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2016-2017 Graduate Studies Bulletin (Archived Copy)
Columbia Campus
   
2016-2017 Graduate Studies Bulletin (Archived Copy) 
    
 
  Mar 28, 2024
 
2016-2017 Graduate Studies Bulletin (Archived Copy) [Archived Catalog]

English, Ph.D.


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Learning Outcomes

  • Students will demonstrate mastery of all available research methods and existing scholarship specific to their fields of emphasis.
  • By the end of their coursework, students will demonstrate in-depth knowledge of their primary scholarly field of emphasis, including extensive knowledge of authors, texts, and central issues specific to a major area of literary and rhetorical studies.   
  • Students will extend the applicable range of professionally relevant theoretical concepts by using them in the analysis of canonical and/or marginalized texts and/or central issues specific to their fields of emphasis.
  • By the end of their coursework, students will demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a secondary scholarly field of emphasis, including extensive knowledge of authors, texts, and central issues specific to a significant area of literary and rhetorical studies. 

Degree Requirements (36 Post Masters Hours)

Doctor of Philosophy in English with an Emphasis in English and American Literature (36 Hours*)


For admission, the applicant must have a master’s degree or its equivalent. Each candidate must have a major and minor field. The major field may be chosen from the following: Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration and 18th-century English literature, 19th-century English literature, 20th-century English literature, colonial and 19th-century American literature, 20th-century American literature. The following may be used for the minor field only: linguistics, comparative literature, criticism theory, women’s studies, history of the book and authorship, composition and rhetoric, and Southern literature. Students may choose to design an ad hoc minor, subject to approval by the Graduate Program Committee. Examples of ad hoc minors approved in the past include religion and literature, children’s literature, and computers and literature.

Admission by the Department of English for graduate study does not mean admission as a candidate in the English and American literature Ph.D. program. Students are admitted to such candidacy on the basis of their record and a meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies and the major adviser, to be held at the beginning of the student’s third term. Prior to this meeting, the Graduate Director will review the student’s class grades with the expectation of at least a 3.0 GPA over the course of the first year of the study. The student will come to the meeting with a completed Program of Study form and an accompanying statement detailing progress thus far and plans for future study. In the event of an unsuccessful review, the student will be put on probation, not be admitted to candidacy, and be required to maintain a 3.5 GPA for each of the following two semesters. Additionally, field faculty will meet at the end of the student’s second year in order to make a recommendation to the Graduate Director about the student’s future in the program. The Graduate Director will factor this recommendation and the student’s GPA into a decision about whether the probationary student should be admitted to candidacy at the end of the second year and allowed to continue the program.

* Students who have taken equivalent graduate courses prior to admission to the PhD program may petition the Graduate Program Committee to transfer up to six hours credit in lieu of courses required for the Ph.D. However, these courses cannot be more than eight years old by the time they receive their degree.

Requirements include:

1. Program of Study


Each student develops a program of study in consultation with the doctoral advisory committee (in place by the end of the first semester of course work), each student develops a program of study that includes:

24 Hours to include*:


* ENGL 701A  and ENGL 701B  may not be used to fulfill this requirement.

Introductory Course


(Recommended not Required)

Two 800-level Seminars (6 hours)


One class in critical theory (3 hours)


2. Comprehensive Exam


A 72-hour take-home exam that consists of a response to a question in the primary field and another response to a question in the secondary field. The completed exam should not exceed 7500 words in length.

3. An oral exam covering the student’s major field


4. Dissertation Preparation (12 hours)


5. Foreign languages


A reading knowledge of two foreign languages or one language satisfied by taking a 400-level course of literature, not in translation, with a grade of B or better, or a 500-level course of literature, not in translation, with a grade of C or better; these courses may not be used to fulfill the elective requirement. Completion of ENGL 702  and ENGL 703  with an average grade of B or better may fulfill one foreign language requirement.

Doctor of Philosophy in English with an Emphasis in Composition and Rhetoric (42 Hours*)


For admission, the applicant must have a master’s degree, or its equivalent, in English, composition and rhetoric, or a related field.

Admission by the Department of English for graduate study does not mean admission as a candidate in the composition and rhetoric Ph.D. program. Students are admitted to such candidacy on the basis of their record and a meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies and the major adviser, to be held at the beginning of the student’s third term. Prior to this meeting, the Graduate Director will review the student’s class grades with the expectation of at least 3.0 GPA over the course of the first year of study. The student will come to the meeting with a completed Program of Study form and an accompanying statement detailing progress thus far and plans for future study. In the event of an unsuccessful review, the student will be put on probation, not be admitted to candidacy, and be required to maintain a 3.5 GPA for each of the following two semesters. Additionally, field faculty will meet at the end of the student’s second year in order to make a recommendation to the Graduate Director about the student’s future in the program. The Graduate Director will factor this recommendation and the student’s GPA into a decision about whether the probationary students should be admitted to candidacy at the end of the second year and allowed to continue in the program.

* Students who have taken equivalent graduate courses prior to admission to the PhD program may petition the Graduate Program Committee to transfer up to six hours credit in lieu of courses required for the Ph.D. However, these courses cannot be more than eight years old by the time they receive their degree.

Requirements include:

Note:


Courses from speech communication, linguistics, English or American literature, or another composition and rhetoric course may be substituted with the approval of the student’s academic advisor.

4. Specialization (12 hours)


To be approved by the department’s Committee on Composition and Rhetoric and the graduate director.

5. Comprehensive Exam


A 72-hour take-home exam that consists of a response to a question in the primary field and another response to a question in the secondary field. The completed exam should not exceed 7500 words in length.

6. Oral Comprehensive Exam


This exam may be taken no more than twice.

7. Foreign languages


A reading knowledge of two foreign languages or one language satisfied by taking a 400-level course of literature, not in translation, with a grade of B or better, or a 500-level course of literature, not in translation, with a grade of C or better.

8. Teaching Experience


At least one year’s experience teaching English composition at the school or college level.

9. Dissertation and Defense


Dissertation and defense, including 12 hours of ENGL 899 , dissertation writing.

Direct-Admission Doctor of Philosophy in English with an Emphasis in English and American Literature (60 Hours)


Direct admission to the Ph.D. program may be offered to highly-qualified applicants who are completing or have completed their baccalaureate studies. Each candidate must have a major and minor field. The major field may be chosen from the following: Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration and 18th-century English literature, 19th-century English literature, 20th-century English literature, colonial and 19th-century American literature, 20th century American literature. The following may be used for the minor field only: linguistics, comparative literature, criticism theory, women’s studies, history of the book and authorship, composition and rhetoric, and Southern literature. Students may choose to design an ad hoc minor, subject to approval by the Graduate Program Committee. Examples of ad hoc minors approved in the past include religion and literature, children’s and young-adult literature, and computers and literature.

Direct admission by the Department of English for graduate study does not mean immediate admission as a candidate in the English and American literature Ph.D. program. Students are admitted to such candidacy on the basis of their record and a written qualifying exam (satisfied by successful completion of the Master’s Comprehensive Examination and the readers’ recommendation of candidacy). Students should take this qualifying exam no later than the spring term of their second year in the program. A student is allowed only two attempts to pass the admission-to-candidacy exam.

Requirements include:

1. Program of Study


By the end of the second year of study students, in consultation with their advisors, will submit a PhD Program of Study form that maps out their intentions for the completion of coursework, and submit it to the Director of Graduate Studies. The Program of Study also serves as a statement of intent; this is the moment at which students may either recommit themselves to completing the PhD, or opt out and finish the MA, securing the degree by passage of the MA Comprehensive Exam and the completion of a thesis.

Years 1-2


12 hours


  • One course in English Literature, pre-1660
  • One course in English Literature, post-1660
  • One course in American Literature
  • One additional course in exam field

Plus one critical theory course:


Years 3-6


18 hours


  • electives (must include two 800-level seminars)

12 hours


  • dissertation preparation

2. M.A. Comprehensive Examination (serves as Ph.D. Qualifying Examination)


3. Comprehensive exam


A comprehensive exam that consists of two written exams, one in the major field and one in the minor field.

4. Oral Comprehensive Exam focusing on the student’s major field


This exam may be taken no more than twice. Successful completion of the written and oral comprehensive exams will signal the conferral of the MA degree.

5. Dissertation and Defense


6. Foreign languages


A reading knowledge of two foreign languages or one language satisfied by taking a 400-level course of literature, not in translation, with a grade of B or better, or a 500-level course of literature, not in translation, with a grade of C or better; these courses may not be used to fulfill the elective requirement. Completion of ENGL 702  and ENGL 703  with an average grade of B or better may fulfill one foreign language requirement.

Admission to Candidacy


Admission by the Department of English for graduate study does not mean admission as a candidate in the composition and rhetoric Ph.D. program. Students are admitted to candidacy by The Graduate School on the basis of their academic record, an approved program of study, and successful completion of a written qualifying exam—the M.A. three-hour comprehensive exam in composition and rhetoric. Students should take this exam no later than the semester in which they are taking their 15th hour of course work. A student is allowed only two attempts to pass the exam. Students in the M.A. program who apply to and are accepted into the Ph.D. program may request that their M.A. exams be reread as a Ph.D. qualifying exam. In such a case, the rereading will count as one attempt. M.A. exams will not be read for Ph.D. qualifying purposes unless or until the student has been accepted into the Ph.D. program.

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