University of Minnesota
Cultural Studies & Comparaive Literature
cscl@umn.edu
612-624-8099


Department Name's home page.

Home > Graduate Studies > Comparative Literature : Degree Requirements in CL

Degree Requirements in Comparative Literature

Degree requirements in Comparative Literature are set in part by the Graduate School and in part by the Comparative Literature faculty. The information that follows is necessarily an introductory synopsis; additional important information and details may be found in the most recent editions of the Graduate School Catalog. The faculty endeavors to assist students through the bureaucratic details and more formalized procedures that are encountered. Our intention is to make the educational experience both intellectually and emotionally rewarding, and we view our relationship to our students as more collegial than supervisory.

M.A. Requirements

Students normally are not admitted to work toward the M.A. degree. Students already enrolled in the Ph.D. program may apply to pursue an M.A. program. All coursework is applicable toward the Ph.D.

Ph.D. Requirements

47 semester credits, as follows:

6 credits in the Basic Seminar (8001, 8002).
3 credits in Pedagogy of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature (8901).
2 credits in the Methodologies Colloquium (8902).
24 credits in CL courses. With approval of the advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies up to 3 credits of the 24-credit requirement may be taken in the field of the minor or supporting program.
12 credits in coursework that constitutes a "supporting program." A "supporting program" may be a formal Graduate School minor, or it may be a program designed by you in consultation with and approved by your advisor.
Overall, the student's program should include 12 credits at the 8xxx level, exclusive of 8001-2.
Plus 24 thesis credits.

Please consult as well the Graduate School Catalog, in the section on "General Information," the subsection on "Doctor of Philosophy Degree".

Year Fall Spring Summer
1
  • 3cr 8001 (required)
  • 1cr 8902 (required)
  • 3cr 8xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • 3cr 8002 (required)
  • 3cr 8901 (Pedagogy; required)
  • 1cr 8902 (required)
  • 3cr 5xxx elective in Comparative Literature
 Language acquisition as needed
2
  • 3cr 8xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • 3cr 5xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • 3cr elective in minor or supporting program
  • 3cr 8xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • 3cr 5xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • 3cr elective in minor or supporting program
 Language acquisition as needed
3
  • 3cr 8xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • 3cr 5xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • File Degree Program this semester
  • 3cr 5xxx elective in Comparative Literature
  • 3cr elective in minor or supporting program
  • 3cr elective in minor or supporting program
 Language acquisition as needed
4 Preliminary Examinations Complete Dissertation Proposal  
5 Dissertation Dissertation  
6 Dissertation Dissertation  

Foreign Languages

In addition to English, the following language competencies are required:

  • High proficiency in one language.
  • Proficiency in one language.
  • Good reading knowledge of one language.

The choice of languages will be made with respect to the student's area of specialization. It will be made in consultation with, and with the approval of, the advisor. Examples would include:

  • For a student specializing in theory, high proficiency and proficiency in French and German, respectively (or vice versa); reading knowledge of a classical language such as Latin.
  • For a student specializing in emergent literatures, high proficiency in a language related to the field, proficiency in French or German, and reading knowledge of German or French.

Preliminary Examinations

Preliminary examinations, written and oral, are developed around "fields of knowledge" that you have identified in advance of the examinations in discussions with your Examining Committee. "Fields" are large areas of knowledge that resonate with the disciplines. They center on basic questions in theory and practice, and have a reasonably coherent bibliography associated with them. They address both their current and historical foundations, and their concerns both inside and outside of the academy. In a sense, they might define what you intend to teach, and thus have an anchor in both disciplinary, and familiar institutional structures. The aim of the examinations is to enable you to demonstrate competence, including appropriate theoretical grounding, with respect to a significant issue, area, tradition, period, body of work, etc. While preliminary examinations naturally support an imagined dissertation (indexing the relevant fields in which that project will circulate), they are emphatically not intended as direct preparation for the dissertation project, nor are they defined by it. In short, the preliminary examinations establish your general credibility within the disciplines you choose to engage.

One might think of the proper level of competence as that necessary to teach advanced undergraduate courses in your field. You know the bibliography. You can trace the relevant genealogies. You can form coherent explanations with relevant illustrations. You can find the passages you need to make your points. The essays you produce for the written examination might partly aspire to the structure and rhetorical force of a good journal article, but they are not expected to achieve that level of refinement or narrowness of focus. All parts of the examination process are directed toward demonstrating general competence in areas defined more by broad scope than nuance.

The examinations are designed to engage and challenge you in productive and positive ways, in a spirit of collegiality and mutual respect. You should have, in advance, a firm knowledge of the specific criteria by which you will be evaluated. In preparing for the examinations, you might ask what your examining committee wants you to prove to them in your examination, what kind of evidence will convince them that you indeed know what you claim to know, what they consider to be the differences between "excellent," "good" and "bad" performances, how they understand "rigor," what they deem to be your relative strengths and weakness as a Ph.D. candidate, and so on. Once you know these criteria, your preparation for your examinations can occur as a focused attempt to satisfy or even exceed them.

See "Sample Materials for Setting up Ph.D. Examinations," for additional instructions and suggestions for setting up the written and oral examinations. A file is maintained in which students may consult booklists prepared for previous students' preliminary examinations. Consult the office staff in 235 Nicholson for current information.

On scheduling exams and defenses

No examinations or defenses can be scheduled during the summer (Written and oral exams and defenses are to be scheduled to take place between the first day of classes and the end of the last week of classes, in Fall and Spring Semesters), so practically speaking, the written examination should be scheduled to occur no later than the tenth week of Spring Semester, in order to allow sufficient time for the Committee's reading of the examination and the scheduling of the subsequent oral examination. The examination is scheduled by you in concurrence with your Committee members.

Written preliminary examination

The scope of the examination and its emphasis will be established by you, your advisor, and the other members of the Examining Committee, and varies from student to student. You should not embark on preparation for the exams until you and your advisor have clearly established what will be the scope and emphasis. Similarly, you and your advisor should be confident that you are thoroughly prepared before you take the exam.

You will be required to write on three questions. Overall, the scope and format of the questions will be developed by committee members in consultation with your advisor. Questions will be posed by three members of your committee: two members from within CSDS or Comparative Literature and one from outside. Each questioner will provide you with some choice as to what you must answer; but you must respond to one question from each of the three questioners. Determination of which members will pose questions will be a matter of discussion between student and advisor. Questions are submitted to the Committee chairperson by the other Committee members one week in advance of the examination. The examination is administered by your advisor, who may delegate practical procedures to the office staff.

The examination is to be written over one calendar week (take-home, open book). The text must be word-processed. All Committee members will read and comment upon all portions of the examination, but the grading of each question will be the responsibility of the author of the question.

You bring to the examination the Preliminary Written Examination Report: Doctoral Degree (G.S. 17), upon which the results of the examination are recorded. After the examination this form is filed with the Graduate School.

The results of the preliminary written examination are reported as either "pass" or "fail" and are certified by your advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. Students failing the written examination may take it a second time unless, in the judgment of the Committee, there is sufficient cause to deny reexamination. Your advisor and the office staff will retain a full set of questions and answers to the written preliminary examinations, to be kept on file in the departmental office.

Oral preliminary examination

This should be scheduled as soon as practicable following the written examination (approximately 24 days following the completion of the written examination). The examination is scheduled by you with the concurrence of your examiners. It must also be scheduled with the Graduate School Office, using the form Doctoral Preliminary Oral Examination Scheduling (G.S. 12). This form must be filed not less than seven days in advance of the examination date. When the examination is scheduled, the Graduate School must have on file a report on the preliminary written examination certifying that you have passed.

Oral examinations range freely over both the points you make in your written examinations, and topics related to works on your book list and the fields it defines. Examinations are scheduled for two hours, ending in a vote by the committee of "pass," "pass with reservations" or "fail." A pass with reservations requires your committee to state their reservations to you in writing, and to specify what must be done to remove the reservations—usually an essay addressing specific points from the examination.

Dissertation prospectus

After completing prelims, you should immediately begin to formulate your dissertation project, remaining in close contact with your advisor and committee members as you begin the process. Within one semester after completing the examinations, you will submit a draft dissertation prospectus to the committee for approval. Once your committee members have approved (an informal but explicit process), you will present the prospectus to a meeting of your committee for discussion, clarification, and, ultimately, for approval to proceed with the project. The prospectus-presentation meeting will take about one or two hours, and provides time for you to present your proposal, and for collective work to consolidate the project.

Please note that the prospectus meeting must be successfully concluded prior to your being considered for the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.

The prospectus allows you to define the overall scope and structure of your project, and to begin clarifying the way you propose to write. The prospectus is integral to the process of beginning the dissertation, involving as it does the broad operation of conceptualizing the whole of the project, and the specifics of writing sustained text which may become part of the finished dissertation. Of course, close consultation and guidance from the committee during these early months of writing will assure all involved that the project is proceeding coherently.

The prospectus has three parts:

  1. A three to five page overview in which you provisionally map your project in relation to the structure of the dissertation and its Table of Contents. Writing this part will help you draft (250 word) proposal you will be required to submit when you file your Thesis/Project Proposal Transmittal (form GS 63a) officially with the Graduate School.
  2. A Table of Contents defining the proposed chapters, with a précis of their content. This section is short—perhaps 7-8 pages, and is understood to be provisional.
  3. A condensed Bibliography, with annotations detailing the place that some of the major works will play in structuring and positioning your project.

Thesis (Dissertation) and Final Oral Examination (Dissertation Defense)

A thesis and final oral examination in defense of the thesis complete the program. You have five years to complete the thesis and final oral examination after passing the preliminary examinations.

Requirements for a Minor Field in Comparative Literature

  • Minimum 12 credits for M. A. minor, including CL 8001 and 8002.
  • Minimum 16 credits for Ph.D. minor, including CL 8001 and 8002.
  • All minors must include at least 6 credits from CL 8001 and 8002.