1. Admission to the Ph.D. in English is limited and competitive. Applicants should have a Master’s Degree in English or its equivalent from a recognized university and should have an outstanding academic record.

2. All students will be required to complete 15 credit hours in graduate courses. These courses will be selected by the student in consultation with the student’s Supervisory Committee.

   While students will normally be free to choose graduate courses of interest to them, it will be a primary responsibility of their Supervisory Committees to ensure that any serious deficiencies in their record of previous courses, graduate and undergraduate, are remedied, particularly in the area of proposed thesis research.

3. Students who have not previously taken English 7003 or its equivalent will take English 7003, which will count as one of the required courses for the Ph.D. Students who have taken English 7003 or its equivalent before entering the Ph.D. program must still complete 15 credit hours.

4. Students who have not completed English 4900 or English 5900 or an equivalent course will be required to complete English 5900, which will not count as one of the required courses for the Ph.D. The course will be graded “pass” or “fail”. As in other graduate courses a grade of 65B or above is considered a pass.

5. Students must submit a thesis proposal which includes a statement of topic, a working title, a plan of research, and a preliminary bibliography. The thesis proposal should be approved by the Supervisory Committee and submitted to the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee for its approval before the Comprehensive Examination and before the end of the fifth semester. The Departmental Graduate Studies Committee shall return the thesis proposal to the student no later than one month after receiving it.

6. Reading knowledge of a second language will be required of all students. Reading knowledge is defined as a minimum 'B' grade in a second-year language course taken within the previous five years, a passing grade in an approved second-language course for graduate students, or performance satisfactory to the Department in an arranged reading proficiency test (in which a dictionary may be used).

   The language requirement should be completed before the Comprehensive Examination is taken.

   The second language will normally be French. In exceptional circumstances, and on the recommendation of the Supervisory Committee and the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee, a language other than French may be substituted.

   The Supervisory Committee may also require a demonstrated reading knowledge of an additional language (other than French or the substituted language) if such knowledge is deemed necessary for the student’s research interests.

7. The Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination in English will have written and oral components, will have two parts, and will be prepared by the student's Comprehensive Examination Committee. The Comprehensive Examination Committee will determine the submission dates for papers and the dates of oral examinations. The Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination in English shall in all circumstances be in accordance with General Regulation Comprehensive Examinations, Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination.

   The student's Comprehensive Examination Committee will include the Head (or the Head's delegate, usually the Graduate Co-ordinator), the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies (or delegate), the student's Supervisor, and three other members of the Department.

   The examination shall take place before the end of the seventh semester.

   The first part of the examination will be in a complementary area (Complementary Examination) and the student will have a choice of either writing an essay in response to questions determined by the Comprehensive Examination Committee or completing a set of assignments related to teaching in the field.

   The second part of the examination will be in the student's thesis area (Thesis Area Examination) and will require the student to write in response to questions determined by the Comprehensive Examination Committee and that paper will form the basis of a departmental presentation. The Comprehensive Examination Committee will orally examine the student about the paper topic and the broader relationship to the thesis area.

   All examinations, both written and oral, will comply with Departmental Guidelines.

   Students will be graded "pass", "re-examination", or "fail." Students who are marked for "re-examination" will be re-examined in the area or areas in which the Comprehensive Examination Committee has determined that the student's performance is deficient. The nature of this re-examination (and whether it will be written or oral) is left to the discretion of the Comprehensive Examination Committee.

A selection of the following graduate courses will be offered to meet the requirements of students, as far as the resources of the Department will allow.

• 602F Foundation English for Graduate Students
• 6999 Master’s Essay (for non-thesis students)
• 7003 Trends in Contemporary Critical Theory
• 7099 Masters Internship
• 7100-7149 Author Studies
• 7150-7199 Book Histories
• 7200-7249 Creative Writings
• 7250-7299 Critical Theories
• 7300-7349 Cultural Studies
• 7350-7399 Genre Studies
• 7400-7449 Global Literatures
• 7450-7499 Indigenous Voices
• 7500-7549 Literary Movements
• 7550-7599 National Literatures
• 7600-7649 Period Studies
• 7650-7699 Regional Literatures
• 7700-7749 Special Topics
• 7750-7799 Visual Narratives