GRADUATE PROGRAM HANDBOOK
5. PhD DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
5.1 Residence and Time Limits
5.2 Program Advising
5.3 Course Work
5.4 Second Language Requirement
5.5 Doctoral Progress Report
5.6 The Qualifying Process
5.7 The Prospectus Process
5.8 Thesis
5.9 Sample Chronology of the PhD Program
5.1 Residence and Time Limits
There is no part-time PhD program.
Students with an MA must be in residence in the Lower Mainland for two winter sessions of doctoral study. Students who have been permitted to transfer from Master's to Doctoral studies require at least one winter session of residence following the transfer.
Under normal circumstances, the PhD should be completed in four to five years. All students must complete their programs within six years of their initial registration. Under exceptional circumstances, a leave of absence for up to one year and/ or an extension of up to one year may be granted. See section 7.1 for details. All students are required to maintain continuous registration every term. Students who fail to register as required forfeit their status. Status may be reinstated only if an application for reinstatement is approved by both the Graduate Committee and the Dean of Graduate Studies.
5.2 Program Advising
All students are required to seek program approval before registering. New PhD students should communicate with the Chair of the Graduate Program, (English.Gradchair[at]ubc.ca) before classes begin in order to establish the parameters of their individual programs. The Graduate Chair serves as PhD Advisor and will monitor each student's program until it is complete. ANY CHANGES IN A DOCTORAL STUDENT'S PROGRAM MUST BE APPROVED BY THE PhD ADVISOR.
With full consultation between the Graduate Committee, pro tem supervisor and, whenever possible, the student, each student is assigned a pro tem supervisor from his/ her point of entry into the program. By the end of the first year, the full pro tem committee will be in place, chosen by consultation between the Graduate Chair, the pro tem supervisor, and the student. The pro tem committee consists of one specialist in the student's chosen area and two colleagues, one from outside the student's chosen area. One committee member may be chosen from outside the English Department. The committee members will guide the student through the qualifying process, beginning in the first year with the research bibliography (see section 5.6 for more details). They also serve as academic mentors on all aspects of the program and the department. This committee is dissolved after the qualifying process and a new committee is constituted that can (but need not) include members of the pro tem committee.
The PhD Advisor and the Graduate Committee make every effort to ensure that students have satisfied all the requirements for the degree (second-language requirement, coursework, etc). However, IT IS ULTIMATELY EACH STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY, WHEN APPLYING FOR THE DEGREE, TO ENSURE THAT S/HE HAS MET ALL REQUIREMENTS.
5.3 Course Work
Students entering the PhD program with first-class MA degrees will normally take a minimum of 15 credits of course work at the 500 level. Students transferring from the MA to the PhD or entering the PhD directly from an Honours BA will be asked to take a minimum number of credits determined by the Graduate Committee.
PhD programs are individually planned in consultation with the Chair of the Graduate Program. The student's prior work is assessed in order to ensure appropriate coverage and preparation.
Students are permitted, under the Western Deans' Agreement, to take up to 12 graduate credits at another western university (Athabasca, Alberta, Brandon, Calgary, Lethbridge, Manitoba, Northern British Columbia, Regina, Saskatchewan, Simon Fraser, and Victoria) towards their PhD degree. More information about the program and procedures is available through the Faculty of Graduate Studies; click here to visit their Western Deans Agreement page. Students interested in pursuing this option should, as with every aspect of PhD program planning, consult with the Graduate Chair.
While there are no formal area requirements for the PhD, students should consider that future employers often look to course work and qualifying areas for evidence of range and versatility in teaching. The area requirements for the MA degree (see section 4.6) offer one "coverage" model; students should craft their overall profile in consultation with the Graduate Chair and their supervisory committee(s).
A Directed Reading (English 547) is a course of study undertaken by an individual student with an instructor. It is usually taken for 3 credits, though 6 credit directed readings may also be approved. Faculty regulations prohibit any student from applying more than 6 credits of Directed Reading toward the credit requirements for a degree.
Should a PhD student wish to pursue a Directed Reading, s/he should discuss the feasibility of ANY planned Directed Reading with the Graduate Chair. Any student wishing to apply for a Directed Reading should, after consulting the appropriate advisor, work with the proposed instructor to prepare a brief but detailed outline of the proposed course. This outline, brief rationale for the course, a bibliography, and a schedule of meetings and proposed assignments, should be submitted, with the signature of the instructor, to the Graduate Office before the first week of the term in which the course is to begin. Formas are available in the Graduate Office. Late applications are not considered. The Graduate Committee approves applications for English 547 courses only if the student can establish that no course is being offered in that particular area during the current academic year, and if the Directed Reading is essential to the student's academic development.
A Directed Reading course may be taken in the general area of a student's thesis, but may not concentrate on the specific topic of the thesis.
Students who have met all English requirements may take up to 6 credits in related fields outside the Department.
5.4 Second Language Requirement
All new PhD students are required to demonstrate a reading knowledge of a second language relevant to their particular area of research. The Graduate Chair will determine whether a student, upon entering the PhD program, has already met the second-language requirement. Students who have not met the requirement may do so by completing an approved language or literature course (it may be possible to do this as an auditor), or by passing an examination, provided that an examiner acceptable to the Department is available.
While only one language is required, students should of course consider the scholarly and professional requirements of their chosen area when developing their language skills.
5.5 Doctoral Progress Report
Each May beginning in the student's second year in the doctoral program, both the student and his or her supervisor will be asked to write a brief report indicating the nature and extent of work completed on the thesis and any circumstances impeding progress on the thesis.
5.6 The Qualifying Process
5.6.1 Working Bibliography
In addition to course work in the first year of the program, the student will begin working with the pro tem committee to develop an individually-focused research bibliography that describes the parameters and the depth of his/ her prospective research in preparation for the Qualifying Papers. This bibliography is not simply a reading list, every item of which is to be accounted for at one particular point. Rather, it serves two purposes. It is a foundational tool that situates the student as scholar in his/ her chosen field (for example, combining genre/s with period/s and theoretical approach/es). It is also an adaptable and incremental tool that should continue to develop as the student's work becomes increasingly specialized. The bibliography will continue to evolve as the student moves through the qualifying process.
5.6.2 Paper Topics
Working with the bibliography and consulting with the pro tem committee, the student will identify four possible topics for Qualifying Papers. Following approval by the pro tem committee, the student will submit the bibliography and topics to the Graduate Committee. The package will include a rationale for the project mapped out by the bibliography and paper topics. This process serves to locate the student's proposed research in its historical and theoretical context. Its purpose is to articuate the kind of coverage provided in field exams, in which the student brings work in distinct but related areas into relationship. At the same time it provides opportunities for the student to begin intervening in the reseach context that is being described.
The qualifying process package (bibliography, paper topics, rationale) should be submitted to the Graduate Committee by October 15 of Year 2.
5.6.3 Qualifying Papers
Upon approval of the qualifying process package by the Graduate Committee, the pro tem committee will choose two of the four possible topics. This choice should be made within two weeks of the return of the qualifying process package, and communicated to the student, who will take these topics as the focus for two papers (20-25 pages each), to be written independently as a take-home exam. While the candidate may consult with the pro-tem committee while pursuing his/ her reading and preparation, the actual writing of the papers is NOT a consultative process, and the committee will not review drafts of the papers. These papers should ideally be handed in no earlier than 30 November in Year 2 and no later than March 1 of Year 2.These two papers will be examined together, so while they may certainly be completed consecutively, they should be conceived of in relation to each other, and should be handed in together.
5.6.4 Evaluation
The pro tem committee and one member of the Graduate Committee will read these papers and must deem them to be first class. Criteria for success will be clear evidence of wide reading, sophisticated critical and interpretive skills, and the capacity to conceptualise issues. Each of the Qualifying Papers may be attempted only twice, the second attempt to be made within four to six weeks of the committee's response to the first attempt at either paper or both. Any second attempt should respond to the comments and criticisms provided by the committee on the first version/s of the paper/s. Failure to achieve first-class standing at this stage will result in the student's withdrawing from the program.
Outstanding achievement in these papers is marked by the award of Distinction. The recommendation for Distinction may be made by any member of the committee other than the Chair. If a recommendation for Distinction is made, a vote is taken, which must be unanimous for a Distinction to be granted.
5.6.5 Oral Critique
Success on both papers will be followed by an oral critique, within three weeks of the paper being submitted. During this critique, the expanded committee may raise questions pertaining to the papers, to the full scope of the field/s as represented by the bibliography at this stage, and to the particular research that the student expects to develop from this broad beginning. The critique is an exercise rather than an exam in itself, allowing both student and committee to develop the work in progress. No pass or fail is attached. The pro tem supervisor will deliver a report of the oral critique to the Graduate Committee.
The papers written during the qualifying process are preparatory for the Prospectus but also distinct from it, relying far more heavily (in most circumstances) on work already extant in the field than on the student's own focus for research, in order to demonstrate the student's knowledge of his/ her chosen area and of the relevant debates surrounding it.
The whole process-- bibliography, qualifying papers, and oral critique-- is intended to prepare the student for the development of the Prospectus (5.7) and the writing of the Thesis (5.8).
5.7 The Prospectus
With the conclusion of the Qualifying Papers and the Oral Critique, the pro tem committee is dissolved. Then the student, in consultation with the Graduate Chair, invites an appropriate faculty member to supervise his or her Prospectus and Thesis. Student and supervisor together then establish the full committee, which normally consists of the candidate's supervisor and two other members of the English Department. The supervisory committee will likely (but not necessarily) include some or all of the original pro tem committee. It may include a faculty member from another department and/ or another institution. Development of the Prospectus should involve those committee members who will be involved with the Thesis to its conclusion.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies has a page with links to policies and procedures relating to supervision and examination here.
The Prospectus builds on the ground laid by the Qualifying Papers. It develops an argument that may have been adumbrated in the Qualifying Papers, proposing the direction in which the student expects his/ her work to develop. The Thesis Prospectus, prepared in consultation with the supervisory committee, should be submitted to the Graduate Committee with the full approval and the signatures of all three members of the supervisory committee, no later than October of Year 3. Addressed to the Graduate Committee, the Prospectus must make good sense to academics outside the area of specialization. It should, accordingly, include relevant explanation and detail at every stage; as discourse, it is closer to the grant application or the book proposal than to the research essay. The Prospectus should be roughly 2,000 words in length, excluding bibliography, and should contain three components:
- Description and Justification: This stage should articulate as clearly as possible the "why" as well as the "what" of the Thesis. The Prospectus should situate the Thesis in its field, showing how it develops or departs from previous research and what the writer hopes it will contribute. The Prospectus should also spell out the theoretical framework of the Thesis.
- Plan: The Prospectus is not necessarily a detailed blueprint, and it allows for changes of direction. Precise conclusions to inquiries not yet fully entered into need not be anticipated. However, the Prospectus is to make clear the overall organisation of the Thesis as envisaged at this point in terms of its main stages of inquiry and the chief texts/topics to be addressed.
- Bibliography: As a research tool, this bibliography—which will have developed out of the working bibliography and will, in many cases, be a refined and focused version of that earlier project--is crucial in that it describes the student's understanding of the Thesis and the place of the Thesis in its field. The bibliography should therefore be a carefully developed component of the Prospectus. It should be shaped by whatever categories are most suitable for the topic.
Excellence in the Prospectus will be determined according to such criteria as the originality and value of the project, quality of research, and care of preparation. Should the Graduate Committee decide at this stage that the program of research has not yet been adequately described and rationalized, it will invite the student, in consultation with his/her supervisory committee, to revise the relevant portions of the Prospectus for a second delivery within six weeks. If, on this second occasion, the Graduate Committee remains dissatisfied, the student will be asked to withdraw from the program.
5.8 The Thesis
The thesis marks the culmination of the PhD program. A thesis is an original and independent research project which makes a contribution to knowledge in a special area selected by the student.
Theses should be prepared in accordance with the regulations set down by the Faculty of Graduate Studies Masters and Doctoral Thesis Preparation and Submission, available here. Theses which do not meet the standards specified may be rejected. Documentation should follow the style sheet recommended by the supervisor.
The candidate should submit eight copies of the thesis: two for the Faculty of Graduate Studies (one for the external examiner, one for the appointed chair of the PhD oral examination); two for the university examiners, three for the candidate’s thesis committee members, and one for the department.
In planning the date of their thesis defence, candidates must deliver the final copy of the thesis at least three months before the planned date of the thesis defence. This is to allow sufficient time for its dispatch to the external examiner. These final stages often take longer than three months.
The completed thesis will be read by a specialist from outside the university. At least three months before the candidate expects to take the formal oral examination, the supervisor forwards to the Graduate Committee the names of three specialists who might serve as external examiner. The Graduate Committee recommends at least two names to the Dean of Graduate Studies, who makes the final choice.
When the thesis has been approved, the candidate will sit the final defence. This is a formal, public examination, chaired by an appointee of the Dean of Graduate Studies and attended by the candidate's supervisory thesis committee, the external examiner (whenever possible), two university examiners (one from the English Department and one from another department), and other interested persons. The process is described by the Faculty of Graduate Studies here.
The final oral may be held at any time of the year, provided the thesis committee can be assembled. Please note that the Faculty of Graduate Studies imposes a blackout period for oral examinations during the months of August and December.
All UBC theses are kept in the Special Collections Division of the Library.
5.9 Sample Chronology of the PhD Program