This examination is taken upon completion of the final document and preliminary approval by the major professor, at which time the student provides a copy of the document for each member of the advisory committee and schedules an oral examination date.  A preliminary Turnitin report must be submitted at this time as well.  Students are to review and evaluate this report prior to submission to the committee, addressing instances of plagiarism as they are detected in the report.  

1. Students are to follow the guidelines below when scheduling the final oral examination:
   
   1. Present a range of possible examination dates to all members of advisory committee; students should be as flexible as possible in this matter, as coordinating several faculty schedules will be difficult. It is recommended that students correspond with committee members via e-mail to facilitate scheduling.
   2. Select a two-hour block of time that is acceptable to all members of the advisory committee.
   3. Schedule a room for the examination. Oral examinations are typically conducted in the Floyd Graham/Green Room (MU 251), in one of the CEMI studios, or in the major professor’s studio. Students must follow College of Music procedures when scheduling a room for the examination.
   4. Confirm the date, time, and location of the oral examination with all examination committee members once it has been scheduled through the Music Scheduling Office.
2. The examination consists of the following:
   
   1. Defense of the final document: this includes discussion of both the original composition and any topics relevant to the critical essay.
   2. Final evaluation of the composition portfolio; refer to the Graduate Review section above for details.
   3. Master's students only: comprehensive examination over material covered during graduate coursework and general knowledge commensurate to the degree. (Note that doctoral students will have been tested on this material during the oral portion of the qualifying examination).  
3. At the conclusion of the final oral examination, the advisory committee makes one of the following recommendations:
   
   1. Passed.
   2. Passed provisionally, pending any changes to the document recommended by members of the advisory committee.
   3. Failed, in which case the advisory committee will determine the conditions for rescheduling the final oral examination.
4. If any changes to the document are required, advisory committee members will return the revised draft of the document with corrections to the student following the final oral examination.
5. Upon successful completion of the final document defense and approval of the document, the student submits a copy of the entire final document, along with the most recent Turnitin report, to the Office of Graduate Studies in Music.
6. Graduate students should carefully observe all posted deadlines prior to scheduling the final oral examination. Failure to meet deadlines listed below will result in a postponed graduation date and may require enrolling in an additional semester of enrollment in MUGC 5950/6950:
   
   1. Six weeks prior to final oral examination: Student schedules final oral examination date in consultation with advisory committee; allow 48 hours to confirm room reservation.
   2. Three weeks prior to final oral examination: Student submits first draft of complete document (composition and critical essay) to major professor.
   3. Two weeks prior to final oral examination: Major professor returns the document draft with corrections to student.
   4. One week prior to final oral examination: Student submits revised version of complete document (approved by the major professor) to advisory committee.
   5. Three weeks prior to final document filing deadline: Last date for final oral examination; this allows the student adequate time to make any necessary corrections to the document as recommended by the advisory committee.
   6. Two weeks prior to final document filing deadline: Student submits final revised document to the Office of Graduate Studies in Music for approval by the director of graduate studies and the dean of the College of Music. Additional information is available at the Music Graduate Studies website.