The Ph.D. Field Examination
Overview
By the end of their third year, students take a Field Examination which is meant to give them 1) an intensive knowledge of their teaching and research fields, and 2) a strong basis from which to craft a dissertation prospectus. The Field Exam will be given by a committee of three faculty, who must be members of the Graduate Group and who are chosen, with their agreement, by the student. One of the committee members should be designated chair.To prepare for the exam, students will choose one primary and two contributing fields, or areas of specialization. They will assemble a reading list of 30 texts for the primary field and 20 texts for each of the contributing fields, and write a rationale of one-half page (approximately 250 words) for each field. The field lists may include primary and secondary sources, and they should be discussed and assembled in close consultation with the student’s Field Exam committee.
The primary field is typically organized by historical period, textual genre, and/or geographic area; the contributing fields are typically organized by theoretical tradition, literary or cultural thematic, or critical problematic.
Rationales should be very brief descriptions of the field, and should include key questions or problematics to be examined.
Preparation for the Field Exam
During the summer between their second and third years, students should assemble their Field Exam committee, choose their primary and contributing fields, construct their reading lists, and draft their rationales. This preparation will involve a significant amount of investigative reading, so students should devote most of the summer to this work.
By September 15, students will submit to the Graduate Executive Committee (GEC) for approval a Field Exam packet, signed by all three members of the committee, including their fields, reading lists, and rationales. In their evaluation, the GEC will take into consideration the coherence of each field, the potential relationships among the fields, the depth, and breadth of each reading list, and the clarity of each rationale. The GEC will approve or request revisions by September 25.
During the third year, students should systematically read through their lists, meeting regularly with their committee members to discuss progress, questions, and concerns. It is often helpful—though not required—for the student to compose brief, informal write-ups of key texts or groups of texts during the course of their reading, and to submit those write-ups to the field committee members prior to regular (at least once a month) meetings. This allows students to assemble notes for their Field Exam preparation, and to apprise the committee members of their intellectual development during their exam preparation.
The student and the committee should set an exam date no later than the end of the first week of April.
The Exam
Written: The members of the committee will compose three questions for the exam. The exact form of these questions will be determined by the committee, in consultation with the student. It is recommended—though not required—that the committee members solicit potential questions from the student in advance, as the process of formulating questions is itself a helpful way of coming to terms with a field. The committee chair, with the help of the Graduate Program Coordinator if necessary, will submit the three questions to the student no later than noon of the day of the exam. The student will chose two of the three questions to answer, and will submit her/his written answers to their committee members and the Graduate Program Coordinator no more than 24 hours later. The student may consult their books and notes, but the exam must be written during the exam period only. Typically, the student will spend at most eight hours composing their answer, and devote any remaining time to studying the questions and revising and proofreading the answers. The committee should discuss with the student how many pages they expect the student to write.
Oral: Within two weeks of the written exam, the chair of the student’s committee must arrange a two-hour meeting with the student and the rest of the committee to discuss his/her performance on the written exam, to cover any follow-up questions the committee may have for the student, and to discuss the student’s potential dissertation topic. After this meeting, the committee will meet briefly without the student to assign a grade of high pass, pass, or fail. Should a committee decide that a student has not passed the exam, the student may retake the exam with the approval of the committee and the Graduate Chair.
By the end of April, a brief report on the student’s performance must be written by the chair of the student’s committee and submitted to the Graduate Chair.
Timeline Summary
• Summer between second and third years: the student constructs field lists, drafts rationales, and assembles committee.
• By September 15 of the third year: the student submits reading lists and rationales, signed by all committee members, to the GEC for approval.
• By the end of the first week of April: the student takes the written exam, followed within two weeks by a two-hour meeting of the student and the committee to discuss the exam.
• By the end of April: the committee chair submits an exam report to the Graduate Chair.
