PhD Syllabus & Subjects 2023

PhD is the highest academic level degree awarded to students who conduct unique and independent research on a specific domain. In a PhD course, students are involved in research work and write a thesis on a particular field of study. This thesis must be original. Usually, it takes three to five years to cover PhD course syllabus. However, this duration may differ as per the institutions’ regulations. The degree is offered mainly in two fields like Humanities, Science. The course curriculum and PhD course subjects vary according to the course types. The focus of the PhD syllabus is to inspire the students to make research work. Apart from the research work, the students get involved in seminars, presentations, etc. 

As per the present UGC guidelines, a PhD student needs to make at least one paper publication before the submission of the thesis. The number of seminars and paper publications varies depending on the universities. The PhD subjects provide a comprehensive idea and take both the knowledge and skill to the research level. While deciding on PhD studies, students make thorough research on it. The course curriculum and PhD stream-wise subjects must be checked by them.

PhD is an advanced research study for students who have both undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. Therefore, the PhD course syllabus is framed keeping the students and their research objectives in mind. The PhD syllabus depends on the specializations a student wants to earn their PhD degree. If we check the syllabus, then some modules can be found the same for a particular domain. The syllabus and PhD subjects completely depend on the domain, guide, and institute that offers the course. Hence, we have provided a general idea of that. The below-given table will help to understand how a PhD course syllabus goes on.

PhD 1^st year Syllabus

In the first year, a student needs to work on the following subjects.

PhD 2^nd-year Syllabus

Get an idea of the 2^nd year syllabus pattern of PhD courses:

PhD 3^rd-year Syllabus

Check the third-year syllabus and PhD course subjects in the table below:

PhD or Doctor of Philosophy courses is offered on numerous streams. Science, Arts and Humanities, and Management are some of the major streams of a PhD. A large number PhD courses are there in India. The stream wise syllabus for some of the PhD courses is mentioned in the table below:  

By learning the PhD subjects of a particular domain students develop strong methodological skills that are needed to perform the research. These PhD course subjects work as a background for their research paper. Students can check out the list of subjects for some major Doctor of Philosophy specializations in the given table:

The PhD subjects included as optional papers help in improving the understanding ability. For a challenging course like Doctor of Philosophy, optional subjects help to balance the load of learning. It introduces some subjects that the students might not have studied ever. An important benefit is that these subjects make the learners more skilled in the field. With the added advantage of additional learning, students get the scope of increasing their knowledge of their domain and related areas. 

While selecting these subjects, students should consider their interest and confidence in the subject as important factors. There is a large number of optional subjects in the PhD course syllabus. Optional of two major Doctor of Philosophy courses are listed below:

Being a traditional higher-level academic course, the Doctor of Philosophy comes with a vast range of specializations. Therefore, for the PhD aspirants, the options are abundant. Be it a science stream or the Arts stream, students have immense opportunities for earning a degree in their subject of interest. Students can check out the below-given lists to know about the kind of PhD specializations available in Indian colleges or universities. Among a large number of specializations, only a few are mentioned below:

PhD entrance exams are conducted at both national and institute levels. The students who score a minimum of 50% marks are allowed to seat for the entrance test. The universities/institutes want to test a students’ understanding level of the subject he/she wants to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree. The course has been traditionally preferred by students who want to avail research studies in their post-graduate subject. In the present century, the number of individuals doing PhD has increased a lot. 

India is giving some excellent research opportunities to post-graduate students. The universities want to enrol only talented students in their Doctor of Philosophy courses. Here comes the importance of the PhD entrance test. Some popular entrance tests are CSIR UGC NET, UGC NET, etc. A list of PhD syllabus for the entrance exam is tabulated below:

Books play a pivotal role to complete a course like a PhD. Immense information is required for the research work involved in this course. Therefore, students need to be updated on their research topics. PhD students should take help from subject-oriented books. Usually, a Guide who supervises the students in their research work, recommends books. However, here is a list of books on research methodology that the PhD students can refer to complete the course with ease:

Once the students get enrolled in a PhD course, they are required to prepare and submit their research topic and the proposal of research. Then the institutes from where a student pursues the course allocate a guide to the students. Once the students get a Guide, he/she informs the PhD course syllabus, course work, teaching schedule, and assessment technique. Usually, in most universities or institutes students require to submit their work reports at an interval of six months. Another important part of the PhD course is seminar presentations. A student pursuing this course mandatorily gives at least two seminars and then submits his/her Certificate to the Research Unit. The next phase is thesis submission. Before making the final submission of the thesis, students require to publish one research paper in a peer-reviewed journal. This Certificate is also required to submit to the Research Unit. A Pre-Seminar Submission is organized by the Guide before the final submission of the thesis. 

Based on the performance, a report is prepared and submitted. The students get some valuable suggestions for improvement and they incorporate them into the final thesis. Then they prepare a summary of the thesis which they need to submit 45 days before the thesis submission. Once the thesis is finally submitted, it is examined by the experts and students must take part in the viva-voce where they can express their perspectives before the group of experts. Those who successfully get through all these phases are awarded a PhD Degree. In brief, we can structure the Doctor of Philosophy course in the following structure:

·   Submission of Research Proposal

·   Research Report

·   Seminar

·   Certificate Submission

·   Publication of one research paper

·   Pre-seminar submission

·   Thesis Submission

·   Viva Voce