PhD Comprehensive Examinations:
Guidelines & Regulations
Students are required to pass three examinations before proceeding to the doctoral dissertation. Two of these are written examinations ("area examinations") in areas of literary history or in literary theory to be selected in consultation with the Program Chair. The third examination ("area-of-concentration examination") is an oral examination, based on a written prospectus and bibliography assembled by the candidate, in the area of the candidate's proposed doctoral dissertation.
General
| 1. 2. |
Examinations are to be taken during the designated week (usually the third week) in each of January, May, and September. Candidates are required to declare their intention to take an examination by August 15 (for January), December 15 (for May), or April 15 (for September). This should be done in writing (including by e-mail) to the Program Chair. |
Area Examinations
3. |
Candidates will have 4 hours in which to write each examination. Candidates will be required to answer two questions from a list of five. The resources allowed will be a computer with MS-Word and WordPerfect (provided by the program, and without internet access) and a dictionary. The examining committee will consist of three examiners. One of these will act as chair of the committee. Normally the chair and at least one of the other two examiners will be members of the core faculty of the Comparative Literature program. Examinations will normally be written in English. Other languages can be used only with the explicit agreement of both the candidate and the examining committee. The questions asked in the examination should provide reasonable coverage of the field, and each question should have reasonable breadth. To ensure that the candidate and the examiners have a common understanding of what constitutes "reasonable coverage" and "reasonable breadth," each candidate is required to meet with the chair of the examining committee in order to discuss the examination and how to prepare for it. This meeting should take place within the time scale outlined below. A candidate may fail and retake (at the next opportunity, one term later) each of the area examinations once. A candidate who fails an area examination a second time will normally be required to withdraw from the program subject to an immediate review of his/her progress in the program. This will be conducted by the Program Progression Review Committee. |
Area-of-Concentration Examination
10. ? |
As part of this examination candidates will prepare a written dissertation prospectus and core bibliography. The prospectus will be 20-30 pages in length (not including the bibliography). It should normally address the subject, scope, justification, and method of the proposed dissertation, its theoretical context, and (at least in general terms) the state of current scholarship in the area. The bibliography should consist of approximately 50 texts (books and essays), organized under such headings as "theory," "author," "cultural/historical context," and so on, as appropriate. The candidate should be able to justify the categories used and the distribution of texts among them. Overall, the prospectus and bibliography should represent four months of work. This written component must be submitted no less than two weeks prior to the oral examination. |
| 11. | The examining committee will consist of three examiners and a neutral chair, appointed by the Program Chair. One of the three examiners will normally be the candidate's expected dissertation supervisor. Normally that examiner and at least one of the other two examiners will be members of the core faculty of the Comparative Literature program. |
| 12. | A pass in this examination will be understood as implying the Program's approval for the candidate to proceed with the proposed dissertation project. |
Summary of Schedule
| Step 1 Date by which candidate must declare intention to take examination (all examinations) |
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August 15 September 15 January |
December 15 January 15 May |
| Step 2 Date by which candidate must meet with chair of examining committee (area examinations only) |
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| Step 3 Examination to be taken during designated week in |
For further information about any aspect of the program, please contact:
The Graduate Chair, Comparative Literature
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 85857/Fax: (519) 661-4093
E-Mail: Prof. David Darby, ddarby@uwo.ca