The Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature curriculum is comprised of professional development courses, creative writing workshops, courses in a graduate curricular specialization, and electives courses. Students can think of the Ph.D. as proceeding in four stages:

• Stage 1: Required courses
• Stage 2: Elective courses
• Stage 3: Doctoral exams
• Stage 4: Dissertation

Students are required to take 45 total hours of coursework in the following distribution:  

Stage 1: Required Courses (30 credit hours: 10 classes)   

• Professional Development (6 credit hours: 2 classes)
  
  • Engl 7390: Introduction to Doctoral Studies
  • Engl 8322/23: Master Workshop—end of coursework and before exams transition into dissertation phases.
    
    
• Literary Studies (12 credit hours: 4 classes)
  • Students take classes in chosen graduate curricular specialization (one of the following)  
    • Empire Studies
    • Critical Studies of the Americas    
    • Critical Poetics    
    • Translingual Studies 
      
      
• Creative Writing (12 credit hours: 4 classes)
  
  • Engl 7324: Writers on Literature
  • Engl 7380: History of Poetry/Poetics (poetry students)
    OR
  • Engl 7381: Narrative/Narrative Theory (fiction students)
  • 2 classes in Major Genre Workshop

Stage 2: Electives (15 credit hours: 5 classes)  

15 hours Elective Courses, each contributing to the student’s area of expertise or pedagogical development. Students should select each of these courses in consultation with his/her faculty mentors. 

Students in the Creative Writing and Literature Ph.D. program can use up to two workshop courses for electives requirements. Creative Writing Ph.D. students may take Poetic Forms or Fiction Forms as an elective course in addition to the two allowed electives workshops. Forms courses may not be used to fulfill literary studies requirements (e.g., area stream requirements or early/later literature).

• 1 course in Early Literature (pre-1900)    
• 1 course in Later Literature (post-1900)    

Other electives can be chosen from the wide variety of courses offered within the English Department. Up to three electives (9 hours) may also be taken outside the English Department, with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.  Students teaching first-year writing will use English 6300: College Teaching as one of their electives courses, unless exempted.

Foreign language requirement: Reading knowledge of two foreign languages or intensive knowledge of one foreign language. This requirement may have been met prior to the Ph.D., or be completed as part of the Ph.D. student’s course of study.  

Stage 3: Doctoral Exams   

Students will begin forming their doctoral examination committee in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies and create provisional reading lists during the last semester of their coursework (usually spring semester of the second year or fall semester of the third).

Students will work closely and collaboratively with their faculty advisors to develop examination reading lists.

• 2 written exams (one major field; one sub-field)
• 1 oral exam     

Stage 4: Dissertation

When doctoral exams are complete, students may solicit their dissertation committee chair, followed by the remaining committee members in consultation with the chair. The student will then draft the dissertation prospectus in consultation with the chair and defend it before the full committee. Once the prospectus is approved, work on the dissertation may commence, and the completed dissertation is defended before the full committee in the student’s final semester. The dissertation for creative writing students also includes a critical afterword.

For a complete list of degree requirements and procedures, current students may consult the Ph.D. Student Handbook by visiting the Graduate Student Sharepoint Site. Go to Academic Programs, Graduate Studies, Graduate Forms and Info.