Course requirements for the Ph.D. degree:

* A minimum of 30 credits of course work beyond the M.A. degree, excluding dissertation credits
* Teaching Assistants are required to have successfully completed a graduate level Teaching of Composition course in addition to the required 30 credit hours
* English 500—Aims and Methods of Literary Scholarship may be required in addition to the 30 credit hours if a comparable course has not been taken on the M.A. level
* English 566—Literary Theory or a comparable general theory course at the graduate level
* Courses in six out of the following seven literary distribution areas, fulfilled on the graduate level: Old and Medieval English Literature, Renaissance English Literature, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century English Literature, Nineteenth-Century English Literature, American Literature through the Nineteenth Century, Twentieth-Century British Literature, Twentieth-Century American Literature (with the Graduate Director’s approval, a course falling outside of a single, specific historical period may fulfill an area requirement as long as the area is covered by the course)
* At least one course in the student’s primary field/historical period must be taken at Duquesne on the graduate level
* Demonstration of a reading knowledge of one foreign language. This requirement must be met prior to taking field examinations.Ph.D. Exam Structure:

The Ph.D. Exam will be comprised of two four-hour written exams:
A field exam: with the aim to gain depth and breadth of knowledge, the student will select a broadly recognized historical period that may or may not match one of the distribution areas
A specialization exam: the student will focus on a genre, a theoretical emphasis, or a set of critical/cultural issues or problems

In consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, students will constitute two committees of at least two faculty members each, one for the field exam and one for the specialization exam. Depending on students’ areas of study, these committees may (but need not) be the same. In consultation with their committees, students will formulate for each exam a reading list of 50 to 100 titles, including both primary and secondary texts. In addition, students will present to their examining committee and then to the Graduate Studies Committee for approval a one-page written rationale for their choice of and the connections between their chosen field (exam 1) and area of specialization (exam 2). This proposal should include a discussion of the kind(s) of scholarly work these two exams will allow them to engage.

Ordinarily, students will take their exams within a year of completing their course work. In scheduling the two four-hour written exams, the second written exam must be taken within three months of the first written exam. A two-hour oral exam will follow within three weeks of successful completion of the two written exams. The oral exam will emphasize the relations between the chosen field and specialization. Students who pass both the written and the oral exams may proceed in the program.
Students who fail one or both of the written exams may not proceed to the oral exam but may retake the failed section(s) at a time approved by the Examining Committee. Students who fail the oral exam may retake it at a time approved by the Examining Committee. Students retaking a part or all of the examination who fail any one part a second time may be dismissed from the program.

Dissertation:
In addition to the above requirements, students must submit a dissertation proposal and then complete a dissertation approved by designated readers in order to obtain a degree. The dissertation must be defended orally and formally accepted by the Dean of the Graduate School of Liberal Arts.

Admission Requirements: Ph.D. Degree
* Official transcript(s) recording all baccalaureate and graduate work. A 3.0 grade average, based on a four point scale, in graduate level work is normally required. Students having an undergraduate major or a Master of Arts degree in a field other than English are normally required to take several preliminary graduate courses before acceptance into the program.
* An official score report indicating satisfactory performance on the verbal, quantitative and analytic sections of the Graduate Record Examination.
* Letters of recommendation from three persons familiar with the applicant’s academic studies or, in some cases, work experience.
* A brief (1-2 page) statement of the applicant’s purpose in seeking the Ph.D. degree.
* A sample of the applicant’s academic writing (a critical paper, 10-20 pages, from a graduate course or a chapter from a Master of Arts thesis).
* An official score report indicating satisfactory performance on TOEFL examination (applicable to international students only).
* A Master's degree from an accredited University.

All applicants seeking financial assistance must submit all application materials by February 1. The deadline for other applicants is June 1 for matriculation in the following Fall semester and November 1 for the following Spring semester. All application materials must be received before any action can be taken on an applicant’s request for admission or financial aid.

Return to General Program Information