Students: Graduate Information

Advising: Coursework

Required Courses | Register for Courses | Independent Studies | Grading and Graduate Reports | Sample Syllabi

Courses at the 600-level are open to both undergraduates and graduate students; Ph.D. students do not, however, receive credit toward the degree for 600-level courses (except for those taken in other departments).

With the exception of courses in language, the 700-level courses are normally open only to graduate students in the M.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. programs; instructors may admit especially talented or well-prepared undergraduates. Graduate students in other departments may enroll if space is available.

There are no limits to the number of 700-level courses a student may take; Ph.D. students are, however, expected to concentrate their course work in seminars (800-level and above).

While 700-level courses are not a prerequisite for 800-level seminars, M.A. students who have had no undergraduate work in a given field are encouraged to take the 700-level course before enrolling in an 800-level seminar in that field to ensure that they are sufficiently prepared.

The 700-level courses are foundational courses of no more than 15 students that introduce students to advanced graduate study in the area. Through the study of a broad and varied selection of texts, students are given a sense of the scope of the field, the history and current state of scholarly and critical activity in it, and a chance to become acquainted with research and reference materials related to it. These courses are not forced marches through a “canon” but provide opportunities to explore the field and consider the ways in which the conception of it and of “fields” generally is changing, especially with respect to the relations between canonical and non-canonical texts. Course requirements include writing and research assignments and participation in discussion, all of which anticipate, on a smaller scale, the requirements that students will be expected to fulfill in seminars.

The 800-level courses, which are open to M.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. students, are seminars limited to a maximum of ten students. Whereas the 700-level courses offer a broad introduction, 800-level seminars focus on a particular aspect of a field (a critical problem, special author, or literary form, for example). Seminar requirements ordinarily include one long paper (perhaps 15 to 20 pages) or several short ones, oral reports on assigned topics or the leading of class discussion, and active participation in discussion.

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Required Courses

Registering for Courses

Before the start of registration, detailed course descriptions for the following quarter are posted on the Graduate Program Web site and hard copies placed in binders in Denney 421 and in the Graduate Lounge. The Web site and binders also contain individual course numbers for independent study (693, 993), reading hours (696, 996), and dissertation/thesis hours (998, 999). Note: while 903 (Teaching Practicum for Ph.D. students) course numbers are also available in these binders and on the Web site, students must obtain permission, in the form of a completed Course Enrollment Permission Form (available in Denney 425), from the specific instructor with whom they will be working.

Most funded, full-time students will need to schedule a minimum of 9 hours, but fellowship students need 15 hours. Students writing dissertations need 12 hours. In summer quarter, full-time students need 7 hours. GTAs who are not properly registered will not be able to retain their appointments.

Students must register via the Web. Each quarter, students will receive an individualized email from the registrar with the date and time of their specific registration window. Once their window has opened, students should go to http://www.osu.edu/currentstudents/ and follow the link for "Register for Classes". To gain access to the site, students will need to have their OSU internet username and password. Note: incoming students who do not have an OSU internet username and password must first visit the Office of Information Technology on the Web at http://www.oit.osu.edu/index.php and click on “Activate OSU Internet Username/Change Password.” Follow the prompts and call (614) 688-HELP with any problems.

Note: Students who register late will be charged the following fees by the Registrar: $100 after the 2nd day of classes and $500 after the 2nd Friday of the quarter. These fees cannot be waived under any circumstances or for any reason, no matter how compelling.

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Independent Studies

English 693 and 993 are independent study courses. M.A. and M.F.A. students may apply a maximum of 5 hours of 693 toward their required course work. Ordinarily, no more than 20 hours of 993 may be counted as Ph.D. course work although a student may petition the Graduate Program & Policy Committee for permission to take up to an additional 10 hours of 993 for such credit.

Normally, an independent studies course is initiated by the student, and the final format is worked out between the student and the instructor. The course should have some written component. The student then files a description of the independent study using the form available in the Graduate Studies Office. The content of such a course varies, but it must not duplicate material covered in regular Department offerings. Independent studies should not be regarded as modes of easing students’ scheduling problems but as ways of fulfilling genuine needs not otherwise met by our courses.

M.A. and M.F.A. students may not use English 693 to meet any of the requirements of coverage in fields and periods. Credit hours of 693 or 993 taken for Graduate Workshops in English Studies (see page 44) also do not fill course requirements. There is no limit to the number of workshop hours students may take.

Independent Study Description Form (.pdf version)
Independent Study Description Form (.doc version)

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Grading and Graduate Reports

Grading and Incompletes

Students in most courses receive a letter grade (A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.); pluses and minuses are recorded and are used in calculating Grade Point Averages. In 693, 696, 903, 993, 996, 997, 998, and 999, students are graded Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory (S/U). The Graduate School does not permit the awarding of an advanced degree to anyone whose overall G.P.A. is lower than a 3.0 (i.e., B). The Department may request that a student who receives a grade below C in a required course repeat that course. Usually students whose grades are below the Graduate School’s minimum requirements are placed on probation. If the grades do not improve, the student is dismissed from the program.

The grade of I (for Incomplete) is given only for legitimate reasons necessitating a delay in the completion of course requirements. A student is responsible for consulting with the instructor regarding the nature of the required assignment and the deadline by which it must be submitted in order to receive a passing grade; this deadline should be no later than the 5th week of the quarter after which the course was taken. Students who accumulate more than a minimal number of Incompletes in their records may lose their teaching associateships.

Graduate Reports

In every course, including independent study, each student’s performance will be evaluated in writing by the instructor. Graduate reports are due by the first day of the quarter after the course was offered. Instructors will not receive their student course evaluations until after they have submitted their graduate reports to the Graduate Studies Office. Students may read these reports (which are held in the student’s confidential file) and make copies of them. Advisers may also read these reports, and the Graduate Director reviews them to monitor a student’s progress in the program. The Graduate Admissions Committee uses graduate reports to make decisions about a student’s admission to the Ph.D. program. Other faculty may read the reports with the permission of the student; a waiver form for this purpose is available in the Graduate Studies Office. The Chair of the Comprehensive Examination submits a graduate report on the M.A. examination, as does the Chair of a student’s Candidacy Examination Committee.

Sample Graduate Course Syllabi

Note: the following syllabi link to each professor's respective informational Web site.

English 727: Introduction to 16th Century Literature - Richard Dutton
English 746: Introduction to Graduation Study in Literature of the Romantic Period - Marlene Longenecker
English 820: Shakespeare - Richard Dutton
English 840: Radical Romanticism and the Early English Novel - Marlene Longenecker
English 840C: English Romantic Literature - Les Tannenbaum
English 863: Victorian Modernism - Sebastian Knowles
English 864: Literatures of Oceania - Chadwick Allen
English 871(A): Seminar in the Forms of Literature: Fiction - Erin McGraw
English 871(B): Seminar in the Forms of Literature: Memoir - Lee Martin
English 876: Feminist Theory and the Problem of Aesthetics - Marlene Longenecker

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