Timeline of Normal Progress Through the Exam Process

Year 2 of PhD program:           Form exam committee and complete Foreign Language Requirement

Summer before Year 3:           Study for Exams

Year 3, fall semester:              Complete all parts of Qualifying Exam

Year 3, spring semester:         Complete Dissertation Scrutiny

Years 4-5:                              Write path-breaking Dissertation

The Qualifying Exam

The qualifying exam has two equally important components, a Written part and an Oral part.

All students will take a two-part written exam. It shall be closed book, closed note, and shall be given in the exam room, 1343 POT. The exam length is two 8-hour days, normally 8:00 to 4:30. Students must take both parts of the written component no more than one week apart, and ideally no more than 2 days apart. Each exam field shall be selected from the list of fields that have been pre-approved by the Department. The Master Exam Lists comprising the texts for each field are on file in the Graduate Studies Office. Some Master Lists may contain slightly idiosyncratic instructions as the faculty deemed necessary to achieve desired coverage. Note as well that the “Poetry and Poetics” and “Film” Master Lists and exam fields are constructed differently; please consult those Master Lists for details. 

 Links to pdf copies are available below: 

The American Lists include:  Origins to 1820, 1820-1913, 1913-Present, and African-American Literature. 

The British Lists include:  Renaissance, Long 19th Century, and 20th Century. 

The Topical Lists include:  Critical Theory, Film Studies (reading, viewing), Poetry and Poetics, Women and Gender Studies/Queer Theory.

 Students shall be examined in 2 fields, on 2 lists of 90-100 texts each. The inevitable problems of “counting” texts (e.g., how many essays = a book, how many poems = a book, etc.) can be worked out between the student and his/her committee, but a general rule of thumb is that 4 critical essays = one book. To construct an exam list in a given field, students, with the advice and approval of their committee, shall choose 2/3 of their exam list (60-67 texts) from the Master List of texts approved for that field. Students then have the option of specifying up to an additional 1/3 of the texts on their exam list (30-33 texts) from materials outside the Master List. These texts, of course, should fit within the rubric of the exam field and should be chosen with the guidance and advice of the supervisory committee. This portion of the exam field is designed to allow students to tailor their exam fields to pursue their own intellectual interests while also attaining a broad training. Examples of materials appropriate for supplementing the Master Lists include texts in valid but underrepresented genres, texts by noncanonical or reconsidered authors, critical texts elaborating a particular methodology, or texts that provide a comparative standpoint for a national literature or historical period (for instance, in the last example, a student developing a 20^th-century American list may very well wish to add a work by James Joyce or Virginia Woolf). Unsuitable materials include a large number of texts by the same author, texts in minor or trivial genres, or texts starkly eccentric to the cohesiveness of the field in question or outside the parameters of the committee’s expertise. To compile a list for a given exam field, students will obtain a copy of the field’s Master List.   

After discussion and guidance from the Advisory committee, students will simply place a check next to the texts on the Master List for which they intend to be responsible. Students will then append the list of an additional 30-33 texts to form their entire exam field (recall that students may also choose this final 1/3 of the list from the Master List). These lists shall be approved by all committee members, although building the list should not be an arduous or lengthy process under this system.  

Committee members shall compose exam questions and evaluate student responses. For each exam field, these members shall provide the student a choice of questions. Questions will not be circulated in advance. A committee shall have 3 members from the English Department and 1 member from another department. The outside member must participate in the oral exam, but whether or not the outside member writes questions for the exam is to be negotiated between the student, the committee chair, and the outside member.  All members must have Graduate Faculty status, and three, including the major professor, must have full Graduate Faculty status. 

After the written portion of the exam has been completed, the Graduate Studies Office will distribute the exam answers to the committee. An oral exam over the student’s chosen exam fields and written exam shall take place in a designated room in the department no more than 2 weeks after the written component. Ideally, the Oral will follow much sooner upon the completion of the Writtens. To accommodate faculty schedules, the Oral should be scheduled at the same time as the Writtens. The DGS Office’s Administrative Assistant will facilitate the scheduling of all exam components. The Oral shall be up to 2 hours in length. All advisory committee members must participate in the Oral. A committee shall consider both the written and oral components equally in judging whether a student has passed the Qualifying Exam. Passing the Qualifying Exam shall make the student “ABD.”

Ordinarily, the exam will only take place during the academic year; only in the most exceptional circumstances, and with permission of the DGS and Graduate School, will students be allowed to schedule their exam during the summer.

The Dissertation Scrutiny

In the semester following successful completion of the Qualifying Exam, students shall undergo a “Dissertation Scrutiny.” The Scrutiny shall take place in a designated room in the department and shall last up to 2 hours. The Scrutiny focuses on the dissertation prospectus, topic, and context. Students shall write a dissertation prospectus. 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 methodology to be used, and includes a tentative yet conscientious 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 Dissertation Scrutiny. The Graduate Committee will make available sample documents for students to consult.

While this step will no longer be called an “Exam” and will no longer be the “Qualifying Exam,” it will continue to be a necessary step on the way to completing the Dissertation and should not be treated lightly. The Scrutiny meeting should be understood as the express moment when all committee members, acting in concert, are able to intervene in the dissertation-shaping process at an early moment in the student’s progress.

Ordinarily, the Scrutiny will only take place during the academic year; only in the most exceptional circumstances, and with permission of the DGS and Graduate School, will students be allowed to schedule their Scrutiny during the summer.