REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Professor and Head of the Department
W. Barker

The degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy are offered in English Language and Literature.

Candidates for the M.A. in English may complete the program as either part-time or full-time students. Candidates for the Ph.D. in English must be in attendance as full-time students for at least three semesters of the program.

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

1. Upon admission each graduate student shall be assigned at least one Supervisor and a Supervisory Committee. The Supervisory Committee shall consist of the Supervisor, who shall act as Chairperson, and at least two other members.

2. A candidate who does not hold a Master's degree in English or its equivalent from a recognized university shall be required to complete a program of not fewer than 18 credit hours in graduate courses.

3. Candidates who have not completed English 4900 (Bibliography I) or an equivalent course or courses will be required to complete English 5900 (Bibliography and Research Methods). The course will not count as one of the required courses in any graduate program. The course will be graded as Pass/Fail. As in other graduate courses a grade of 65B or above is considered a Pass.

4. Fifteen credit hours in courses beyond those required for the M.A. shall be mandatory and shall normally include English 7003 or its equivalent. These courses are to be decided upon by each candidate in consultation with his/her Ph.D. Supervisory Committee.

5. Students who have taken English 7003 or its equivalent before entering the Ph.D. program must still complete 18 credit hours.

While candidates will normally be free to choose graduate courses of interest to them, it will be a primary responsibility of their Supervisory Committee to ensure that any serious deficiencies in their record of previous courses, graduate and undergraduate, are made good, particularly in the area of proposed thesis research.

6. Candidates must submit a thesis proposal, deemed acceptable by the Supervisory Committee, including a statement of topic, working title, plan of research, preliminary bibliography, to the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee for its approval before taking the comprehensive examination and no later than by the end of the fifth semester.

The Departmental Graduate Studies Committee shall return the thesis proposal to the candidate no later than one month after receiving it.

7.a) The Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination in the fields of English Language and Literature consists of a written examination, drawn up by the Ph.D. Examination Committee.

The Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination Committee shall consist of the Co-ordinator of Graduate Studies, who shall chair the Committee, the Dean of Graduate Studies or his/her delegate, the Supervisor, and at least two other members of the Department necessary to satisfy General Regulation H.2.b. If the Co-ordinator is also a member of the Supervisory Committee, an additional representative of the Department shall be appointed to chair the examination committee.

b) The written examination shall consist of three parts; a four-hour examination in the student’s area of concentration and two three-hour examinations in two other areas. The examination shall take place before the end of the seventh semester in accordance with General Regulation H.2.

c) Candidates who fail one or more parts of the written examination may be re-examined in the respective area(s). This re-examination, and whether it be written or oral, is at the discretion of the examination committee. Candidates shall normally be re-examined no later than three months after writing their first examination. Candidates who fail the re-examination will be required to withdraw from the Ph.D. program.

8. Reading knowledge of a second language shall be mandatory. Reading knowledge is defined as a minimum B grade in a second-year language course taken within the previous five years, or performance satisfactory to the department in an arranged reading proficiency test. A dictionary may be used in the test. Any mandatory language test must be passed before the student proceeds to the comprehensive examination.

The second language will normally be French. In exceptional circumstances, and on the recommendation of the departmental Graduate Studies Committee with advice of the Supervisory Committee, a language other than French may be substituted. Furthermore, a Supervisory Committee may require a demonstrated reading knowledge of an additional language other than French (or the substitute language) if deemed necessary for the student’s research interests.

COURSES

In accordance with Senate’s Policy Regarding Inactive Courses, courses which have not been offered in the previous three academic years and which are not scheduled to be offered in the current academic year have been removed from the following listing. For information about any of these inactive courses, please contact the Head of the Department.

A selection of the following graduate courses will be offered to meet the requirements of candidates, as far as the resources of the Department will allow.

NOTES: 1) Since it is impossible to list in detail the many topics that may from time to time be offered, the titles below refer only to the major periods and general subject areas in which specific courses may be available. The content and approach in specific courses will vary according to the research interests of students and faculty involved in the course. Students should consult the Department's annual Graduate Student Guide (or the Graduate Co-ordinator) for detailed descriptions of specific course offerings. Normally, no fewer than 30 credit hours in graduate courses are offered in any given academic year.

2) English 5900 cannot be counted as one of the required graduate courses in any program.

3) All students will normally take English 7003 - Trends in Contemporary Literary Theory, usually in their first semester.

TABLE OF CREDIT RESTRICTIONS FOR PRESENT ENGLISH COURSES WITH FORMER ENGLISH COURSES

CREDIT MAY BE OBTAINED FOR ONLY ONE COURSE FROM EACH OF THE PAIRS LISTED IN THIS TABLE

5900. Bibliography and Research Methods
6403. Etymology (same as Linguistics 6403)
6420. English Dialectology I
6421. English Dialectology II
7003. Trends in Contemporary Critical Theory
7032. Studies in Old English I
7034. Studies in Middle English I
7039. Studies in 16th-Century Literature III
7040. Studies in 16th-Century Literature IV
7041. Studies in 17th-Century British Literature I
7042. Studies in 17th-Century British Literature II
7047. Studies in 18th-Century British Literature III
7048. Studies in 18th-Century British Literature IV
7049. Studies in 19th-Century British Literature I
7050. Studies in 19th-Century British Literature II
7054. Studies in 20th-Century British Literature II
7055. Studies in 20th-Century British Literature III
7058. Studies in 19th Century American Literature I
7063. Studies in 20th-Century American Literature III
7064. Studies in 20th-Century American Literature IV
7066. Studies in 19th-Century Canadian Literature I
7067. Studies in 19th-Century Canadian Literature II
7069. Studies in 20th-Century Canadian Literature I
7072. Studies in 20th-Century Canadian Literature IV
7073. Studies in Newfoundland Literature I
7079. Studies in Post-Colonial Literature I
7082. Studies in Critical Theory I
7085. Special Readings in English I
7086. Special Readings in English II
7087. Special Readings in English III
7020-25. Special Topics in English

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