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Graduate Handbook

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  1. Requirements for Admission
  2. Course Work Requirements
  3. Foreign Language
  4. Department Comprehensive Exam
  5. Thesis
  6. Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology

Master's Degree

The Department of Anthropology, at Florida State University, offers two programs for the Master's degree: Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Science (MS). Both degrees require a thesis. An overall "B" average is required to remain in any of the programs.


Requirements for Admission

Minimum standards for admission to the graduate program of the Department of Anthropology:
  1. An overall cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the Junior and Senior years of undergraduate work.
  2. A total score of 1000 or better on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Aptitude Test (verbal and quantitative score combined).
  3. Three (3) letters of recommendation from former instructors, employers or supervisors who know the student's work. Letters from former instructors are preferred.
  4. A personal statement outlining the reasons for interest in anthropology and career objectives, not to exceed 600 words.

Coursework Requirements

Each student seeking a master's degree in the department of Anthropology must satisfy the following specific course requirements:
  1. Completion of a minimum of 31 hours of graduate course credits, to include 24 semester hours of graded graduate credit, with a "B-" or better in each course (i.e., not to include courses taken S/U); 18 semester hours must be in anthropology courses and all hours must be at the 5000 level. Special permission may be given to credit 4000 level courses toward this requirement in cases where there is not a 5000 level equivalent. Students who have not taken a history of anthropology course as an undergraduate are strongly advised to take ANT 4034: History of Anthropology, in their first year.
  2. Each student is required to take the following core courses:
    • ANG 5491: Seminar in Sociocultural Anthropology
    • ANG 5115: Seminar in Archaeological Method and Theory
    • ANG 5511: Seminar in Physical Anthropology
    • ANG 5677: Seminar in Anthropological Linguistics
    • ANG 5001: Proseminar. This course should be taken during the first semester of the student's graduate studies or as soon thereafter as possible (1 hour).
  3. For the MA, completion of 6 semester hours of graduate credit in the humanities at the 5000 level. For the MS, completion of 6 semester hours in a related field is recommended but not required.
  4. Students must also register for ANG 8966: Master's Comprehensive Examination during the fall semester of their second year in the program. The examination will be administered during the week before fall semester classes begin and graded during the first month of the fall semester.
  5. Completion of ANG 5971: Thesis (minimum of 6 semester hours; may be counted toward completion of credit hour requirements for the degree).
  6. During the semester in which the thesis is completed, students must register for ANG 5976: Master's Thesis Defense.
  7. Fieldwork: Students wishing to concentrate in archaeology are encouraged to apprise themselves of the current standards of the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA) for registration at the Master's level. Graduate students concentrating in archaeology are expected to have at least one field school experience as a graduate student. It is the intention of the department that at graduation a student will meet minimum RPA requirements. From time to time there are opportunities for fieldwork in other branches of anthropology such as underwater archaeology and ethnography.

Foreign Language

Effective Fall semester 1989, all candidates for master's degrees in Anthropology must meet the same University-wide foreign language requirement as that described specifically for the Master of Arts degree at Florida State University (see current university catalogue). Graduate reading knowledge courses may not be counted as credit for the humanities requirement.

If the student has had no language courses past high school, completion of 3 semesters (12 semester hours) of Freshman and Sophomore level language courses (through the 2000 level course) with a B average will satisfy this requirement.

If the student has met a undergraduate foreign language requirement for the bachelor's degree with the equivalent of three semesters (or more) with a B average, the requirement is satisfied.

If the student has taken language courses in the past, but has not completed 3 semesters (12 hours) or has not achieved a B average, a graduate reading knowledge course is available culminating in a reading knowledge examination. Successful passage of this examination (determined by the instructor teaching the graduate reading knowledge course) satisfies the requirement. If a student is not certain of the level of their language proficiency, they may take the examination without registering for the course.

If the student has not formally taken a language at the college or university level, but has a language proficiency, he or she may sit for the graduate reading examination in the language of choice.

The Department of Modern Languages administers graduate reading knowledge examinations in German, French, Spanish, and Italian. Examinations in Russian, Chinese, and Japanese can also be arranged on an individual basis. The graduate reading knowledge courses may be taken as a graduate student but cannot be counted as humanities credits for the Master of Arts degree. The appropriate Department of Modern Languages division should be contacted to determine in which semesters the graduate reading knowledge courses and examinations will be offered.

A student registered for other courses during a semester may register for the graduate reading knowledge examination at no charge. If the student is not enrolled, a registration fee will be charged.

Departmental Comprehensive Examination

The comprehensive examination will be scheduled once a year in August (the week before classes begin) and will test the student's general comprehension of physical anthropology, archaeology, sociocultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology. Graduate students are expected to take the examinaton upon the completion of the four core courses at the end of the first year of studies. Those sections of the examination in which a candidate receives a failing grade will be considered to have been failed and must be retaken. Failure of two or more sections requires a student to retake the entire examination. A student may retake a failed examination only once.

Thesis

The student shall choose a thesis committee consisting minimally of his or her major advisor and two additional regular faculty members, one of whom may be from another department within the university system. Following the successful completion of the comprehensive examination, the student will present, within 90 days, a thesis prospectus to be approved and signed by his or her committee and placed on file. This prospectus will contain a description of the proposed research and whatever other materials the student's committee deems appropriate.


Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology

The requirements for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, are:

Admission Policies

Upon admission, the doctoral student's Master's degree program will be evaluated by the departmental doctoral studies committee. Recommendations will be made regarding major field area selections, sufficiency of the Master's program, elective course work at the doctoral level, and appropriate language proficiency.
  1. To be eligible for admission, an applicant must have an M.A. or M.S. degree in anthropology from an accredited college or university. (See Exceptions.)
  2. Each student will declare a major field within anthropology: in sociocultural anthropology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, or archaeological anthropology.
  3. Course work: Students must complete 30 hours of graded course work beyond the Master's level and 24 dissertation hours for a total of 54 credit hours. If a student has not previously taken a Proseminar course (1 hour credit), he or she is required to do so in the first semester of course work (or at the time after admission that the course is first offered).

Distribution of the 30 hours of course work is as follows: most of the hours will be taken in graded courses within the department but up to six (6) hours of course work outside the Department of Anthropology may be applied to the 30 hour requirement, subject to the student's committee and the graduate coordinator. No more than six (6) hours of Directed Individual Study (DIS) may be taken for credit.

Specific course requirements are as follows: an advanced seminar at the 6000 level in the major field and a course in research methods, unless this has been taken at the Master's level. Recommended, but not required, is an advanced course in method and theory in the student's major area of study.

  1. Language Requirement: The doctoral studies committee will evaluate the student's language preparation and make recommendations regarding the appropriate level of language proficiency. Students must demonstrate reading competency of anthropological literature in at least one foreign language.
  2. A qualifying examination, with both written and oral components, will be taken when at least 30 credit hours of course work have been completed by the student. The student, with the advice of his or her committee, will identify three areas within the major field. The written exam will be tailored to the student's program of studies. The oral examination will concentrate on the major field areas and the dissertation topic. The written examination will be prepared by the members of the student's committee and one member of the departmental doctoral studies committee.
  3. A dissertation prospectus is due within six weeks of passing the qualifying examination. It is expected that the full dissertation committee will meet for the defense of the prospectus. The dissertation committee is composed of at least three eligible members of the Department of Anthropology faculty and one outside member of the Florida State University graduate faculty.
  4. A dissertation and oral defense of dissertation. Dissertation credit hours are anticipated to include fieldwork, data collection and analysis, synthesis, and writing. An oral defense of the dissertation will be held by the dissertation committee and candidate on completion of the dissertation. The dissertation must be available to the committee members at least one month before the defense may be scheduled.

Sequenced Course of Study

While no specific requirements are made with respect to the sequencing of course work, it is expected that full-time Ph.D. students will complete the required 30 hours of course work during the first three or four semesters of residence. Because of the nature of anthropological fieldwork, and its intimate relation to the dissertation, it is expected that the fieldwork and analysis portion of the dissertation hours (the first 12 hours) will take up to one and one-half years following the qualifying examination. Dissertation writing (the last 12 hours of dissertation credit) should be completed in another six months to one year. This sequence will allow a motivated student to progress through the program in a timely manner. The Florida State University requires that the dissertation be completed within five years of admission to candidacy.

Exceptions

If a student is admitted who does not have a master's degree in anthropology, the doctoral studies committee will evaluate the student's transcript and make recommendations for compensatory classes beyond the required 30 hours. Most likely, they will require that the student take some or all of the master's degree core courses listed below:
  • Seminar in Prehistory
  • Seminar in Sociocultural Anthropology
  • Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology
  • Seminar in Physical Anthropology
A student who applies for admission to doctoral studies in anthropology with a master's degree from another discipline, particularly a non-thesis degree, will probably not be accepted for doctoral studies without first completing or demonstrating competency (by successful passage of the departmental comprehensive examination) of master's degree level knowledge in anthropology.
A student from the master's degree program in anthropology at Florida State University may be approved for the doctoral program by the graduate faculty the departmental master's comprehensive examination. If the student desires to receive the master's degree, he or she must complete the thesis requirements.

The Departmental Doctoral Studies Committee

Composition: one sociocultural anthropologist, one physical anthropologist, one anthropological linguist, one archaeologist, and the graduate coordinator. The graduate coordinator shall chair this committee and maintain a record of its deliberations.

Responsibilities:

  1. The Graduate Coordinator shall distribute to the members of the Doctoral Studies Committee (DSC) data on each of the students to be evaluated prior to its regular fall meeting. The Graduate Coordinator shall convene the DSC meeting on the Tuesday prior to the New Graduate Student Orientation (held on Wednesday morning) during the week prior to the beginning of fall semester classes, or at an appropriate time before spring or summer terms as needed.
  2. The Graduate Coordinator shall provide an appointment time when the student can meet with the DSC. Each incoming doctoral student's credential will be evaluated and discussed with the student. Along with the student's doctoral adviser, if the adviser desires to be present, the committee will evaluate the student's master's level program for sufficiency and breadth. Requirements for remediation or recommendations for breadth will be made and communicated to the student's adviser prior to the usual period of advisement.
  3. The Doctoral Adviser and the incoming doctoral student will meet for advising (prior to the new doctoral student's registration for classes).
  4. Members of the Doctoral Studies Committee who cannot be present for meetings of the committee are responsible for securing a representative from their subdiscipline.
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