We hope that you find the department a cordial place to meet with fellow
graduate students and the department’s faculty. You
are invited to participate fully in its life and activities during the years
of graduate study and later as alumni/ae.
The Departmental Administrator (Isabelle Chagnon, ic7@columbia.edu)
is available for information and for help in solving problems which may come
up about University or Department regulations or a student's dealings with
other campus offices. The DA may be able to find solutions to housing problems,
financial difficulties, administrative tangles with the Registrar's office,
or other problems that beset students, especially in their first year of graduate
study.
The Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences Bulletin contains essential information about course
and degree requirements. You can view the entire bulletin online at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/
. The requirements for the M.A. and Ph.D. in French can be viewed at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/departments/french-and-romance-philology/bulletin.html. A convenient checklist is also available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/french/grad_requirements_checklist.pdf.
The French Department bulletin boards also have listings for various deadlines
pertaining to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Throughout your registration
in the graduate program, relevant notices are placed in your mailbox located
in the French Department. Be sure to refer to the bulletin boards as well
as your email and department mailbox frequently.
If you hold an M.A. degree when you enter
After completing the six required Residence Units, you then register
for Extended Residence Units.
If you plan to pursue a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, you will want
to become familiar with the special course requirements. Consult with Professor
Hamid Dabashi, Director
of Graduate Studies for Comparative Literature.
He can be contacted at 212-854-7524 or hd14@columbia.edu The requirements for
the Ph.D. in French and Comparative Literature can be viewed at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/departments/comp-lit-and-society/bulletin.html.
Please examine carefully the attached Graduate Student Checklist for a detailed breakdown of course
requirements. All incoming students are required to take Proseminar
I, which is a theoretical and practical introduction to literary research.
There are two basic categories of graduate courses offered by the
Department, roughly distinguished as lectures (4000-level courses) and seminars
(6000- and 8000-level courses). These distinctions correspond to the course
number designations in the bulletin and registration listings. The 4000-level
lecture courses, which typically allow for discussion, cover broad aspects of a
given period. The 6000- and 8000-level seminars are specialized courses. These
courses focus on particular writers, themes, genres, movements or
theories.
You may take courses
for "E" or "R" credit. For "R" credit, you
receive no letter grade, and in most cases, no formal work is required, but attendance
is expected; make sure you understood the professor's requirements. For
"E" credit, you complete the required work/term papers, oral
presentations, examinations and receive either a letter grade or a mark of
Pass/Fail. With the latter option, no letter grade is recorded (other than P or
F), but a written evaluation of the coursework is entered in your file
(available upon request).
Dates of proficiency exams are posted on the office bulletin boards.
Most Departments require at least a week's notice in writing from the DA that
you intend to take the exam. You may also satisfy the language requirements
through coursework (generally, you must complete the intermediate level of a
language program with a grade average of B or better).
Qualifying Examinations
Qualifying Examinations may be taken in lieu of the Century
Surveys. The Academic Assistant can
provide reading lists for each exam. Preparation should also include
consultations with faculty members. The
exams are offered four times a year; you will be notified of the exact
dates. Let the Academic Assistant know
two weeks in advance which exam you wish to take. You are allowed three hours for each
exam. Those receiving less than a “B” on
any one exam will have the chance to take that exam a second time but not a
third.
Developing a good and productive relationship with your advisor is the
key to your success as a graduate student. First-year students are assigned
an individual advisor who will guide them with their choice of courses and
will help them with the first steps towards the choice of a research field.
Please bear in mind that first and second-year students should have their
program of study approved by the Director of Graduate Studies (Professor
Pierre Force) at the beginning of each semester.
Once you have settled on an MA, Orals, or dissertation topic, your main
advisor is your MA, Orals, or dissertation advisor. Pick a faculty member with
whom you feel you will have a good rapport, intellectually and personally. When
you ask a faculty member to become your advisor, they will usually say yes,
unless the topic you propose is way too far from their own interests.
Perhaps the most important step is the choice and conceptualization of
the research topic. This may require several meetings with your advisor. Once
you have done the bulk of the research, you should write up a detailed outline
and submit it to your advisor, who may suggest changes and improvements. After
your advisor has approved the outline, you should go ahead and write the first
chapter of your MA essay or dissertation. Once the chapter has been written,
your advisor will probably suggest changes and improvements. When you submit
something to your advisor, please bear in mind that they usually have several
other advisees, and that you should not burden them needlessly with unfinished
chapters or drafts. Most advisors prefer to receive chunks of 30 to 50 carefully
written pages. After you have submitted a chapter, it is a good idea to make
an appointment to discuss it with your advisor two or three weeks later. You
should receive feedback from your advisor within a reasonable period of time
(two to three weeks). Do not be shy about reminding your advisor that you're
waiting to hear their comments! If you feel that your advisor is not sufficiently
responsive, you should talk to the Director of Graduate Studies or the Department
Chair who will intervene on your behalf.
The M.A. Essay will give you practice in carrying out a research
project that, while necessarily limited in length and in scope (about 50
pages), presents a problem of greater complexity than a term paper. Under the
guidance of a sponsor, you compile an adequate bibliography, choose the
appropriate methodological approach, organize the material, and present it in a
scholarly (as well as readable) fashion. The Essay is not expected to constitute
an original contribution to knowledge; it should be viewed as preparation for
the Ph.D. dissertation.
A subject for the Essay should be chosen early. It is often helpful to draw
upon material dealt with in courses and presented to you in the Proseminar I. It has
proven unrealistic to expect the M.A. Essay to be completed during a student's
first academic year; nevertheless, you should begin exploring and discussing
possible subjects as early as possible.
The Essay should conform to the instructions in the MLA Style Sheet. When your sponsor has
approved the Essay, provide the sponsor, the other jury member and the Academic
Assistant with final copies. The Essay will be defended orally before the jury
consisting of your sponsor and one other member of the faculty, one of whom
must be a tenured associate or full professor.
The M.A. degree is awarded in October, January and May. Be aware of the
deadlines for applying. The M.A. degree must be completed by the end of your
second year; if not, you must petition the Chair for permission to continue.
Upon completion of the M.A., the Departmental Committee on Higher Degrees
reviews your record, which decides whether you are eligible to pursue the M.Phil. Degree.
You may do the required explication
de texte at any time you wish. Your preferred
field of study dictates from which century the text is selected. You are given
a week to work on the text before the explication,
which is administered in French by two faculty members. A statement of rules
and guidelines for preparing the text is available in 521 Philosophy.
After completing the
M.A., you will register for a 9000-level course in your selected area of
specialization and thereafter work in frequent consultation with a faculty
member who will most likely become your dissertation sponsor. Eventually, you
will isolate a more limited subject to be explored in depth, gradually
developing a dissertation topic. By the end of the sixth semester, you should
be ready to take the oral examination in your chosen field. The exam is supervised by your sponsor, an
examiner in the same field, and a third examiner selected from another field.
You are awarded the M.Phil. degree upon completion of
six Residence Units and all departmental requirements for the Ph.D. except the
dissertation. You have a four-year time limit to earn the M.Phil.
If you allow this deadline to expire, you must formally apply for an extension.
The M.Phil. Degree is
awarded on given dates in October, January and May.
After receiving the M.Phil. degree, you will submit a dissertation
proposal for approval by three Faculty members. This proposal, usually 5 to 10
pages, should outline the need and relevance of the subject, the work already
done in the field, the critical method to be used, and the manner in which the
work is to be organized.
Dissertations are written in English. Advisable length is 250-300
pages. If you have exceptionally compelling reasons to write your dissertation
in French, then carefully attend to the procedures stipulated by the Dean's
Office. The Dean's Office also provides a set of guidelines for students
preparing the five copies of their dissertation for the pre-defense deposit.
This deposit should not be done until the sponsor,
second reader and third reader have approved the final draft. Please note the
deadlines for applying for a defense and for submission of the five copies.
After the copies are deposited, the Chair, upon the recommendation of the
sponsor, appoints an examining committee of five faculty members (the three who
approved the dissertation and two from other departments). The defense of the
dissertation is an oral examination lasting no longer than two hours.
Fellowships, Teaching and
Financial Aid
Columbia Fellowships
Under the current policy, most students are fully funded
from the first to the fifth year. All
students are fully funded from the second to the fifth year.
Other Fellowships
You should explore all possible channels for additional financial assistance
by informing yourself about Foundations that offer support. For further information,
consult the Financial Aid Office of the Graduate School located in 107 Low
Library: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/ps/fin-aid/pages/office/index.html
Teaching Responsibilities
All students are expected to teach as part of their training for the
Ph.D. Students usually do not teach
during their first year. An interview is
conducted in March before the first semester of teaching in order to assess the
student’s proficiency in French. New
Teaching Fellows must enroll in the Practicum in Foreign Language Pedagogy,
which explores methodological issues.
Teaching Fellows for the 1101-1202 courses work with Coordinators,
meeting weekly to discuss teaching strategies and to compose the weekly
quizzes, Mid-term Exam and Final Exam.
The Coordinators, who will also acquaint you with teaching
responsibilities, policies and procedures, will provide course syllabi.
The Office of Academic Placement and Career Services is
responsible for maintaining and sending out dossiers of candidates seeking jobs
at other institutions. The dossier service is available online at http://dossier.cce.columbia.edu/
It is a good idea to set up your dossier as early as
possible in the academic year; most colleges and universities begin as early as
October or November to consider candidates for positions available for the
following year. In addition, students seeking a position should consult the MLA Job Information List booklets which
are issued in October, December, February and May, and are on file. The MLA job list is available online at http://www.adfl.org Please ask the Departmental Administrator or the Academic Assistant
for the password. Job openings are also posted on the office bulletin boards.
French Graduate Student Association
All registered students
in the department are members of the French Graduate Student Association.
The FGSA devises its own by-laws and elects its own officers. The FGSA provides
the channel through which students are able to express opinions, register
complaints, and offer suggestions to the faculty. Students are urged to participate
actively in its functions and to acquaint themselves with its officers. The
FGSA provides a Buddy-System to help new students familiarize themselves with
the Department, the University and New York City. With the participation of
faculty, FGSA offers professionalism workshops, which address the MLA Job
Search, the Art of Writing Abstracts, and Publishing. New suggestions are
always welcome for these workshops. The FGSA organizes an annual Graduate
Student Conference on French Literature. All students are invited to submit
abstracts. The FGSA plans social functions such as the annual Christmas and
Chanukah Dinner and Dance Party.
RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH AT COLUMBIA
Many resources are available to graduate students to help in research, teaching, and professional development skills. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Teaching Center offers orientations and workshops regularly on fellowship applications, grant proposals, and teaching portfolios. They can be contacted at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/
Early in the fall semester, Butler library offers orientations on research at Columbia and navigating the numerous databases available to Columbia students. Their website can be accessed from the Columbia homepage or http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/butlref/training.html#Lweb