English, PhD

Admission

A student may enter the program directly from the baccalaureate (see Admission Requirements for M.A. degree program in English), but it is strongly advised that the M.A. degree be completed as part of the program. In addition to the general admission requirements from the Graduate School, application to the Ph.D. program in English requires a critical writing sample (10-20 pages), a statement of purpose, and a curriculum vitae. Applicants for the Creative Writing concentration also must declare a genre of specialization in their statement of purpose (fiction, poetry, drama, or creative nonfiction) and must also submit a creative writing sample in that genre (10-20 pages). Applicants for University Fellowship funding are required to provide official GRE General Test scores.

Degree Requirements

Students accepted into the Ph.D. degree program in English must complete at least 75 hours of graduate credit after earning the bachelor’s degree. These hours include 51 credit hours of coursework and 24 credit hours of dissertation work. If a student enters with a prior master’s degree from a different program, they must complete at least 27 post-master’s credit hours in this department. At least 30 hours must be at the 500/600-level. Beyond the required coursework, students also must satisfy the comprehensive examination, foreign language, and dissertation requirements described below.

Graduate Language Requirement

In addition to a command of English, the student must demonstrate intermediate reading knowledge of two other languages OR advanced reading proficiency in one other language.

Intermediate reading knowledge of other languages may be established in one of the following ways:

1. Satisfactory completion of an appropriate language requirement in an M.A. or other post-baccalaureate program; or
2. Presentation of evidence of having completed, within the past six years prior to entering the English Ph.D. program at UL Lafayette, the second semester, sophomore-level college course in an approved language with a grade no lower than C; the course work may be taken while the student is attending UL Lafayette; or
3. Successful completion of 4 semester hours in Old English at the graduate (500-600) level, either during the graduate program in English at UL Lafayette or within the last six years prior to entering the Ph.D. program; or
4. Successful completion of the Graduate Language Requirement Exam - Intermediate Reading Knowledge, designed and administered by appropriate faculty in the Department of Modern Languages; or
5. Successful completion of FREN 535  - French for Reading and Research with a B or higher; or
6. Presentation of a satisfactory score on the Graduate School Foreign Language Test administered by the Educational Testing Service.

Advanced reading proficiency in other languages may be demonstrated in one of the following ways:

1. Passing the Graduate Language Requirement Exam - Advanced Reading Proficiency a test designed and administered by the UL Lafayette Modern Languages Department; or
2. Passing with a grade of B or better 9 semester hours in the target language at the junior or senior (300-400) level, or 6 hours at the graduate (500-600) level within the last five years prior to entering the Ph.D. program in English at UL Lafayette. These courses may be taken while the student is attending UL Lafayette; or
3. Passing with a grade of B or better 6 semester hours in Old English at the graduate (500-600) level, either during the graduate program in English at UL Lafayette or within the last five years prior to entering the Ph.D. program; or
4. Passing with a grade of A in FREN 535  - French for Reading and Research, offered every other fall.

General Comprehensive Examination

Students will take their written Ph.D. examinations after having completed at least 48 credit hours and the graduate language requirement. Students are expected to complete their exams within one calendar year of the end of their coursework. Successfully completing the Ph.D. exams constitutes an M.A. capstone for students admitted to the Ph.D. program directly from their B.A. As such, this capstone completes their M.A. degree. This possibility is applicable only for concentrations within the Ph.D. program in English that allow exams. Further regulations governing these examinations are available in the English Graduate Student Handbook.

Application and Timeline for Exams​​​​​​​

In their penultimate semester of coursework, students choose an English Department faculty member as exam committee chair (who likely also will serve as their dissertation director). In consultation with their exam committee chair, students choose two additional English Department faculty members who will administer their comprehensive exam and will potentially serve on their dissertation committee. Co-chairships will be permitted with the consent of both co-chairs. Students may choose a fourth exam committee member, who may be faculty from outside the English Department or from another university. In consultation with their committee, students select three fields in which they will be examined: one primary field and two secondary fields. While there is no list of fields from which to choose and no faculty assigned to represent particular fields, students are strongly encouraged to take coursework with faculty they may consider for their exam and dissertation committees.

In their last semester of coursework, students generate three exam reading lists: a list of approximately fifty texts for their primary field and a list of approximately twenty-five texts for each of their secondary fields. Students consult with their exam committee to determine the appropriate number of primary and secondary texts for each field. Students submit these lists to their committee members for approval no later than the end of their last semester of coursework. Students submit an “Intent to Comp” form to the Chair of the Ph.D. Exams Committee that includes their exam lists, their intended exam dates, and their exam format.

Once the deadline for submitting the “Intent to Comp” has passed, the Chair of the Ph.D. Examinations Committee will send a list of students intending to comp to the Graduate Coordinator for Continuing Students.  The Graduate Coordinator for Continuing Students will review the students’ coursework and graduate language requirements and inform the Ph.D. Examinations Committee Chair, before classes begin the following semester, which students qualify to begin exams. The Graduate Coordinators’ Office will send the following to each applicable student and their advisor: either a confirmation of coursework requirement completion (pending success in their current courses) or an indication of remaining unfilled requirements.

Students will read for exams over the course of as many as two semesters. Students will complete exams and their exam meeting before the end of their second semester of reading.

Exam Formats and Administration

The student’s exam committee decides upon the format for their exam, taking into account the student’s three chosen fields, their three exam reading lists, and their intended dissertation topic. The student’s exam committee will decide upon the format for their exam no later than the end of the last semester of coursework, as it appears on the updated “Intent to Comp” form.

The primary field section of the exam must fall under the umbrella of the student’s concentration on the Plan of Study and can take one of three formats:

Format I: a portfolio with components determined by the exam committee.

Format II: a take-home, open-book/open-note section of the exam (that may or may not be combined with the secondary field sections of the exam) in which the student’s exam committee members (including the chair) generate two questions each for the primary field, and the student’s exam committee chair selects four questions for the primary field to put on this section of the exam. The student answers two of the four questions with argumentative essays that demonstrate content knowledge of primary and secondary texts in the field that approaches expertise.

Format III: a timed, proctored, closed-book/closed-note section of the exam. These sections of the exam will be offered no more than once per semester and must be scheduled when submitting the “Intent to Comp” form.

Each secondary area exam takes the same format: a take-home, open-book/open-note section of the exam (that may or may not be combined with the primary field section of the exam). The student’s exam committee decides how to generate and compile questions, with the expectation that each member (including the chair) contributes. Some options include: each member writes one question per field, and the chair selects two questions for each field; each member writes three questions for their field, and the chair selects two of the three for each field; or the student works with the committee to generate questions for each field (as they do with portfolios). The entire committee must approve the exam before a student can write it.

During this section of the exam, the student answers one question for each field with an argumentative essay that demonstrates content knowledge of reading list texts that approaches expertise. Students’ essays should cite primary sources (along with secondary sources, as appropriate for the field) and use either MLA, Chicago, or APA citation format. The total word count for the secondary area exams will be between 6,000 and 9,000, which a committee may choose to narrow. (A committee may narrow beyond those bounds with the approval of the PhD Exams Committee.)

The student will have six days (144 hours) to write the secondary areas section of the exam. These six days can be in sequence, with both secondary area essays due at the end of the six days. Alternatively, at the committee’s discretion, the secondary areas section can be broken into two three-day (72-hour) sittings, with one essay due at the end of each sitting. Under normal circumstances, if the secondary areas are written in two sittings, these sittings will take place within thirty days of each other.

Exam Grading

Members of the student’s exam committee decide jointly how to grade the sections of the exam and decide jointly whether the exam passes or fails. Faculty with concerns at any point in the exam process, including grading, may approach the Ph.D. exam committee for intervention and resolution. The exam committee meets with the student within two weeks of the exam to give the student their grade and feedback and have a conversation that will help to shape the direction of prospectus. The exam should be scheduled early enough so that this meeting occurs before the end of the second semester of exam reading. The exam committee chair will submit the “Examination Grade” form to the Graduate Coordinator for Continuing Students.

Failed Exams

If a student fails a section of the exam, the section(s) must be repeated the same or following semester. In accordance with university policy, no student will be permitted a third opportunity to take a section of the exam.

Dissertation

As soon as possible after beginning graduate study, a Ph.D. student should elect a field of specialization and, in consultation with a specialist in that field, select some problem for investigation. In the semester following successful completion of the General Comprehensive Examination, the student should submit a prospectus for the dissertation. The student should begin this step early enough to allow for its approval by mid-October when examinations were completed the previous spring or mid-March when examinations were completed the previous fall. The chair of the student’s dissertation committee, in consultation with other committee members, will then recommend to the dean of the Graduate School that the student’s dissertation committee be approved. This committee will direct the candidate through the final stages of the program. The dissertation may be a work of literary or linguistic scholarship on a single subject, a literary biography, a work concerned with the history of ideas or American or English studies. Creative writing students submit an original work of literature with supporting critical/theoretical commentary. The dissertation should meet the minimum standards for publication.

Final Oral Examination

When the dissertation has been completed and approved by the dissertation committee, the committee will conduct a final oral examination of the candidate. The examination will be devoted to a defense of the dissertation and to related matters.

Notes

Students must complete:

ENGL 596 - Research Methods  or an approved equivalent

ENGL 500 - Professional Colloquium  in each of their two semesters

Students must complete a minimum of 75 credit hours of graduate credit (including a minimum of 24 hours for dissertation) above the baccalaureate.

A minimum of 51 of credit hours must be in English courses at the 400(G), 500, and 600 levels. At least 27 of these credit hours must be at the 500/600 level.

Students must complete at least 21 post-M.A. credit hours of coursework at UL Lafayette by the semester before the General Comprehensive Examination is scheduled. Up to 27 credit hours may be transferred in from previous graduate-level work. For those pursuing the creative writing concentration, all workshop requirements must be competed at UL Lafayette; transfer credit for workshops will count as elective credit.

With prior permission of the English Department, students may take selected graduate courses in related disciplines.

Students are urged to plan early and continuously, with the help of graduate advisors and the Graduate Coordinators, for adequate coursework before their written examinations.