A Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) is typically the highest level of educational progression a person can attain in a given field. To receive a PhD, a person will usually have to go through a graduate program at a graduate school, or PhD school. A PhD school is usually heavily focused on research and various research methods, in order to best prepare a person for the work required to complete a doctoral dissertation, which is typically the final examination for completion of this type of schooling.
Anyone interested in PhD school should understand that this type of schooling is typically intended for someone looking to establish himself or herself as a true expert in a particular field. As such, the programs offered by these types of schools usually focus on helping a student learn to do research and write effectively to be published and complete the doctoral dissertation that will act as the culmination of his or her work. Many people who pursue a PhD often do so to continue a career in academia as a professor or researcher, depending on the field in which they are focusing.
A program at a PhD school is not typically focused on the practical or fundamental aspects of a subject, as lower level classes typically consider those things, but instead focuses upon certain precise elements of a subject or theoretical ideas and considerations. For example, a literature program at a PhD school will not necessarily focus on reading a number of books and comparing them, but instead might focus on a particular theme in literature and how that theme is expressed throughout centuries of writing. Or perhaps focus on a single work of literature and painstakingly explore and dissect that work to fully understand every last detail to completion.
This is because the doctoral dissertation necessary to complete PhD school is usually a similarly focused and remarkably precise piece of work. Often consisting of several hundred pages, a dissertation presents the ideas of a student with support from extensive work and research in the field performed by the student to provide defense for his or her ideas. The ideas presented in a dissertation will be challenged and the student will have to defend them to complete his or her schooling. Anyone looking for specific information regarding a particular PhD school should contact that school for more details regarding admission requirements and program features.