PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

The Preliminary Examination will take place no later

than the first month of the fifth semester in the program.

           The Preliminary Examination is intended to insure two things:

1) that students achieve a comprehensive overview of their field of study and

2) that students develop skills and expertise in analyzing literary and cultural materials (research) and in presenting them to an audience (teaching).

           The Preliminary Examination Committee must be composed of four or more graduate faculty members approved for this purpose by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School.  At least one member of the committee must represent the student’s related or minor field (either inside or outside the department); at least three members must be from the student’s major department. The proposed committee must be submitted to the DGS on the appropriate Graduate School committee form and must be approved by the DGS and the Graduate School.  The member of the committee from the related field will participate in administering appropriate sections of the oral part of the examination.

(Note: if you are a Romance Studies Track student, you will need to have 2 Chairs for your exam committee.  One for each language area you are studying.)

           The Graduate School enforces the policy of turning in the Preliminary Examination committee form two months before taking the exam.  If it is not turned in two months before the oral exam date, this will delay the exam.  If any of the Preliminary Examination committee members change before the oral Preliminary Examination date, you must give the DGSA the names of the new committee members so a new form can be submitted to the graduate school.  This part does not fall within the two months rule.

Responsibilities of the Members will be:

1) To prepare questions in their respective areas of expertise for the written part of the examination.  Some flexibility in selection of questions will be given to the student when he or she takes the examination.  The questions should move beyond simple textual analysis to allow the student to demonstrate his or her knowledge of works, genres, and historical contexts. The questions should be in the hands of the DGSA one week before the written examination date.

2)  To evaluate their respective sections of the written examination and to be prepared to discuss their evaluations with the student in view of the oral part of the examination.

Outcomes of the Preliminary Examination:

           There are four possible outcomes to the Preliminary Examination:

1) Pass with permission to continue in the PhD program;

2) Fail with permission to retake parts of the exam;

3) Terminal pass allowing the student to leave the program with an MA;

4) Fail.

           Ordinarily, a student registered for full-time study should pass the Preliminary Examination by the end of the third year. A student who has not passed the examination by this time must file with dean of the Graduate School a statement, approved by the DGS, explaining the delay and setting a date for the exam. Except under highly unusual circumstances, extensions will not be granted beyond the middle of the fourth year.

           Credit is not generally allowed for graduate courses or foreign language examinations that are more than six years old at the date of the Preliminary Exam. Similarly, credit will not be allowed for a Preliminary Examination that is more than five years old at the date of the final exam. In cases of exceptional merit, the dean of the Graduate School may extend these limits. Should either of these limits be exceeded without the dean’s permission, the student must submit to the dean specific mechanisms for re-validating credits or examinations.

           The format and procedure of the Preliminary Examination varies according to the PhD track of the student.

Preliminary examination format

for  

French and Francophone Studies

           In advance of the Preliminary Examination, students will be required to show evidence of historical breadth in their study of French and Francophone literature.  It is highly recommended that students take at least one course from each member of the faculty and a minimum of three courses in periods before 1800.  Students of Francophone literature will also be required to show evidence of study of at least two national or regional Francophone literatures (i.e., sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, the Maghreb), one of which should be their specific field.  Students should select a course of study assuring appropriate coverage in consultation with the DGS and their examining committee.

           As early as possible, and no later than the beginning of the fifth semester after matriculation, the student should be ready to take his or her Preliminary Examination.  This includes constitution of a Preliminary Examination Committee.  The Preliminary Examination Committee must be composed of four or more graduate faculty members approved for this purpose by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School.  At least one member of the committee must represent the student’s related or minor field (either inside or outside the department); at least three members must be from the student’s major department.  The DGS and the Graduate School must approve the proposed committee.  Students should start working on their reading lists in their first year and submit them to be approved by the Preliminary Examination Committee (via the DGSA) by the beginning of their fourth semester of study.  The DGSA must receive a copy of the approved lists at least two months before the Preliminary Examination.

           The list will be in three sections, corresponding to the three sections of the exam, as follows.

1) A period.  For this section, the student will develop a bibliography focused on the literary, political, social and cultural understanding of an historical period defined as such by a critical tradition.  For example: the Wars of Religion, post-Revolutionary France, the classical period, the fin-de-siècle, medieval courtly culture, France under the Germans.  This section should develop the student’s understanding of what is generally meant by the grouping of texts within a period, and entail substantial exploration of the criticism of the periodization in question.  The period should be defined in terms more precise than an entire century.  It must not include the author chosen in section 2, nor overlap significantly with section 3.

2) A major author.  This section will focus on one author or a well-established cluster of authors or “school.” For example: Emile Zola, les Encyclopédistes, les Poètes de l’Hexagone, Jean Racine, Kateb Yacine, les Grands Rhétoriqueurs, Christine de Pizan, Marcel Proust.  In suitable cases two connected authors may be studied, such as Sartre and Beauvoir.  The student will be expected to demonstrate thorough knowledge of the author’s or authors’ oeuvre and of the critical tradition and debates around the author’s or authors’ major works.  The student should also be able to discuss the category of authorship.  Finally, he or she should have a sense of the “état présent” of the scholarship and editions concerning his/her author, or the unity of the author-cluster.

3) A critical problem in longue durée.  The student will define a problem in literary study over time (more than a century).  For example, autobiography as a genre from Rousseau to Leiris; créolité and négritude; epistolarity; the myth of the bon sauvage; gender and sexuality in French and/or Francophone literature; the relationship of history and literature; la littérature engagée; notions of modernity: les Anciens, les Modernes, les Postmodernes; drama from medieval farce to Beckett.

           The student in consultation with her or his committee will develop the reading list for each section.  Models will be kept on file for students’ consultation.  The bibliography for each question should include at least 25-30 titles.  The bibliographies should not be overlapping.

              The Preliminary Examination will be comprised of three written exams, corresponding to the three lists, and a follow up oral exam after the written exams are completed.  Students coming into the program with an MA in French will take 2 sections of the written Preliminary Examination.  They may exempt themselves from either the period or the author category.  Each written exam will last three hours to be completed in a single week.  One exam must be written in French (or one in English for native French speakers).  The follow up oral exam will involve questions and discussion in both French and English, and will not exceed two hours.

Preliminary Examination format

for 

Spanish and Latin American Studies

           By the beginning of the fourth semester for students entering without an MA or by the beginning of the third semester for students entering with an MA, the student should constitute her or his Preliminary Examination Committee.  Students entering with an MA are exempt from the written portion of the Preliminary Examination. To allow latitude for individual research interests, each student, by the beginning of the fourth semester of study, will submit to the Preliminary Examination Committee (via the DGSA) a comprehensive reading list based on the list approved by the Spanish faculty.  The definition of "areas" and "periods" will depend on and be specified by the graduate faculty in Spanish and Latin American Studies.  Students may substitute authors other than those on the reading list in consultation with their Preliminary Examination Committee, as long as they retain the same distribution by areas.

           The Preliminary Examination will take place no later than the first month of the fifth semester in the program.  The components are the following:

1)  Five questions (1 1/2 hour per question) for the Written Examination testing the student's competence in the history of literature in the Spanish/Latin American traditions and his or her skill in literary and cultural analysis.  The Preliminary Examination Committee must be composed of four or more graduate faculty members approved for this purpose by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School.  At least one member of the committee must represent the student’s related or minor field (either inside or outside the department); at least three members must be from the student’s major department.  The written examination will focus on five of the six areas in the comprehensive reading list for Spanish and Latin American literature.  It will take place at least one week before the oral examination.  A minimum of one question must be written in the language of study.  Note that Spanish students may satisfy the history of the Spanish language requirement by taking a course in the area, in which case the written and oral Preliminary Examinations will cover only four areas.

2)  A two-hour Oral Examination further testing the student's competence in the history of Spanish and Latin American literature and his or her skill in literary and cultural analysis.  The examination will be devoted to works and problems in five of the six areas of study chosen from the comprehensive reading list in Spanish and Latin American literature (four areas for Spanish students who have taken a history of the language course--see above).  The committee may also ask questions about the written part of the examination.  Part of the oral discussion will be conducted in Spanish as the committee sees fit.

Preliminary Examination format

for the 

PhD track in Romance Studies

           Preliminary examinations for Romance Studies PhD candidates will comprise three written exams, and a follow up oral exam after the written exams are completed.  Students coming into the program with an MA will take 2 sections of the written Preliminary Examination.  They may exempt themselves from either the period or the author category.  Each written exam will last three hours to be completed in a single week.  One exam must be taken in English; the other two in the two languages of specialization.  The follow up oral exam will involve questions and discussions in both English, and the other two languages.  It will not exceed two hours.

           The reading list for each examination will be developed by the student in consultation with her or his committee.  Models will be kept on file for students' consultation.  The bibliography for each question consists of at least 25-30 titles.  Each answer should address and cover in a balanced way each single language-area of specialization.  The bibliographies for each examination should not be overlapping.  The three written examinations will be organized as follows:

1) Exam on a period.  This exam focuses on the literary, political, social and cultural understanding of an historical period defined as such by a critical tradition.  For example: the Wars of Religion, post- Revolutionary Europe, the classical period, the fin-de-siècle, medieval courtly culture, modernism and postmodernism.  This section should develop the student's understanding of what is generally meant by the grouping of texts within a period, and entail substantial exploration of the criticism of the periodization in question.  The period should be defined in terms more precise than an entire century, and should not overlap significantly with part 2 and 3 of the written examinations.

2) Exam on a theoretical or critical problem.  Possible topics include transculturalism, hybridity, and cannibalism; the history of sexuality; psychoanalysis and colonialism; cultural studies and race; border studies; history of the book; theory of translation; theory of genres; film studies; transculturation, hybridization and cannibalism.

3) Exam on a diachronic perspective on literary and cultural studies.  The student will define a problem in literary study over time (more than a century) and in at least the two areas of specialization.  For example, empires and colonies from the 17th century through decolonization; autobiography as a genre from Dante to Rousseau; epistolarity; poetic sequence; the myth of the Revolution; the relationship of history and literature; travel literature.

Responsibilities of the Members of the will be:

1)  To prepare questions in their respective areas of expertise for the written part of the examination.  Some flexibility in selection of questions will be given to the student when he or she takes the examination.  The questions should move beyond simple textual analysis to allow the student to demonstrate his or her knowledge of works, genres, and historical contexts.  The questions should be in the hands of the DGSA one week before the written examination date.

2)  To evaluate their respective sections of the written examination and to be prepared to discuss their evaluations with the student in view of the oral part of the examination.

Your Preliminary Examination

must be passed by the end of your 3rd year.

Graduate School Rule:  Ordinarily a student registered for full-time study should pass the Preliminary Examination by the end of the third year. A student who has not passed the examination by this time must file with the Dean of the Graduate School a statement, approved by the Director of Graduate Studies in the major department, explaining the delay and setting a date for the examination. Except under unusual circumstances, extension will not be granted beyond the middle of the fourth year.

MA DEGREE

           A student can obtain an MA certificate after passing the Preliminary Examination, by filling out the “Intent to Receive Degree” form online on the Graduate School website.  The DGSA will fill out the card and place it with the Preliminary Examination forms for the committee to sign upon completion of the exam.

           A student who leaves the PhD program and who has taken a minimum of ten graduate courses, eight of which must be in his or her major field of specialization and up to two of which may be in related fields such as another national literature, the Graduate Program in Literature, History, Philosophy, Women's Studies, Latin American Studies, or Medieval and Renaissance Studies, may obtain an MA by taking an oral examination of 1 to 2 hours conducted on three periods or subject areas from the Preliminary Examination reading list.  A committee of three, the chair of which is selected by the student, administers it. The Director of Graduate Studies approves the committee, using the appropriate form, which must be submitted to the Associate Dean for approval at least one week prior to the final examination. The date of the Associate Dean’s signature on the committee approval form serves as the official date of record for committee approval.  Part of the questioning will be conducted in the foreign language or language in the case of a Romance Studies track.

           Students can elect whether to do an MA thesis or not, and they need to notify the DGSA of their decision by the time they communicate the composition of the committee.

           If taking the MA exam, the student must prepare 3 areas of the reading list, which is approved by the Chair of the committee.