• ENG 631 (Introduction to Critical Theory): This course offers students an introduction to the leading theoretical arguments and modes of inquiry underwriting the study of literature and culture. It is offered in the fall semester and is required for all entering students.
  
• ENG 630 (Graduate Pro-seminar):; An introduction to a comprehensively defined field or period that places British or American literary, cultural, and cinematic texts in historical and critical perspective, providing master/s and doctoral candidates with essential preparation for advanced work in specialized seminars.
  
• ENG 730 (Graduate Seminar): A focused study in a particular topic, genre, movement, or critical problem. Introductory background in the larger field or period framing the seminar focus in assumed. All graduate seminars require a 20-25 page critical essay.

II: Program Requirements and Electives:

• Introduction to Critical Theory (ENG 631)
  
• Graduate pro-seminar breadth requirement (ENG 630): To fulfill the graduate pro-seminar requirement, students will need to take at least one pro-seminar from each of the two divisions (British and American Literature and Culture).
  
• During the first two years of coursework, students will be required to take at least three graduate pro-seminars and three graduate seminars, in addition to other electives that will comprise the minimum number of cumulative hours.
  
• Ph.D. student may take up to two courses outside of the English Department.

III. Field Examination:

• For the entering class of 2008 and after: This first examination in the progress toward the Ph.D. degree will be taken during the spring semester, 2nd year for those entering with a B.A. It will be taken during spring semester of the 1st year for those entering with an M.A. This examination has two parts:
  
  • A three-hour written examination. Students will be tested on a reading list in ONE of the following four fields: British, American, Critical Theory or Film and Visual Culture. The field will be selected in consultation with the faculty advisor in accordance with the student's research plans for the Ph.D. The reading list will be provided to the students upon admission so that they can begin to prepare for the exam well in advance. From the set reading list, each student will choose, at the end of the semester preceding the semester in which the examination is to be taken, 50 texts upon which to be examined.
    
  • A critical essay. Each student will submit a 20-30 page paper to the exam committee for approval: The paper should be drawn from course work and may undergo subsequent revision.
    
• Composition of the Exam Committees and Evaluation:
  Questions for the exams and the creation of the field Reading List will be decided by graduate Field Coordinators, in consultation with faculty with relevant expertise.
  

• Exams and critical papers will be graded by a committee composed of the faculty member responsible for teaching ENG 631 in the year of the exam and a faculty member with expertise in the field of the exam, appointed by the Committe on Agenda, Faculty Development, and Resources. If a decision cannot be reached by the examination committee, the British or American studies coordinator, as appropriate, will serve as the third reader.

  
  

Students entering the Program with an M.A., may at the discretion of the Graduate Commiteee, have the field examination requirement waived. This will be determined on a case by case basis.

Guidelines on the Field Exam, including details on its administration, evaulation and grading, may be obtained from the Director of Graduate Studies.


IV. Ph.D. Qualifying Examination, Language Requirement, and Prospectus Defense

• A three-hour oral Ph.D. oral examination, to be taken after the third year of coursework, typically in the fall of the seventh semester. Students will be examined on two fields.
  
  • The first exam area will focus on the literary, critical, and/or cinematic/media texts of a major period.
    
  • The second exam area may focus on a particular topic, genre, or mode of inquiry to establishing the student's competence for writing the dissertation. Its scope and rational will be determined by the student in consultation with the faculty exam committee.
    
• A combined reading list for the exams will be composed by the student in consultation with the faculty exam committee and will be approved by the Graduate Committee.
  
• The exam committee will consist of three faculty members chosen by the student with the approval of the Graduate Committee.
  
• Students will typically complete the prospectus by the end of the Spring of the 4th year. The dissertation prospectus will be limited to 10-20 pages, including a sample bibliography of no more than two pages. The prospectus will be approved by the student's dissertation committee. In the spring of each academic year, students who have completed their prospectuses in that year will participate in a panel discussion of their projects (see Workshop below).
  
• Proven reading competency in an ancient or modern language appropriate to the student's course of study will be required and may be completed at any time before the Prospectus defense. There will be various ways to satisfy this requirement and students should consult with the Director of Graduate Studies about them at the start of their program. Guidelines for completion of this requirement may be obtained from Terri Zollo. We strongly suggest that language proficiency be completed, or at least commenced, before entrance to the program.
  

V. Additional Requirements:

• English Colloquium (required of all Ph.D. students)
  A colloquia series will offer graduate students a common intellectual experience and provide students and faculty with an informal setting for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary exchange.
  
• Workshops (required of Ph.D. students)
  A yearly five-part workshop will be coordinated by the DGS in collaboration with the Committee on Agenda, Faculty Development, and Resources. The first four of these workshop sessions would be designed to aid in 1) preparing for exams, 2) giving a conference paper, 3) writing the Ph.D. prospectus, and 4) publishing an essay. The fifth workshop each year would be devoted to a panel discussion in which students who have completed their dissertation prospectuses that year present their projects to an audience comprised of department faculty, other graduate students, and other members of the university community. This panel discussion must take place before a student's dissertation committee formally approves his/her prospectus. While students would be required to attend all five of these workshops while in coursework, they would be encouraged to attend each workshop at the most appropriate moment in their course of study.