Ph.D. Program Policies and Procedures

Sections

• Admissions Criteria & Process
• Funding
• Credit Hours for Degree
• Specific Course Requirements
• Minor Area
• Religion and Literature Concentration
• Language Requirement
• Preliminary Examination
• Dissertation Prospectus Review
• Admission to Candidacy
• Dissertation Defense

Admissions Criteria & Process

Application for admission to the Doctoral Program in English is made through the Graduate School’s “Graduate Application Portal.” by completing the application form available on the Graduate School website. All prospective English PhD students must follow this process regardless of current enrollment.

All applications for the PhD program must include the following to be considered by the English Graduate Admissions Committee:

• A bachelor's degree (BA) from an accredited university
• An undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.5 in English courses and 3.0 overall
• Three letters of recommendation
• A writing sample of 15 - 20 pages

The deadline for submitting application materials is January 15; all admitted students will begin in the fall semester. Application materials must be complete and submitted through the Graduate Application Portal by the January 15 deadline to be considered. Application materials are not to be sent directly to the English Department or Graduate Program Director (GPD). 

Funding

All PhD students are offered tuition remission and stipends that are competitive with other universities. Disbursement of stipend money for incoming students begins in July. PhD students are also offered a modest moving allowance separate from their stipend funds. 

Generally, all accepted PhD students work as Research Assistants (RA) with one or more assigned faculty member(s) for their first year. Contingent upon having at least 18 hours of graduate credit PhD students will begin teaching ENGL 1310 on a 2:1 rotation beginning in the second year. 

After a PhD student has successfully passed their Preliminary Exams they are eligible to teach literature classes (ENGL 2301, 2306, or 2310). These classes are only offered to PhD students based on the scheduling needs in the department. While it is the goal for all PhD students to have experience teaching literature during their degree, this is not guaranteed. 

PhD students are fully funded for five years. PhD students may take up to three years beyond their funding to finish their degree. If the degree has not been earned after a total of eight years, the student is no longer eligible to graduate. 

Credit Hours for Degree

The total number of hours to complete the PhD program depends on whether or not the admitted student has an MA degree at the time of admission.

• Without a MA: 66 credit hours are required
       54 hours of coursework (18 seminars)
       12 hours of dissertation work (ENG 6V10 or ENG 6V99)
• With a MA: 42 credit hours are required
       30 hours of coursework (10 seminars)
       12 hours of dissertation work (ENG 6V10 or ENG 6V99)

No more than six credit hours of graduate work from an accredited institution may be transferred. Courses must have been taken within five years immediately prior to matriculation at Baylor, must carry a grade of “B” or better, and cannot come from workshop hours or thesis credits. If a specific course is transferred to satisfy one of the “Specific Course Requirements” listed below, the required course hours must be replaced with elective hours. 

Specific Course Requirements

The following courses must be taken to satisfy the PhD program requirements:

• Bibliography and Research Methods (ENG 5304)
       All incoming graduate students take this course during the Summer II session prior to their first fall semester
• One seminar in Linguistics (ENG 5303); Literary Theory (ENG 5306); Curriculum and Pedagogy (ENG 5309); or Composition & Rhetoric (ENG 5310)

Four courses must be taken from one of the following categories; this will constitute the student’s Major Area. At least one course must be taken from the other three areas. 

• English 1: Old English; Middle English; Renaissance; Seventeenth Century; Early Romantic; Restoration & Eighteenth Century
• English 2: Late Romantic; Victorian; Modern British; Contemporary British
• American 1: Early American; Nineteenth-Century American
• American 2: Modern American; Contemporary American

A seminar may be repeated once if the content is on a different topic. Any additional repetitions of the same course requires GPD approval.

Students may take up to 12 hours of graduate credit outside the English department; these courses must be directly relevant to the student’s area of study and must be approved by the English GPD and the chairperson of the department in which the courses are to be taken. 

Minor Area 

Although a Minor Area is not required, one is possible by completing nine credit hours (three classes) in a particular area. The Minor Area can be drawn from any area that is not the Major Area, including but not limited to Linguistics, Professional Writing & Rhetoric, Literary Criticism, etc. 

A Minor Area outside the English department is possible, but it must be directly relevant to the candidate’s Major Area of study. A Minor Area outside the English department must be approved by both the English GPD and the chairperson of the department in which the courses will be taken. 

Religion and Literature Concentration

The Baylor English Department has long held significant strengths in the study of literature and religion, particularly in (but not limited to) Christianity. This new concentration reflects that strength and complements our Ph.D. in English. It is not a separate degree, and it will not appear on your transcript. However, you may list the concentration on your CV.

The requirements for the Religion and Literature concentration are as follows:

• Of the seven courses taken in the four main historical periods (English 1, English 2, American 1, and American 2), at least one course must include a demonstrable component of religion. Courses that satisfy this requirement are generally indicated during registration.
• One "Religion and Literature" seminar
• The "Open Area" Preliminary Exam is replaced with a "Religion and Literature" Preliminary Exam. For more on Preliminary Exams, see below.

Language Requirement

A reading knowledge of two languages in addition to English is required. At least one of these languages should be relevant to the student’s dissertation or Major Area of emphasis. Completion of language requirements must be met before the Preliminary Examinations are authorized. 

Language requirements may be satisfied by any of the five methods designated in the Graduate Catalog (see “Graduate School Policies” >> “Doctoral Degrees, Specific Degree Requirements” >> “Doctor of Philosophy”).

Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Examination consists of four separate parts. Students are responsible for finding a Graduate Faculty member to help create a reading list and write the exam for each area.

• Major Area (3 hours)
  This is the student's primary area of research interest, and generally aligns with one of the time period areas listed in the "Specific Course Requirements" section (i.e. Middle English, Nineteenth-Century British, Contemporary American, etc.).
  The student and faculty member will collaborate to create a list of 12-15 major works (or a rough approximation in the case of shorter texts) within the area.
• Historical Area: Contiguous (1.5 hours)
  This is a time period area listed in the "Specific Course Requirements" section that is either immediately before or after the Major Area.
  The student and faculty member will collaborate to create a list of 6-8 major works (or a rough approximation in the case of shorter texts) within the area.
• Historical Area: Other (1.5 hours)
  This is any other time period area listed in the "Specific Course Requirements" of the student's choosing
  The student and faculty member will collaborate to create a list of 6-8 major works (or a rough approximation in the case of shorter texts) within the area.
• Open Area (3 hours)
  This can be any area of the student's choosing. For example, this area could cover all (or most) of the works of a particular author; major texts in a particular interdisciplinary topic, such as Environmental Humanities; major texts in a particular critical theory, such as Rhetorical Theory; a detailed genre overview of a particular time period, such as Modern American Drama; an overview in studies in Linguistics, etc.
  Generally, the Open Area list is completed under the guidance of the student's proposed Dissertation Director and pertains directly to their planned Dissertation topic.
  The student and faculty member will collaborate to create a list of 12-15 major works (or a rough approximation in the case of shorter texts) within the area.
  If a student is pursuing the Literature and Religion Concentration, their "Open Area" exam will be replaced with an exam focused on Literature and Religion.

The faculty member overseeing each exam area will write an exam of the appropriate length for the particular area. While there is no standard format for the exam, the faculty member should discuss with the student the exam format and expectations before the exam is given. Specific exam questions should not be discussed before the exam.

The four exams should be taken over a span of two consecutive weeks. The student will consult with each faculty member to determine the times for the exams, and the student is responsible for scheduling time with the Administrative Associate in the English Department Office. There is no requirement regarding the time of year the Preliminary Examinations must be scheduled. 

Upon completion of the exam, each faculty member will assign a grade of “High Pass,” “Pass,” or “Fail” and communicate that score to the GPD and Administrative Associate. The faculty member is encouraged to communicate with the student and discuss the results of the exam, focusing particularly on strengths and weaknesses in their writing style, textual knowledge, and critical analysis. 

If the student fails any area of the examination, the GPD will consult with all examining faculty to determine if the student will need to a) retake only the failed exam area, or b) retake all four parts of the Preliminary Examination. The exam may be retaken no sooner than four months after the first attempt. If the exam is failed a second time, the student may be referred to the Graduate School for Dismissal in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the Graduate Catalog.

Dissertation Prospectus Review

While specifics lengths vary, the Dissertation Prospectus is generally a 15-20 page document that outlines the thesis, methodological / critical viewpoint, relevant scholarship, and critical significance of the Dissertation. There should also be an accompanying bibliography that covers the majority of relevant primary and secondary sources to be used in the Dissertation.

The Dissertation Prospectus will be overseen by a committee comprising the following:

• The Dissertation Director - this must be an English Faculty member
  A Dissertation Director/Advisor should be chosen with care. Generally, this is a professor with whom the student has taken a class and/or developed a working relationship with before they are chosen to be the Director. Once the faculty member agrees to serve as the Director, both parties must sign a Graduate Advisor Advisee Agreement Acknowledgement available on the Graduate School website.
• A second English Faculty member whose area of specialization is particularly relevant to the Dissertation Project.
• A Graduate Faculty member from outside the English Department.

The Dissertation Prospectus is generally defended within six months of successfully completing the Preliminary Exams. There is no other requirement regarding the time of year the Prospectus Defense must be scheduled. Online defenses (i.e. Zoom, Teams, etc.) may be scheduled with the approval of all Committee members and the GPD.

During the Prospectus Defense the student will generally offer a brief opening statement explaining the genesis of the project and the critical methodology they will employ. They will then answer questions posed from the committee regarding texts, topics, scholarship, etc. that is relevant to the project. After the question and answer discussion the student will leave the room while the committee discusses their evaluation of the Dissertation Prospectus. The student will then be invited back to the room and informed of the defense result. The Prospectus Defense generally takes one hour. 

After a successful Prospectus Defense the student, Dissertation Director, and GPD will submit the “Results of Preliminary Exam” form located on the Graduate School website.

Admission to Candidacy

Upon completion of Coursework, Language Requirements, Preliminary Examinations, and Prospectus Defense, the student, Dissertation Director, and GPD will submit the “Admission to Doctoral Candidacy” form located on the Graduate School website. Once accepted, the student will be considered ABD (“All But Dissertation”). 

Dissertation
Guidelines for the Dissertation can be found in the Graduate Catalog and on the Graduate School website under the “Student Resources” tab. The candidate is responsible for understanding and following all guidelines and procedures set forth by the Graduate School. 

Dissertations in the English Department are overseen and evaluated by a committee comprising:

• The Committee Chair (Dissertation Director), who is an English Graduate Faculty member
• A committee member who is an English Graduate Faculty member
• A committee member who is a Graduate Faculty at Baylor in a department other than English
• A committee member that may be an English Graduate Faculty member or a Graduate Faculty member in a department other than English
    With the approval of the Committee Chair and GPD, this committee member may be a Graduate Faculty member
    from an institution other than Baylor.

Because of the varied nature of Doctoral Dissertations across programs and projects, the Graduate School does not stipulate length requirements for Dissertations. However, Dissertations in the English Department are required to be no less than approximately 60,000 words.*

Dissertation Defense

After the Dissertation is written, it must be evaluated during an Oral Defense. In consultation with the Dissertation Director, the candidate should circulate the completed Dissertation to all members of the Dissertation Committee well in advance of the Defense. A Defense date should be set and a room scheduled with the Administrative Associate in the English department office. There is no requirement regarding the time of year the Defense must be scheduled. Online defenses (i.e. Zoom, Teams, etc.) may be scheduled with the approval of all Committee members and the GPD.

Ten days before the Dissertation Defense, the GPD must submit the “Announcement of Orals” found on the Graduate School website. This form cannot be submitted by the candidate.

The Dissertation Defense follows a similar structure to the Prospectus Defense: the candidate will begin with an overview of the project, its intervention in the scholarly field, and ultimate conclusions. The committee members will then ask the candidate questions based on their reading of the Dissertation and the conversation that ensues. At the end of the question-and-answer discussion, the candidate will be asked to leave the room while the committee discusses their evaluation of the Dissertation. The candidate will then be brought back into the room and informed of the defense result. 

Before leaving the Defense the candidate and all committee members should sign the “Results of Oral Exam” form. This is generally brought to the Defense by the Dissertation Director, who will then submit the form to the Graduate School.

The candidate is permitted to invite friends and family to the Oral Defense. However, this must be discussed with the Dissertation Director and is dependent on the Director’s approval and space available in the defense room. 

*This is roughly 225 pages based on an average of 265 words per page of double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font. This word count includes Notes but excludes the Bibliography/Works Cited.