Like anything in life, getting a PhD is a series of hoops. I celebrate each one with gusto, leading more than one member of my family to say, "wait, I thought you were done," when I am not. Here (for those of you who are interested) is a primer of PhD hoops. (This will be particularly helpful for one brother.)
First you have to get accepted into a program (which entails choosing schools and what to study). Once you start you are a PhD student.
Once you're in you take classes. After you take some prerequisite classes (about a year in my program) you take a series of tests called qualifiers, or candidacies, which basically show your professors that you are actually talented/dedicated enough to finish the degree. After passing these tests you can call yourself a PhD candidate.
At some point you take enough classes that you can say "I am done with classes! forever!" (and mean it, cause there are no more degrees to get). Once you get to this point, you take another set of tests, often called comprehensives. For me, I wrote two 25ish page papers at home, and two 10 -15 page papers sitting in a room with just my head and a computer, writing everything I knew about two subjects. Once you've passed this test you can claim that you are A.B.D. (all but dissertation). This test is both a measure of your progress, and hopefully a jumpstart on your dissertation.
(Did I mention that you were supposed to be publishing journal articles and making presentations at national conferences along the way?)
Then you propose your dissertation, which is a meeting with your committee (four professors helping you move from student to collegue) where you tell them what you want to study, what you know about it, and why it is worth studying. A green light from your committee allows you to try to collect data (pending review board approval) and write the paper.
I've already blogged about the paper itself. Once it is written, then a dissertation is defended, which means you present your findings to your committee, and others who may be interested, then they ask you whatever questions they'd like. If (when) you pass your dissertation defense, then you are officially have a PhD degree.
But there are most likely still edits to do on your paper.
