PhD Program

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Ph.D. Program

Overview

The program requires significant literary work in two languages. All students must satisfy the Literature Department's Graduate Summer Language Program requirement (or an equivalent thereof), within the first two years in the program. This requirement helps prepare the student to achieve the scholarly command of a language other than English. In addition, students complete a minimum of two—and preferably three—courses in a second language literature. The second literature must be a component of the qualifying exam that certifies the student's readiness to begin writing the dissertation. This requirement enables students specializing in Renaissance English, for example, to study the relevant French texts and traditions. Primary or secondary concentrations are available in English/American, French, and Spanish/Latin American/Latino literatures. German, Italian, Latin, and Greek are available for secondary concentrations only.

Among the areas that represent special faculty strength are contemporary American literature and poetics; Latin American/Latino literature; literatures of the Americas, a crossborder hemispheric perspective that envisions the Americas as an area of study; world literature and cultural studies, which treats literary, intellectual, and cultural production in a globally historicized context; 19th century studies; and pre- and early modern studies, where comparative and interdisciplinary work is also encouraged, and which includes classical literature and philosophy, medieval and Renaissance French, Italian, and English cultures and literatures (including visual culture), and Spanish Golden Age literature. Within all areas, faculty draw on wide-ranging critical practices such as feminism, marxism, psychoanalysis, queer theory, and cultural studies.

Because the graduate program is relatively small, admitting about 15 students every year, faculty are able to work closely with students throughout their graduate careers. The program affords a common academic experience for all students, leaving the final choice of programmatic emphasis to the individual.

The requirements are as follows:

• A one-quarter Proseminar to be taken in the first year.

• Twelve courses leading to the definition of an area of concentration, including at least two— preferably three—courses in a second language literature. Of the 12 courses, up to three may be individual studies, and up to four may be taken in other departments. 

• A three-week Graduate Summer Language Program course, or equivalent proficiency in a language other than English.

• Literature 201, Pedagogy of Literature: a one-credit pedagogy course focusing on the pragmatics of teaching at UCSC to be taken in the first year. 

• Three quarters of supervised teaching experience.

• A qualifying examination (with written and oral components).

• A prospectus outlining and defining the dissertation project.

• A dissertation.

On entry, students are assigned an academic advisor suitable to their proposed interests. By the spring quarter of their first year, students choose an advisor in their area of concentration. Students may change advisors at any time, as they define their interests and get to know the faculty.

A master's degree is conferred upon request to Ph.D. candidates who have completed the course work requirements for the doctorate, and have either (1) written a master's thesis under the supervision of a faculty advisor, or (2) have successfully completed the literature Ph.D. qualifying exam. (Supervised teaching experience is not considered part of the course requirement for the M.A.)

Course Work

Students complete a minimum of 13 one-quarter courses, a three week summer language course, and three quarters of supervised teaching experience for the doctorate. The normal load is three courses per quarter without a teaching assignment, or two with a teaching assignment. All academic-year courses earn 5 credits and are graded Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory with written narrative evaluations; grades (A, B, C, D, F) may be assigned. Teaching assignments carry no course credit; however, such assignments are considered an important component of the student's professional training and acculturation into university-level pedagogy. The Graduate Summer Language Program carries no course credit and is not graded; the instructor of the course certifies whether or not the requirement has been satisfied. Students entering the program with a B.A. should complete most of their required course work during their first three years. Students entering with a master's degree may complete this phase of the program in a shorter period of time.

Area of Concentration

A student's program must be focused in an area of concentration. Areas of concentration may be defined as genre studies, cultural studies, a period, gender studies, a national literature, performance studies, history and literature, literature and social change, world literature, and so forth. Areas of concentration must include a minimum of two courses in a second language literature. In consultation with an advisor, the student must choose an area of concentration that is viable and realistic given current and projected course offerings, but it is the work the student does in a given course and how that work can be shown to fit into the area of concentration, rather than the formal title of the course, that is decisive. Normally at least eight of the 12 courses defining the area of concentration are Literature Department courses. This allows and encourages interdisciplinary scope for the concentration, and students often select courses from areas such as anthropology, American studies, history of consciousness, history, Latin American and Latino studies, sociology, or feminist studies.

Proseminar

The Proseminar provides a common experience for each entering class, facilitates exchange of ideas among students of different literatures, and encourages them to approach literary and extraliterary texts, critical issues, and theoretical problems in a variety of contexts. It focuses on broad aspects of the history of theory and criticism and on students' critical writing. The Proseminar also introduces students to aspects of professional development, including preparing field-specific bibliographies, acquiring academic computing literacies, and gaining proficiency in the use of library research resources.

Teaching

Graduate students normally participate in a required T.A. training course their first year. Because of the demand for experienced teachers, this course is an essential part of graduate education.

To encourage the development of good teaching, the program provides the means for graduate students to integrate teaching experience into their other doctoral work. Advanced students have several avenues for independent teaching, which offer opportunities for breadth of teaching experience as well as the design of courses within a student's area of specialization. These include department-sponsored teaching fellowships, Summer Session courses, and introductory language, writing, and creative writing courses.

Qualifying Examination and Dissertation

The qualifying examination has two purposes: to sum up and assess the preparatory stage of training, in which students are subject to relatively close supervision, and to launch them on the more independent phase, the dissertation.

Students should begin to plan for the exam in their first year. Those entering with a B.A. should be prepared to take the exam during their third year. Those entering with an M.A. may plan to take the exam as early as the spring quarter of their second year.

The Ph.D. dissertation involves an original, independent piece of research, the subject of which is agreed upon by the student and prospective supervisor. A dissertation prospectus must be submitted to the director of graduate studies for approval. Students usually spend from one to two years working on and writing the dissertation.

Graduate students in literature may obtain a parenthetical notation on the literature diploma that they have specialized in feminist studies, American studies or Latin American and Latino studies. Applications and requirements for obtaining these notations are available at the respective department offices.