Program Requirements and Deadlines
Course Requirements:
- 90 hours of course work
- 60 hours of course work must be in formal classes, excluding ENGL 5995, non-ENGL courses and tutorials.• 10 max for tutorial courses
- Five courses distributed over three periods: before 1700; 1700-1900; after 1900. Students must take at least one course in one period and at least two courses in the other two periods.
- Four rhetoric and theory courses
- Five courses distributed over three periods:
Over the course of each academic year the English Department offers courses in each of the major literary periods: Old English/Medieval; Renaissance; 18th, 19th and 20th centuries and contemporary; rhetoric and theory. All students must satisfy the distribution requirement by selecting courses from the following groups: 1) Old English, Medieval, Renaissance 2) 18th-19th centuries 3) Modern and Contemporary
*Students must take at least one course in one period and at least two courses in the other two periods.
Four rhetoric and theory courses:
- ENGL 3815 Studies in Rhetoric
- ENGL 3817 History of Rhetoric
- ENGL 3818 Composition Theory
- ENGL 3820 Lit Criticism: Plato-19th Century
- ENGL 3821 Lit Criticism: 19th Century-Present
- ENGL 3822 Lit Criticism: 20th Century
- ENGL 3823 Interpretation Theory
- ENGL 3825 Cultural Criticism
- ENGL 4600 Adv Studies 20th Century
- ENGL 4621 Adv Studies 20th Century
- ENGL 4650 Special Topics 20th Century
Other Requirements:
- ENGL 4000 Graduate Colloquium
- ENGL 4100 Graduate Tutorial
- Graduate Teaching Seminars
- ENGL 4830 Seminar in Teaching
- ENGL 4831 Seminar in Teaching
- ENGL 4832 Seminar in Teaching
Non-Course Requirements:
- Preliminary advancement to candidacy
- Advancement to candidacy
- A dissertation of publishable quality that is a significant contribution to its field. This will take the form of an extended scholarly and critical work (usually between 150 and 250 pages) OR a creative work (fiction or poetry). The creative dissertation must include a critical preface that situates the dissertation in its literary context.
- Oral examination. When the dissertation is completed, it must be defended by the candidate. The defense must take place by 30 April. No dissertation defenses will be held during the summer quarter. The candidate is therefore advised to set the defense date as far in advance as possible. The defense takes the form of a discussion with the committee concerning the content, context and implications of the work. Defense committees consist of an outside tenured chair, the student's dissertation director and two other departmental readers.
- Language requirement (tool). The department requires all doctoral students to complete the language requirement by passing a reading test administered by the Department of Languages and Literatures or by passing a 3000-level literature course in the Department of Languages and Literatures with a grade of B or better. Competency established at another college or university may be transferred at the discretion of the graduate director. Note: The language requirement must be completed by the quarter before graduation.
- Prospectus exam. By the end of the fall quarter of the third year, students must submit a Dissertation Area Proposal to the director of graduate studies. This proposal is a brief description of the proposed area of the dissertation; it must be signed by at least two dissertation committee members. Before the end of the second quarter of the third year of study, all students must take the prospectus exam. This is an oral examination based on the written dissertation prospectus and conducted by the director of graduate studies and an exam committee consisting of the first two readers of the dissertation. The prospectus should be approximately 2,500-3,000 words and should be presented to the exam committee well in advance of the exam. For literature and rhetoric/theory students, the prospectus should outline the relevant scholarship and describe an original thesis for the proposed work. It should also include a working bibliography for the project.
- Written comprehensive exam. At the beginning of the third year of study, and after 60 hours of completed course work, all students will take a written comprehensive exam covering four areas of study: 1) an author or major figure; 2) a genre; 3) a period; 4) a second period or special topic. All choices must be approved by examiners and the graduate director. Students will prepare a reading list for each area in consultation with examiners. All lists must be signed by both examiners and on file with the graduate director by May 15 or the student will not be allowed to take the exam the following fall.