Students: Graduate Information
Advising: Preliminary Program of Study
Overview
The Program of Study in the Ohio State University English Department is a written plan of study and its rationale, worked out by the student and her/his adviser and Candidacy Examination Committee. Its primary purpose is to help the student form a coherent program, propose achievable goals, and chart a route to the Ph.D. degree. The Final Program of Study also asks the student to articulate his/her primary scholarly field and particular area of focus within that field. These field and focus areas comprise the two parts of the Candidacy Examination, and through them the student defines her/his areas of scholarly interest and expertise. In formulating them, students should consider the following questions: What area of English studies do you want to publish, teach, and eventually apply for positions in? How do you want to define yourself within the larger discipline of English studies? It is possible, and often desirable, to have other areas of interest as well, but the Program of Study asks students to identify their primary areas as they will be manifested in the Candidacy Examination and Dissertation. To that end, an important component of the Program of Study is the reading list that will be the basis for the Candidacy Examination, as well as an explanation of how this list corresponds to or justifies the description of the field and focus.Deadline
The Preliminary Program of Study must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies by the first Friday of the spring quarter of the student’s first year in the Ph.D. program.Contents
The Preliminary Program of Study must include the following:- A short statement (no more than two double-spaced pages) of the student’s area(s) of interest and the general goals and guiding principles of her/his course of study.
- A description of the student’s M.A. program (whether obtained at OSU or elsewhere), and a brief statement of how the Ph.D. will build on it. This description must include:
- a list of course numbers, course titles, instructors, quarters taken, and grades received;
- titles of major seminar papers;
- a one- or two-sentence description of any Independent Studies;
- a one-paragraph description of the M.A. thesis or exams;
- a list of Ph.D. courses the student has taken and intends to take, including, if relevant, courses outside of the English Department;
- a brief statement on how the student plans to meet (or has met) the foreign language requirement and the Graduate Workshop requirement (a total of 2, one in the first two years of Ph.D. study and one in final two years);
- a brief statement on teaching and other work the student hopes to do;
- a brief statement of plans the student has for professional activities, if applicable (e.g., conferences, courses or workshops outside of OSU); and
- the Preliminary Program of Study must be signed by the student’s adviser.
Review of Preliminary Program of Study
The Director of Graduate Studies will review the Preliminary Program of Study.Sample Preliminary Programs of Study
- Nineteenth-Century American Literature [PDF] | Doc1
- Twentieth-Century Multi-Ethnic American Literature Sample [PDF] | Doc2
- Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic Literature sample [PDF] | Doc3
- Eighteenth-Century Literature sample [PDF] **
- American Literature sample [PDF] **
- Film sample [PDF] **
- Rhetoric sample [PDF] **
- Rhetoric & Composition sample [PDF] **
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