Course Work

  1. Course Work
    The requirement is normally a minimum of three full graduate courses in English after the M.A. (two half-courses are the equivalent of one full course) taken in the first and second year of full-time enrolment. All three full graduate courses must be completed by the end of the second year. Failure to complete course work on schedule will not be grounds for deferral of either of the qualifying examinations. With approval from the Chair of Graduate Studies, up to the equivalent of 1.0 full course may be taken from another program (examples of eligible programs include French, Classics, Modern Languages, Comparative Literature, Women's Studies, Theory and Criticism, History, Political Studies, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, and Philosophy). A student may audit any other courses in English at the discretion of the instructors involved. All Ph.D. students are required to take at least one half-course at the graduate level before 1900 if they have not done so at the M.A. level.

  2. Compulsory Course in Bibliography and Textual Studies
    Please Note: As of September 2018, English 9002, Advanced Research Methods, is no longer a required course for our MA or PhD programs.

  3. Reading Course
    A reading course is one in which the student will meet an instructor regularly (a minimum of twenty-five hours is required for a full course and thirteen hours for a half-course) to discuss his or her progress in following a prescribed reading list. A candidate may be allowed to take up to one full course as a reading course as one of the graduate courses prescribed for the Ph.D. if he or she is able to find an instructor willing to direct such a course and if the Committee on Graduate Studies approves. The approval and commencement of reading courses (which in all other respects conform to departmental specifications) is contingent on a student's being in good standing in other graduate courses (i.e., assignments are handed in on time and are satisfactory). Course content, assignments and student-teacher consultation are expected to be equivalent in weight to regularly offered courses. A reading course must be approved by the Committee on Graduate Studies prior to the commencement of the course.


    An outline (description) of the proposed course, briefly explaining its purpose, listing the texts to be studied, and including the evaluation scheme should be submitted to the Chair of Graduate Studies at least four weeks before the term in which the course is to be taken. The instructor should have indicated approval of this proposal by adding a signature to it.

  4. Term Work
    The Graduate Faculty in English has set the following deadlines for the completion of term work in graduate courses:

    January 1 for Fall half-courses;
    May 1 for Fall-Winter full courses and for Winter half-courses;
    September 1 for Summer courses.

    Any instructor is entitled to set a deadline prior to those established by the Graduate Faculty in English, and it will have the same force and carry the same penalty as the Department deadline. Any student who has not submitted all required work by the deadline will receive an F in the course, and his or her registration in subsequent graduate courses (i.e., progression in the program) will be subject to review by the Committee on Graduate Studies. Exceptions to this rule will be made only on medical or compassionate grounds that are established to the satisfaction of the Committee on Graduate Studies. Those intending to ask for extensions on such grounds should do so at least a week before the deadline.