Academic Requirements for the Ph.D. Program
LANGUAGES
Ph.D. candidates must be:
- competent in at least one foreign language upon entering, demonstrated by advanced literary study at the undergraduate level, GRE scores, or by language examinations furnished by the department; and
- competent in a second foreign modern or classical language, demonstrated by course grades or examination, by the end of the fifth semester.
COURSEWORK
Since the department affords a variety of general fields of study, the selection of courses will be determined by the student's specific area of research. A minimum of ten courses will be required for the Ph.D. Supervised reading courses with individual faculty are not considered in fulfillment of this requirement. No fewer than five of the ten must be offered within, or crosslisted by, the department. The proportion of literary to theoretical and interdisciplinary courses will be determined in consultation with faculty advisers, subject to the approval of the director of graduate studies.
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
The preliminary examination should be taken no later than the end of the fifth semester. It is divided into three fields of competence, which again are determined according to the student's individual program of study. The examination will typically be divided between two national literatures and will be selected from the following categories: period, genre, major figures, literary theme, and theoretical interests. In consulation with advisers, students compile three reading lists of no fewer than 20 titles each in their relevant fields of expertise.
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
By the end of the third year of graduate study, students must have established a Dissertation Committee. The Dissertation Committee may be the same as or different from the Qualifying Examination Committee.
A prospectus for the dissertation must be written by the end of the third year of graduate study. It should describe the subject and methodology of the dissertation in detail. The dissertation is an original work of scholarship or criticism; its forms and conventions are stipulated in a style sheet provided by the Graduate School.
The dissertation must be read and approved by the three members of the student's committee and by an outside reader (either a member of the UB graduate faculty outside comparative literature, or a qualified faculty member at another University).
Comparative Literature Policies and Procedures
Academic Requirements for the M.A. Program
LANGUAGES
Applicants must show good reading knowledge of at least one foreign language upon admission, as demonstrated by advanced literary study at the undergraduate level or by language examinations furnished by the department.
COURSEWORK
MA students must complete a minimum of ten courses, of which nine must be intensive seminars. MA students also must enroll in at least three credit hours of Project Guidance Masters (COL 598). Students are encouraged to enroll in at least two courses devoted to national literatures other than English with the reading conducted in the national language.
THESIS / COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
After completion of the required coursework, normally at the end of two years, students will have a choice of either completing an M.A. thesis or taking an oral comprehensive examination. The thesis will involve original research, employ scholarly apparatus, and be between 50 and 100 pages in length. The thesis must be read and approved by the director and one other faculty member. The M.A. comprehensive exam has a similar format to the Ph.D. qualifying examination, but the reading list is significantly shorter and the theoretical framework appropriately limited. For this oral examination, students may choose three predesignated areas of study -- major author, genre, period, literary theory, or literary theme. The lists of works to be covered for each area must contain a minimum of fifteen books (compared to a minimum of twenty for the Ph.D. oral exam). The areas of study and the three-person committee are chosen with the approval of the director of graduate studies, and the reading lists require the approval of both the individual committee members and the director of graduate studies. Students will be able to substitute the existing preliminary examination for the Ph.D. for either the M.A. project or the M.A. comprehensive oral exam, but not vice versa. Neither the M.A. project nor the M.A. comprehensive exam can be substituted for the Ph.D. preliminary examination.
