times when the animal care staff is not on duty. If you encounter someone you don't recognize in the animal quarters, challenge them and if they aren't authorized to be there, ask them to leave at once. Report any incidents of this sort to the Chair of the Animal Care Committee, Professor Keith Franklin. For procedures for obtaining animals, see your research supervisor.
All animals must be housed in the animal quarters. Permission must be obtained for putting animals on a water deprivation schedule, and the cage must be marked. Other animals must have water at all times. Cages must be labelled with your name.
Experiments involving any unpleasantness for animals are not to be undertaken unless there is no other way of gaining the information and agreement is reached that the information is scientifically important. In addition, unpleasantness is to be minimized by gentle handling, careful use of anaesthesia, and proper medical care and hygiene. All proposed animal experimentation must be approved by the Department and University Animal Care Committees (see Professor Keith Franklin or his secretary, Ping Yang for forms and details). While your supervisor's project approval may cover much of your research, any new surgical or drug related procedures that you intend to use, even on a pilot basis, must be approved separately.
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In order to maintain the privilege of doing research on human subjects, psychologists must exercise great concern for the rights of the subject. The three major granting agencies in Canada recently developed a Tri Council Code of Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, with which all researchers must become familiar. It can be found on the web page of all three agencies. To summarize a few of the items:
1. Free and informed consent from the subject or an authorized third party must be obtained in writing. The REB can decide whether consent procedures that alter these elements are justified. For example, subjects may be told that they are not supposed to know the exact hypotheses of the experiment, or their assigned condition, until afterwards. Subjects have the right to know, at least after participating, the purpose and nature of the experiment.
2. If there is to be any unpleasantness (physical or mental) for the participant, he or she is to be told in advance and allowed to withdraw without social pressure. After the experiment, all efforts must be made to eliminate harmful after-effects (e.g., lowered self esteem, false beliefs).
3. Insure privacy and confidentiality of information provided by subjects, for example, by using codes instead of names on data sheets, and by keeping questionnaire and interview information in a secure place.
All human research in the Department is to be scrutinized by the Research Ethics Board. Forms are available from the website - (http://www.mcgill.ca/researchoffice/compliance/human/). All grant applications must bear the approval of the committee and must be renewed annually. In addition, graduate students and anyone using the subject pool should obtain approval for their own research, whether funded or unfunded, by submitting an Application for Ethics Approval. Make sure you submit your application early, to avoid frustrating delays in starting your study. Completing the ethics application is a useful exercise for learning the criteria for ethical research, and it also ensures that you have not violated any conventions. Professors are also responsible for ensuring that students do not use unauthorized methods. Students conducting research in one of the McGill Hospitals should contact the Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee, to see if that would be a more appropriate committee.
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Frequently students and professors publish papers on jointly done research. Sometimes questions arise as to who is senior author, or who is an author at all. The Department has considered the question of the authorship of papers for publication arising from work done in the Department. A statement, representing the current Department practice, is reproduced here for the guidance of students. The ultimate policy is that of the University, published in the Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
1. There is a long academic tradition that establishes the right of the director of a student's research to publish the research jointly with the student. There was a time (and it may be so still, in some places) when research directors could claim the work as their own and publish under their own names only; but, this is not accepted practice in psychology in North America.
2. In many cases, the student and supervisor will co-author a submitted manuscript. The important criterion for authorship is that the person has made a significant scholarly contribution to the work, and shares responsibility and accountability for the results. Thus, for most doctoral thesis research, the student will be first author and the supervisor second author.
3. A "significant scholarly contribution" to the student's research, justifying joint authorship, may be considered to have been made when the supervisor took some part in (a) developing the hypotheses or objectives, and (b) designing the research, and (c) writing the report. This is a point on which judgment has to be exercised (see below), and no rigorous criteria can be laid down; but it seems that joint authorship would not be justified if the supervisor did not make a genuine contribution in all these functions. If the student writes and submits the manuscript, he or she would normally be first author, with the supervisor as second author. If, after several years, the student has not written up the research for publication, and if the supervisor feels the research is timely, he or she may write and submit the manuscript, with the student as first or second author, after a reasonable attempt to obtain the student’s consent.
4. However, when the supervisor feels that, though he or she may have initiated the work and guided the research and writing, his or her role was no more than that of a teacher and that the thought and work are largely the student's, he or she should leave the student to publish alone. It would be inappropriate to include the names of people who have not made a scholarly contribution.
5. As to senior vs. junior authorship, if the student has shared in making decisions throughout the work, and has prepared the paper with no more than the usual amount of guidance in writing, the supervisor should put his or her name after the student's. If instead the supervisor originated the problem and essentially determined the course of the research, or if having had something to do with the research, he or she then wrote the paper, he or she should take senior authorship. In between cases can usually be decided by agreement between supervisor and student.
6. Experience shows that the student is sometimes quite unaware of how much stimulation, guidance and direct help is provided by the supervisor; thus, in the case of disagreement between the supervisor and student, the decision of the supervisor will have to be accepted. No one else is really in a position to make the judgment.
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The Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities outlines the University's definitions of and procedures for dealing with both academic and non academic offences. Your attention is drawn in particular to the section on plagiarism (in the section on Code of Student Conduct) which is reproduced in full below:
a) No student shall, with intent to deceive, represent the work of another person as his or her own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, research report, project or assignment submitted in a course or program of study or represent as his or her own an entire essay or work of another, whether the material so represented constitutes a part or the entirety of the work submitted.
b) Upon demonstration that the student has represented another person's work as his or her own, it shall be presumed that the student intended to deceive; the student will bear the burden of rebutting this presumption by evidence satisfying the person or body hearing the case that no such intent existed.
c) No student shall contribute any work to another student with the knowledge that the latter may submit the work in part or whole as his or her own. Receipt of payment for work contributed shall be cause for presumption that the student had such knowledge; the student shall bear the burden of rebutting this presumption by evidence satisfying the person or body hearing the case that no such intent existed.
These rules are adhered to very strictly in our Graduate Program, and pertain to all written and oral presentations. If you have any doubts as to the correct way to acknowledge other people's ideas or quotations from other's work, ask your supervisor or course instructor for advice before handing in your paper, thesis, and such. Ignorance of the definition of plagiarism is not a defence. Copies of the Code are available from the Graduate Program Coordinator and the Dean of Students (Brown Building). The Dean of Students can also provide information about the current Student Disciplinary and Grievance procedure.
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GASP, or Graduate Association of Students in Psychology, welcomes all psychology graduate students as members. Each spring they elect four students to make up a Steering Committee. The major function of GASP is to provide a liaison between students and the Department. They organize the selection of students for various committees, such as the Graduate Program Committee, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill, the Post Graduate Student Society. They also organize the Welcome Orientation for new students, the Graduate Student Colloquium and Poster session, and extracurricular activities.
The Colloquium Committee is responsible for organizing, in collaboration with the Department, our Bindra, Hebb and Macnamara Lecture series held on Friday afternoons about once a month. All students are expected to attend these seminars. The Colloquium Committee consists of several graduate students representing the major areas in the Department and a staff liaison member. The Committee members are responsible for inviting speakers and making all the arrangements for their visits.
Committee chairs are listed in Appendix A.
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The Students Services Center (Brown Building, 3600 McTavish Street at the corner of Dr. Penfield) offers mental and physical health services. Students must bring their ID card and their Medicare card or equivalent. Canadian residents from provinces other than Quebec are not covered by Quebec Medicare while at McGill and so should consult with the medicare offices in their own province before coming to McGill.
International students on student visas are usually ineligible for Quebec Medicare. McGill requires such students to participate in a compulsory Health Insurance Plan. These fees are included in the fee structure for international students. International students acting as teaching assistants and holding work permits are entitled to Quebec Medicare. The Office of the Dean of Students can provide clarification as to your status. If you are eligible for Medicare, you must apply for a Medicare card (application forms available from the Brown Student Services Building).
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The Off Campus Housing Service (http://www.mcgill.ca/offcampus/) is located at 3641 University Street (398-6010), maintains a list of available apartments in the McGill owned apartment buildings and in areas around McGill University. Bulletin boards in various places around the campus offer sublet and apartment sharing. Finally, the English newspaper The Gazette and the French newspaper La Presse contain classified ads for rentals.
Apartment prices range from $600-$800 for a one bedroom studio apartment. Each additional room adds about $50 to the basic price. Apartments are usually advertised as having a certain number of rooms plus 1/2 (one half); this refers to the bathroom. What you get for the price of the apartment is not always clear, as some costs (like water tax, heating, gas or electricity, washer/dryer, garage, stove & fridge) are sometimes charged to the tenant. So, before you sign a lease, make sure that the lease states clearly who pays what. In Quebec it is illegal to demand more than the monthly rent as a deposit (that sum has to be applied as the first month rent). Post dated cheques and "possible damage to the apartment" deposits are also illegal. However, some landlords might still try to do it.
Traditionally, McGill students live in an area bordered by Guy (to the west), Pine Avenue (north), Sherbrooke Street (south) and Park Avenue (east). This area contains some inexpensive rentals and more moderate to expensive rentals. Three other areas which contain moderate to inexpensive housing are Côte des Neiges, St-Henri and the Plateau.
Students are best advised to look for an apartment early in June as students from three other Universities are also looking for apartments at this time. Most leases in Montreal begin July 1st.
Limited parking facilities are available in McIntyre Garage adjacent to our building or at the corner of Dr. Penfield and Drummond at a charge of about $120 per month. Parking permits are available from the Parking and Security Office, James Ferrier Building, 840 Dr. Penfield Avenue, tel. 398-4559. Because of limited parking space, students are not often given permits. An alternative parking at the Elgin apartments across the road charges approximately $190 per month.
If you are an international student, it is important to note that you only have to go through the bureaucratic red tape at the Immigration Office once. Keep all your documents and you can renew your student visa painlessly through the International Students Advisor's Office (http://ww2.mcgill.ca/stuserv/iss/intlstud.htm) at the Brown Student Services Building, 3600 McTavish Street, (398-6013).
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The Sir Arthur Currie Memorial Gymnasium is located at 475 Pine Avenue West. This complex which includes Molson Stadium and Fieldhouse has facilities for squash, basketball, badminton, volleyball, swimming, weight training, jogging, soccer, and field hockey. Your tuition fees include athletic membership; facilities such as the pool may be used without additional charge. An extensive program of instructional athletics (squash, swimming, aerobic dance, and so on) is offered at moderate additional charge. Registration day for these courses is early each term: you are advised to go early. You must register in person take your ID card and money or cheque.
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All graduate students automatically belong to Thomson House, the graduate student center at 3650 McTavish (just ask any graduate student where it is). This is the spot for celebrating the victories and drowning the sorrows of graduate school. Members can bring a guest, and postdocs and faculty can buy associate memberships.
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The Department will try to hold seminars each term in at least 3 of the 7 areas listed below. Students are encouraged to take seminars outside of their own research areas. Within each area, subsequent seminars will deal with different topics in the area and be given by different professors, so that a student can take that area seminar more than once. The numbering system given below takes this need into account. The first time a student takes a seminar in one of these areas, he or she registers using one of the pair of course numbers labelled "first time" (if the seminar is taken in the fall term use the A number; if in the spring term use the B number). The second time that area seminar is taken, the student uses one of the numbers for it listed under "2nd time" etc. This system implies that students sitting in the same seminar could be registered under different numbers, depending on whether or not they had taken a seminar in that area before. This numbering system allows academic credit to be given each time a student takes a seminar in a particular area. (The numbering system is necessary because each year the actual content of the area seminar changes but the overall designation remains the same, so you might want to take the same area seminar, e.g. Cognition, for two years. Because you can only take a course once, you need to be able to use a different course number from the one you previously used.)
| Behavioural Neuroscience | Developmental and Language | |||
| 1st time | PSYC 710 | PSYC 734 | ||
| 2nd time | PSYC 711 | PSYC 735 | ||
| 3rd time | PSYC 712 | PSYC 736 | ||
| 4th time | PSYC 713 | PSYC 737 | ||
| 5th time | PSYC 714 | PSYC 738 | ||
| 6th time | PSYC 715 | PSYC 739 | ||
| Learning and Motivation | Perception and Cognition | |||
| 1st time | PSYC 716 | PSYC 740 | ||
| 2nd time | PSYC 717 | PSYC 741 | ||
| 3rd time | PSYC 718 | PSYC 742 | ||
| 4th time | PSYC 719 | PSYC 743 | ||
| 5th time | PSYC 720 | PSYC 744 | ||
| 6th time | PSYC 721 | PSYC 745 | ||
| Personality & Social | Quantitative & Modelling | |||
| 1st time | PSYC 722 | PSYC 746 | ||
| 2nd time | PSYC 723 | PSYC 747 | ||
| 3rd time | PSYC 724 | PSYC 748 | ||
| 4th time | PSYC 725 | PSYC 749 | ||
| 5th time | PSYC 726 | PSYC 750 | ||
| 6th time | PSYC 727 | PSYC 751 | ||
| Health Psychology | AdHoc Clinical for Additional Credits |
|||
| 1st time | PSYC 753 | PSYC 732 | ||
| 2nd time | PSYC 754 | PSYC 733 | ||
| 3rd time | PSYC 755 | |||
| 4th time | PSYC 756 | |||
| 5th time | PSYC 757 | |||
| 6th time | PSYC 758 |
Yearly Tuition Fees and Charges for 2010-2011 (excludes non-tuition fees):
| Quebec Students | Non-Quebec Canadians | International | |||
| Master | Ph.D. | Master | Ph.D | ||
| Full Time | $3500 | $7227 | $3500 | $16388 | $3994 |
| Additonal Session | $2895 | $2895 | $2895 | $2895 | $2895 |
Applications and guidelines for the various fellowships are available from the Graduate or from web sites such as the one of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (http://www.mcgill.ca/fgsr) in early September. The Graduate Coordinator will try to answer any questions you have about applying for fellowships. The completed application must be returned to the Coordinator by the end of September in order to be included in the departmental ranking. The ranked applications are then sent to the University committee, and from there to the external agency. See the section on Financing Graduate Education in the Faculty's Calendar. The Graduate Coordinator will inform you via e-mail with more details when information regarding fellowships become available.
1. Department support: Students who do not obtain outside fellowships are supported by the Department through teaching assistantships for a limited number of years. Students should not rely solely on this as their expected source of support, and MUST apply for other awards for which they are eligible.
2. Some Faculty Fellowships are reserved for newly admitted and current students in the program; McGill Recruitment Fellowships are given to new students.
3. Government Agencies:
a) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Post Graduate Scholarships for full support are awarded to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants residing in Canada. These awards are for students in physiological, cognitive, language, perception, and learning psychology. The deadline for applications to be handed in is the end of September of the year prior to that for which support is sought (http://www.nserc.ca).
b) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) offers doctoral fellowships to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who are already enrolled in, or have completed at least l year of, graduate studies. They are intended to support study in social, personality, developmental, language and clinical psychology. The deadline for applications to be handed in is the end of September of the year prior to that for which support is sought (http://www.sshrc.ca).
c) Canadian (CIHR). Studentships are awarded to students who have completed at least
12 months and not more than 36 months of a graduate program in health related fields. Students
must be registered in a doctoral program at the time of tenure. Many areas of research in clinical
psychology qualify. The deadline for these awards is early October. Applicants are responsible
for completing and submitting the application form directly to CIHR if
applying to the doctoral competition. Applications are submitted on-line
directly to the agency in early October. Consult the CIHR website
(http://www.cihr.ca). For CIHR master's
competition, the deadline for applications to be handed in is mid-October of
the year prior to that for which support is sought.
d) Fonds Quebecoise de la Recherche (FQRNT/FQRSC). Master's and doctoral awards are offered in all disciplines to Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are also residents of Quebec (i.e. hold a Quebec Medicare card and are not covered by the health plan of another province). Applications are submitted on-line directly to FQRNT/FQRSC by early October of the year prior to that for which support is sought. Check the web sites http://www.fqrnt.qc.ca and http://www.fqrsc.qc.ca.
e) Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ) studentships are awarded to students studying for the MSc or PhD in health related fields. Many areas of research in Clinical Psychology qualify. Applications are submitted on-line directly to FQRNT/FQRSC by early October of the year prior to that for which support is sought. Check the web site http://www.frsq.qc.ca. The agency offers support for graduate study under the National Health Research and Development Program in the fields of epidemiology and biostatistics.
4. Other Awards. A number of students are also eligible for certain additional awards. Lists and descriptions of these can be found in the back of the Calendar of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. For example, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada administers several fellowships as part of the AUCC National Fellowships Program for graduate study at universities across Canada. In most cases the applicant must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident for at least one year prior to application. Applications can be obtained from a common mailing address:
Canadian Awards Program
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
350 Albert Street, Suite 600
Ottawa, Ontario K1R 1B1
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For graduation (PhD) at the spring convocation the deadline for deposition of theses is the first Monday of February; for Fall Convocation the first Monday in June; for Winter granting of degree is the first Monday in October. For the exact dates, the "Calendar of Dates" should be consulted. The deadline for Masters' theses is one week later than for dissertations. Due to unforeseen delays with examiners, an absolute guarantee cannot be given that all procedures will be complete in time for Convocation, even when the deadlines are met. Every effort will be made, however, and incidents of this kind of delay are rare.
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After a doctoral thesis has been handed in, it is submitted to the examiners. The oral defense is not held until after the examiners have reported favourably, usually about six to eight weeks after deposition. After all the requirements have been met, and if the next Convocation is some time away, the Dean will issue (on request) a certificate stating that the candidate will be recommended to Faculty Council for the award of the degree at the next convocation. The procedures are similar but simpler for the master's thesis and there is no final oral defense.
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A thesis can only be submitted by a student registered for the degree in question. If all requirements are met, including the deposition of the thesis, by the registration date in September, then no registration fee will be charged. Otherwise the full year tuition fee will be assessed (if you convocate in February, you can inform the Faculty in writing that you have graduated and wish to cancel your winter registration). Candidates should note that a Thesis Examination charge of $100 is requested at the time of submission and a fee of $60 for graduation is charged to the student in their first year of graduate studies. (Fuller information about fees is given in the Calendar).
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Initial Submission
The thesis must be checked before submission for spelling, grammar, etc. It is very important to ensure that all copies of the thesis have been photocopied correctly. Once theses have been submitted to Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, changes cannot be made to the thesis during the examination process.
1. Thesis
For the initial submission, copies should be double-sided and may include colored illustrations.
1. Master’s: Submit copies 1 and 2 to the unit* (for distribution to the supervisor[s]/internal examiner) and copy 3 to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
2. Doctoral: Submit copies 1 through 5 to the unit* (for distribution to the supervisor[s]/internal examiner and verifying with the unit* whether additional copies are required for the oral defense); copies 6 and 7 to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
2. Accompanying Documents
The following must be submitted to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies along with the thesis:
1. Nomination of Examiners forms must show complete addresses, phone and fax numbers, email addresses and full names for all examiners (including supervisor and internal examiners) and be signed by the student, supervisor and the unit* head.
2. Thesis Submission Form, completed and signed by the student, supervisor and unit* head.
3. Library Waiver Forms (Library and Archives Canada, UMI, and McGill)including copyright/co-author permissions, if applicable. Please note that these permissions are NOT to be included in the actual thesis; they are to be submitted separately.
4. If the research for the thesis involved human participants, animal subjects, microorganisms, living cells, other biohazards, and/or radioactive materials, the appropriate compliance certificates must be included with the library waivers. These certificates can be obtained from the Research Grants Office. An on-line tutorial is available on our Research Ethics site. Please note that these certificates are NOT to be included in the actual thesis; they are to be submitted separately.
5. Thesis Submission Checklist, completed and signed by the student.
No subsequent change of title will be accepted unless the change is officially requested by the department at least one month before the thesis is deposited. The appointment of the examiners, and communication with them, is the duty of the Dean. The external examiner selected by the Dean will remain anonymous.
The guidelines for writing theses and form submissions are available through the
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website at
http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/thesis/.
If a thesis is failed it cannot be submitted again in revised form without the permission of Faculty Council. Full instructions on how to proceed will be sent to the candidate, the supervisor and department. In the case of an unfavourable judgment at the doctoral oral defense, refer to the "Guidelines for Doctoral Oral Examinations" for further information.
Final submission - e-Thesis submission
e-Thesis submission pertains only to the submission of the final, corrected copy of the thesis to GPS; it does not cover the initial submission which is sent for review by GPS. The initial submission is still paper-based, printed both sides.
Please note: an e-thesis will NOT be considered submitted to GPS until it has been approved online by the supervisor(s). Students are strongly encouraged to upload their e-theses for online supervisor approval well in advance of the Deadline for Submission of Final Copies, otherwise the e-thesis may be approved too late for the intended date of graduation.
Style-sheets may be used for layout. The e-thesis must, however, be submitted as a pdf/a file which requires Adobe Acrobat version 7 (minimum). If they wish, students can purchase an Adobe Acrobat license through the McGill Computer Store at a substantially reduced cost.
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