PhD Requirements
We attempt to make each stage of the progress towards the doctoral degree less an obstacle race, with each stage a step to be got through before the "real work" can begin, than an integral and component part of the making of an intellectual.
Course Requirements
At Duke, the doctoral candidate must be enrolled for six semesters of full tuition. Students must successfully complete eleven graduate courses for credit in their first two years, but they may, of course, take more than the minimum number of courses, either as an audit or for credit: typically students take between twelve and fourteen courses in their first three years of study. All courses at the 200 or 300 levels in both the English department and the Program in Literature may be counted toward the eleven course requirement. Courses in other departments, or at the 100 level, may also count toward completion of this requirement provided that the student receives the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies before enrolling in these courses. At the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies, up to three courses of the eleven normally required may be remitted for a student who has completed an MA degree at another university.
Foreign Language Requirement
Our program requires foreign language proficiency in at least one language. We ask that the student establish this proficiency by the end of the third semester in the program, either by certifying a grade of "B" or better in a literature course conducted in the language at another college or university within two years of matriculating at Duke, or by successfully completing one of the departmentally approved language courses for graduate students at Duke. Other methods of certifying proficiency may be allowed at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies.
Diversified Study
During the course of their degree, students should expect to be exposed to:
1. materials from different centuries;
2. texts not only from both the British and American national literatures but also from Anglophone literature;
3. a range of literary genres, media, and cultural studies;
4. at least one course in which theory is the central subject.
Such diversified study should take place not simply in course work, but more comprehensively across coursework (including audited classes after prelim exams), exam fields, and teaching experiences. Generally speaking, students can be considered to have a minimum of 20 learning opportunities: at least 11 courses, 6 teaching experiences, and 3 exam fields.
'Hit List'
We require all students in our program to take at least one course in which theory or one of its variants (Aesthetic theory, Critical theory, Cultural Studies, History of Criticism, etc.) is the central subject, and then require all students to have at least one 'hit' in 7 of the 10 following categories:
1. Medieval
2. Renaissance
3. 18th Century British
4. 19th Century British: Romanticism, Victorian, European, colonial
5. Colonial American
6. 19th Century American
7. 20th Century Literatures: British, American, post-colonial, Anglophone
8. Genre: History of the Novel, Lyric Poetry, Horror, epic, romance.
9. Film, Video, New Technologies.
10. Language and Other Literatures (e.g. Old English, French, Hebrew, Swahili, Romanian etc).
NOTE: These 'hits' are to be seen as a checklist whose main purpose is to ensure genuine breadth and diversity of study during the time to completion of the degree. If the student already has an advanced degree in which many of these areas have been studied or can supply sufficient evidence of preparation in these areas, the Director of Graduate Studies may, at his or her discretion, remit one or more of these areas of study.
Areas of Concentration
Beginning in the second year of the program, the student selects one major and two minor fields of concentration that will form the basis of the preliminary examination on a major area of concentration. The student should also select a preliminary examining committee, consisting of a major-field faculty advisor and three other faculty members, by the end of the second year. A summer reading list is due to the Director of Graduate Study before the summer of the student's third year.
Preliminary Examination
In the spring semester of the third year, the student takes two written examinations , one on the major and one on the two minor areas of concentration. These take the form either of two take-home 24 hour papers. The written portion is followed within two weeks by an oral examination on the major as well as the two minor fields. Both the written and the oral examinations are administered by the preliminary examination committee (see above).
Dissertation
In the fourth and fifth years, the student will be expected to complete a book-length thesis of original scholarship. The Ph.D. degree is awarded upon completion and successful defense of the dissertation. The dissertation committee of four members (typically, though not invariably, the four members of the preliminary examining committee) is responsible for assisting as appropriate in the dissertation research and writing, deciding on the acceptability of the work, and administering the Final Doctoral Oral Examination.
Dissertation Chapter Meeting
A chapter consultation for the dissertation is scheduled within six months of the preliminary examination. At this meeting, the student submits a draft of the first chapter and a brief outline of the projected shape of the rest of the dissertation for discussion with the assembled dissertation committee. From this point forward, the director of the dissertation serves as the principal advisor, and the second and third reader are typically also asked to read work in progress. The fourth reader usually reads the dissertation in full only when it has reached its final form.
Time Limits and Deadlines
The dissertation should normally be submitted and accepted within two years of the preliminary examination; extensions may be granted, but only in extraordinary circumstances will they be granted for longer than two further years. Regulations governing details such as the filing of the title by a stipulated deadline, the format, and the deadline for submission of a final version before the scheduled examination, are all set by the Graduate School and should be carefully followed.
The Final Doctoral Oral Examination
All members of the dissertation committee must participate in this examination. Typically the exam takes two hours, and it may involve questions not only about the content of the dissertation, but on the candidate's major field. Minor changes or corrections on the dissertation may be requested . Three committee members, including the dissertation director, must agree that the candidate will pass.