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iii) Proposal and Proposal Defense.
After the first two years, you start working on your own on a research problem defined by you under the supervision of a Professor. You start going through different research papers related to your focused problem. This phase is called the literature review.
Based on your literature review and your research problem, you decide the particular research method that you are going to use. At this stage, you are asked to present your Research Proposal to your committee.

iv) Final Research and Defense.
After defending your proposal, you continue with your research, which might involve data collection if it is an empirical research. You write the complete dissertation, which are divided into several chapters. In the end, you defend the dissertation in front of a committee, and anyone who is interested in your research.

Typically, the Ph.D. should take you about four years. However, there have been examples like that of the great management guru C.K. Prahalad who finished his dissertation in two and half years. However, as a Ph.D. student you should be ready for the long haul. However, as you will realize later, it is worth the effort!!!

Concluded.

* Contributed by -
Dr. Partha Mohapatra,
Assistant Professor,
Morgan State University, USA,
The contents of this article reflect author's personal opinions.