Written Comprehensive Exam
Comprehensive exams are designed to test comprehensive knowledge of a subject area. Your responses to the exam questions must display a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the literature in the field and an ability to think critically and apply your analyses and interpretations of the literature.
Responses for the exam are expected to meet several criteria to receive a passing grade.
In the context of the focus on an exam question, responses should illustrate:
- Your awareness and understanding of the major debates in the literature
- The development of common positions in the discipline
- The role and place of IK in the issue and in the academy
- Your knowledge and awareness of emerging trends on the issue expressed in emerging scholarship.
- Your thoughts on what your own work will contribute to the field in regards to the question
Responses should also be:
- Well organized and structured
- Complete in their treatment of all aspects of the question being asked
- Properly and appropriately sourced and referenced*
- Clear and concise in the writing style, using correct grammar and spelling
- Be persuasive in the presentation of argumentation and position
- Show a critical understanding of what authors have said about the topic being discussed, not merely a citation of the work.
*You may use a referencing format of your choice as long as it is used correctly and consistently throughout your response.
*You may use direct quotations in your responses, but these should be used sparingly. Lengthy quotes should be avoided.
It is expected that you will use a minimum of 6 (six) sources from each of the four themes of the core comprehensive exam bibliography, that is:
. Land and IK;
. Colonialism and Advocacy;
. Indigenous Resurgence;
. Critical Indigenous Studies.
You may also draw upon other literature and oral sources and traditions, as well as your own experience, where appropriate. Your responses should demonstrate that you understand the literature of the discipline and are capable of critical engagement and argumentation using it.
Indigenous Studies as a Discipline
The core comprehensive bibliography contains 70 sources dived across four themes. Students are tested for their comprehensive knowledge of the scholarship in each theme as well as what each theme represents within the discipline of Indigenous Studies. Obviously, Trent has a particular vision and way of thinking of Indigenous Studies that is reflected in the approach taken and courses offered within the program and the Chanie Wenjack School.
That focus is heavily grounded in Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Knowledges and traditional/contemporary practices. Students are expected to show they have sufficient engagement with IK and with IK related activities as well as being able to demonstrate they can bridge the gap between IK and Indigenous Thought (I.E. the scholarship created by Indigenous scholars). This scholarship discusses IK in various contexts but it is not IK.
There are various debates and tensions in the discipline that cut across the four themes and students should be prepared to discuss them in their responses to exam questions.
Comprehensive exam questions are developed by an examination committee appointed on an annual basis. The completed exam is reviewed by the examination committee and a decision rendered within 45 days.