doctorates
Highest academic credentials
Doctorates are the highest academic degrees conferred by universities, typically requiring years of advanced study and original research culminating in a dissertation.
The most common is the PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), though professional doctorates exist in fields like medicine, law, and education: She completed two doctorates before turning thirty.
Extended academic treatise
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
- vivaAcclaim meaning "live"
- defenseProtection against harm
- graduationCompleting academic requirements formally
commencement · hooding · regalia · candidacy · postgraduate · fellowship · summa · magna
Protected employment status
- professorshipSenior academic post
- lectureshipAcademic teaching post
- academiaHigher education community
- supervisorOne who directs workers
publication · monograph · citation · colloquium · seminar · pedagogy · scholarly · faculty
Concentrated expertise in one field
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
- scholarLearned, studious person
- expertHighly skilled practitioner
- masteryComplete skill or control
proficiency · knowledge · credentials · qualification · distinction · eminence · thought leader · subject matter expert
Testable proposed explanation
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- fieldworkResearch conducted on location
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
- dataFacts for analysis
analysis · empirical · qualitative · quantitative · findings · grant · ethics · experimentation
Study of fundamental truths
- medicineCurative substance or practice
- lawBinding principle or regulation
- theologyStudy of the divine
- educationSystematic development of mind
psychology · engineering · sciences · humanities · social sciences · business · nursing · music
dissertation
Extended academic treatise
graduation · commencement · hooding · regalia · candidacy · postgraduate · fellowship · summa · magna · capstone
tenure
Protected employment status
- professorshipSenior academic post
- lectureshipAcademic teaching post
- academiaHigher education community
supervisor · publication · monograph · citation · colloquium · seminar · pedagogy · scholarly · faculty · adjunct
specialization
Concentrated expertise in one field
mastery · proficiency · knowledge · credentials · qualification · distinction · eminence · thought leader · subject matter expert · specialist
hypothesis
Testable proposed explanation
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- fieldworkResearch conducted on location
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
data · analysis · empirical · qualitative · quantitative · findings · grant · ethics · experimentation · literature review
philosophy
Study of fundamental truths
education · psychology · engineering · sciences · humanities · social sciences · business · nursing · music · divinity
- academiaprofessors, universities, graduation cap, biology department, professor
- universitiesuniversities, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge
doctoratesbachelor's degrees
First university qualifications
undergraduate degrees · bachelor's · associate degrees · master's degrees · associate's
doctoratesilliteracy
Inability to read
uneducated · unschooled · uncredentialed · untrained · dropouts
- honorary doctorateCeremonial academic distinction