Doctor of
Philosophy Degree
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is awarded to those who have
demonstrated their command of an important body of knowledge and their ability
to conceive and complete a significant research project. Although students must
fulfill certain requirements in course work and foreign language proficiency,
their main responsibility is to learn the material, to demonstrate mastery of
it by passing the written and oral parts of the Qualifying Examination, and to
develop the skills needed to write the dissertation so that they will become
effective teachers and scholars. The graduate faculty in English stands ready
to give advice and assistance, but much of the work must be done through
private study.
The requirements for the degree as established by the Department of
English are presented below. All students must also fulfill the University
regulations stated in The Graduate School Bulletin, and every student is
responsible for knowing what they are. The Department of English expects the
student to maintain a grade point average well above the required 3.0 in
courses taken for the MA and PhD degrees. Students currently average 3.7.
Once enrolled in the program, the student must make satisfactory
progress toward the degree. Students not making satisfactory progress will be
reviewed by the Graduate Committee and may be required to leave the program.
All incoming students will be assigned an advisor, if possible in the
primary area of interest, to serve as an intellectual mentor. This advisor will
guide the students' choices, especially regarding coursework, focusing on
intellectual goals and preparation. When they are better acquainted with
faculty, students should feel free to seek their own mentors if they wish, but
they should make arrangements to meet regularly with whomever they choose.
The student must consult with the Director of Graduate Studies about
forming an Advisory Committee when not more than 12 credit hours after the MA
have been earned. The Committee will help thereafter in planning a program of
courses and directing the dissertation. It must be appointed no later than
midterm of the second semester of residence and at least one year (two
semesters) prior to taking the Qualifying Exams. The Advisory Committee
consists of the following five members:
the dissertation director as chair and major professor, two additional
members of the Department of English in the area of specialization (if
possible), one other member of the Department of English, and one member from a
related department or area connected with the field of specialization. The
Advisory Committee will meet with the student at least once each academic year
to review the student's progress and to give advice, particularly concerning
preparation for the Qualifying Exam and the writing of the dissertation.
Minutes of these meetings are kept in accordance with
Students generally specialize in a historical period, although other
choices are possible with the permission of the Advisory Committee. The number
of courses to be taken at the
Students must take courses in four areas outside of their examination.
Two of these areas must be historical periods; other areas include gender,
women's literature, African-American literature, film, linguistics, English as
a Second Language, composition and rhetoric, and critical theory. No required
course may count toward these areas. Courses taken in a Master's program will
count with the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies.
Each student must demonstrate an ability to read at least one foreign
language. The language (or languages) will be determined by the Advisory
Committee, which may require a degree of proficiency beyond those stipulated in
the Graduate Bulletin.
When all requirements stated above have been met, the student proceeds
to the Qualifying Examination. It consists of two parts: one written, the other oral.
The Qualifying Examination is concerned with historical as well as
aesthetic, cultural, and critical perspectives, relating texts or developments
to contemporaneous trends in other areas of thought. It tests the student's
ability to develop a reasonably extended and complex analysis of literary
issues or questions--something that requires examination of a considerable body
of evidence, choices of what evidence is relevant, establishment of
distinctions and qualifications, and progress toward some conclusion. It tests
the student's ability to see meaningful connections among texts, often within a
larger contemporary context. It also focuses on critical tendencies and
problems of literary interpretation.
The Qualifying Examinations
The
Written
All students will take a two-part written exam. It will be closed book,
closed note, and will be given in a designated room in the department. Students
must take both parts of the exams within two weeks. One written exam will
address a historical period, defined by student and the Advisory Committee.
Students are encouraged to conceive of historical periods in relatively broad
terms (such as Romanticism through early British modernism). One written exam
will address a genre, mode, or topic, defined by the student and the Advisory
Committee, and explored through a range of cultural and historical settings.
Each written exam will be drawn from a list of 75-100 texts compiled by
the student in consultation with the Advisory Committee. The student will
submit the lists and an approximately 2-4 page rationale for each of the chosen
areas for approval by the Advisory Committee and the Graduate Committee. These
materials must be submitted by mid-semester in the semester before the student
intends to take the exams. No exam will be scheduled until both committees have
approved these documents. The Advisory Committee will ensure that the two exams
do not overlap significantly.
Committee members with expertise in the field will have primary
responsibility for writing questions and evaluating student responses. For each
written exam, these members will provide a six-hour essay exam, giving the
student a choice of questions. Questions will not be circulated in advance. The
Graduate Committee will review all exams in advance.
A student must pass both parts of the written examination in order to
proceed to the oral examination.
The
Oral
The oral examination focuses on the dissertation prospectus, topic, and
context. The prospectus is a substantial document (15-20 pp., not including
bibliography) that sets forth the problem or issue to be explored, indicates
its importance and originality, describes the method to be used, and includes a
tentative chapter outline and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
Students are expected to work closely with their Advisory Committee in developing
the prospectus; the entire Advisory Committee administers the oral examination.
The Graduate Committee will make available a more detailed description and
sample documents for students to consult. The Advisory Committee and the
Graduate Committee must agree that the prospectus is ready to be defended one
month before the exam. No exam will be scheduled until both committees have
approved these documents. The summer will not normally count as a semester. The
exam itself takes two hours.
Students must take the oral within six months after passing the written
exams. Ordinarily, exams will not be given in the summer.
The Dissertation
The Dissertation should make a significant contribution to the
scholarship of a specific field.
The student works with the dissertation director in establishing a
procedure for completing the dissertation. Usually the work is first approved
by the director, then by each member of the committee, chapter by chapter, but
other procedures may be adopted if acceptable to the student and the committee.
Although the dissertation director is the primary source of guidance in
the planning and preparation of the dissertation, other members of the Advisory
Committee must be involved in the process, and it is the Committee's
responsibility to make suggestions for revisions prior to the dissertation
defense. A majority of the Committee must read the dissertation and indicate
that the form and substance are adequate in order to justify the scheduling of
the final examination.
The student should obtain "Instructions for the Preparation of
Theses and Dissertations" from the
The student must sign up for ENG 769 for 18 hours of residence credit
(two semesters of 9 hours each) immediately following the successful completion
of the oral part of the Qualifying Examination. After these 18 hours, the DGS
registers students for the appropriate credits through the
After
Completing the Dissertation
The Final Examination includes a defense of the dissertation and may be
as comprehensive as the Advisory Committee chooses to make it. It is conducted
by an expanded Advisory Committee chaired by the Dissertation Director. The
Graduate Dean and President of the University are ex officio members of
all final examination committees. The examination is a public event, and its
scheduling is published and announced beforehand. Any member of the University
community may attend.
At least four weeks prior to the Final Examination, following
notification by the Dissertation Director that the dissertation has been
distributed to members of the Advisory Committee, the Director of Graduate
Studies will advise the
The Dissertation Approval Form, along with a typewritten copy of the
dissertation, must be presented to the
In all decisions, the majority opinion of the Advisory Committee
prevails. If the Advisory Committee is evenly divided, the candidate fails.
In the event of failure, the Advisory Committee recommends to the
Graduate Dean conditions under which the candidate may be reexamined, if
reexamination is deemed appropriate. When conditions set by the Graduate Dean
have been met, the candidate may be reexamined. Should any vacancies of the
Committee occur between the two examinations, the Graduate Dean shall appoint replacements. A third examination is not permitted.
After the Final Examination is passed, two final copies of the
dissertation are prepared. Final copies are then submitted to the