French and Francophone Studies

The PhD dissertation must be based upon original investigation and demonstrate mature scholarship and critical judgment as well as familiarity with the tools and methods of research. It should be a worthwhile contribution to knowledge in the student's special field. Students are advised to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the various Graduate School rules governing the format and deadlines for the dissertation.

Once past the Preliminary Exam, the student should focus as quickly as possible on a probable dissertation area and begin conferring with a faculty member likely to direct the dissertation. Together, they will recommend to the DGS the three other members of the dissertation committee, one of whom must be from outside the program area (i.e., from a related field). The composition of the committee, like that of the Preliminary Committee, must be approved by the Graduate School on a form available from the DGS.

The PhDDE Examination, which must be taken before full-time dissertation research will be funded, is essentially a seminar conducted with the dissertation committee in order to complement and refine the ideas and references the student brings to the project. It is administered as an oral exam by the members of the PhD dissertation committee and lasts about two hours. In preparation, the student compiles a starting bibliography and begins background readings of essential sources. This is done as an independent study for credit in the second semester of the third year. For the exam, the student submits this bibliography to the committee along with an essay of about 20 pages. The essay should address the following questions: How is the subject to be situated? What approaches can be used? What scholarship exists on this subject/field (theory, archival materials, history, literary history)? What contributions will the dissertation make? What criticism can be made of the chosen topic? What are its strengths and weaknesses? These are the questions that frame the discussion during the PhDDE, which thus serves principally to critique the problematic put forth by the candidate, to help shape the dissertation research, and to provide new information that can help the candidate further the dissertation project as rapidly as possible.

Prospectus

Taking into account the input received during the PhDDE Examination, the student revises the examination document and draws up a possible organizational framework for the dissertation itself. This should be 8-10 pages long and is submitted to the doctoral committee as the dissertation prospectus within two or three weeks after the exam. It is the director's responsibility to inform the DGS when the prospectus has been approved. The prospectus is intended to help guide the student's approach to the research and its outline will normally be modified as the work progresses.

Timetable

Students will be expected to have developed bibliographies acceptable to their PhDDE Committee by April of the third year (sixth semester) of graduate studies. The oral examination should take place at that time or, at the very latest, at the beginning of the fall semester of the following year. Departmental funding for dissertation research abroad is contingent upon successful completion of the PhDDE.

Outcomes of the PhD Dissertation Examination

The committee either allows the student to continue on toward the dissertation or informs the student of areas that need further preparation and sets any conditions necessary to assure that the student completes the additional required preparation.