The Department offers PhDs in Literature, including a specialized Literature area of focus in Renaissance Studies, and Composition and Rhetoric.
Department faculty mentor students at all stages of their graduate experience, from coursework to teaching, from examinations to the writing of doctoral dissertations.
Graduate students in our Department not only have the opportunity to learn in an engaging environment but also to teach with steady training and mentorship. In their first year, most literature students teach in collaboration with a professor, leading discussion sections attached to large lecture literature classes. In their second year, students gain valuable classroom experience in composition classes. For PhD students, future years can include teaching literature surveys and courses they design themselves.
Our program’s scholarly and pedagogical preparation, as well as our detailed attention to professional placement, has enabled students to develop careers as teachers, scholars, publishers, and editors.
Admissions
In addition to the minimum Graduate School admission requirements, to be considered for regular admission an application must include:
- For the English PhD program, successful applicants normally have a GPA of 3.5 or better in master’s or equivalent graduate work.
- Statement of Purpose (the first line should mention the desired Specialty Area in the English Department). Tip: the Statement of Purpose describes your main research interests. Effective statements avoid generalizations and developmental narratives. Instead, they identify where you are with your work now and where you want to go. It can help to address the relationship between your writing sample and your research interests; and to connect your work to the faculty in the department. 500-750 words is usually right; just don’t go over 1000.
- Writing Sample: For the English PhD Program, this should consist of 20 pages of critical writing. The writing sample is usually a single essay written for an upper-level English course or an excerpt from a senior or master’s thesis. A strong essay positions your argument in relation to other scholars in the field. For the Strode Program, the writing sample should be on some aspect of English Renaissance literature.
- Names and institutional email addresses of three (3) referees who will submit letters of recommendation online via a link that will be sent to recommenders directly by the Graduate School. Please note that neither the Graduate School nor the Department of English can accept letters via Parchment.
- For second language speakers of English applying to the English PhD program, one of the following minimum language test scores is required. Note that this departmental requirement is more stringent than the Graduate School’s requirement.
· TOEFL IBT = 100
· IELTS = 7
· Pearson Test of English (PTE) = 68
· DuoLingo English Test (DET) = 120
While new applications to our graduate programs will continue to be read until admissions decisions have been made, the application deadline for best consideration for all funding opportunities is December 1.
See the Admission Criteria section of this catalog for more information.
Curricular Requirements
The PhD program requires 42 hours of coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree, including:
- 18 hours of approved graduate-level coursework transferred in from a master’s program (only credits earned in the last six years will be considered)
- 24 hours of coursework beyond the master’s degree
Doctoral candidates will also complete 24 hours of dissertation research and two hours of teaching practicum (EN 533). To be formally admitted to candidacy for the degree, students must pass EN 637 Workshop In Academic Writing, which is normally taken in the final year of coursework.
Doctoral candidates normally have a master’s degree to be considered for admission.
For specific course descriptions by semester, visit English Graduate Courses here.
| Literature Curriculum | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Core English requirements | 3 | |
| Workshop In Academic Writing | ||
| Lit Electives | ||
| Select from the following or petition program directors for substitutions: | 39 | |
| Special Topics | ||
| Literary Criticism | ||
| Intro to Grad Studies | ||
| Spec Topics Sem American Lit | ||
| Sem American Lit Before 1850 | ||
| Sem 20th Century American Lit | ||
| Seminar Southern Literature | ||
| Seminar African-American Lit | ||
| Middle English Lit Ex Chaucer | ||
| Sem Renaissance Lit I | ||
| Sem Renaissance Lit II | ||
| Shakespeare Performance | ||
| Sem Renaissance Lit III | ||
| The Strode Seminar | ||
| Sem 18th Century Literature | ||
| Seminar Romantic Literature | ||
| Seminar Victorian Literature | ||
| Modern British Literature | ||
| Seminar in Postcolonial Lit | ||
| Literary Criticism | ||
| Total Hours | 42 | |
CRES (Composition, Rhetoric, and English Studies) Degree Requirements
The CRES PhD Specialization requires 42 hours of coursework, 24 dissertation hours, 2 hours of teaching practicum (for teaching assistants), and successful completion of the written and oral components of the CRES exam. Students who have prior graduate degrees or coursework may transfer up to 18 hours.
Curricular Requirements
A. The CRES curriculum
The CRES PhD specialization requires 42 hours of coursework, 24 dissertation hours, and successful completion of the written and oral components of the CRES exam. The coursework will consist of 6 hours in core English courses, 15 hours in CRES core courses, 3 hours in linguistics, 12 hours in CRES electives, and 6 hours in approved general electives. Students who have prior graduate degrees or coursework may transfer up to 18 hours. For graduate teaching assistants, 2 additional hours in EN 533 are required.
| CRES Curriculum | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Core English requirements | ||
| Select EN 637 and one of the following (or petition the field advisor to fill this requirement with an alternative theory course): | 6 | |
| Literary Criticism | ||
| Literary Criticism | ||
| Workshop In Academic Writing (required) | ||
| Core CRES requirements | ||
| Select from the following: | 15 | |
| Computers And Writing | ||
| Approach Teach Composition | ||
| Sem Rhetoric & Composition | ||
| Politics of Teaching Writing | ||
| Composition Theory | ||
| Research Methodology | ||
| Sem Visual & Digital Rhetoric | ||
| History of Rhet/Comp II | ||
| CRES electives | 12 | |
| Approved general electives | 6 | |
| Linguistics | ||
| EN 620 | Descriptive Linguistics (or other) | 3 |
| Total Hours | 42 | |
EN 533 Practicum Tchg College English and FWP orientation are conditions of employment for all graduate students who are teachers of record for EN 1xx courses.
B. The CRES preliminary examination
CRES students must pass both the written and oral components of the preliminary examination. The written preliminary examination will be four hours in duration and will require candidates to respond to two of four topics.
If the candidate passes the written preliminary examination, the CRES faculty will conduct an oral examination in which the candidate will be responsible for material from all four topics—the two not covered on the written examinations as well as the two that were. Students who fail the written preliminary examination may take it a second time. Students who fail the examination a second time will not be allowed to continue doctoral work.
C. CRES dissertation and prospectus defense
CRES students who have passed the preliminary examination will form a dissertation committee consisting of four English Department graduate faculty members (including the director) and one external graduate faculty member. The candidate's dissertation prospectus must be approved by the dissertation committee in an oral defense. (For more information, see the description for the dissertation and prospectus under the general PhD requirements).
Transfer Credit
Graduate School information on Transfer Credit.
Doctoral Plan of Study Requirement
Graduate School information on the Doctoral Plan of Study.
Comprehensive Exams
After finishing coursework, the student must apply to the Graduate School for admission to doctoral candidacy. To meet this requirement, each student must pass a written preliminary examination and engage with his or her dissertation committee in a one-hour conference concerning the dissertation prospectus. The written preliminary examination will be given at a date agreed upon by the student and his or her examination committee in consultation with the director of graduate studies. The oral conference concerning the dissertation prospectus can be scheduled after the student passes the written examination, when the student and dissertation director agree that the prospectus is ready (date to be arranged by the student in consultation with the graduate studies director and the dissertation committee). The examination and conference will be governed by the following guidelines:
PhD Preliminary Exam (see specific procedures for rhetoric and composition):
The purpose of the written preliminary exam is to demonstrate competence in the student's area of specialization. The exam will be of four hours in duration in the field or genre of the dissertation. The examination committee will consist of three faculty members from the English department chosen by the student for their expertise in the field. Under the direction of her or his preliminary examination committee chair, who will likely also serve as dissertation director, and subject to the approval of the full exam committee, 1) the examinee will be responsible for constructing and demonstrating mastery of a reading list of approximately 100 primary and 30 secondary texts in the appropriate subfield; and 2) the examinee will write approximately twelve questions, from which the committee will choose a subset (usually no less than two and no more than four) to be revealed to and answered by the examinee during the four-hour examination period. Exams will be closed book and closed note. However, students may have a copy of their reading list during the exam. Once the exam is completed, the student's committee will read all responses, discuss them, and then, on the basis of consensus when possible and the basis of a majority that must include the chair if consensus is unreachable, assign the examinee a final grade of Distinction, Pass, or Fail. Students who fail the written preliminary examination may take it a second time. Students who fail the examination a second time will not be allowed to continue doctoral work.
Dissertation Prospectus Conference
This is a one-hour discussion of the dissertation prospectus between the student and his or her dissertation committee. The conference will focus on the soundness of the prospectus and the student’s readiness to undertake the research and writing of the dissertation. The purpose of the conference is to help the student begin the writing of the dissertation, to identify areas of potential difficulty, and to prepare the student for the project that lies ahead.
- Select a faculty member with whom you are comfortable working and who is a specialist in the area of your dissertation. Ask that person if s/he is willing to direct your dissertation.
- In consultation with your dissertation director, and when you know the focus of your dissertation, select four other committee members (one of whom must be from another department of college) to serve as readers of your dissertation and as your examiners.
- Ask those other four professors if they are willing to serve on your dissertation committee. Discuss with these professors who wants to see what when. There are no hard and fast rules for such negotiations. With some members of your committee, you may want to work closely; they may wish to see multiple drafts of individual chapters throughout the writing of the dissertation; others may only wish to see a completed version before your defense. Make sure that you’ve reached a mutually agreeable working relationship with your committee.
- Work with your director to prepare a draft of your prospectus-about 10-20 pages plus a working bibliography-that you both agree is ready to go to your entire committee.
- Submit the prospectus to your committee, who may ask for revisions or suggest additional readings.
- Once the prospectus has been approved for the conference by your dissertation committee, poll the members of the committee concerning available times and dates for the dissertation prospectus conference.
- Provide the Director of Graduate Studies with a copy of the prospectus and ask the Graduate Studies Coordinator (Jennifer Fuqua) to schedule a room for the conference. Please give her a week’s notice.
For more information, see the Graduate School’s A Student Guide to Preparing Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
Practicum Requirements
All candidates for the PhD degree are required to have college or university teaching experience in English composition or literature before they graduate. Teaching assistants must complete the summer orientation before their first semester of service and enroll in EN 533 Practicum Tchg College English during their first year of teaching service.
Admission to Candidacy Requirements
Graduate School information on Admission to Candidacy.
After finishing coursework, the student must be formally admitted to candidacy for the degree. To meet this requirement, each student must pass a written preliminary examination, and engage with his or her dissertation committee in a one-hour conference concerning the dissertation prospectus.
Once the prospectus conference is completed, the student may proceed to the dissertation.
Continuous Enrollment Policy
Graduate School information on Continuous Enrollment.
Dissertation Requirements
Once the written preliminary examination has been passed and the dissertation prospectus conference completed, the student and his or her dissertation committee must complete an application to candidacy and submit it to the Graduate School. The graduate studies director will notify the Graduate School that the written preliminary examination has been passed and the dissertation prospectus conference completed.
Once the prospectus conference is completed, then the student may proceed to the dissertation. The dissertation defense consists of an approximately two hour, publicly advertised oral defense of the dissertation before four English department graduate faculty members (including the director) and an external graduate faculty member. Normally, the members of this committee are those faculty members who formed the dissertation prospectus conference committee. They will be appointed by the director of graduate studies in consultation with the student, who will have a clear understanding with the faculty members involved of whether they will be able to read the dissertation and conduct the final oral examination during summer months or during sabbatical leave if necessary. Faculty members have the prerogative to serve on a committee when they are not teaching; it is the student's responsibility to schedule investigation, writing, and examination in time periods acceptable to members of the committee. All five members of the dissertation committee must have time to read and analyze the dissertation before the oral examination on the dissertation. Final approval of the dissertation must be received at least six weeks before graduation.
Time Limits for Degree Completion Requirements
Graduate School information on Time Limits.
Additional Academic Requirements
Language Requirement
PhD students must demonstrate reading proficiency in a foreign language in one of two ways:
- certification through the appropriate department of a “B” average or the equivalent of two years of undergraduate- or graduate-level study in a single foreign language, completed within five years of admission to the master’s program.
- passing the foreign language reading examination prepared by the Department of Modern Languages and Classics. Students who are not native speakers of English may use their native language to fulfill this requirement.
Teaching
Generally, year one, incoming PhD students teach discussion sections attached to literature surveys taught by a professor. Year two, PhD students teach composition sections and enroll in “EN 533 Practicum Tchg College English ” In advanced years, opportunities arise to teach other courses, including literature surveys.
Academic Misconduct Information
Graduate School information on Academic Misconduct.
Withdrawals and Leave of Absence Information
Graduate School information on Withdrawals and Leave of Absence.
Academic Grievance Information
Graduate School information on Academic Grievances.
Grades and Academic Standing
Graduate School information on Grades and Academic Standing.
Graduate School Deadlines Information
Information on Graduate School Deadlines.
Application for Graduation Information
Information on the Application for Graduation.