The three fields and the reading lists are subject to the approval first of the candidate’s committee and then of the Graduate Committee. Preliminary fields and lists must be approved by May 31 of the second year of graduate study; final fields and lists by September 30 of the third year.
The Written Exam will be followed by a formal meeting with members of the student’s committee. This discussion will address strengths and weaknesses of the exam, as well as areas for development.
In the interest of equity, postponements (usually only until the following semester) are very rarely granted, and only in cases of unusual hardship. Requests for postponement must be made in writing to the Graduate Committee. Failure to take the examination on schedule is prima facie evidence of unsatisfactory progress toward the degree, and is likely to result in the termination of financial aid.
Each student will submit a preliminary dissertation description by the first day of classes in the fourth year.
Oral Exam
Provided that the student passes the Written Exam, the two-hour Oral Exam will take place before September 15 of the fourth year. A High Honors Pass will be awarded to those students whose performance on all parts of the Comprehensive Examination merits such distinction. In the event of failure of the Oral Exam, one retake is permitted.
Dissertation Committee
The dissertation committee will include either co-directors or a director and second reader who are actively involved in reading and guiding the candidate’s work in progress. As the Graduate School stipulates, the committee will also include one additional English Department reader and a reader from outside the department (each of whom may, of course, also be involved in reading and guiding the work).
3.5 The Dissertation Proposal
The dissertation proposal is due to the DGS by November 1 of the fourth year. The proposal must be submitted with a cover sheet signed by two faculty members, either the project’s co-directors or its director and second readers; those signatures indicate the advisors’ approval of the proposal as presented.
3.6 The Dissertation
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Important: By regulation of the Graduate School, a student has four years after passing the Comprehensive Examination to complete the dissertation. During this time, a student must maintain continuous registration with the Graduate School even if not in residence here (a minimal fee is charged each term). A student who does not finish the dissertation within the allotted time may apply to the Dean of the Graduate School for an extension of eligibility.
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Writing a dissertation may be the most demanding task confronting a graduate student in English, and should be somewhere on the student’s mind (short of obsession) from the outset of the graduate career. A student will produce a considerable amount of scholarly writing in graduate course work; there is every reason to hope that some of that writing can be incorporated into the dissertation. A brief review of dissertations in English literature in the library might help quiet anxieties on this point and increase confidence in one’s ability to write an acceptable thesis.
In general the English Department considers the doctoral dissertation to be a book or proto-book. There are no rigid, quantitative guidelines, but the Department does operate on the basis of certain expectations and assumptions:
1. Unique authorship. The dissertation must represent the independent work of the student. That is, while the original idea can be the suggestion of the director, the work itself must be the student’s own. The dissertation should demonstrate breadth of familiarity with the scholarship in the field, a well-defined and sharply-focused approach to a problem in that field, a high level of effectiveness in scholarly discussion, and clear potential for the candidate’s independent research in the field after graduate school.
2. The Department would probably not approve a proposal that aimed at a miscellany, a collection of essays on various literary topics.
3. The Department does not accept doctoral dissertations in creative writing (i.e., collections of poems, short stories, a novel, a play).
4. Editions have been accepted. Special thought should be given to the scope and methodology, and to questions of literary and property rights in the materials assembled for the edition.
5. The Department encourages students to publish in professional journals prior to the dissertation, and welcomes inclusion of previously published work therein.
6. In general, the standard for the dissertation is the published scholarly or critical book in the field; that usually means a manuscript length of 250-350 pages. Projects likely to be significantly longer or shorter should be reconsidered.
7. Students planning to seek academic jobs should try to write for publication. While your dissertation director will offer guidance, the responsibility rests with the student to write what reads like a critical book, not like a thesis. A helpful volume to consult in this connection is The Thesis and the Book, a collection of essays edited by Harman and Montague and published by the University of Toronto Press.
The dissertation committee, including one faculty member from outside the English Department, should be kept informed of dissertation progress at every stage, and called upon for counsel whenever a need arises. The student should also be aware of schedules set by the Department and the Graduate School each term for submission of a final dissertation draft to the committee and a final copy to the Graduate School. Lectureship deadlines must also be kept in mind. Students should keep each member of the committee informed of the progress of the dissertation, and are generally encouraged to submit portions of the work as it progresses, especially to the dissertation director, for correction and comment.
Students are required to attend a defense of their dissertation; this requirement will be waived by the Graduate Committee only if attendance would create significant hardship on the student. The Department strongly recommends that the final draft of the dissertation be in the hands of the readers at least one month before the anticipated date for the defense. The English Department is not obliged to schedule a dissertation defense with less than a two month notice. The DGS will schedule an oral defense of the dissertation once the reading committee has approved it.
3.7 Awards and Grants for Research
Dissertation Enhancement Grants: Each fall and spring, the Graduate School offers Dissertation Enhancement Grants, special awards designed to assist dissertation research. These awards are used most often to meet travel expenses for research projects (one student received a grant to interview Stephen Spender in London and to work at the British Library; another's month-long research at the Folger Library was similarly funded, as was the study of a third in Italy). Any student whose Dissertation Proposal has been accepted by the Graduate Committee may compete for one of these awards. Further information may be obtained from the DGS or from the Graduate School.
Travel Grants are offered by the Graduate School to support students presenting research at professional conferences. Each graduate student is eligible to receive one grant per year (for domestic travel). If a student receives an award for international travel, he/she must forego applying for a Travel Grant for the following year. To apply for a grant, the student should submit a completed Application Form to the DGS for approval at least several weeks prior to the conference. These forms can be obtained from the DGS assistant.
Note: If a special opportunity arises and a student has already drawn the Graduate School Travel Grant for which he or she is eligible that year, a special English Department Travel Grant may be available. See the DGS for further information.
Selected fifth-year students may also be allowed to teach both of their freshman sections in one term in order to devote the other to full-time dissertation research and writing. Occasionally, the exceptional student may be invited to teach three classes in the eighth term, so as to earn a full year free of teaching responsibilities.
The following awards are bestowed each spring by the English Department for outstanding graduate student work.
The Edgar Hill Duncan Award is given, upon nomination by the Graduate Committee and recommendation of the full faculty, to the graduate student whose entire career has shown the highest standards of achievement and promise for the future. The award is based on consistently excellent performance in course work, distinguished performance on the Comprehensive Examination, and successful graduate teaching.
The Thomas Daniel Young Award is given for excellence in classroom teaching by a graduate student. Nomination is made by the Graduate Committee and recommendation of the full faculty.
The John M. Aden Award is given for excellence in graduate student writing. Students are nominated by members of the faculty, and submit nominated papers to the Graduate Committee. After the authors’ names are removed, the Committee reads the nominated papers and delivers its recommendation to the full faculty.
Note: The Graduate Committee and/or the Department may decide in any or all of these competitions to split awards or to give no award for the year. A cash award is given to each winner.
The College of Arts and Science confers the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for which the Department is permitted to nominate two Teaching Assistants. Nominations come to the Graduate Committee from several sources, including the graduate students themselves. The Department’s nominees compete with Teaching Assistants from all of the graduate departments in the College. There is a cash award, and acknowledgment at a meeting of the Faculty of the College of Arts and Science.
Each January the College of Arts and Science Summer Research Award is offered to doctoral students in good standing making satisfactory progress toward the degree. The English Department is usually allowed up to six nominations. The successful applicant will have spent no longer than four years in the degree program as of the spring semester preceding the award. Students apply through the DGS office.
3.8 Grades and Progress Toward the Degree
GRADES: Students are expected to earn a grade of B or better in all courses. Grades lower than C are not computed toward fulfillment of the 24-hour requirement by the Graduate School. Students who receive a C in any course taken for graduate credit will be expected to discuss the grade and their future in the Program with the DGS.
Any student earning two Cs and/or 4 Bs (or worse) in graduate work in English Department courses at Vanderbilt will be advised to consider resignation from the program. The B- mark represents an instructor’s serious reservations about the student’s capacity for or dedication to graduate work, and the concurrence of a second or third instructor in the assessment should be interpreted as authoritative discouragement. With the consent of the Graduate Committee, the DGS will invite any student with two Cs and/or 4 Bs to consider withdrawal, and the Graduate Committee will take due notice of records only marginally better than that in its distribution of financial aid.
PROGRESS TOWARD THE DEGREE
The following schedule should be followed unless the student applies for and receives a specified leave of absence. Graduate seminars in English each earn FOUR HOURS OF CREDIT.
FIRST YEAR
Fall: 12 hours course work (3 courses)
Spring: 12 hours course work (3 courses)
M.A. Course Work Complete (24 Hours)
M.A. Thesis
SECOND YEAR
Fall: 12 hours course work (3 courses) -- TA
Spring: 8 hours course work (2 courses) --TA
0 hours dissertation research (to maintain full-time status)
Note: Students may petition for Fall: 2 courses; Spring: 3 courses
THIRD YEAR
Fall: 8 hours course work (2 courses) --TA
0 hours dissertation research (to maintain full-time status)
Ph.D. Course Work Complete (52 Hours)
Spring: 9 hours dissertation research -- TA
Written Comprehensive Exam
FOURTH YEAR
Fall: 6 hours dissertation research -- TA
Dissertation Proposal and Oral Exam
Spring: 5 hours dissertation research -- TA
Total Credit Hours: 72
FIFTH YEAR
Fall: 0 hours dissertation research -- TA (Write Dissertation)
Spring: 0 hours dissertation research -- TA (Write Dissertation)
NOTE: After completing Ph.D. course work, a student may request additional teaching sections if they are available. The dissertation must be completed in the eighth year, that is, four years after the student has passed the Comprehensive Examination. The Department, of course, urges earlier completion if possible, ideally in the fifth year.
At the conclusion of each semester, the Graduate Committee, with the advice of faculty teaching graduate seminars in that semester, evaluates the progress of each graduate student. These evaluations may result in a variety of recommendations; e.g., continued progress toward the degree, academic probation, discontinuation of financial aid, dismissal from the Program.
4. PART-TIME STATUS
Part-time status is rarely allowed in the English Department. It is primarily reserved for those students whose financial obligations cannot be met by a Department, College, or University award. Students intending to attend on a part-time basis must inform the DGS upon application to the program. Part-time students must complete all requirements for the degree within six years of beginning the program.
5. LEAVES OF ABSENCE
The Graduate Committee occasionally approves leaves of absence from the program for medical or personal reasons. Students seeking a leave must do so in writing to the Graduate Committee, explaining the reason(s) for the request. The Graduate Committee will approve or disapprove the request, forwarding it to the Graduate School. It is the Graduate School which is actually empowered to grant leaves of absence.
The Graduate Committee, in endorsing a request for leave, will require that the student notify the Department and the Graduate School well in advance of plans to re-enter or extend the leave, or to withdraw from the program. In practical terms this means that for leaves of one fall-to-fall academic year, the Committee must be notified by January 15 of plans for the following fall. For a Fall semester leave, the Committee needs to know by 1 December; for a Spring semester leave, by 1 April. The early dates for notification are primarily for budgetary reasons.
6. THE GRADUATE COMMITTEE
The Graduate Committee is normally composed of five members of the English Department faculty, appointed each year (or continued) by the Chair. One member of the Graduate Committee serves as Director of Graduate Studies.
The graduate students in residence and in good standing each year elect a senior graduate student, one who has passed the Comprehensive Examination, to serve on the Graduate Committee. The graduate student member does not participate in discussions that concern the confidential records of current, former, or prospective students.
The Graduate Committee considers and presents to the full faculty proposals for new graduate courses; considers requests for leaves of absence; considers petitions for variances from stated regulations; serves as the admissions committee for applicants to the Graduate Program; judges and recommends nominees for the various awards listed above; discusses, formulates, and presents to the full faculty recommendations for changes in the Graduate Program; considers appeals from individual graduate students in matters relating to Comprehensive Examinations; considers and comments on dissertation proposals; conducts all business that concerns the nature and function of the Graduate Program in the English Department.
7. THE DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES
In general, the duties of the DGS are liaison between the English Department and the Graduate School, and between individual graduate students or groups of graduate students and the Graduate School (if such a service is needed); the monitoring of each graduate student’s “progress toward the degree”; scheduling and administration of Comprehensive Examinations; mediator in conflicts between graduate students and faculty, when such a role is requested by either side; acting as clearinghouse and, if needed, arbitrator for graduate course offerings; observer in each Oral Comprehensive Examination and Dissertation Defense. Other specific duties in keeping with the general status of the DGS may occur from time to time.
8. FINDING A JOB
Each year in October, December, February, and April, the Modern Language Association publishes a Job List containing descriptions of academic positions in English. The Chair’s office makes this list available to graduate students, and individual subscriptions are available directly from the MLA. Each student should establish a dossier with the Vanderbilt Career Center (located in the Student Life Building, Suite 220), containing a Curriculum Vitae and at least four letters of recommendation. Other documents, such as award citations, might also be included. Periodically, students should update the credentials file. Members of the faculty are happy to work with students on the format and content of the c.v. During the fall, faculty will conduct walk-throughs of the application, convention, and interview processes. Graduate students are urged to participate in these rehearsals. When the time comes, students should be sure to discuss the whole matter of finding a job in academia with as many members of the faculty as possible.
Most English departments now require a completed and approved dissertation from each job applicant, and publications achieved as a graduate student have become increasingly important for distinguishing one applicant from the crowd. It is, therefore, advisable to consider each seminar paper as a potentially publishable essay. Students should also apply for post-doctoral fellowships simultaneously with the job search. The MLA has a non-academic job-finding service for English Ph.D.s. Although this service is still limited, students may wish to investigate it if interested in non-academic options.
9. COMPUTING RESOURCES
Every graduate student is allocated a certain amount of free time on the Vanderbilt central computer network, which offers access to e-mail, the Internet and the World Wide Web, among other facilities. For further information, the student is advised to contact the Information Technology Services (ITS) office. Additional computing support can be obtained from the Microcomputer Lab in Garland Hall.
10. MAIL
All graduate students are urged to check their e-mail daily and their mailboxes (on the fourth floor of Benson Hall) at least twice a week. The Departmental address is:
VU Station B #351654, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-1654
Revised: June 2006
