About the English Doctoral Program
The Ph.D. program in English is designed to build on the general and specialized knowledge and skills attained in master’s-level work and to permit students to conduct advanced study in literature, linguistics, or creative writing. Students in our program must read and study broadly so that they may come to understand the interconnectedness of texts, methods, and approaches across traditional classifications of period, geography, and genre. They also choose and refine particular primary and secondary areas of concentration and conduct original research at the highest level of intellectual engagement. The goal of this two-fold approach to doctoral studies is to prepare students to be able to teach in more than one field while producing robust scholarship in their area of concentration.
Doctoral students in English may specialize in Early British Literature; Later British Literature; American Literature; Comparative Literature, Globalization, and Translation (CLGT); Film and Media Studies; Linguistics; Book History/Digital Humanities; Literature, Social Justice, and Environment (LSJE); or Creative Writing (poetry, fiction, or nonfiction). Students may minor outside the department or create a secondary concentration within the department in one of the above areas or in technical communication.
The Ph.D. in English requires at least 60 hours of graduate coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree and at least 12 hours of ENGL 8000 (Doctor’s Dissertation), to total 72 hours. The 60 hours includes at least 48 hours of coursework and 12 hours of ENGL 7000 (research hours). All students are reviewed annually for satisfactory progress. In addition, all students must pass written qualifying examinations in the fall of their third year and subsequently prepare and defend a dissertation. Ph.D. students must also demonstrate reading knowledge of two languages other than English. One language fulfillment can be met by demonstrating proficiency in linguistics, English philology, translation methods, or other language-related practices by taking two graduate courses in these fields.
