Handbook for Graduate Students and Faculty

Miami University is a community dedicated to intellectual engagement. Our campuses consist of students, faculty, and staff from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. By living, working, studying, and teaching, we bring our unique viewpoints and life experiences together for the benefit of all. This inclusive learning environment, based upon an atmosphere of mutual respect and positive engagement, invites all campus citizens to explore how they think about knowledge, about themselves, and about how they see themselves in relation to others. Our intellectual and social development and daily educational interactions, whether co-curricular or classroom-related, are greatly enriched by our acceptance of one another as members of the Miami University community. Through valuing our own diversity and the diversity of others, we seek to learn from one another, foster a sense of shared experience, and commit to making the University the intellectual home for us all.

We recognize that we must uphold and abide by University policies and procedures protecting individual rights and guiding democratic engagement. Any actions disregarding these policies and procedures, particularly those resulting in discrimination, harassment, or bigoted acts, will be challenged swiftly and collectively. All who work, live, study, and teach in the Miami community must be committed to these principles of mutual respect and positive engagement that are an integral part of Miami’s focus, goals, and mission.

1.1 Application Requirements

Applications for admission to degree programs are available from the Dean of the Graduate School, 102 Roudebush Hall, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056 or via the Graduate School website. Applicants to all programs must submit an application form and fee, and transcripts of all previous academic work to the Graduate School. GRE scores are not required, but may be useful for applicants being considered by the Graduate School for the Graduate School Scholar Assistantship (GSSA).

English Department degree programs also require additional materials, as described below, for a complete application file. All required M.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. application materials must be received by January 1 in order for the applicant to be given full consideration for a teaching assistantship. Applications for the combined B.A./M.A. degree must be received by March 1.

Combined Bachelor’s/Master’s Degree (Literature):

Full-time Miami undergraduate students who have completed both half of the hours required for the BA and half of the departmental hours required for the English literature major may apply to the B.A./M.A. in English and American Literature. To be eligible, students must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.25 and a 3.5 GPA in the major.

Application should be made to the department and the Graduate School.

Also see the Department of English Graduate Admissions webpages for general information about graduate programs. Application materials for the Combined Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Program do not need to meet the December deadline. We will begin reviewing application materials for the B.A./M.A. after March 1.

Applicants for the B.A./M.A. must submit

• A personal statement (2-3 pages) of aims in relation to graduate studies
• Three letters of recommendation from faculty 
• A 15-20 page writing sample 
• Copies of all transcripts

Master of Arts in English (Composition and Rhetoric or Literature):

Students who already hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university and who meet the requirements described in the current Graduate Bulletin may be admitted to a degree program with the approval of the departmental Admissions and Awards Committee.

Applicants for the M.A. must submit

• A personal statement (2-3 pages) of aims in relation to graduate studies
• Three letters of recommendation from faculty
• A 15-20 page writing sample appropriate to their chosen area of concentration (composition and rhetoric, or literature)
• Copies of all transcripts

Visit the Department of English Graduate Admissions webpages for detailed information about application requirements and guidelines for submission.

Master of Arts in Teaching:

The Master of Arts in Teaching requires 32 hours of credit. Certification for teaching in the public schools is a prerequisite for admission.

Designed for K-12 working teachers, the M.A.T. is overseen and separately administered by the Ohio Writing Project, a site of the prestigious National Writing Project and the Ohio Board of Regents’ Early English Composition Assessment program.

The curriculum includes a writing core and a literature core, offered as summer workshops and classes on the Miami campus. M.A.T. students may also fulfill requirements with graduate seminars in literature or composition and rhetoric. A final classroom-based research project will be conducted under the direction of faculty advisors and OWP teacher mentors.

More information about the M.A.T. program and application requirements is available on the Ohio Writing Project MAT website (or call 513-529-5245).

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing:

Students with a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university who meet the requirements described in the current Graduate Bulletin may be admitted to the MFA program with the approval of the departmental Admissions Committee. 

Applicants for the M.F.A. must submit

• A personal statement (2-3 pages) of aims
• Three letters of recommendation from faculty or other professionals 
• A 15-20 page writing sample for creative nonfiction, fiction, or mixed-genre/hybrid concentrations; for poetry, 10-15 poems
• Copies of all transcripts

Manuscripts will be read by the creative writing faculty and will heavily influence their decision on admission. More detailed information about application requirements and guidelines for submission are available on the Department of English Graduate Admissions pages.

Doctor of Philosophy in English:

Students who have met the requirements for the M.A. in English may apply for admission into the doctoral program. Students whose master’s degree is in another field are also welcome to apply for admission. Generally, only those applicants who can be funded with a graduate teaching appointment or other forms of funding--e.g., government sponsorship, Fulbright fellowship--will be eligible for admission.

Applicants for the Ph.D. must submit

• A personal statement (2-3 pages) of aims
• Three letters of recommendation from faculty
• An analytical paper (15-20 pages) appropriate to the concentration in which the applicant plans to specialize that demonstrates the applicant’s scholarly abilities and orientation to the field
• Copies of all transcripts

1.2 Admissions and Financial Aid: Departmental Policy and Procedures

The Graduate Committee has approved the following policies and procedures on admissions and financial assistance:

1. The Graduate Admissions Committee will be a representative group, with members drawn from the programs in literature, composition and rhetoric, and creative writing. Applications for graduate study will initially be read by members according to field, i.e., members in literature will read literature applications, those in composition and rhetoric will read the applications from their field, and creative writing members will read applications to the creative writing program.
2. No field within the department will be allocated in advance a set number of graduate awards. Rather, in accordance with our department’s Guiding Principles, we value and seek fairness and equity in balancing the needs of our programs so as to cultivate an environment in which we can trust and support one another.
3. Committee members representing the three fields – creative writing, composition and rhetoric, and literature – will forward to the full Graduate Admissions Committee a ranked list of those candidates they would like to admit with funding, along with a ranked wait list that includes the full complement of applicants to whom offers could potentially be made. The Director of Graduate Studies in consultation with the Graduate Admissions Committee will balance the needs of individual programs and the relative strength of these applications in awarding the available Graduate Assistantships.
4. As soon as possible after the application deadline, the Graduate Admissions Committee and Director of Graduate Studies will decide on its offers of Graduate Assistantships. No offers will be made, and no decisions reached, until all on-time applications have been evaluated. Applications for admission with funding received after the deadline will not be considered.
5. For Ph.D. applicants, the subcommittee will admit only those whom it can support with a departmental teaching appointment or who are funded by fellowships or organizational sponsorships (e.g., international governmental sponsorships, Fulbright fellowships). In exceptional cases, it may consider for admission an applicant who will obtain acceptable teaching experience and training on another campus while in the Ph.D. program at Miami.
6. Competitive Dissertation Fellowships are awarded annually by a Dissertation Fellowship Committee appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies. The Committee shall be composed of the Director of Graduate Studies, and a representative selection of faculty approved by the Graduate Committee. One Graduate School-funded dissertation fellowship is available to students entering their fourth, fifth, or sixth year of the doctoral program during the term of the award. This fellowship may be for one or two semesters of support. The department’s Sinclair Dissertation Fellowships may be awarded as one-semester or full-year fellowships for eligible doctoral students entering their fourth, fifth, or sixth year.

2.1 Combined Bachelor’s/Master’s Degree in Literature

Students accepted to the English B.A./M.A. program take graduate courses while completing their undergraduate degree. A maximum of 9 credit hours can be double-counted for the bachelor’s and master’s degrees, but the full number of hours required for the Master’s degree must be taken. A minimum of 145 credit hours (115  undergraduate + 30 graduate) are required for the B.A./M.A. Students in a combined program will remain undergraduates until either (a) they complete all undergraduate degree requirements and receive their undergraduate degree (at which time they will be automatically re-classified as graduate students); or (b) they request the Graduate School change their status from undergraduate to graduate (the student must have completed a minimum of 124 or 128 total graduate and undergraduate credit hours, depending on their catalog year, to make this request). Students in the combined program are eligible to apply for a graduate grant-in-aid upon being classified as graduate students. Students may not receive both the undergraduate and graduate degrees on the same date (degrees are conferred four times per year, i.e., January, May, August, December), nor can they take all of their graduate credits with undergraduate status.

2.2 M.A. with Graduate Assistantship

In addition to the requirements listed below for the M.A. degree concentrations offered by the English Department, ENG 731 (The Theory and Practice of Teaching College Composition) and ENG 606 (Teaching Practicum) are required for all Graduate Assistants and Teaching Associates teaching in the College Composition program. These courses count toward total credit hours but not toward core requirements.

2.3 Requirements for M.A. with Concentration in Composition and Rhetoric

36 hours, including:

• Core coursework in composition and rhetoric (16 hrs.)
  • Courses may include 601, 720, 730, 732, 733, 734, 735, 736, 737, 751, 760, 770.
  • Students MUST take at least two of the following four courses: 732, 733, 735, 737.
• Three elective graduate courses in English that comprise a defined area of study to be selected in consultation with faculty advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. With permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, one elective may be in a department other than English (12 hrs.)
• ENG 605: Issues in the Profession (2 hrs.)
• ENG 700: Research for Master’s Thesis (6 hrs.)

Additional degree requirements:

• A reading proficiency in a language other than English, demonstrated by (a) completion of two years of undergraduate study of a foreign language or ASL, whether at Miami or elsewhere; (b) completing an intensive online summer graduate course in another language; or (c) presenting a language, other than English, which is the candidate’s native language.
• A final oral examination of two hours on the thesis and the approved reading list.
• M.A. students in composition and rhetoric serving as Graduate Assistants must enroll in ENG 731 and ENG 606. Some portion of this teaching requirement may be waived for students with high school or junior high school teaching experience.

Thesis and Oral Examination Committee

Students working toward the M.A. degree may take their examinations during the semester in which they are completing classroom requirements, or thereafter. Students form an M.A. committee of three faculty members by the beginning of the second year in the master’s program, although it is recommended that students choose a chair for their committee by the end of their second semester.

Two members of the committee will be faculty working in composition and rhetoric; the third member may come from outside that field. The chair must have Level A graduate faculty standing; other committee members must hold Level A or Level B graduate faculty standing. To ensure that students receive the best possible mentoring, no faculty member should direct more than seven dissertations or theses, be a reader for more than seven, or be part of more than 12 total active graduate student committees.

Thesis project rationale and reading list

The master’s thesis in Composition and Rhetoric requires the student to undertake a sustained intellectual engagement with an issue related to the student’s self-defined area of study. The thesis project should be research-based and culminate in a final product, but it is purposely flexible to offer a range of options. Thesis projects may take many forms, including but not limited to traditional research and critical study of an issue, theory, practice; classroom or community-based research with problem, description, results and discussion; a presentation of innovative pedagogy in the form of a detailed teaching portfolio with research and reflection; a workplace-based internship and researched report; research and design of web pages for the Internet.

M.A. students in composition and rhetoric will work with their thesis committee to produce a reading list of 20 to 25 works, including secondary material, in the field in which the subject of the thesis is embedded as a specialized interest. [A “work” is defined as a book-length production or its equivalent. Three short works (e.g., critical essays) count as the equivalent of a work.]

Reading list format and submission procedure

The field of the thesis should be clearly identified by name, and the list itself supported by a persuasive rationale. Works on the list should be cited in standard bibliographic style. The student should also name the faculty members serving on the committee, and secure their signatures on the cover-sheet form (via Formstack) submitted along with the list.

The list will be reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies to ensure that it meets the standard criteria, e.g., of form, length, and style. For timely approval, reading lists should be submitted by the first day of each month, except for June, July, and August. Lists must be submitted at least three months before the student intends to take the final examination for the M.A. degree. Reading lists received by the first of each month will be distributed to the Graduate Committee at its regular monthly meeting for its information and consent.

Examination procedure

Examinations may be scheduled at the convenience of the student and the examination committee. Two hours will be allowed for the examination. The final examination will be an oral examination consisting of (a) questions on the thesis itself and (b) questions on the approved reading list. No materials other than the approved reading list and the thesis may be consulted during the M.A. exam.

Two of the three committee members must approve for the examination to be passed. Students who fail the final examination may be given a second examination to be taken no earlier than the next semester or summer session. No third attempt is permitted.

Depositing the thesis

In the early stages of preparing the final copy of the thesis, the student must consult the Theses and Dissertations tab on the Graduate School website. The student must prepare the thesis in accordance with these instructions. Students must make an appointment with a member of the Graduate School for a preliminary format check of a sample chapter before proceeding with the final version of the thesis.

All students will submit their work electronically. A corrected, final pdf version of the thesis must be uploaded electronically several weeks in advance of the degree conferral date. Requests may be made to the Graduate School for Delay of Publication of one to five years. All commencement dates, deadlines for application for commencement, for thesis format check, and for electronic upload of the thesis are published each year on the Graduate School website.

2.4. Requirements for Concentration in English and American Literature

36 hours of credit, including:

• Four seminars satisfying the distribution requirement (16 hrs.)

One course from two of the fields listed below

• English Literature to 1500
• Renaissance English Literature
• Restoration and Eighteenth-Century English Literature
• Nineteenth-Century English Literature
• Early American Literature

One course from two of the fields listed below

• English, Irish, and Anglophone Literature from 1900 to the present
• American Literature from 1800 to 1900
• American Literature from 1900 to the present
• Two additional elective literature seminars (8 hrs.)
• ENG 603: Theories and Their Histories (4 hrs.)
• ENG 605: Issues of the Profession (2 hrs.)
• ENG 700: Research for Master’s Thesis (6 hrs.)
  • may be waived for BA/MA students

Additional degree requirements:

• A reading proficiency in a language other than English, demonstrated by (a) completion of two years of undergraduate study of a foreign language or ASL, whether at Miami or elsewhere; (b) completing an intensive online summer graduate course in another language; (c) presenting a language, other than English, which is the candidate’s native language.
• Either thesis and oral examination or written and oral examination.

Thesis and oral examination option

Students working toward the M.A. with thesis and oral examination for the degree may take their examination during the semester in which they are completing classroom requirements or thereafter.

Students form an M.A. thesis committee of three faculty members by the beginning of the second year in the master’s program, although it is recommended that students choose a chair for their committee by the end of their second semester. Two members of the thesis committee will be faculty working in the specific area or literary field of the thesis; it is recommended that the third member work in another literary field or another degree concentration. In choosing a third member, candidates should work with the Director of Graduate Studies, who will provide advice on faculty whose areas of interest and expertise may benefit the candidate's project. The chair must have Level A graduate faculty standing; other committee members must hold Level A or Level B graduate faculty standing. To ensure that students receive the best possible mentoring, no faculty member should direct more than seven dissertations or theses, be a reader for more than seven, or be part of more than 12 total active graduate student committees

Reading list

M.A. students in literature who choose to write a thesis will work with their thesis committee to produce a reading list of 20 to 25 works, including secondary material, in a literary period, genre, or other field in which the subject of the thesis is embedded as a specialized interest. [A “work” is defined as a book-length production or its equivalent; thus a group of plays or a collection of poems or essays might be counted as a single work in a literary field, while three critical essays will count as the equivalent of a work.]

Reading list format and submission procedure

The field of the thesis should be clearly identified by name, and the list itself supported by a persuasive rationale. Works on the list should be listed in standard bibliographic style. The student should also name the faculty members serving on the committee, and secure their signatures on the cover-sheet form (via Formstack) submitted along with the list.

The list will be reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies to ensure that it meets the standard criteria, e.g., of form, length, and style. For timely approval, reading lists should be submitted by the first day of each month, except for June, July, and August. Lists must be submitted at least three months before the student intends to take the final examination for the MA degree. Reading lists received by the first of each month will be distributed to the Graduate Committee at its regular monthly meeting for its information and consent.

Examination procedure

Examinations may be scheduled at the convenience of the student and the examination committee. The final examination will be an oral examination of two hours consisting of questions on (a) the thesis itself and (b) the approved reading list. No materials other than the approved reading list and the thesis may be consulted during the MA exam.

Two of the three committee members must approve for the examination to be passed. Students who fail the final examination may be given a second examination to be taken no earlier than the next semester or summer session. No third attempt is permitted.

Depositing the thesis

In the early stages of preparing the final copy of the thesis, the student must consult the Theses and Dissertations tab on the Graduate School website.

The student must prepare the thesis in accordance with these instructions. Students must make an appointment with a member of the Graduate School for a preliminary format check of a sample chapter before proceeding with the final version of the thesis.

All students will submit their work electronically. A corrected, final pdf version of the thesis must be uploaded electronically several weeks in advance of the degree conferral date. Requests may be made to the Graduate School for Delay of Publication of one to five years. All commencement dates, deadlines for application for commencement, for thesis format check, and for electronic upload of the thesis are published each year on the Graduate School website.

Written and oral examination option

Students working toward the M.A. in literature with written and oral examination may take the examination for the degree during the semester in which they are completing classroom requirements, or thereafter. The exam writer forms an MA examination committee of three faculty members by the beginning of the student’s second year in the master’s program, although it is recommended that the student choose a chair for their committee by the end of their second semester.

The MA student in literature chooses two literary periods on which to be examined, and selects one faculty member to represent each of those periods on the examination committee; it is recommended that the third member work in another literary field or another degree concentration. In choosing a third member, candidates should work with the Director of Graduate Studies, who will provide advice on faculty whose areas of interest and expertise may benefit the candidate's project. One faculty member will be designated as chair of the MA examination committee, to be responsible for coordinating meetings, preparing the written exam, and convening and chairing the oral examination. The chair must have Level A graduate faculty standing; other committee members must hold Level A or Level B graduate faculty standing. To ensure that students receive the best possible mentoring, no faculty member should direct more than seven dissertations or theses, be a reader for more than seven, or be part of more than 12 total active graduate student committees.

Reading List

The MA written examination should encourage students to think about the relationships between literature and the larger cultural context. Toward this end, students work with their MA examination committees to generate reading lists in the areas they have chosen to prepare for the examination. The two lists, one for each area, should be broad enough to accommodate both the student’s specialized interests and the committee’s sense of the period or field in which those interests are embedded. To achieve that breadth, students should form lists of 20 to 25 works each, including criticism currently of significance. [A “work” is defined as a book-length production or its equivalent; thus a group of plays or a collection of poems or essays might be counted as a single work in a literary field, while three critical essays will count as the equivalent of a work.] Students should be prepared to answer questions about the relationships among works and about the periods they represent.

For each list, students will work with their committee members to choose a topically and temporally coherent field that is legible to literary scholars as a field; broad enough to encompass a historical time period of at least fifty years; and varied in form and/or genre. The student shall provide a rationale describing the field and making relevant connections between current intellectual concerns in the field and the works on the reading list. Texts on the reading list should promise a solid breadth of knowledge in the field and a range of forms and genres representative of the field. Since every field must include both historical range (as described above) and formal diversity (even within a genre), students should make sure that the rationale specifically addresses the ways in which a proposed field fulfills this requirement.

Reading list format and submission procedure

Each field represented on a list should be clearly identified, and the list itself supported by a persuasive rationale. Works should be cited in standard bibliographic style. The student should also name the faculty members serving on the committee, and secure their signatures on the cover-sheet form submitted (via Formstack) along with the list.

The list will be reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies to ensure that it meets the standard criteria, e.g., of form, length, and style. For timely approval, reading lists should be submitted by the first day of each month, except for June, July, and August. Lists must be submitted at least three months before the student intends to take the final examination for the M.A. degree. Reading lists received by the first of each month will be distributed to the Graduate Committee at its regular monthly meeting for its information and consent.

Examination procedure

For the written examination, the student will answer one question from each of the two fields represented on the approved reading lists. For each field, the student will have a choice of at least two questions. The questions for the written portion of the examination will be given to the student two weeks before the date of the oral examination. Students will return their completed essays to the committee chair no more than 72 hours after they have received the questions. The maximum acceptable length of the examination will be approximately 3,600 words, divided as evenly as possible between the two essays.

In the examination essays, students should employ conventional MLA citation format: i.e., parenthetical references by author’s last name and page number. A bibliography is not required, but if the student uses a text not on the reading lists, the full citation should be provided parenthetically. While students are permitted to consult relevant print resources, they may not share a draft of the essay with others for review, editorial suggestions, or proofreading. If they incorporate ideas from conversation with others, these must be fully documented in the essay itself, just as references to print sources would be. An examination essay, whatever its critical or theoretical orientation, will be expected to respond directly to the question asked and to show detailed and accurate command of the pertinent reading.

In the days before the oral examination, the MA examination committee will read and evaluate the written portion of the examination. No decision to pass or fail will be rendered until both the written and oral examinations have been completed and the student’s total performance can be taken into account. Should a student fail the examination in one field, the committee may at its discretion allow the student to retake a portion of the exam.

The oral examination will be conducted over a period of 90 minutes, with the time divided equally between a discussion of the examination essays and follow-up questions about them, and a discussion of other works on the reading lists. Students should be prepared to answer specific questions about the works on the lists, about relationships among them, and about the fields they represent. Students should expect that each examiner will not be restricted to questions in a single field, but may well ask questions about either of the student’s prepared areas. No materials other than the approved reading list and the written examination essay may be consulted during the M.A. exam.

Two of the three committee members must approve for the examination to be passed. Students who fail the final examination may be given a second examination to be taken no earlier than the next semester or summer session. No third attempt is permitted.

3.1 M.F.A. with Graduate Assistantship

In addition to the requirements listed below for the M.F.A., ENG 731 (The Theory and Practice of Teaching College Composition), ENG 606 (Teaching Practicum), and ENG 607 (Creative Writing Teaching Practicum) are required for all Graduate Assistants teaching in the College Composition and Creative Writing programs. These courses count toward total credit hours but not toward core requirements.

3.2 M.F.A. Requirements

36 hours, including: 

• ENG 631, Writing in the Genres, four times (16 hrs.)
• ENG 635, Reading for Writing: Literary Forms (4 hrs.)
• Two literature seminars numbered above 600 (8 hrs.), which may include ENG 603. With the approval of the Director of the MFA Program and the Director of Graduate Studies, one literature seminar may be replaced by an alternative course.
  • Options may include a 600-level course in another department (e.g., FRE, PHL, WGS); up to four hours of ENG 751 (Special Problems); ENG 677 (Independent Study); or ENG 780 (Internship).
  • An independent study must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and the Director of Creative Writing when substituting for a literature seminar.
  • Because of limitations of space, students may be permitted only in rare instances to take ENG 635 (Reading for Writing: Literary Forms) a second time as a substitution for a literature seminar.
• ENG 605, Issues in the Profession (2 hrs.)
• ENG 700, Research/reading hours for Master’s Thesis (6 hrs.)
• M.F.A. students may take workshops across genres with the permission of the instructor and the director of creative writing.

Additional Degree Requirements:

Thesis committee

With advice from and approval of the committee chair, the student will form a committee comprising three members of the creative writing faculty, preferably before the start of the second year of study. The student may petition for one member of the committee to be from outside the M.F.A. faculty, by gaining the approval of the committee chair, the director of the M.F.A. Program, and the Director of Graduate Studies. The chair must have Level A graduate faculty standing; other committee members must hold Level A or Level B graduate faculty standing. To ensure that students receive the best possible mentoring, no faculty member should direct more than seven dissertations or theses, be a reader for more than seven, or be part of more than 12 total active graduate student committees.

Thesis rationale and reading list

Each student will, with the guidance of the thesis committee, complete a book-length creative thesis, ordinarily a novella, a novel, or a collection of stories or poems. The thesis will be informed by and in conversation with approximately 10 to 20 books (or equivalent articles/excerpts) selected in consultation with the thesis committee. The list of sources will be discussed and assessed as part of the thesis examination (see below).

Rationale and reading list format and submission procedure 

The student will submit a rationale of up to two pages describing the planned thesis and, more briefly, articulating the relevance of the texts chosen to support it. Works on the list should be cited in standard bibliographic style. The student should also name the faculty members serving on the committee, and secure their signatures on the cover-sheet form (via Formstack) submitted along with the list.

The list will be reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies to ensure that it meets the standard criteria, e.g., of form, length, and style. For timely approval, reading lists should be submitted by the first day of each month, except for June, July, and August. Lists must be submitted at least three months before the student intends to take the final examination for the M.F.A. degree. Reading lists received by the first of each month will be distributed to the Graduate Committee at its regular monthly meeting for its information and consent.

Thesis defense

For the M.F.A. thesis defense, a candidate presents a potentially publishable creative manuscript and demonstrates a professional-level ability to discuss their artistic decisions (e.g., thematic, stylistic, formal) as well as the work’s relationship to other published works.

Depositing the thesis

In the early stages of preparing the final copy of the thesis, the student must consult the Theses and Dissertations tab on the Graduate School website. The student must prepare the thesis in accordance with these instructions. Students must make an appointment with a member of the Graduate School for a preliminary format check of a sample chapter before proceeding with the final version of the thesis.

All students will submit their work electronically. A corrected, final pdf version of the thesis must be uploaded electronically several weeks in advance of the degree conferral date. Requests may be made to the Graduate School for Delay of Publication of one to five years. All commencement dates, deadlines for application for commencement, for thesis format check, and for electronic upload of the thesis are published each year on the Graduate School website.

The program requires 60 semester hours of study with an M.A. All Ph.D. students must earn at least 60 graduate credit hours (including Dissertation Research) beyond the master’s degree or its equivalent, at least 48 of which must be earned on the Oxford campus. The required credit hours must be earned at the 600 level and above. A minimum of 30 credit hours in courses must be earned on the Oxford campus before the comprehensive examination and admission to candidacy. The student will register for Dissertation Research (ENG 850) for a minimum total of 16 credit hours of the 60 required.

4.1 Recommended Timeline for Ph.D. Students

Students who have completed the M.A. in English, whether at Miami or another institution, may count no more than 12 credit hours towards the Ph.D.. If the M.A. was completed elsewhere, consult with the Director of Graduate Studies about submitting a petition to transfer credits. The number of credits transferred will affect the timeline below. 

• Submission of a preliminary Course of Study to the Graduate Committee for initial review by the end of the second semester
• Submission of a Course of Study to the Graduate Committee for approval by the end of the third semester
• Completion of all course and foreign language/cognate requirements by no later than the end of the summer term following the second year
• Submission of a reading list and rationale by no later than the end of the summer term following the second year
• Comprehensive exam taken by the end of the fifth semester
• Dissertation prospectus submitted to the dissertation committee by the end of the sixth semester
• Dissertation defense in the fifth year

4.2 First-Year Advisor

Every beginning doctoral student will be assigned a First-Year Advisor. Along with the Director of Graduate Studies, this advisor will supervise the student’s selection of seminars for the first three semesters of doctoral study as part of the evolving process of determining a Course of Study. The First-Year Advisor will be invited to attend both of the permission-to-proceed meetings (see below) in the semester at which the student’s progress will be discussed.

4.3 Course of Study

A Ph.D. student must define a course of study in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, the First-Year Advisor, and the student’s Ph.D. Advisory Committee, which replaces the First-Year Advisor by the beginning of the fourth semester. In no more than two pages, the Course of Study statement must integrate doctoral coursework with plans for the comprehensive examination, the dissertation research, and teaching interests. A preliminary Course of Study should be submitted to the Graduate Committee for initial review no later than the end of the second semester. The Course of Study must be approved by the Graduate Committee by the end of the third semester.

For Ph.D. students in literature, the coursework in a Course of Study might observe period distinctions or, where appropriate, cut across those in order to achieve historical range. It might emphasize study of a single genre or aim to achieve a representative balance of genres in focusing on a particular movement at a particular time. It might focus entirely on a single national, ethnic, or cultural tradition or traverse such boundaries. The Course of Study must take into account the historical distribution requirement and other course requirements, and it may include more than one composition and rhetoric course.

For Ph.D. students in composition and rhetoric, the coursework comprised in a Course of Study might center on any one of the subfields in the discipline, such as composition theory, composition pedagogy, digital media studies, ethnic rhetoric, historical rhetoric, linguistics, literacy studies, technical and scientific communication, writing center study, women’s rhetoric, or any devised interdisciplinary field. It might focus on a single historical period or cut across them in order to achieve historical range. It might use any of a variety of research methodologies, including qualitative and quantitative research.

4.4 Permission to Proceed

1. All first-year doctoral students will be asked to keep copies of all written work produced for their seminars in English. Faculty teaching graduate seminars should retain copies of all written work produced by first-year students whose capacity to complete the doctoral program is, in their view, questionable, as well as any written comments on that work.
2. During the first week of the Spring term, all faculty who taught graduate courses that included first-year doctoral students during the preceding semester and each student’s First-Year Advisor will meet with the Director of Graduate Studies. They will discuss whether or not any of these students has produced written work that seems to call into question the student’s capacity to complete the doctoral program. Whatever is said at this meeting will be strictly confidential. If faculty agree that one or more students may have difficulty completing the program, the Director of Graduate Studies will notify them of that assessment in writing, providing specific information about problems identified by faculty. If deemed necessary, the Director will assist students in obtaining additional guidance from their First-Year Advisors concerning their current coursework.
3. After the end of the Spring Semester, the Director of Graduate Studies, each student’s First-Year Advisor, and all faculty who taught first-year doctoral students during the Spring Semester will meet to discuss the progress of first-year Ph.D. students. Whatever is said at this meeting will be strictly confidential. Unless explicitly informed to the contrary by the Director of Graduate Studies within five working days after this meeting, a student is automatically granted permission to proceed. If faculty agree that students may have difficulty completing the program, the Director of Graduate Studies will notify students in writing that they are under review, providing specific information about problems identified by faculty.
4. Any student designated for review will be invited to submit written work and/or address faculty concerns in writing to the Director of Graduate Studies within five working days of being informed of the review.
5. The Director of Graduate Studies will convene a meeting of available members of the graduate faculty and the Permission to Proceed committee, who will then meet for discussion as soon as possible after the student under review has submitted their work. This meeting must take place no later than 10 working days after final grades for the spring term are due. At this time, the Graduate Committee will render a decision either to permit the student to proceed, to deny such permission, or to defer permission for no longer than one academic year. It will render its decision as a whole, based solely on careful reading and discussion of the student’s work. The Director of Graduate Studies will provide specific information in writing about problems identified by faculty to students to whom permission to proceed is deferred or denied.
6. If permission to proceed is deferred, the Director of Graduate Studies will discuss the student’s status at the following semester’s Permission to Proceed meeting.
7. If permission to proceed with the program is denied, the student has the right of reconsideration. To be reconsidered, the student will submit to the Director of Graduate Studies, the available graduate faculty, and the department chair a written statement and/or other materials within five working days of being informed that permission to proceed has not been granted.
8. If reconsideration is unsuccessful, the student may appeal by filing a grievance in accordance with the Graduate School Grievance Procedure.

4.5 Residence

To fulfill the residence requirement the student must, during the period of doctoral studies, be registered for a full academic load in at least two consecutive semesters during the regular academic year.

4.6 Ph.D. with Graduate Assistantship

In addition to the requirements listed below for the Ph.D., ENG 731 (The Theory and Practice of Teaching College Composition) and ENG 606 (Teaching Practicum) are required for all Graduate Assistants teaching in the College Composition program. These courses count toward total credit hours but not toward core requirements.

4.7 Requirements for Ph.D. in Literature

38 hours, including

• ENG 603: Theories and Their Histories (4 hrs.)
• ENG 605: Issues in the Profession (2 hrs.)
• Eight four-hour seminars at the 600-level or above (32 hrs.)
  Of the eight, six seminars in literature are required, one is required in ENG 750, and one is an open elective in English.

Historical distribution requirements

The Ph.D. in literature presupposes a breadth of literary and cultural knowledge. Satisfaction of the 16-hour historical distribution requirement for the Miami M.A. (see the department’s Handbook for Graduate Students and Faculty, Section 2), comprising courses in four fields, is presupposed. Doctoral students admitted from a master’s program other than Miami’s may, with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, partially satisfy the historical distribution requirement with transferred courses, within the 12-credit limit established by the Graduate School. The historical distribution requirement for Ph.D. students in literature further requires (a) one course in English or American literature before 1700 and (b) one course in English or American literature between 1700 and 1900. Courses used to satisfy the historical distribution requirement for the Miami M.A. will also fulfill this requirement. In consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, a student may have the area of a master’s thesis count toward the distribution requirement for the doctorate.

Seminar requirements

Eight seminars at the 600-level or above in English are required during the first two years for the Ph.D. Of the eight, one is required in ENG 750 (see below) and one is an open elective in English. Cross-listed graduate courses with an ENG prefix are countable. Only when circumstances clearly require it, one and only one independent-  study course will be permitted to substitute for a seminar during the first two years of Ph.D. work, and only then by petition to the Director of Graduate Studies.

ENG 750 (Histories and Methodologies) will center on a specific area of contemporary theoretical work and critical practice, providing the opportunity for students to integrate its methods with their own areas of interest (for instance, historical, generic). It is required for PhD students in literature, who may take the course a second time when the topic changes. (Moreover, it is recommended for M.A. students who intend to pursue doctoral work or whose interests coincide with the topic of the course.)

Additional degree requirements

The doctoral student in literature is required, before sitting for the comprehensive examination, to show competence in two languages other than English; or to show competence in one language other than English and take two courses in a cognate field.

A candidate may fulfill the language requirement by:

• having passed within the last 10 years two undergraduate courses in the language at the 200 level or above;
• presenting a language, other than English, which is the candidate’s native language; or
• completing an intensive online summer graduate course in another language at another accredited university.

The cognate requirement entails taking two graduate courses in a cognate field relevant to the student’s interests (e.g., Educational Leadership, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, History).

4.8 Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric

34 hours, including:

• ENG 605: Issues in the Profession (2 hrs.)
• Eight seminars at the 600-level or above (32 hrs.)
  • Four foundation courses (16 hrs.)
    • ENG 732: Histories and Theories of Composition
    • ENG 733: Histories and Theories of Rhetoric
    • ENG 735: Empirical Research Methods in Rhetoric and Composition
    • ENG 737: Contemporary Theories of Rhetoric
  • Two additional seminars in composition and rhetoric (8 hrs.)
  • Two open electives in English (8 hrs.)

With the support of their First-Year Advisor, students may petition the Director of Graduate Studies to substitute a course outside of English for one of the two open electives in English. Only when circumstances clearly require it, one and only one independent-study course will be permitted to substitute for a seminar during the first two years of PhD work, and only then by petition to the Director of Graduate Studies.

Additional degree requirements

The doctoral student in composition and rhetoric is required, before sitting for the comprehensive examination, to show competence in one language other than English, or to take two courses in a cognate field.

A candidate may fulfill the language/cognate requirement by:

• having passed within the last 10 years two undergraduate courses in the language at the 200 level or above, whether at Miami or elsewhere;
• completing an intensive online summer graduate course in another language at another accredited university;
• presenting a language, other than English, which is the candidate’s native language;
• or taking two graduate courses in a cognate field relevant to the student’s interests (e.g., Educational Leadership, Philosophy, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, History, ETBD).

4.9 Ph.D. Advisory Committee

In consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, the student will form a Ph.D. Advisory Committee by the beginning of the fourth semester. The committee consists of four members of the department and a representative of the Graduate School. The chair of the committee and the Graduate School representative must hold Level A graduate faculty standing; other committee members must hold Level A or Level B standing. The chair should be a faculty member whose research interests coincide with the student’s area of concentration. In choosing the fourth departmental member of the committee, PhD students in literature should work with the Director of Graduate Studies, who will provide advice on faculty whose areas of interest and expertise may benefit the candidate's project. The Director of Graduate Studies will review the appropriateness of the chair and committee members before the committee is appointed. The required functions of the PhD Advisory Committee are to direct the student’s final course work, advise the student in preparing the description of an area of concentration, obtain approval of the description including the reading lists, and see that all requirements for taking the comprehensive examination have been completed. The required functions also include providing timely advice on professional preparation. When the committee feels that the student is prepared, it recommends to the Director of Graduate Studies that the student sit for the comprehensive examination, which it offers and evaluates. The five members of the PhD Advisory Committee are then recommended to the Dean of the Graduate School by the Chair of the Department as the Comprehensive Examination Committee.

4.10 The Comprehensive Examination

The student’s application to take the examination must be approved by the English Department Director of Graduate Studies and by the Dean of the Graduate School at least 10 business days prior to the examination. The four members of the PhD Advisory Committee from the department and one member from outside the department are appointed by the Dean as the Comprehensive Examination Committee on the recommendation of the Chair of the Department.

The student may apply for the examination and schedule it after having met the requirements of the minimum number of course hours for the degree, the specific course requirements, the languages or the language and cognate fields, and residence. When students sit for the exam, they must have no incompletes and must have a 3.0 graduate point average or better.

4.11 Reading List and Rationale for the Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric

The student outlines a specific scholarly conversation in the discipline to which they seek to contribute. To this end, the student works with the exam chair and committee members to compile a preliminary list of 50 works that will help them develop deep knowledge of the scholarly conversation they seek to enter (note: a book is a work; 3 articles equals one book). Along with the list of 50 works, the student also writes a brief rationale (1000 - 1500 words) in which they identify the specific scholarly conversation (or set of closely related conversations) to which they seek to contribute, explain how their work in graduate school so far has led them to want to pursue this focus, and discuss how they believe this list may be helpful to them in developing ideas for dissertation research. After the student’s exam committee approves this list, the student will submit it to the Director of Graduate Studies. This submission begins the three- month waiting period required by the Graduate Handbook, which states that lists must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies at least three months before the student intends to take the examination.

(Target timeline: By the end of the second year of coursework, the reading list should be signed by the PhD student’s advisory committee and submitted to the graduate office.)

After the list is approved by the exam committee and submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies, the chair and the student work together to develop a plan for reading and annotating works on the list. During the process of reading and annotating, the chair and the student discuss revisions to the list — adding and deleting works as necessary as the student reads further, develops more knowledge of their chosen scholarly conversation, and refines their understanding of how they seek to contribute to it. Towards the end of the summer term, the student works with the chair to develop and circulate their final revised reading list to the entire committee and the Director of Graduate Studies for their records and also schedules the exam conversation date at this time. This revised list should have a total of 50 works (with new additions in place of deletions). Along with the revised list, the student writes a cover letter (500 - 750 words) in which they discuss how their research interests have evolved during this reading and notetaking process and how their evolving interests and deepening knowledge has informed their revision of the list. The rationale should take care to highlight any new works added that the student sees as particularly important for their developing research agenda. 

After submitting the revised list, the student should have a scheduled exam date and confirm that date with the departmental Graduate Program Assistant.

(Target timeline for submission of the revised reading list: Summer/Fall of the third year.)

4.12 Comprehensive Examination Format and Procedure for the Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric

Written Examination

For the written portion of the exam, the student will develop a question they seek to answer in the exam essay, which will draw on at least half of the works on their list to write an analytical argument (note that a literature review is a form of argument that engages the scholarly conversation they seek to enter). This essay will answer the question the student developed in consultation with their chair and other committee members as needed. The essay is not just a summary of previous arguments, but rather a first step towards joining a scholarly conversation. The essay will range between 6,000 and 10,000 words in length. The essay must be sent to the committee at least one week before the scheduled exam conversation. Because writing is social, you are welcome to have conversations with peers about your drafts, and you will meet with your chair about your developing draft, though they may or may not provide written feedback. The student and dissertation chair should establish a timeline for writing the essay.

(Target timeline for the written exam: Fall of the third year.)

Exam Conversation

Part One: Discussion of essay and works on list

The exam conversation will last from 2 - 2 ½ hours. Part One of the exam (approximately 90 minutes) will focus on the essay. In addition to asking questions about the essay itself, committee members may also ask questions about works included on the revised list that were not discussed in the written essay. The goal of this conversation is to enable the student to practice answering questions about scholarly writing in their area of expertise as well as to enable the student to clarify and expand upon arguments they made in the essay. After Part One of the exam conversation is complete, the student will exit the room and the committee will discuss whether the written exam essay (and spoken conversation about it) has met the standard for a pass. A passing essay (and accompanying conversation) will demonstrate that the student is prepared to read, synthesize, and discuss scholarly literature in the field. If the essay and Part One conversation is determined not to be passing, the exam conversation will conclude and not proceed to Part Two.

Part Two: Presentation and Formative Feedback

After informing the candidate of the decision (followed by a short break), the exam conversation will proceed to Part Two — a presentation and conversation that is intended for the purpose of formative assessment and guidance. In Part Two, the student will first give a 10 minute presentation in which they address the following questions: What are your professional goals (as scholar, teacher, administrator, and/or writer?). How do you see your writing of the literature review helping you achieve those goals? How have your research interests evolved during this process? What are some preliminary ideas you have for your dissertation research? The presentation will be followed by questions and comments from the committee. The student will also have the opportunity to ask questions and seek feedback from the committee as well as look forward to the prospectus. 

4.13 Reading List and Area of Concentration for the Ph.D. in Literature

In consultation with the members of their PhD Advisory Committee, the student will draw up a description of an area of concentration, ten pages in length including a list of the 50 works on which the student will be examined during the oral portion of the comprehensive exam. This description is not a prospectus for a dissertation. Rather it should delimit a significant and extensive area in which work has been and can be done.

This document is to address most, if not all, of the following questions: What are the most important literary or cultural arguments in this area of concentration? What primary materials (genres, national traditions, and media, as well as authors and works) comprise the area in which the student has chosen to demonstrate competence? Which texts must the student know in order to work in the area?

The student responds to these questions in part by incorporating a reading list of 50 works into the area-of-concentration description. A “work” is defined as a book-length production or its equivalent; thus a group of plays, a collection of poems or essays, or three critical essays might be counted as a single work. These works must not duplicate the selected bibliography submitted with the Special Topic description (see below).

In conjunction with the description of the area of concentration but separately from it, the student submits a description of a special topic emerging from within this area, five pages in length including a bibliography of 20 works. This description should take the form of a rationale for the topic. The special topic represents the student’s specific interests or potential areas of research for the dissertation.

The special topic may be historical, generic, or thematic. A student who defines the area of concentration as twentieth-century American literature might create a special topic, for example, in American modernism, or the contemporary African American women’s novel, or in the literature of the Vietnam War, or contemporary American poetry.

4.14 Comprehensive Examination Format and Procedure for the Ph.D. in Literature

The Ph.D. comprehensive examination itself will consist of two sections, one written and one oral. The first section of the examination will be the written portion, in which the student will respond to one question, chosen from among at least four formulated by the Ph.D. Advisory Committee on the special topic designated by the student.

The student is expected to produce 15 to 25 pages in response, demonstrating a working knowledge of the pertinent texts but going beyond summary. While perhaps not as original as a published article or conference paper, the essay should nonetheless offer commentary, interpretation, and synthesis of the materials used. Conventional MLA citation should be employed: i.e., parenthetical references by author’s last name and page number. No bibliography is required; but if the student uses additional texts, the full citation should be provided parenthetically.

Students may not share a draft of the essay with others for review, editorial suggestions, or proofreading. If they incorporate ideas from conversation with others, these must be fully documented in the essay itself, just as references to printed sources would be.

The questions will be given to the student two weeks before the date of the oral portion of the examination, and the student’s essay will be returned to the committee chair one week before the date of the oral. In the week before the oral examination, the Ph.D. Advisory Committee will read and evaluate the written portion of the exam. The committee will consider the written exam as a single entity, but the decision to pass or fail will not be rendered until the oral section of the examination has been completed, and until the committee has discussed the essay with the student and has taken into account the student’s total performance.

The oral section of the examination will be conducted over a period of two and a half to three hours. Two hours must be devoted exclusively to the 50 works that were part of the student’s description of the area of concentration. The oral section of the examination is to be followed by a discussion of the essay. The chair of the examination committee, in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, may choose to reverse the order.

During the two-hour period, the student should be prepared to answer questions about the relationships among the works on the list and the area of concentration they represent. After a 10-minute break, the examination committee will meet with the student for another 30 to 50 minutes to discuss the essay on the special topic and to ask the student to elaborate on his/her response. Subsequently, the student will be excused, and the committee will meet to evaluate the entire examination and to vote a “pass” or “failure” for each section. The committee will share its decision with the student thereafter.

Students who fail either section or both sections of the comprehensive examination may be given a second opportunity to retake that section or both sections, and they may do so no earlier than the next semester or summer session. No third attempt is permitted.

4.15 Reading List Format and Submission Procedure

Once the Ph.D. Advisory Committee has approved both the reading list and rationale (C/R) or reading list, area of concentration, and the special topic (Literature), the documents must be submitted via Formstack. The list will be reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies to ensure that it meets the standard criteria, e.g., of form, length, and style. For timely approval, reading lists should be submitted by the first day of each month, except for June, July, and August. Lists must be submitted at least three months before the student intends to take the examination. Reading lists received by the first of each month will be distributed to the Graduate Committee at its regular monthly meeting for its information and consent. 

4.16 Ph.D. Advisory Committee Procedures for the Comprehensive Examination

1. For a Comprehensive Examination in Literature, the committee meets to approve the examination questions.
2. The chair of the committee distributes copies of the written exam and the student’s responses to all members of the committee, including the Graduate School representative, and to the Director of Graduate Studies.
3. The chair of the committee is responsible for scheduling a room in which the oral portion of the examination can be taken. The chair of the committee notifies the Director of Graduate Studies of the time and place of the examination.
4. At the conclusion of the oral examination, the committee votes each section of the examination a “pass” or “failure.” The Graduate School representative must be present and has a vote.
5. Graduate School regulations indicate that four out of five votes are necessary for one or both sections of the examination to be passed. Two dissenting votes by any members of the committee will constitute a failure on the examination.

4.17 Admission to Candidacy

A student may be admitted to candidacy after (1) completing the minimum course hours required for the degree; (2) meeting the language requirements or the primary language and cognate field requirements; (3) passing the comprehensive examination; (4) meeting the residence requirement; and (5) securing recommendation of the Department to the Dean of the Graduate School.

4.18 The Dissertation Committee

By the first semester of the third year or as soon as possible after the comprehensive exam, a student’s dissertation committee should be formed, and the student will complete the Dissertation Committee form. The dissertation committee may be, but need not be, substantially the same as the PhD Advisory Committee which is formed for the comprehensive exam. While the Ph.D. Advisory Committee consists of four departmental faculty, plus an outside member, Ph.D. dissertation committees should consist of three English Department faculty, plus the representative of the Graduate School. Ph.D. students do retain the option of having four departmental faculty members on the dissertation committee, although this is not necessary. The chair of the committee and the Graduate School representative must hold Level A graduate faculty standing; other committee members must hold Level A or Level B standing.

Dissertation committee members will be designated as director, first reader, and second reader. The chair of the committee is typically responsible for reading and responding to chapters of the dissertation as they are drafted. The precise timing of when chapters are read by committee members varies depending on the students' writing process and is best negotiated among the student, the chair(s) and the readers. Typically, readers read individual chapters after an initial draft has been reviewed by the chair and revised by the student.

In special circumstances, a dissertation committee might be co-chaired, in which case the two chairs will do the ongoing reading and the third person on the committee will assume the role of a reader. The Director of Graduate Studies will review the appropriateness of the director(s) and committee members before the appointment of the committee is made.

To ensure that students receive the best possible mentoring, no faculty member should direct more than seven dissertations or theses, be a reader for more than seven, or be part of more than 12 total active graduate student committees.

4.19 The Dissertation Prospectus for the Ph.D. in Literature

The dissertation prospectus provides evidence of the project’s potential and the candidate’s ability to complete it. It is meant to ensure that the candidate and the committee know quite clearly the expectations, organization, and limits of the topic and the research and methodology that will be involved in it.

More particularly, the prospectus should satisfy the following conditions:

1. It should show consciousness of the approach or the combination of approaches that the candidate is making to the subject.
2. It should indicate an understanding of the relation of the topic to other associated ones and the relation of the dissertation to previous studies in the subject area (the use of, departure from, and advancement beyond what has already been done).
3. It should make a full and exact statement of the thesis or purpose of the dissertation.
4. It should provide a chapter-by-chapter preview (in outline, précis, or other such form) of the content and should demonstrate the way the overall intention will be worked out through the sequence.
5. It should append a bibliography, virtually complete, of the primary and secondary works concerned with the subject area.
6. It should be of sufficient length to satisfy the five conditions listed above. The prospectus length should be 12-16 pages, not including bibliography. A committee signature form (available on the ENGGRADS Canvas site) is required to document the committee’s approval of the student’s prospectus.

Although the prospectus should not be tentative in manner, the project will be open to modifications. Unless, in the judgment of the committee, these modifications amount to an essential change in the thesis or purpose of the dissertation, revision of the prospectus will not be required, though the committee may ask for explanation of unexpected directions which a dissertation may take.

A recommended timeline is as follows:

1. The student is encouraged to submit to the committee a tentative plan for the dissertation any time before the comprehensive examination.
2. The student should secure approval of the prospectus for the dissertation by the next semester following the comprehensive examination.
3. After securing approval from the dissertation committee members, the student should submit a copy of the prospectus with the signature form to the Director of Graduate Studies. 

4.20 The Dissertation Prospectus for the Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric

The prospectus will take the form of a research proposal (3,000–5,000 words not including bibliography) and is intended to help clarify the candidate’s thinking about the dissertation and provide an opportunity for formative feedback from their committee. 

The proposal should include:

• A review of relevant literature in the scholarly area (the written exam should, ideally, be able to function as this portion of the prospectus with some revision)
• A statement of gaps or niches in the existing literature (areas where questions still exist, where additional research is needed, where things are not known, or where the candidate may disagree with or want to extend existing scholarship)
• A list of possible research questions that emerge from the existing literature and the gap or niche
• A discussion of research methods for answering the questions and possible conceptual framework for conducting and analyzing that research (for example, methods might be “surveys and interviews” while conceptual framework might be “activity theory”)
• A tentative outline of chapters (with an understanding that descriptions of data chapters will focus more on questions to be explored through the research rather than on articulating arguments)
• A tentative timeline for completing the research and writing the dissertation

(Target timeline for submitting the written prospectus: by March 1 of the third year.)

The candidate will provide the written prospectus to their committee and then set up a time for a group conversation that should last about an hour. That conversation should center around refining the dissertation plan as outlined in the prospectus, with special attention to the proposed methods and conceptual framework. The committee may sign off on the prospectus at the end of the conference or request additional revisions before signing. Ideally, the prospectus conference should take place early in the spring semester. 

(Target timeline for submitting the written prospectus: by April 1 of the third year.)

4.21 The Dissertation

The candidate for a doctorate is required to submit a dissertation incorporating original research. The dissertation should constitute a definite contribution to knowledge of sufficient importance to warrant its publication.

4.22 The Final Examination (Dissertation Defense)

The Final Examination will consist of the candidate’s defense of the dissertation. The student’s application to take the examination must be approved by the English Department Director of Graduate Studies and by the Dean of the Graduate School at least 10 business days prior to the examination. The examining committee is the student’s dissertation committee, with the dissertation director acting as chair. Members of the graduate faculty will be invited to attend.

For the candidate to be approved for the degree, three of the four members of the committee must approve the final examination.

4.23 Depositing the Dissertation

Depositing the thesis

In the early stages of preparing the final copy of the dissertation, the student must consult the Theses and Dissertations tab on the Graduate School website. The student must prepare the dissertation in accordance with these instructions. Students must make an appointment with a member of the Graduate School for a preliminary format check of a sample chapter before proceeding with the final version of the dissertation.

All students will submit their work electronically. A corrected, final pdf version of the dissertation must be uploaded electronically several weeks in advance of the degree conferral date. Requests may be made to the Graduate School for Delay of Publication of one to five years. All commencement dates, deadlines for application for commencement, for thesis format check, and for electronic upload of the thesis are published each year on the Graduate School website.

Doctoral students who have passed their comprehensive examinations may apply for dissertation fellowships sponsored by the Graduate School and the Department of English.

A Graduate School-funded dissertation fellowship is available to students entering their fourth, fifth, or sixth year of the doctoral program during the term of the award. This fellowship may be for one or two semesters of support. The Dissertation Fellowship Committee with the consent of the Dean of the Graduate School and the Graduate Committee may determine how the Graduate School-funded dissertation fellowship will be awarded if no applications from those eligible to apply are received.

The departmentally funded Sinclair dissertation fellowships are available to Ph.D. students entering their fourth, fifth, or sixth year. The Dissertation Fellowship Committee may choose to make the Sinclair fellowship awards for either one or two semesters. There will be a call for applications in early spring.

To be eligible to apply for a dissertation fellowship, a student must have successfully passed the comprehensive examination and written a prospectus approved by their dissertation committee by the announced application deadline. To ensure that dissertation committee members have ample time to read their prospectuses before signing their approval, students applying for fellowships must submit their prospectuses to their dissertation committee members by March 1, or the next business day thereafter. The deadline for submitting dissertation fellowship applications to the Dissertation Fellowship Committee is on April 1, or the next business day thereafter. 

Although students may apply in successive years, no student will be awarded more than one dissertation fellowship.

An application consists of a signed prospectus-approval cover sheet, a letter summarizing the project with a timeline for completing the dissertation, and a 12- to 16- page dissertation prospectus.

The criteria for awarding the fellowships are:

1. the quality of the project as expressed in the prospectus, and
2. the likelihood that the applicant will complete the dissertation during the term of the award.

Dissertation fellowship recipients will present their work-in-progress at a departmental symposium during the spring term of their awards.

6.1 Incomplete Grades

Because students in a graduate course are sometimes unable to complete the work by the end of the semester, they may wish to request the grade of Incomplete. The student should first discuss the matter with the professor, who may seek input from the Director of Graduate Studies. If a student’s request is granted, the student and the faculty member should convey the information to the Director of Graduate Studies.

Students and faculty should be aware that all graduate students at Miami University are required to maintain a 3.0 grade point average. Incompletes not removed after one academic semester will be converted to a permanent grade of "F" on the student's transcript. If a student’s GPA falls below 3.0, the student will receive a warning letter from the Graduate School, allowing them to register for one additional semester to raise their GPA to the required 3.0. Students whose GPA remains below 3.0 after completing an additional semester of coursework are subject to revocation of their assistantships and academic dismissal from the Graduate School.

6.2 Credit/No Credit Options

To receive “credit” in a credit/no credit course taken for graduate credit, a student must earn a grade of A or B. If a grade of A or B is not earned, a student will receive no credit.

English 605, 606, and 607 are offered as credit/no credit rather than for a letter grade. Students must take all other classroom work offered by the Department of English for letter grades.

MA and PhD students may take advanced language instruction courses in foreign language departments on a credit/no credit basis.

Upon the request of a graduate student in English to the Director of Graduate Studies, the Department may request that another department permit an English student to register for credit/no credit. Ph.D. students who elect to take cognate courses may make use of this option.

6.3 Independent Study (“Special Problems”)

An Independent Study or “Special Problems” course is defined as one in which the content must be of a special nature: one that is outside the subject matter of any other course offered by the department, at least during the academic year in which the special project is proposed. The course is research-motivated and research-oriented: the investigation of a particular problem culminating in an essay of the kind found in journals. The following regulations for students and instructors apply:

1. A student may register for Special Problems for 1-6 credit hours, for no more than a total of 6 toward any one degree and for no more than one such course each semester. For PhD students, only when circumstances clearly require it, one and only one independent-studies course will be permitted to substitute for a seminar, and only by petition to the Director of Graduate Studies.
2. Forms for the proposal are available from the Director of Graduate Studies. On this form, a student will provide the rationale for the course, a bibliography of the readings, and a general description of the proposed writing.
3. Students must submit their proposals to their independent-study instructor by the last day of the fourteenth week of the preceding semester.
4. An instructor may sponsor no more than three students during the school year.

7.1 English 731: The Theory and Practice of Teaching College Composition

All new Graduate Assistants who teach composition must enroll in English 731, The Theory and Practice of Teaching College Composition (3 hours).

The course examines and evaluates current methods and strategies for teaching college writing. It emphasizes the classroom application of composition theory and research. Major topics include the composing process, invention, argumentation, the sentence and the paragraph, testing and evaluation, recent research in composition, reading and writing, composition and literature, and the psychology of composing.

We equip our apprentice teachers for the task they will take on as teachers, and we are proud to be one of a small number of universities that provide such instruction in composition theory before new teachers enter the classroom. Only students who have passed 731 may teach in our program.

7.2 Teaching Appointments

Graduate appointees in the M.A and M.F.A. programs teach two courses in their first year, and three in their second year. Ph.D. students teach three courses each year, either 1-2 or 2-1.

As the graduate appointee is both a student working toward a degree and a teacher instructing lower-division students, it is important that the conditions under which an appointment is made are clearly delineated so that the department may satisfy, in turn, its responsibilities to undergraduate students in its composition, creative writing, literature, and professional writing courses and to graduate students who take up the role of college English teachers-in-training.

As part-time members of the teaching staff of the department, graduate appointees are subject to all the regulations of the department and the University in their teaching function, published in the Miami University Policy Library. As a student of the University, the graduate appointee is bound to abide by the Code of Student Conduct, administered by the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution. The Code prescribes disciplinary action (including suspension and dismissal from the University) for a variety of offenses. Students should be advised that such disciplinary action might be the basis for non-renewal of a graduate award.

Moreover, all students should be aware that a student arrested for one of the crimes of violence enumerated by the Ohio Revised Code (Appendix A of the Code of Student Conduct) is subject to immediate suspension from the University; a student convicted of one of the 34 enumerated violent offenses is subject to automatic dismissal from the University.

All students should recognize that graduate awards are made on a year-by-year basis. In accordance with Graduate School policy, they are renewed on the recommendation of the Chair, who will consult with the Directors of Graduate Studies and College Composition before authorizing reappointments. Decisions not to reappoint may be appealed to the Graduate Committee, which has approved the following with respect to renewal and withdrawal of graduate teaching appointments:

1. Appointees participate in ENG 731 (see above); in the teaching workshops, ENG 606 and/or 607; in mentoring, as described below; and in their teaching function are under the general supervision of the Director of College Composition. All graduate appointees are, of course, subject to the supervision of the Chair of the department. The graduate appointee must consistently hold scheduled class meetings, assign at least the minimum number of essays, grade them fairly and with helpful comments, and return them to the students, usually within a week. All graduate appointees should also post and maintain reasonable office hours and be available for individual conferences.
2. Although M.A. and M.F.A. students may be supported through the second year of study, and Ph.D. students through their fifth year of study beyond the master’s degrees, all appointments are made for one year only. Graduate Assistants will be denied reappointment, and in unusual circumstances will be subject to termination of a current appointment, for failing to (a) maintain a satisfactory student record; (b) comply with the Code of Student Conduct; (c) observe good teaching practices as outlined in this handbook, the Graduate School’s Handbook for Graduate Students and Faculty, and other publications; or (d) meet the basic responsibilities of their teaching function—i.e., meeting classes, assigning an appropriate amount of writing, returning work to students promptly, completing required teaching workshops, and mentoring.
3. Miami University requires that student evaluations of instructors be administered in all classes.

7.3 GA/TA Review Procedure

1. In accordance with Graduate School policy, the Chair “will inform the student in writing” if at any time the Director of Composition, or of Graduate Studies, or another teaching supervisor finds “deficiencies in the award holder’s performance. The award holder will be given a reasonable period of time,” ordinarily no more than a semester, “to demonstrate that the problem or deficiency has been overcome. Termination will not normally occur without documented efforts to bring about improvement through counseling,” which might include more intensive mentoring, further discussion of classroom responsibilities, and the development of a Teaching Improvement Plan. As Graduate School policy further states, however, “in some instances an individual’s action may be so egregious that immediate termination is necessary. Notice of termination with reasons will be given by the chair of the academic department, or for those students assigned to other units, by the head of that unit, and will be accompanied by the opportunity for a hearing with the Dean of the Graduate School” (“Recipient Guidelines,” Graduate School Handbook 3.1).
2. The Directors of Composition and Graduate Studies will review each GA’s teaching (including classroom observations, mentoring reports, student evaluations, and other measures of teaching effectiveness as well as their adherence to the university’s Statement of Good Teaching Practices) and academic performance at the conclusion of the fall semester.
3. They will then meet to exchange any information relevant to the student’s academic and teaching performance. Any identifiable areas of concern, such as failure to adhere to the Statement of Essential Teaching Practices, will be shared in writing with both the Chair and the student once this meeting has been conducted.
4. The Directors of Composition and Graduate Studies will meet again to review each GA’s teaching (including classroom observations, mentoring reports, student evaluations, and other measures of teaching effectiveness as well as their adherence to the Statement of Essential Teaching Practices) and academic performance at the conclusion of the spring semester.
5. The Directors will schedule a meeting each spring, before any reappointments are authorized, to inform the Chair of the findings of their review.

7.4 Mentoring

The English department graduate programs encourage cooperation and collaboration between faculty and graduate students. Mentoring occurs in multiple contexts.

All new Graduate Assistants are mentored through the first year of teaching by the Director and Assistant Directors of Composition.

All graduate students are advised during their two years of coursework by the Director of Graduate Studies, as well as by other faculty advisors/mentors listed below:

• Students establish faculty committees to direct their MA/MFA/PhD thesis, examination, or dissertation work by no later than the first semester of their second year.
• Under the supervision of the director of the MFA program, students in the first semester of their second year enroll in a section of ENG 607 to prepare for teaching English 226 in the next semester (see 8.1 below).
• Under the supervision of the director(s) of the literature program, doctoral students in literature in their second year or beyond enroll in a section of ENG 607 to prepare for teaching a 100- or 200-level MIami Plan literature course (see 8.2 below).
• Under the supervision of the director of the Rhetoric and Writing program, doctoral students in composition and rhetoric have the opportunity to teach courses in the undergraduate Professional Writing major, and enroll in a section of ENG 607 during the semester of their assignment.
• Doctoral students have an assigned First-Year Advisor in addition to the DGS, who will mentor them through their first three semesters and then be replaced by the student's Examination and later Dissertation Committee chair and members.

In addition to these opportunities for mentoring, a faculty member or a student may request that a student be mentored. Such a request begins by contacting the Director of Graduate Studies, who will match a faculty member with the student, based on their mutual fields of interest. This is especially recommended for graduate students who do not hold an assistantship or have one outside the department of English; for international students; and for some second-year graduate students on teaching assistantships.

In addition to first-year composition courses, graduate student instructors in good standing are provided with the opportunity to teach other courses within their fields. Graduate students may also apply for a number of other graduate assistantships, some administrative or research in nature and some combining such responsibilities with teaching, which are awarded on a competitive basis to students in good standing in the graduate program.

Graduate students in all programs are encouraged to apply for a variety of supplemental professional positions, including assessment activities and editorial boards of department publications, and to serve on appropriate department committees.

8.1 Additional Teaching Opportunities

Third-year students in the Ph.D. in Literature program may apply to the Literature Apprenticeship Program (see below); after completing it, they may apply to teach a 100- or 200-level literature survey as part of their course load. Doctoral students in Composition/Rhetoric may apply to teach writing courses other than first-year composition. Ph.D. students are encouraged to incorporate their teaching interests and plans into their required Course of Study. Teaching Associates should state their course number preference(s) on the Teaching Schedule Preferences forms distributed each semester.

Graduate student instructors in the Department of English also have had the opportunity to teach introductory courses in interdisciplinary programs such as American Studies, Black World Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Second-year Graduate Assistants in the M.F.A. program teach ENG 226, the introductory undergraduate creative writing course, upon completion of a teaching practicum. Offered during the first semester of their second year, it will prepare them to teach their own section of 226 sometime during their final semester.

8.2 Literature Apprenticeship Program

Doctoral students wishing to teach 100- or 200-level literature courses must first complete a required one-semester apprenticeship with a tenure-track or tenured professor before teaching a literature survey course. The apprenticeship may be completed any time before the apprentice first teaches his or her own course. Apprenticeships are designed to assure the quality of instruction in 100- and 200-level courses, to give graduate students practical training in the teaching of literature surveys, and to provide graduate students with a faculty contact who can write a detailed letter in support of their teaching. In addition to being an apprentice for the course, the graduate student may also serve as a grader, marking and assessing up to 50% of the written material for the course.

The mentor-apprentice relationship will be based on the following expectations:

The student apprentice will:

• Enroll in the appropriate section of ENG 607.
• Attend the course throughout the semester.
• Develop their own syllabus in consultation with the mentor.
• Develop a set of course materials and assignments in consultation with the mentor.
• Lead class or a portion of class on several occasions and receive feedback from mentor.
• Meet at least bi-monthly with the mentor for conversations about teaching strategies, pedagogical philosophy, the course, etc.

The faculty mentor will:

• Be available to consult regularly with the apprentice.
• Offer the apprentice opportunities to lead class.
• Provide guidance for and constructive criticism of the apprentice’s original syllabus and course material.
• Oversee the assessment of undergraduates and ensure that the apprentice’s assessment is fair, sensitive, and effective.
• Make two visits to the apprentice’s class during his or her initial teaching semester.
• Evaluate the apprentice’s performance and offer constructive feedback.

8.3 Other Assistantship Opportunities

Most calls for applications are posted during second semester for positions beginning the following academic year.

Assistant Directors of College Composition

The assistant directors co-teach, with the Director of College Composition, ENG 731, 606 and 607. They design and lead workshops for new composition instructors each semester, work with the teacher/mentor program, assist in the ongoing development of first-year composition curricula, and perform other administrative duties related to the composition program; open to advanced Ph.D. students.

Assistant Directors of the Howe Center for Writing Excellence (HCWE) and the Howe Writing Center (HWC)

The HCWE assistant directors work with faculty in a variety of departments to increase the quantity and quality of writing in their classes and with undergraduate and graduate students who strive to improve their writing. Through seminars, consultations, and other activities that foster a culture of writing, the Center offers a writing-across-the-curriculum resource for the entire university.

The HWC assistant directors work with undergraduate and graduate writing consultants. Responsibilities may include overseeing consultant partnerships, conducting research on consultations, and running consultant seminars.

The positions are half-time, 20 hours per week, with administrative and research responsibilities; teaching duties are negotiable. They are open to qualified students in all university graduate programs.

Research Graduate Assistantships

On occasion, English Department faculty engaged in special projects within the department, the college, or the university as a whole may receive support for a graduate student assistant. Such positions may be administrative, creative, research, or technical in nature, and are usually appointments for one academic year.

Other University Assistantships

Information about assistantships in other departments and university organizations is available from the graduate programs office and from Academic Personnel.

8.4 Assessment, Editing, Publishing

Graduate students in the English Department are encouraged to participate in a variety of professional activities sponsored by or affiliated with the department. Many are compensated by salary or by professional expense accounts, and some are volunteer positions; all provide valuable extracurricular experience.

Portfolio Program

The Miami University Portfolio Writing Program enables newly admitted undergraduate students to submit a portfolio of their writing for evaluation for first-year composition course credit. Graduate students and faculty score the portfolio submissions during rating sessions early each summer. One doctoral student serves as the Graduate Director, with other graduate students serving as coordinating committee members, working with the Faculty Program Director to establish assessment parameters, coordinate the rating sessions, and conduct training for portfolio raters. Graduate students also serve as editor and co-editors of the annual Best of Miami University’s Portfolios book.

Composition Program Publications

The composition program publishes two books which are required texts in first-year composition classes: Rhethawks, an annual collection of original Miami student writing, and the English 111 Reader, a collection of previously published essays and other work appropriate to the composition program theme. Graduate students work with the Director of Composition as Editor, Assistant Editor, and Editorial Board members to select content and manage production of these publications and the accompanying Teacher’s Guide for composition instructors.

Oxford Magazine

Oxford Magazine is a web-based literary magazine edited and published annually by graduate students in the Department of English. Students serve as managing editor, genre editors, readers, interviewers, and webmaster for each issue. Fiction, poetry and nonfiction submissions are accepted from published and unpublished writers September through January. The staff of Oxford Magazine also organizes and sponsors readings by creative writing graduate students and faculty.

8.5 University Policy Regarding G.A.s and T.A.s

1. Teaching Associates must carry a minimum of 9 hours of academic work per semester and ordinarily teach 9 to 12 credit hours per academic year.
2. Graduate Assistants must carry a minimum of 9 hours of academic work and a maximum of 15 hours per semester and ordinarily perform teaching or other duties occupying 18-20 hours per week each semester. Students may petition the Graduate School, with the DGS’s support, to enroll in additional hours.
3. Satisfactory progress towards the degree must be maintained in order to assure continuance as an assistant or associate. Satisfactory progress means carrying no fewer than 9 graduate credit hours per semester while a graduate appointee, maintaining a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0, and fulfilling academic requirements for the degree as determined by the department or program. Failure to achieve such progress, as well as the failure to perform assigned duties satisfactorily, may result in the revocation of the award.
4. Graduate appointees must be supervised by senior faculty.
5. Graduate appointees must be familiar with and comply with University regulations about instruction.
6. Graduate appointees may not take on additional university employment during the course of their assistantship. In special instances, graduate assistants may work up to a maximum of seven additional hours per week in the Howe Writing Center or for the College Composition program. These appointments require a petition to the Dean of the Graduate School. The petition typically comes from the program to the DGS of English and then goes to the Graduate School at the beginning of each semester.

The Department of English supports its graduate students in good standing by helping to fund professional and scholarly endeavors with the Graduate Education Enrichment Fund, described below. When appropriate, eligible students are strongly encouraged to seek funds from other Miami University sources designed to support specific activities such as conference participation and thesis/dissertation research. Information about many such sources is included in this section. The department sponsors a Canvas site called Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students in English that focuses on external sources of funding, including fellowships, residencies, and grants.  The Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) also maintains an extensive list of internal and external funding sources and application dates on its website.

9.1 The Graduate Education Enrichment Fund (GEEF)

The Graduate Education Enrichment Fund (GEEF) is managed by a department administrator. Funds are used, primarily, in three ways: first, to support Ph.D. students who must travel to job interviews; second, to support travel and other expenses directly connected to Ph.D. dissertation research; third, to support graduate students who travel to present papers at professional conferences. Requests for GEEF support from graduate students whose needs do not conform to the preceding priorities will be considered on the bases of merit and available funds. The maximum GEEF funding for any graduate student during one academic year has been set in recent years at $500.

Professional Travel

It is the policy of the English Department to encourage its graduate students to attend and to present papers at professional meetings. Consequently Graduate Education Enrichment Funds will be used to help defray the cost of travel to professional meetings. Priority will be given to activities in the following order: (1) presentation of a paper at a national conference; (2) presentation of a paper at a regional conference; (3) participation on a panel as chair or speaker; (4) attendance at a conference.

Graduate students will be asked to make known via Formstack their interview, research, and conference plans, even if tentative, to the GEEF administrator. When graduate students apply for travel fund reimbursement from GEEF, requests from students who have provided advance notification (i.e., by the due date) will be favored.

To receive GEEF support, a student must meet the following requirements:

• Be a graduate student in good standing in the English Department: enrolled in courses or credit hours leading to the degree; have current and active affiliation with the English Department or its affiliates on the Miami campuses as a GA, Dissertation Fellow, or instructor under contract; making significant documented progress toward degree completion. PhD students who meet none of these criteria, and are more than seven years beyond matriculation in the program will not be funded. [Job searches that meet the GEEF funding criteria (described below) are not subject to this limitation.]
• Supply relevant budget information about expenses, and a brief rationale to the GEEF administrator, so that he/she can decide whether and to what extent the proposal can be funded.
• Present required documentation such as original receipts to the GEEF administrator for reimbursement.

Job Searches

Because job placement of Ph.D. students seeking college teaching positions is the first priority of the department’s policies on GEEF support, the GEEF administrator will support travel by job candidates to interviews at individual colleges and universities or at conferences (e.g., MLA). Ph.D. student requests for funds to defray the costs of sending job applications will also be considered.

Research Support

The English Department encourages and through GEEF provides limited support of graduate students’ on- and off-campus research. As noted below, the Graduate School also provides funds for thesis and dissertation research expenses, and the Office of Research and Innovation provides information on external and internal grants and research opportunities for specific projects. Graduate students should optimize their research funding by seeking support for research activities from these venues before, or in addition to, seeking funds from GEEF.

The GEEF administrator will consider requests for funds applicable to theses and dissertations, such as copying original documents, and the purchase of material) not held by our library (if purchased, these materials will be placed in the library collection after the graduate student has completed the research project). GEEF will not cover the cost of copying chapters or proposals. Graduate students may also request funding when study of texts and manuscripts in or outside the US is directly related to the completion of an MA/MFA thesis, or PhD dissertation.

9.2 English Department Doctoral Program Job Interview Travel Grants

The Department of English will contribute funding for transportation to MLA for job interviews. Requests for travel funding to other venues for job interviews will also be considered on a case-by-case basis.

• Applicants must have at least one job interview at MLA. [Travel Grants will not be provided for those who wish just to attend the conference.]
• Applicants must be doctoral program students or doctoral program graduates and have current, active affiliation with the English Department or its affiliates on the Miami campuses as a GA, Dissertation Fellow, or instructor under contract.
• Funding is specifically for transportation expenses. (GEEF and other sources may be used for related expenses as allowed by those sources, e.g., lodging, meals.)
• Grant recipients must obtain prior approval from the graduate programs office before making their transportation arrangements.

9.3 Graduate School/Graduate Student Association Travel Fund

The Graduate School Association Travel Fund will match funding provided by the student’s department up to $150 for paper, poster, or panel presentation at conferences. Applicants may receive one or two awards per fiscal year. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and reviewed once a month, and must be submitted 30 days prior to travel to be considered for funding. If an application is not funded, the applicant may try again later and submit another application for a different conference or event. Applicants must show proof of conference participation and of department funding. Funds provide reimbursement for registration, lodging, and travel expenses. The application form is available online.

9.4 Graduate Student Achievement Awards

The Graduate School provides awards of up to $300 for “significant achievement in research and creative activity by graduate students.” The awards are made on a competitive basis to recognize achievement external to the university, such as presentation of a paper at a regional or national conference with a formal review process. Application deadlines are early November and early March. Eligibility and submission guidelines and an application form are available from the department graduate office or the Graduate School.

9.5 Graduate School Thesis and Dissertation Research Support

The Graduate School funds expenses associated with research for a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation; maximum awards are $300 for MA students and $600 for Ph.D. students. There is no application form, but students should submit a brief description of the project, an explanation of why the funds are necessary, and a tentative budget. Students must also submit a letter of support from their advisor. Requests should be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School by early November and early April.

Specific deadline dates and more information are available from the Graduate School.

9.6 Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE)

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) provides small grants up to $300 for graduate award-holders to develop individual teaching skills and to supplement departmental support for seminars on teaching. Grants are intended to fund modest projects designed to increase graduate student teaching effectiveness and their students’ learning. Examples include travel support for first-time attendance at a teaching conference; purchase of new experimental software for a course or lab; or bringing in an off-campus expert to conduct a pedagogy seminar. There is a rolling deadline for submitting proposals.

9.7 Student-Faculty Discourse Fund

This fund (formerly known as the Popcorn Fund) provides opportunities for instructors and undergraduates to meet informally in out-of-class settings. Reimbursement is at the rate of $4.00 per student for up to 25 students, or the total cost involved, whichever is less. Each instructor may be reimbursed up to $200 per fiscal year. Applications must be submitted prior to the event for consideration.

10.1 Student Representation on Department Committees

The Department of English has student representation on the Committee on College Composition (one MA or MFA student and one doctoral student) and its various curriculum subcommittees and on the Portfolio Committee. Two doctoral program students serve as representatives on the Graduate Committee, and two graduate students serve as representatives to department meetings. Graduate students are elected to the committees by their fellow students at the beginning of the fall semester. Graduate students may also serve on various departmental ad hoc committees.

10.2 Graduate Committee

The Graduate Committee is composed of members of the graduate faculty of the department appointed by the Chair. The committee is chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies in the department. Two doctoral students in English are voting members of the committee, though they do not participate in the considerations of petitions of individual students.

The function of the committee is to create, evaluate, and implement policy for the graduate programs in English. It determines departmental degree requirements and other matters related to the graduate program as a whole; it receives reports concerning the program and progress of individual students; it hears the petitions of individual students, including appeals concerning master’s and doctoral examinations; it reviews applications for readmission; it approves doctoral student Course of Study proposals; and it evaluates Ph.D. students at the end of their first year, allowing or denying permission to proceed in the program.

The committee reports to the graduate faculty of the department by publication of its agenda and minutes and, when necessary, at departmental meetings. Meetings are open to all members of the graduate faculty and to graduate students.

Members of the graduate faculty also make up several subcommittees: the Admissions Committee reviews all graduate applications and awards graduate assistantships, teaching associateships, and dissertation scholarships; the Awards Committee administers the Carolyn Houtchens Award, the Spiro Peterson Award, and departmental awards of teaching excellence, and the Dissertation Fellowship Committee reviews applications for and awards the Dissertation Fellowships.

10.3 Miami English Graduate and Adjunct Association (MEGAA)

The Miami English Graduate and Adjunct Association is an official University organization constituted of all graduate students currently enrolled in M.A., M.F.A., and the Ph.D. programs in the Department of English. MEGAA elects members to serve on departmental committees, organizes special guest lectures, consults on graduate offerings, assists with campus visit arrangements for prospective and newly admitted graduate students, and sponsors an annual Graduate Student Symposium as well as social events. The organization has no specific charge but rather serves to articulate the intellectual and political views and social concerns of all graduate students to the department. The organization runs a listserv for discussion and announcements.

11.1 Time Limits for M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees

According to Graduate School regulations, M.A., M.F.A., and M.A.T. students must complete the required coursework and earn the master’s degree within five years after their first course registration as a graduate student.

Ph.D. students must pass the comprehensive examination within seven years after completing their first course in the doctoral program. Upon passing the comprehensive examination, the student is formally admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree. The student must complete the dissertation and sit for the dissertation defense within five years of admission to candidacy.

Time limits apply to both full-time and part-time degree-seeking students.

11.2 Graduation Procedures

The Graduate School requires that all theses, internship reports, research project reports, dissertations, degree examination results, grade changes, etc., be deposited 10 business days prior to commencement. Extensions past this date may be granted upon petition to the Graduate Council.

All degree candidates must apply for graduation and pay the fee even if they do not participate in the Commencement ceremony. Candidates should consult the Commencement Office website for application deadlines.

If graduation requirements are not met, the University will either refund the fee or carry it forward as a credit to be used whenever the student does graduate. The student must notify the Commencement Office to update the application and will have to pay a reapplication fee.

11.3  Job Placement

A committee on graduate job placement and other members of the English Department will counsel job seekers on the search process, including preparation of application letters, curriculum vitae, and other materials. A good source of help will be the student’s thesis or dissertation advisor. The department and its Graduate Committee will support their efforts in every practicable way. The Department subscribes to the MLA Job Information List and The Chronicle of Higher Education (both on-line and print versions). Job announcements are posted regularly on department bulletin boards and are sent by email to students on the job market.

Dissertation directors and committee members will help students prepare job materials. The Director of Graduate Studies will schedule mock interviews and practice research and/or teaching presentations. Students planning to do an academic job search should prepare a curriculum vitae, application letter, teaching portfolio (teaching philosophy, sample syllabi and assignments; evidence of teaching effectiveness), a dissertation abstract, and a writing sample (a polished chapter or two from the dissertation). Students should also secure three to six letters of recommendation, including one from the dissertation director and from faculty able to testify to teaching effectiveness and otherwise to support candidacy for professional employment.

Students planning to seek a teaching position should establish a credential file. The Office of Career Services has contracted with Interfolio, a secure online service, to maintain confidential credential files for students on the job market. Students will establish Interfolio accounts for their credential files to include their confidential letters of recommendation and curriculum vitae, as well as optional material such as writing samples, teaching evaluations, and transcripts. Information and instructions for establishing accounts is available from the Director of Graduate Studies or from the Office of Career Services.

Students should make sure to keep their credential files up to date as necessary.