General Examination for Ph.D. Students

Literary and Cultural Studies Composition/Rhetoric/Literacy

The General Examination is the culmination of the student's coursework and his or her general preparation for doctoral work, before admission to doctoral candidacy. It should therefore test:

(a) the overall knowledge of his or her chosen Primary and Secondary Areas which the student has acquired cumulatively up to that point through coursework and independent preparation; and

(b) his or her skills as a researcher, scholar, and critic in literary and cultural studies.

The student's overall knowledge of his or her chosen Primary and Secondary Areas should be tested for its historical, generic, thematic, and critical depth and breadth.

The General Examination should be designed, administered, and evaluated by the student's Advisory Committee. The fifth (outside) member may or may not be involved, along with the first four members, in setting and reading the written component; but all five members must be present for the oral component. The General Examination will have a written component and an oral component. The Examination should preferably be taken in the semester immediately after the one in which coursework is completed, and no later than the third semester after completion of coursework. The written and oral components must be taken in the same semester.

Written Component
The written component will have two parts: (a) Part One based on a reading list of at least 50 items in the Primary Area; (b) Part Two based on a reading list of at least 30 items in the Secondary Area. Both parts may also call for items on a reading list of at least 25 items in Literary Criticism and Theory.

Specifically, doctoral candidates draft three exam questions for the Primary Area and two questions for the Secondary Area and submit them to their Committee. These questions should exhaust the materials on the reading lists, but they need not necessarily "cover" the whole increased list. Students will still be rsponsible for books not discussed in the written exams on their orals.

When the Committee approves final versions of the questions, the exam must be taken no more than 30 days later. The Committee will choose one question from each set of exam questions (Primary and Secondary) for the exam. The two parts of the written component will be presented to the student at 8am on a workday morning and the written answers to their questions shall be returned to the Graduate Office at or before 5pm on a workday four consecutive days following the day the exam was received (for a total of 5 consecutive days).

Oral Component
The oral component should be about 2 hours long, and should focus on the reading lists for the Primary Area, the Secondary Area, and Criticism and Theory. The oral component will provide an opportunity for both the student and the Advisory Committee to review, analyze, contextualize, and supplement the written component. Students should expect to be questioned on items from their reading lists not alluded to in the written component of the exam. Ability to demonstrate to the exam committee familiarity and comprehension of the works on the reading lists is expected for the successful completion of the oral component.

While a student is preparing for the General Examination, he or she should register for Directed Readings credit with the chair of his or her Advisory Committee (maximum 6 credit hrs allowed for this purpose). The General Examination should be graded Fail, Pass, or Pass with Distinction. Only two attempts will be allowed, with a maximum interval of two semesters between them.

Literary and Cultural Studies
Composition, Rhetoric and Literacy

Area of Concentration | Ph.D. Advisement | Credit Hours
Foreign Language Requirement | Teaching Requirement
General Examination | Dissertation | Annual Evaluation | Financial Aid