Princeton University - The Graduate School

The aim of the Princeton graduate program in English is to produce well-trained and productive scholars, sympathetic and intelligent critics, and effective and imaginative teachers. The five-year Ph.D. program is intense but also supportive. Princeton maintains a feeling of intimacy despite being a high-powered research university; it is large enough to sustain an extremely diverse, cosmopolitan, and lively intellectual community, but small enough so that no one need feel lost in it. Because this is a residential university, whose traditions emphasize teaching as well as research, the faculty is easily accessible to students and concerned about their progress.

The faculty of the Department of English is notable for its scholarly reputation, commitment to teaching, and accessibility. Faculty are committed as a department to a diverse range of critical approaches to the discipline. In addition to offering seminars in every major historical field of concentration, from medieval to contemporary literatures, we offer a wide range of theoretical specializations in fields such as feminist theory, gender studies, psychoanalysis, Marxism, New Historicism, environmental studies, political and social theory, and cultural studies. Students may take courses as well in cognate departments such as comparative literature, classics, philosophy, linguistics, history, and art history.

The University offers programs in creative writing, dance, theater, and visual arts. Although these programs do not have graduate courses, graduate students are welcome to participate when space permits. The faculty in creative writing is one of the most outstanding in the country, and includes Jeffrey Eugenides, Chang-rae Lee, Paul Muldoon, Joyce Carol Oates, James Richardson, Edmund White, and C.K. Williams. John McPhee is a faculty member in the Council of the Humanities.

Language Requirement
Students must demonstrate a reading knowledge of two foreign languages as soon as possible after enrollment. The languages normally recommended are French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, and Spanish, but other languages relevant to a student’s program of research may be substituted with the approval of the director of graduate studies. The language requirement must be satisfied before the completion of the general examination.

The Course of Study
The graduate program in English is a five-year program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). During the first two years, students prepare for the general examination through work in seminars and directed or independent reading. The third, fourth, and fifth years are devoted to teaching in undergraduate courses and to the writing of the dissertation.

First and second years. The major work of the first two years should reinforce the student’s general knowledge of English and American literature. During the second year, students also begin intensive work in their special fields of interest, which may include a historical period, a genre, or literary theory and criticism. Students choose their courses at the beginning of each term with the aid of the departmental director of graduate studies. While programs are flexible, students normally enroll in three seminars each term to complete the required 12 courses by the end of the second year .

M.A. Requirements
Students qualify for the Master of Arts (M.A.) by satisfactorily completing all required course work, the course distribution requirement, and the language requirement.

General Examination
The general examination, taken in October of the third year, is the main qualifying examination for the Ph.D. The purpose of this examination is to prepare students to present themselves as strong job candidates with wide-ranging knowledge of two or more fields. The examination committee consists of three faculty members, who assist the student in preparing a reading list for the examination. Students elect to be examined on either two major fields, or one major and two minor fields. They also decide, in consultation with their examination committee, which examination format is most appropriate for them: an eight-hour written examination, or a two-hour oral examination.

Third, fourth, and fifth years. Students are strongly encouraged to continue taking courses in the third year and beyond, both in the English department and in related departments such as comparative literature. After completing the general examination, all students participate in a dissertation seminar led by a faculty member in which they write a thesis proposal. This dissertation proposal becomes the basis of a one-hour oral examination, after which students continue to work on the dissertation with the guidance of two faculty directors.

Final Public Oral Examination
A final public oral examination is given after each candidate’s dissertation has been read, approved, and deposited in the requisite number of copies. The examination has two parts. The first consists of a 30-minute lecture on the dissertation to cover the following topics: a justification of the subject treated; an account of possible methods of treating the subject and a justification of the method chosen; an account of any new contributions made; and a consideration of the possibility of future studies of the same kind, including an account of plans for future scholarship and publication. In the second, the student answers a series of questions growing out of subjects presented in the lecture and sometimes relating to the teaching of literary material dealt with in the dissertation.

Teaching Experience
All graduate students who have passed the general examination are required to teach in undergraduate courses as part of their preparation. While the minimum requirement is six hours, most students teach more than this. The department offers many opportunities for teaching experience in conjunction with its large and popular undergraduate program. Students may teach in the writing program, conduct sections of large lecture courses, or direct precepts in upper-division courses. This teaching is supervised by experienced members of the faculty. The department also offers, on an annual basis, a teacher training seminar.

Colloquia
Graduate students are welcome to participate in a variety of seminars and colloquia organized by the English department and other departments and programs. These may involve the discussion of an article or problem, the presentation of a paper, or a forum for debate. Colloquia also include one-day conferences on a number of topics. Students may also participate in the meetings of the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies; attend the Christian Gauss Seminars in Criticism; and involve themselves in any of the many colloquia under the aegis of the Council of the Humanities. The department sponsors graduate-student-organized colloquia that are based around fields of interest. Currently there are five major colloquia that include the American, Renaissance, 18th-century and Romantic studies, Victorian, and 20th-century fields. In addition, there is a thriving graduate student Works in Progress lunchtime talk series.

English