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French and Italian at The Ohio State University

Graduate Studies

The Ph.D. Program in French
Secure Access PhD Student Course Grid

see also Graduate Certificate in Francophone & Post-Colonial Studies Program

The Department offers a doctoral program in French that gives the student an opportunity to achieve a high level of scholarly competence and to develop the capacity to contribute original knowledge to the field. The path towards the Ph.D. degree follows a natural progression from course work to candidacy to dissertation. Normally the PhD is a four-year program. After two years of coursework, the candidacy examinations should take place during spring quarter of the 2nd year, or autumn or winter quarter of the 3rd year. The dissertation prospectus should be submitted and approved no more than two quarters after the candidacy examinations. In exceptional cases, a 5th year of support may be awarded (see below).

Admission

  1. Admission of students to the program is the dual responsibility of the Graduate School and the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee in accordance with the rules of the Graduate School; see Graduate School Handbook (GSH) 4-1 through 4-11-2.
  2. A minimal requirement for entrance to the Ph.D. program is a Master's degree or equivalent graduate work in the area of specialization. Students who complete their Master of Arts in the Department and wish to continue into the doctoral program must apply to do so in a letter addressed to the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee by February 15 of the year in which they intend to begin their Ph.D. studies. Admission to Ph.D. status will be determined by faculty vote after the student has completed the M.A. examination.
  3. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required of all applicants who are graduates of North American institutions.
  4. The Test of English as a Foreign Language (with a score of 550 or above) or the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (with a score of 82 or above) is required of all applicants from countries where the first language is not English, unless a degree was earned in a primary English-speaking country.
  5. All applicants who received their M.A. from an institution other than the Ohio State University must submit an example of their scholarly or critical writing in French. A paper prepared during the M.A. program would be appropriate.

All graduate students must be computer literate—i.e., they must be able to use an appropriate word-processing program for all written work in the department, including the PhD examination. Students not familiar with word processing and computers must take an appropriate course during their first quarter of graduate work.

Adviser

At the beginning of the doctoral program, students are assigned to the Ph.D. Adviser, who is chair of the Graduate Studies Committee. As soon as possible, but no later than winter quarter of the 2nd year of study, each student must choose a major area of specialization and two minor areas of specialization. At that time, the Ph.D. Adviser, in consultation with the student, will appoint a major adviser selected from the specialists in the area. That faculty member will chair the Candidacy Examination and subsequently direct the dissertation. The appointment of an adviser will be formalized with the appropriate Department form (available from the Graduate Studies Chair or the Graduate Secretary) and signed by the new adviser, the student, and the Graduate Studies Chair.

Graduate School Requirements

  1. A minimum of 135 quarter hours beyond the B.A. (or 90 graduate credit hours beyond the M.A.) is required to earn a doctoral degree. A student must be registered for at least three credit hours during the quarter(s) of the Candidacy Examination, the quarter of the Final Oral Examination, and the quarter of expected graduation (GSH 9-6-1). NOTE: Those holding a graduate associateship (GTA, GAA or GRA) must register for a minimum of nine credit hours per quarter; twelve credit hours during post-candidacy quarters. Audit credit does not count toward these requirements.
  2. Residence: a period of concentrated graduate study beyond the M.A. during which (a) a minimum of 45 credit hours and (b) a minimum of three out of four consecutive quarters with an enrollment of at least ten graduate credit hours per quarter are completed at this university (GSH 9-6-4).
  3. Successful completion of a Candidacy Examination no later than two quarters prior to graduation (GSH 9-9-3).
  4. After successful completion of the Candidacy Examination and admission to candidacy, a minimum of 20 graduate credit hours over a period of two quarters (usually taken under 999) are required.

Departmental Requirements

  1. All doctoral candidates must complete required coursework, pass a Candidacy Examination (with a written and an oral component), present an acceptable dissertation, and pass a final oral examination on the dissertation and the designated special areas of research.
  2. Third Language Requirement: Candidates are required to demonstrate a reading knowledge of Latin, German or an additional Romance language. This may be done by passing an examination given by the pertinent department, or by passing Latin, German, Italian and Portuguese 101, 102, and 103, with a grade of "B" or better (the 100-level series may not be substituted for 500-level courses in departments where the latter exist, although students are free to take any additional courses on their own). Credit hours taken to satisfy the Language Requirement cannot be counted toward those required for the degree (GSH 6-1-4). With the approval of the student's adviser and the Graduate Studies Committee, another language may be substituted if it is centrally related to the proposed areas of dissertation research.
NOTE: For incoming Ph.D. candidates, there will be a proficiency examination. Aural comprehension, written and speaking skills will be tested. This examination is usually administered at the beginning of Autumn Quarter. The student may be required to take appropriate language course which will not count toward the credit hour requirement for the PhD.

Selection of Program

For purposes of the Ph.D. in French, the Department offers the following areas of specialization:
  1. Medieval literature
  2. Renaissance literature
  3. 17th-century literature
  4. 18th-century literature
  5. 19th-century literature
  6. 20th-century literature
  7. Francophone and/or Post-Colonial Studies in French
  8. A genre or mode
  9. Criticism and Theory
  10. Culture
  11. Film
  12. Major Author or Critical Problem
  13. Linguistics and Language
  14. Another field or genre, within or without the Department, to be chosen in consultation with the student's adviser -- for example, another literature (which may be limited by period, such as 19th-century Italian), history (which may be limited by period), Women's Studies, fine arts, etc.

Program Guidelines

While we encourage our Ph.D. students to begin thinking of their main area of specialization and even of an eventual dissertation as early as possible in their program, we also want them to keep in mind the realities of the job market they will eventually enter. To that end, they should take a broad range of courses throughout their degree program in order to establish a familiarity with areas of French literature, language and film studies, as well as culture outside the domain of their specialization. Universities hiring at the Assistant Professor level today tend to favor more and more frequently candidates with solid pedagogical training and teaching experience and with at least two areas of teaching expertise. These areas might include general survey courses as well as interdisciplinary courses involving programs of women's, multicultural/ethnic, film, and comparative literature studies.

The normal course-load is two courses per quarter - with the exception of the first quarter in the program, when entering students normally take one course in addition to 801 and 883.

Course Requirements

Beyond course work counted toward the Master of Arts degree, Ph.D. candidates are required to take French 801 (Teaching French at the College Level), and French 885 (Introduction to Contemporary Critical Theory. In specialty areas 1-7, six courses must be taken in six different areas (totaling a minimum of 30 credit hours). At least 30 additional credit hours of course work are required. Appropriate consideration should be given to subjects related to the areas chosen for the Candidacy Examination. Normally, at least two courses beyond the M.A. for each area of specialization are required.

In selecting courses, please note that Ph.D. students should take only in special circumstances, and with the approval of the Ph.D. adviser, 600-level courses for credit. Ph.D. students should take only 700- and 800-level courses. No more than four courses taken outside the Department (at no lower than the 500 level) and no more than 10 credit hours of French 893 (Independent Study) may be counted toward the Ph.D. Independent Study may not be used to satisfy an area requirement without approval of the Graduate Studies Committee. Independent Study courses should be taken only as a last resort when regularly scheduled courses are unavailable.

Students admitted to the Ph.D. program who by-pass the M.A. degree must fulfill the specific course requirements for the M.A., and students who have received their M.A. elsewhere must take the courses required for the Department's M.A. program if they have not taken comparable courses at the graduate level, evaluated as equivalent by the Graduate Studies Committee.

Candidacy Examination

The Department's Candidacy Examination includes a written and an oral portion. The written examination is divided into three parts, a major area (selected from areas 1-12 above) and two minor areas (selected from areas 1-14). Three different numbered areas must be chosen. At least one part of the examination (either major or minor) must be a historical period chosen from areas 1-6. The composition of the Candidacy Examination is predicated upon the philosophy that the examination should facilitate and accelerate the process of focusing on areas of dissertation research, with the assumption that the areas covered by the examination will be broader in scope than those of the final dissertation topic.

The various genres or modes possible in area 8--such as poetry, prose, fiction, drama, autobiography, epic, romance, and irony--are understood to be areas of study that would span several of the usual historical and/or cultural boundaries.

Examinations in area 12 are governed by the following principles. There is no official departmental canon of major authors; but the assumption is that such an author will be one with a substantial body of literary work in French. The critical problem chosen must not be a subset of one of the other two examination areas. Problems chosen for this examination should have sufficient scope to extend the student's reading list beyond matters relating to a single text or author. Students wishing to take an exam that differs in any way from the principles outlined for category 12 must petition the Graduate Studies Committee for permission.

In regards to area 14, students who expect to work in "another field" outside the Department of French and Italian--and who may, for example, require a faculty member from another department on his or her Advisory Committee--should, in consultation with the Ph.D. Adviser, make appropriate arrangements soon after acceptance into the doctoral program.

At the start of preparation for the Candidacy Examination, the major adviser, in consultation with the student, forms an Advisory Committee (consisting of no fewer than two faculty members from the Department of French and Italian) that includes the major adviser, one adviser for each of the two minor areas and one additional faculty member. The student then prepares, with the approval of the Advisory Committee, working lists of the readings for which he or she expects to be held responsible. All members of the Committee must approve all the lists and ensure that adequate breadth is achieved. All finalized reading lists must be submitted to the Advisory Committee no later than one quarter before the scheduled examination. In addition to his or her role as examiner for the major area, the faculty member may or may not write questions but will always serve as an examiner during the oral. This fourth member may or may not necessarily be in the fields represented on the examination but should be conversant with the material in at least one field. The specific format of the examination is determined by the student and the members of the Advisory Committee and consists of 50% in the major area and 25% in each of the two minor areas, followed by a two-hour oral portion. The major examination will be an open-book take-home examination picked up the Department on a Friday at 4:30 p.m. and returned to the Department by 8:30 a.m. the following Monday. The completed draft of this part of the examination should be 20-30 double-spaced typed pages in length. Each of the minor examinations will be an open-book examination taken on campus during a six-hour period. Students are expected to spend approximately four hours writing their responses and two hours reviewing and revising them.

Written examinations must be done on computers. Print-outs must include page numbers and, in the case of French, the appropriate accents. During the period between the written and oral examinations, students should re-read all sections and prepare to defend them during the oral examination.

Candidacy Examination Oral

The oral part of the Candidacy Examination will consist of a two-hour examination on the written part and the chosen areas of specialization. Students must bring a copy of their written examination to the Oral. At least one part of the oral examination must be conducted in French and at least one part in English. The Candidacy Examination Committee will be made up of the Committee plus a representative chosen by the Graduate School (GSH 9-9-6). The student has successfully completed the Candidacy Examination only when the decision of the General Examination Committee is unanimously affirmative (GSH 9-9-17).

In order for students to dedicate all their time to the preparation of their examinations and still meet the minimum credit-hour requirements of the Graduate School, they may, during the quarter of the oral examination and the preceding quarter, enroll in nine credit hours of 999 if they are GTAs or 12 credit hours of 999 if they hold fellowships (see GSH 5-1-2. 5-1-3). This schedule adjustment may be done only once.

Both the written and oral portions of the Candidacy Examination will be taken and completed within the same quarter or two consecutive quarters of the same academic year. There will be no Ph.D. examinations given or taken during the Summer Quarter.

Candidacy

Provided that the student is in good standing (GSH 7-1) at the end of the quarter in which the Candidacy Examination is satisfactorily completed, he or she will be admitted to candidacy for a doctoral degree. After being admitted to candidacy, a student has five years to complete the dissertation. (GSH 9-10-1). If the dissertation is not completed within five years, the Department is required by the Graduate School to re-administer the Candidacy Examination.

After completing the candidacy examination, any graduate student holding a 50% associateship appointment MUST enroll for at least 12 credit hours per quarter.

5th year of support: While the PhD degree is designed as a 4 year program, doctoral students may request a 5th year of GTA/GRA/GAA support. The 5th year of support is not guaranteed, and is awarded, on a competitive basis, only when the candidate has made sufficient progress towards completion of the dissertation to merit such support. The deadline for application for a 5th year of support is the end of Winter quarter of the 4th year of doctoral study. To be eligible for the 5th year, students must have defended the prospectus by the end of the Winter quarter.

Dissertation

The dissertation is a scholarly contribution to knowledge in the student's area of research and specialization. It should demonstrate both knowledge of the field of study and an ability to work independently.

Dissertation Committee

After successful completion of the Candidacy Examination, the student and his or her adviser will form a Dissertation Committee consisting of three or more graduate faculty members, including the adviser, who will serve as chair of the Committee. (For additional requirements pertaining to the Dissertation and the Dissertation Committee, consult GSH 9-11-1 through 9-11-3.)

Prospectus

The student will prepare a written prospectus of the dissertation topic in consultation with members of the Dissertation Committee and present it for approval at a formal one hour meeting of the Dissertation Committee, arranged by the adviser and chaired by the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee. The prospectus should contain a detailed description of the scope and methodology of the proposed dissertation, an outline of the contents, and a bibliography. It may also include an introductory chapter. The formal presentation of the prospectus should be scheduled before the end of the second or third quarter following successful completion of the Candidacy Examination. It is the responsibility of the student to deliver copies of the prospectus to all members of the Committee and the Graduate Chair no later than ten days before the meeting.

Changes in a Dissertation

If there are changes in topic, scope, or methodology, which substantially modify a dissertation, a revised prospectus must be submitted for approval to the Dissertation Committee and the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee.

Schedule for Approval of a Dissertation

  1. Readers' Copies: In order to ensure that the readers have sufficient time to read the dissertation and that the candidate has sufficient time to make possible changes in the manuscript, the provisional first draft must be in the hands of the readers by the beginning of the second week of the quarter in which the degree is sought. For important further details about timing, see GSH 9-11-3, 9-11-4, and 9-13.
  2. The Final Oral Examination will not be scheduled until the adviser and the readers have approved the first draft by signing the Draft Approval Form. At that time, the student must also submit the complete, typed dissertation to the Graduate School for format review. (GSH 9-11-5).
  3. The Final Oral Examination Committee is composed of the Dissertation Committee, plus the Graduate School Representative (GSH 9-11-2).
  4. It is the responsibility of the candidate to deliver a copy of the approved dissertation draft to the Graduate School Representative no later than one week before the Final Oral Examination.
  5. The student is considered to have completed the Final Oral Examination successfully if there is no more than one dissenting vote by the Final Oral Examination Committee. (GSH 9-12-10).

Guidelines Concerning the Language Used in Examinations and Dissertations

  1. It is expected that every candidate will have a satisfactory knowledge of both French and English.
  2. Examinations and dissertations may be written in French or English (such determinations to be made by the Advisory Committee in consultation with the student). In the case of examinations, students must at some point, such as the oral, demonstrate their mastery of both languages.
  3. The Department will request that the Graduate School Representative be competent in French.