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Degree Requirements

The requirements listed below are special to this department and must be read in conjunction with the general requirements of the Graduate School and those listed in the academic calendar.

For the M.A. Degree and the Free-Standing M.A. Degree

Part-Time Study

The free-standing M.A. degree may be pursued on a part-time basis. The requirements and standards are the same as for the full-time M.A. degree except that part-time students may register for a maximum of one-half Residence Unit and may take up to four years to complete the degree. Part-time students are required to take at least two seminars by the completion of each Residence Unit.

Full-Time Study

During the first year, full-time candidates for the M.A. degree must take 24 credits at the graduate level and must register for one full Residence Unit each semester. Typically, a student takes four courses each semester. These must include G5001x (Master’s Seminar); G5005x (Colloquium on Theory and Method) for R (Registered) credit; and G5005y (Master’s Essay Tutorial). At least three of the remaining six courses must be 6000-level seminars. All students must take one course in literature written before 1700, and one course in literature written after 1700. Other distribution requirements can also be fulfilled in the first year. (See below, under M.Phil. Degree, for a description of the distribution requirements.)

As part of their course requirements, first-year students submit an M.A. essay in the spring term. One foreign language requirement must also be fulfilled (see under Languages, below).

Students may also choose to take more than the required number of courses. Additional courses (but not required courses) may be taken for R (Registered) credit.

Students may take courses in other departments with the permission of the DGS or M.A. director.

Types of courses: Lectures (all of which are designated with a 4000-level code) may be fairly large, with advanced undergraduates, M.A. and M.Phil. students in attendance. Less intensive than seminars, lecture courses demand less student participation, although they do require short papers and/or written exams. Most students take one or two lecture courses per term.

5000-level or master’s seminars serve the function of introducing students to graduate study in literature and to the basic resources enabling a professional level of work. Offered in the fall semester, M.A. seminars are open to M.A. students only and serve as an introduction to contemporary literary theory. In conjunction with the seminar, students also register for G5005 (Colloquium on Theory and Method) for R (Registered) credit, a biweekly series of roundtables that afford students a chance not only to discuss forms of literary theory, critical methods, and other disciplinary issues, but also to meet a wide range of faculty members who are leaders in their respective fields. G5005y (M.A. Essay Tutorial) is taken in the spring term. Special arrangements are made for part-time students completing their degree in the summer or fall semester.

6000-level seminars include both M.A. and M.Phil. students. 6000-level seminars provide opportunities for regular discussions of selected works, offering students a chance to develop abilities in oral and written presentations of ideas. The instructor’s permission is required for all 6000-level seminars. Information on the application procedure for each one is sent out by the department before each registration period.

8000-level seminars designated Doctoral Seminars are open only to doctoral candidates.

The M.A. essay: The M.A. essay is the most important work of the first year. It is expected to be of professional form and quality, about 25–30 pages in length. Any faculty member in the department may serve as an essay sponsor. Sponsors outside the department are not normally approved. The department establishes a strict schedule for submitting a topic, outline, and rough draft to the sponsor, and for submitting three finished copies to the department office. The finished work is evaluated by both the sponsor and a second faculty reader, assigned by the department.

Distribution requirement: at least one course in each of the following categories:

• Medieval or early modern literature

• 18th- to 19th-century literature or 20th-century literature

Languages: For the M.A. degree, reading knowledge of one language other than English, tested by written translation. Any language may be offered so long as it bears a clear relevance to the student’s area of study. Students should take the proficiency examination offered by the language departments at the beginning of candidacy. Those who fail the test are advised to enroll in an appropriate language course. (Details of acceptable courses and grades are available in the department.) The language requirement must be fulfilled by either course work or examination before the M.A. degree can be conferred.

Awarding of degree: On the basis of completed requirements, research papers, and faculty evaluations of the student’s written work and class performance, the M.A. degree in English and Comparative Literature is conferred.

For the M.Phil. Degree

Admission to the doctoral program in English and Comparative Literature is contingent upon receipt of the M.A. degree from Columbia or the award of advanced standing for an M.A. from another institution and a superior academic record. Students in the sequential program who wish to continue study for the Ph.D. degree must file formal application to the doctoral program during the term in which they expect to receive the M.A. degree. Applications are available in 602 Philosophy in April. Upon approval of the Committee on Guidance and Evaluation, applicants are accepted into the doctoral program.

Courses: For the Master of Philosophy degree, the department requires an additional six courses, or 18 credits, to be taken for a letter grade, four of which must be seminars.

Discussion Sections (G6910x or y Teaching Tutorial) for R (Registered) credit: In conjunction with a lecture course offered through the department, a few second-year students may have an opportunity to teach discussion sections for a large lecture course.In addition to attending the lecture course these students will run two weekly discussion sections.Although students enroll in R credit the course counts as one of the six M.Phil. courses, and can also fulfill a distribution requirement.

G6913 (Teaching Writing: Theory and Practice) for R (Registered) credit is required before students can be appointed as Teaching Fellows. Normally taken in the spring of the second year for R credit, it is an addition to the six courses required for the degree.

Distribution: To ensure breadth of coverage students must take at least a course in each of the following areas:

• Medieval literature

• Early modern literature

• 18th- or 19th-century literature

• 20th-century literature

Distribution areas fulfilled during the M.A. year need not be repeated.

Students entering the M.Phil. program with a relevant advanced degree from an institution other than Columbia should consult the DGS about the applicability of their previous graduate work toward these requirements.

All course work and language requirements must be completed before the oral examination is taken.

Languages: Reading knowledge of a second foreign language must be demonstrated by examination or by satisfactory performance in an intermediate language class, by the middle of the third year of study. Alternatively, students may choose to deepen their knowledge of their first foreign language where this is appropriate to their field of study. In this case the examination is a written translation without the use of a dictionary.

Teaching requirement: Participation in the instructional activities of the department and Undergraduate Writing Program for four years. Normally, in the second year of study students gain exposure to teaching as assistants to faculty in undergraduate courses. In the third, fourth and fifth or sixth year of study, students teach courses in the Undergraduate Writing Program. Students who are interested in broadening their teaching apprenticeships may apply to teach in the Core Program once they have received the M.Phil. Students may not hold instructional appointments after year seven.

Oral examination: The Ph.D. qualifying examination in English is a two-hour oral examination, divided into three areas: a general field and two related fields. Each student is responsible for developing the reading lists for these three fields, in consultation with the examiners for each area. Overall, the three fields must show a reasonable balance of range and coherence. The general field (one hour) is intended to resemble an expansive version of a survey course in a commonly taught period, genre, or approach. The first related field (30 minutes) is a more selective survey of material from the period before or after that of the general field, or from another subfield within the general period, or literature written elsewhere in the world during the same period, or a group of theoretical readings. The second related field can be a thesis field providing a first chance to delve into the subject and principal texts of a proposed dissertation topic, or it may center on another historical period, on a single author examined in depth, or on a set of theoretical readings. A proposal consisting of a rationale and bibliography for each field is submitted for approval to the DGS.

While specific reading lists and required preparation time inevitably vary from one person to another, in general the oral examination should be taken by the end of the third year of study but in no case later than the first semester of the fourth year.

Six to eight weeks before the date of the oral examination the candidate takes a diagnostic pre-oral examination in the major field. The result of this examination determines whether the oral may proceed as scheduled.

Upon successful completion of the oral certification examination, and all other course and language requirements, the M.Phil. degree is awarded. At this time the department may recommend that the candidate not continue toward the Ph.D. degree.

For the Ph.D. Degree

Within six months of succ­essful completion of the M.Phil. degree and by December 15 of the fourth year at the latest, students are asked to submit two copies of the dissertation prospectus, approved by a committee of three faculty members, to the DGS. Final approval of the prospectus is given by the Committee on Guidance and Evaluation. The dissertation is written under the direction of the three-member dissertation committee; formal meetings are scheduled as each chapter is completed. The final work is defended before a committee comprising the three departmental advisers and two faculty members, selected from other departments, whose fields are appropriate to the candidate’s dissertation subject.

Examination: Defense of dissertation.

For the M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in comparative literature and society, see under Comparative Literature and Society.

Financial Aid

The department provides fellowships (which include the prevailing stipend and appropriate tuition and health fees) to all M.A./M.Phil./Ph. D. students. Named for Marjorie Hope Nicolson, a distinguished scholar and long-time chair of the department, they are assigned on the basis of merit.

If students receive a year of advanced standing, they are entitled to only five years of fellowship funding.

Fellowships are renewed annually as long as satisfactory progress is maintained. Students complete an annual progress report which is reviewed by the Committee on Guidance and Evaluation. Teaching is considered an important part of graduate training; thus the fellowship program normally includes four years of teaching apprenticeship (three years for students entering with five years of support). A dissertation fellowship free of teaching obligations is available to qualified students in the fifth or sixth year of study.

The department requires all students to seek external fellowships and appoints a faculty member to serve as Fellowship Officer to help students identify suitable sources and to assist them with their applications.