Years 1 & 2
Coursework prepares PhD students to write a successful dissertation and to teach effectively in their area of specialty. You should enroll in graduate seminars serving those ends in English or related fields. The sole requirement for coursework for the PhD is that students take a minimum of 30 credits of graduate study. All courses must be at the 5000 level or above. As a PhD student, you should plan your coursework in close consultation with your Dissertation Director or the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies. The first and second years in the PhD program are usually dedicated to coursework.
Students with a Master's degree can transfer up to 15 credit hours of coursework from their Master's toward the 30 credit hours required for the PhD. Please direct questons about transfer credits to the Graduate Program Assistant.
Year 3: Comprehensive Examination
The Comprehensive Examination is a two-hour oral exam. The exam will be conducted by your Director and the rest of your Examining Committee. You will be tested on the Reading Lists and the dissertation Prospectus. Typically, one hour of the exam is devoted to the Prospectus and one to the reading lists. The order will be decided by your Examining Committee prior to the exam.
For additional inforamtion about the Comprehensive Exam, please see the English Department Graduate Student Handbook.
Years 4 & 5: Dissertation
The dissertation, which should be work of professionally viable scholarship, will typically take the form of a monograph. It is a work of original scholarship that makes a significant contribution to a given field and may contain such elements as practice-based research, curatorial or Internet exhibition, fieldwork, etc. The dissertation is written in close consultation with your Director and Dissertation Committee.
For additional information about the Dissertation, please see the English Department Graduate Student Handbook.