how to get phd in literature

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• Ph.D. Degree

The Graduate Program in Literature is a doctoral program, which means that all students enrolled prepare for the Ph.D. degree. The program does not grant M.A. degrees along the way. The typical time to completion for the doctoral program is 6 full years.

Requirements for the Ph.D.

• 12 Seminars
• 7 Literature Program courses
• At least 5 courses in a teaching field of your choice
• Foreign language proficiency in two languages
• Preliminary Exam
• Chapter Workshop
• Dissertation Defense
• Teaching Assistantship
• Responsible Conduct of Research Training

Additional Course Guidelines

Undergraduate-level Courses - There are no restrictions on the number of undergraduate courses a student may take outside the Literature Program during their graduate career. The approval of the DGS must be sought in such cases, and in any case Graduate School Regulations do not allow courses below the 500 level to count toward the fulfillment of coursework requirements or to be included in a student's GPA calculation.  In general undergraduate courses tend to be limited to relevant language courses.

Independent Studies - Students can take up to three independent studies over the course of their careers. Students have to complete the “Independent Study Notification Form” every time they take an independent study and it must be signed by the DGS. Supplies of these forms are kept in the DGS Assistant’s office.

Inter-institutional Courses - The Registrar requires students to follow a special procedure when they register for courses at other Triangle universities (UNC, NCCU, NCSU). Forms and information are available at the Registrar's Office. You’ll need approval from Lit’s DGS & the professor of the course.

Typical Degree Timeline

What follows is a very general timeline that graduate students in the Program may use as a rough orientation for their six-year course of study. It is not meant to replace the guidance that you should actively seek , for your own specific circumstances and research field(s), from your mentors and advisors.

During the first year, you will familiarize yourself with the department, the university, and the profession at large. The many colloquia and conferences offered at Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, NC Central and NC State, present great opportunities for you to get to know your peers, professors, national and international scholars.

During the second year, you can start presenting your work at conferences in your field(s). You should by now identify your main advisor(s), and begin TAing so as to familiarize yourself with teaching duties. You may also begin to plan for a Certificate in College Teaching.

During the third year, you will complete your preliminary exams and start to work towards your dissertation. Make sure to complete, by the end of this academic year, all the required coursework, including any language requirement related to your specific field. To be competitive in a specific field, you may well need more than one language besides English: please consult with your advisors about this matter.

During the fourth year, your focus will be to complete, if not an entire first draft, at least a good part of your dissertation. This is also a good moment to make your work known in the profession by publishing a part of your dissertation and by presenting some of the other parts at professional conferences. Finally, you should attend the dissertation formatting training sessions offered by the Graduate School (either during the fall or the spring): this is very important, to avoid any last-minute surprises that could jeopardize your entire time-plan for the PhD.

If possible, you should try to finish your dissertation during your fifth year at Duke. You should also keep a presence at professional conferences, and you may also want to consider the possibility of public humanities publications. Finally, this is the year to start applying for jobs.

You should be ready to defend by the end of this year.

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PhD Program in English Language and Literature

The department enrolls an average of ten PhD students each year. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package. We also offer a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical and cultural fields. Each student chooses a special committee that works closely along side the student to design a course of study within the very broad framework established by the department. The program is extremely flexible in regard to course selection, the design of examinations and the election of minor subjects of concentration outside the department. English PhD students pursuing interdisciplinary research may include on their special committees faculty members from related fields such as comparative literature, medieval studies, Romance studies, German studies, history, classics, women’s studies, linguistics, theatre and performing arts, government, philosophy, and film and video studies.

The PhD candidate is normally expected to complete six or seven one-semester courses for credit in the first year of residence and a total of six or seven more in the second and third years. The program of any doctoral candidate’s formal and informal study, whatever his or her particular interests, should be comprehensive enough to ensure familiarity with:

• The authors and works that have been the most influential in determining the course of English, American, and related literatures
• The theory and criticism of literature, and the relations between literature and other disciplines
• Concerns and tools of literary and cultural history such as textual criticism, study of genre, source, and influence as well as wider issues of cultural production and historical and social contexts that bear on literature

Areas in which students may have major or minor concentrations include African-American literature, American literature to 1865, American literature after 1865, American studies (a joint program with the field of history), colonial and postcolonial literatures, cultural studies, dramatic literature, English poetry, the English Renaissance to 1660, lesbian, bisexual and gay literary studies, literary criticism and theory, the nineteenth century, Old and Middle English, prose fiction, the Restoration and the eighteenth century, the twentieth century, and women's literature.

By the time a doctoral candidate enters the fourth semester of graduate study, the special committee must decide whether he or she is qualified to proceed toward the PhD. Students are required to pass their Advancement to Candidacy Examination before their fourth year of study, prior to the dissertation.

PhD Program specifics can be viewed here: PhD Timeline PhD Procedural Guide

Special Committee

Every graduate student selects a special committee of faculty advisors who work intensively with the student in selecting courses and preparing and revising the dissertation. The committee is comprised of at least three Cornell faculty members: a chair, and typically two minor members usually from the English department, but very often representing an interdisciplinary field. The university system of special committees allows students to design their own courses of study within a broad framework established by the department, and it encourages a close working relationship between professors and students, promoting freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of the graduate degree. The special committee for each student guides and supervises all academic work and assesses progress in a series of meetings with the students.

At Cornell, teaching is considered an integral part of training in academia. The field requires a carefully supervised teaching experience of at least one year for every doctoral candidate as part of the program requirements. The Department of English, in conjunction with the  John S. Knight Institute for Writing  in the Disciplines, offers excellent training for beginning teachers and varied and interesting teaching in the university-wide First-Year Writing Program. The courses are writing-intensive and may fall under such general rubrics as “Portraits of the Self,” “American Literature and Culture,” “Shakespeare,” and “Cultural Studies,” among others. A graduate student may also serve as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate lecture course taught by a member of the Department of English faculty.

Language Requirements

Each student and special committee will decide what work in foreign language is most appropriate for a student’s graduate program and scholarly interests. Some students’ doctoral programs require extensive knowledge of a single foreign language and literature; others require reading ability in two or more foreign languages. A student may be asked to demonstrate competence in foreign languages by presenting the undergraduate record, taking additional courses in foreign languages and literature, or translating and discussing documents related to the student’s work. Students are also normally expected to provide evidence of having studied the English language through courses in Old English, the history of the English language, grammatical analysis or the application of linguistic study to metrics or to literary criticism. Several departments at Cornell offer pertinent courses in such subjects as descriptive linguistics, psycholinguistics and the philosophy of language.

All PhD degree candidates are guaranteed five years of funding (including a stipend , a full tuition fellowship and student health insurance):

• A first-year non-teaching fellowship
• Two years of teaching assistantships
• A fourth-year non-teaching fellowship for the dissertation writing year
• A fifth-year teaching assistantship
• Summer support for four years, including a first-year summer teaching assistantship, linked to a teachers’ training program at the Knight Institute. Summer residency in Ithaca is required.

Students have also successfully competed for Buttrick-Crippen Fellowship, Society for the Humanities Fellowships, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), Shin Yong-Jin Graduate Fellowships, Provost’s Diversity Fellowships, fellowships in recognition of excellence in teaching, and grants from the Graduate School to help with the cost of travel to scholarly conferences and research collections.

Admission & Application Procedures

The application for Fall 2025 admission will open on September 1, 2024 and close at 11:59pm EST on December 1, 2024.

Please do not reach out directly to faculty with inquires, instead email  [email protected] , if you have questions.

Our application process reflects the field’s commitment to considering the whole person and their potential to contribute to our scholarly community.  Applicants will be evaluated on the basis of academic preparation (e.g., performance in relevant courses, completion of substantive, independent research project). An applicant’s critical and creative potential will be considered: applicants should demonstrate interest in extensive research and writing and include a writing sample that reveals a capacity to argue persuasively, demonstrate the ability to synthesize a broad range of materials, as well as offer fresh insights into a problem or text. The committee will also consider whether an applicant demonstrates a commitment to inclusion, equity, and diversity and offers a substantive explanation for why study at Cornell is especially compelling (e.g., a discussion of faculty research and foci). Admissions committees will consider the entire application carefully, including statements and critical writing, as well as transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a resume/cv (if provided). Please view the requirements and procedures listed below, if you are interested in being considered for our PhD in English Language and Literature program.

Eligibility: Applicants must currently have, or expect to have, at least a BA or BS (or the equivalent) in any field before matriculation. International students, please verify degree equivalency here . Applicants are not required to meet a specified GPA minimum.

To Apply: All applications and supplemental materials must be submitted online through the Graduate School application system . While completing your application, you may save and edit your data. Once you click submit, your application will be closed for changes. Please proofread your materials carefully. Once you pay and click submit, you will not be able to make any changes or revisions.

Deadline: December 1st, 11:59pm EST.  This deadline is firm. No applications, additional materials, or revisions will be accepted after the deadline.

PhD Program Application Requirements Checklist

• Academic Statement of Purpose Please describe (within 1000 words) in detail the substantive research questions you are interested in pursuing during your graduate studies and why they are significant. Additionally, make sure to include information about any training or research experience that you believe has prepared you for our program. You should also identify specific faculty members whose research interests align with your own specific questions.  Note that the identification of faculty is important; you would be well advised to read selected faculty’s recent scholarship so that you can explain why you wish to study with them. Do not rely on the courses they teach.  Please refrain from contacting individual faculty prior to receiving an offer of admission.
• Personal Statement Please describe (within 1000 words) how your personal background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree and the research you wish to conduct.  Explain, for example the meaning and purpose of the PhD in the context of your personal history and future aspirations.  Please note that we will pay additional attention to candidates who identify substantial reasons to obtain a PhD beyond the pursuit of an academic position. Additionally, provide insight into your potential to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect where scholars representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn (productively and positively) together.
• Critical Writing Sample Your academic writing sample must be between 3,000 and 7,500 words (12-30 pages), typed and double-spaced. We accept excerpts from longer works, or a combination of shorter works.
• Three Letters of Recommendation We require 3 letters of recommendation.  At the time of application, you will be allowed to enter up to 4 recommenders in the system.  Your application will be considered “Complete” when we have received at least 3 letters of recommendation.  Letters of recommendation are due December 1 . Please select three people who best know you and your work. Submitting additional letters will not enhance your application. In the recommendation section of the application, you must include the email address of each recommender. After you save the information (and before you pay/submit), the application system will automatically generate a recommendation request email to your recommender with instructions for submitting the letter electronically. If your letters are stored with a credential service such as Interfolio, please use their Online Application Delivery feature and input the email address assigned to your stored document, rather than that of your recommender’s. The electronic files will be attached to your application when they are received and will not require the letter of recommendation cover page.
• Transcripts Scan transcripts from each institution you have attended, or are currently attending, and upload into the academic information section of the application. Be sure to remove your social security number from all documents prior to scanning. Please do not send paper copies of your transcripts. If you are subsequently admitted and accept, the Graduate School will require an official paper transcript from your degree-awarding institution prior to matriculation.
• English Language Proficiency Requirement All applicants must provide proof of English language proficiency. For more information, please view the  Graduate School’s English Language Requirement .
• GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test are NO LONGER REQUIRED, effective starting with the 2019 application In March 2019, the faculty of English voted overwhelmingly to eliminate all GRE requirements (both general and subject test) for application to the PhD program in English. GRE scores are not good predictors of success or failure in a PhD program in English, and the uncertain predictive value of the GRE exam is far outweighed by the toll it takes on student diversity. For many applicants the cost of preparing for and taking the exam is prohibitively expensive, and the exam is not globally accessible. Requiring the exam narrows our applicant pool at precisely the moment we should be creating bigger pipelines into higher education. We need the strength of a diverse community in order to pursue the English Department’s larger mission: to direct the force of language toward large and small acts of learning, alliance, imagination, and justice.

General Information for All Applicants

Application Fee: Visit the Graduate School for information regarding application fees, payment options, and fee waivers .

Document Identification: Please do not put your social security number on any documents.

Status Inquiries:  Once you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email. You will also be able to check the completion status of your application in your account. If vital sections of your application are missing, we will notify you via email after the Dec. 1 deadline and allow you ample time to provide the missing materials. Please do not inquire about the status of your application.

Credential/Application Assessments:  The Admission Review Committee members are unable to review application materials or applicant credentials prior to official application submission. Once the committee has reviewed applications and made admissions decisions, they will not discuss the results or make any recommendations for improving the strength of an applicant’s credentials. Applicants looking for feedback are advised to consult with their undergraduate advisor or someone else who knows them and their work.

Review Process:  Application review begins after the submission deadline. Notification of admissions decisions will be made by email by the end of February.

Connecting with Faculty and/or Students: Unfortunately, due to the volume of inquiries we receive, faculty and current students are not available to correspond with potential applicants prior to an offer of admission. Applicants who are offered admission will have the opportunity to meet faculty and students to have their questions answered prior to accepting. Staff and faculty are also not able to pre-assess potential applicant’s work outside of the formal application process. Please email [email protected] instead, if you have questions.

Visiting: The department does not offer pre-admission visits or interviews. Admitted applicants will be invited to visit the department, attend graduate seminars and meet with faculty and students before making the decision to enroll.

Transfer Credits:  Students matriculating with an MA degree may, at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies, receive credit for up to two courses once they begin our program.

For Further Information

Contact [email protected]

PhD in Literature

London Global Gateway

The London Global Gateway promotes activities that advance the mission and raise the profile of the University in London and around the world.

O'Connell House Dublin Ireland

The Keough-Notre Dame Study Centre every summer offers the Irish Seminar at the O’Connell House in Dublin.

Rome Global Gateway

The Rome Global Gateway is one block from the Colosseum. The Gateway also fosters research and graduate education.

Study literature, acquire and practice languages, learn a profession, find opportunities: follow your passion! Apply to an innovative, transnational and transdisciplinary program.

Literary Future

National literature is losing its significance; this is the era of world literature, and everyone should hasten its development. Goethe, On World Literature, 1827.

Please note: the Ph.D in Literature Program at the University of Notre Dame is no longer admitting new students.

Ph.D. in Literature

Students in our Ph.D. program gain advanced knowledge of literature from the British Middle Ages and colonial America to global/postcolonial and U.S. contemporary, as well as knowledge of literary theory, literary analysis, and interdisciplinary methods. The course of study balances coverage of national literary traditions with innovative methods and topics such as literature and science; literature and environment; translation; gender and sexuality studies; and critical race studies.

Our Ph.D. students are involved in a range of interdisciplinary and public initiatives. For example, some affiliate with interdisciplinary  Designated Emphases ; others have received grants to create  podcasts , convene interdisciplinary  working groups , or organize annual graduate student conferences. Each year one student participates in a year-long exchange program with the  Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies  in Mainz, Germany; some have worked as Graduate Assistants and researchers for research centers such as the  Medieval and Early Modern Studies Program , the experimental media  Modlab , and the university’s  Datalab .

Students graduate with the qualitative and quantitative skills necessary for professional research and teaching in English, as well as extensive pedagogical training and a range of teaching experience that includes writing and composition, as well as designing and teaching Introduction to Literature courses. Our  Alumni Directory  includes titles of recent dissertations, as well as information about the diverse careers for which the Ph.D. has helped prepare our graduates. There is  an option to complete an MA in literature , but it is not a stand-alone program.

Questions? Contact:

Aaron Barstow Graduate Program Coordinator, Ph.D. Program in Literature [email protected]   (530) 752-2738 Pronouns: he/they

• Ph.D. Program Requirements

Degree requirements for the Ph.D. program   (links to more details) include 50 units of coursework with at least 44 units taken for a letter grade, proficiency in one foreign language proficiency before degree conferral, preliminary and qualifying examinations, and a dissertation. In addition, there are also opportunities for students to pursue a  Designated Emphasis  and gain teaching experience.

Coursework Requirements

3 Core Courses (8 units) • English 200: Introduction to Graduate Studies (taken as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) • One survey course in literary theory (Critical Theory 200A or 200C taken for a grade) 1 Workshop (2 units) English 288: Prospectus Workshop (taken as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory); students may petition to complete this course independently with a Prospectus Adviser.

10 Graduate-level Seminars (40 units) • All courses must be taken for a grade • Five courses must satisfy the breadth requirement (see below) • Five courses will be comprised of electives (see below) • Students may count one undergraduate 100-level course as one of their ten required courses • Aside from ENL 200, no course graded Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory may count as one of the twelve required seminars • Independent and group studies may not be taken for a grade

13 Total Graduate Courses (50 units; 44 units taken for a grade)  Additionally, students who enter the Ph.D. program without a MA degree can earn one en route to the Ph.D. degree.

• Foreign Language Requirement

The English Ph.D. requires a reading knowledge of  one  foreign language before completing the degree; it is not an admissions requirement. This could be satisfied through previous or current coursework or an exam. Any of the following demonstrates proficiency:

Completion within the past eight years of 3 semester-length, or 4 quarter-length courses in a foreign language at the undergraduate level. Students must earn a passing grade, but courses may be taken on a Pass/No Pass basis.

Students may take the Placement Test offered by the  UC Davis Language Center , testing out of the language at the intermediate level.

A Pass in the language exam offered in the English Department at the beginning of Fall or Spring quarter each year.

• Breadth Requirement

The breadth requirements must be fulfilled by coursework in the Department of English or coursework taught by English Department faculty.  Five courses (of the total 40 units above) will satisfy this requirement. Students must complete two Earlier Period courses, and two Later Period courses, and one Focus course. 

Earlier Period Courses Pre-1800; or Pre-1865 if the course focus is on American literature

Later Period Courses Post-1800 or Post-1865 if the course focus is on American literature

Focus Course Interdisciplinary, Identity, Genre, Other National, Method, Theory

Faculty and/or the Graduate Advisor may choose to designate a course as fulfilling more than one category, but students may use the course to fulfill only one requirement. For instance, a student could use a course on women in Early Modern literature to satisfy the Earlier Period requirement, or the Focus (Identity) requirement, but not both. A student could use a course on Cold War Drama to satisfy the Later Period requirement or the Focus (Genre) requirement, but not both.

• Electives Requirement
• The electives requirement can be fulfilled by actual offered seminars inside or outside the English Department. Five elective courses will satisfy degree requirements. UWP 390 is acceptable as one of the electives. Also, be aware 299s are ungraded but still count towards overall units. With the approval of the Graduate Adviser, students may also enroll in a graduate class at another University of California campus through the  Intercampus Exchange Program .
• Course Waiver and Course Relief

Students who enter the Ph.D. program with MA coursework from another institution may petition the Graduate Adviser for a Course Waiver up to three of the twelve required seminars; each approved petition will reduce the number of required courses by one. Students may not reduce their coursework to fewer than nine seminars.

Students holding an MA may also petition the Graduate Adviser for course relief for up to five of the breadth requirements; each approved petition allows the student to substitute elective courses. ENL 200 may not be waived or relieved.

For each waiver or relief request, students must submit to the English Graduate Office a Course Waiver or Relief Request form (available in the office) along with the syllabus from the course and the student's seminar paper.

• Designated Emphasis
• Graduate students may participate in a  Designated Emphasis (DE) , a specialization that might include a new method of inquiry or an important field of application which is related to two or more existing Ph.D. programs. The DE is awarded in conjunction with the Ph.D. degree and is signified by a transcript notation; for example, “Ph.D. in Literature with a Designated Emphasis in Native American Studies.”  More information
• Preliminary Examination

In the Spring Quarter of the second year or Fall Quarter of the third year of graduate study, students take a Preliminary Examination in two historical fields and one focus field. Three faculty members conduct the oral examination, each representing one of the fields. Prior to taking the Preliminary Examination, students must have completed the following:

• Introduction to Graduate Studies (ENL200) • Survey of Literary Theory (CRI200A or CRI200C) • Four of five Breadth Requirements • Four of five Elective Requirements

Additionally, students select one focus field.  A student may devise her/his own focus list in collaboration with two faculty members or, as is more common, choose one from among the following:

• Black Studies • Critical Theory • Disability Studies • Ecocriticism and Environmental Humanities • Feminisms • Film Studies • Marxism • Media Technologies • Performance Studies • Poetics • Postcolonial Theory • Psychoanalysis • Queer Feminisms • Queer Theories • Race and Ethnicity Studies • Science and Literature • Science Fiction

English 299 (Independent Study) is ordinarily used the quarters before the Preliminary Examination to prepare for the oral  examination and is graded Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory. Students may register for ENL 299 under the Graduate Advisor or a faculty member in the field of their exam for the quarter(s) they intend to study.

In the event that the student does not pass the exam, the exam chair will report the decision to the Graduate Adviser, who will work with the committee to decide whether the student should be given a chance to retake the exam (no less than six months later) or whether the student should be dismissed from the program. The Graduate Adviser will report this final decision to the student within 72 hours of the exam’s conclusion.

Any remaining requirements after taking the Preliminary Examination must be completed before scheduling the Qualifying Examination.

Students will select two historical fields from among the following list.   Students who would like to do non-consecutive historical fields need to get prior approval from the Graduate Adviser.  These lists and additional helpful documents can be accessed via our box folder  "Preliminary Exam"  in the English Graduate Program file.

• 20th Century British • African American Literature 20th Century • American Antebellum, 1800-1865 • American Indian Literature, 1768-present • American Literature Early 20th c., 1900-1945 • American Literature, Later 1945-present • American Literature, Later 19th-c., 1865-1914 • Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature • Colonial - Early American to 1800 • Later Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature (1675-1792) • Middle English • Old English (Anglo-Saxon) • Postcolonial Literature • Restoration and Eighteenth Century Literature (1660-1792) • Romanticism (1776-1832) • Seventeenth-Century English Literature From 1604-1675  • Sixteenth-Century Literature From 1485-1603 • Victorian

• Qualifying Examination

The Qualifying Examination  happens as early as the spring of the third year and should be taken no later than the spring of the fourth year. The reading list for this exam, which is conducted orally, is constructed by the student in consultation with his or her three-person dissertation committee. When making their lists, students may consult the standard lists for preliminary exams available on the department's Box site. If the student has elected a designated emphasis (DE), materials from that field should also be incorporated into the Qualifying Exam reading list.

Graduate Studies requires the  Qualifying Examination Application to be submitted at least 30 days prior the the scheduled exam date or it won't be approved.

Qualifying Examination Committee  The student, in consultation with their Prospectus Adviser and, if needed, the Graduate Adviser, nominates  four  faculty to serve on the Qualifying Examination Committee:  • The three proposed Dissertation Committee members • One member must be from outside the English graduate program (this may be a member of the Dissertation Committee)

The QE Committee is responsible for administering the exam. Neither the “Prospectus Adviser” nor the Dissertation Director (in many, though not all, cases these will be same) may be the chair of the QE Committee. Students with a designated emphasis (DE) must include one faculty member affiliated with the DE on both their qualifying and dissertation committee. DE paperwork must be approved before the QE application is submitted. The exam will focus on the Prospectus and the Qualifying Exam reading list. The bibliography of the prospectus will normally overlap substantially with the Qualifying Exam reading list.

A Report on the Doctoral Qualifying Examination - PhD   must be submitted withing 72 hours of the exam. Upon successful completion submit your Advancement to Candidacy application.

• Exam Accommodations
• If you are disabled, you are entitled to accommodations for all requirements of the program you’re enrolled in, a process formally handled by the  Student Disability Center . We recommend starting the process of coordinating with the SDC early in your graduate school journey, as it can take time for the Center to process information.  We must work with the SDC to implement your accommodations for your exams.  Please indicate your need for accommodations to us as soon as possible, so we can include the Center in our exam scheduling process.  Please notify us by the fourth week of the quarter in which you intend to sit the exam.
• Dissertation
• The dissertation must be an original work of scholarship and/or interpretation. It may be critical, bibliographical, historical, or biographical in its subject. Students work with a dissertation director and consult with two official readers as well as with other faculty knowledgeable about the project.  Additional details

English (Literature), PHD

On this page:.

At a Glance: program details

• Location: Tempe campus
• Second Language Requirement: No

Program Description

Degree Awarded: PHD English (Literature)

The PhD program in English with a concentration in literature trains students in various methodologies, pedagogies and areas of inquiry that constitute literary and cultural studies.

With a diverse and distinguished faculty, the program offers opportunities for specialization in traditional areas of literary criticism, cultural analysis and theory, as well as various fields of interdisciplinary study.

A doctorate in literature equips students with a range of highly sought-after skills and competencies: research and analysis of complex material, communication in written and oral modes, collaboration, independence and self-motivation, creativity and adaptability.

The PhD in English (literature) at ASU is a premier graduate program in the U.S. with strong interdisciplinary ties and faculty links to research centers on campus and in the state, including the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, the Institute for Humanities Research, and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. With these resources and a strong mentorship program at their fingertips, our graduates are prepared for a wide array of professional opportunities including careers in college teaching, research, writing, editing, higher education, and humanities-related organizations.

Lee Bebout ,  Director  

Kira Assad, Program Manager

Faculty in Literature

Doctoral Examinations

Doctoral Procedures and Timeline

Teaching Assistantships

Degree Requirements

Curriculum plan options.

• 84 credit hours, a foreign language exam, a written comprehensive exam, an oral comprehensive exam, a prospectus and a dissertation

A student with an appropriate master's degree must complete a minimum of 54 credit hours of approved graduate work, which includes 12 credit hours of dissertation, provided the student's master's degree is accepted by the supervisory committee and the academic unit. Research hours may be used toward coursework in consultation with the advisor.

A student without an appropriate master's degree must complete 84 credit hours of work at ASU. At the advisor's discretion, students may include up to 12 credit hours of appropriate, graduate-level coursework undertaken at another university and not previously counted toward any other degree.

Specifically required are six credit hours in theory courses and ENG 501 Approaches to Research. Students must complete eight graduate courses in any of the following categories:

• cultural studies
• ethnic studies
• gender studies
• history and structure of the English language
• literature 1500--1660
• literature 1660--1900
• literature since 1900
• literature to 1500
• postcolonial or anglophone literatures

Students must take at least five graduate seminars at the 600 level en route to the doctorate, at least three of which must be taken in the doctoral program. Up to 12 credit hours taken outside the department may be counted toward the degree. Students should consult with their supervisory committees when choosing electives.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must fulfill the requirements of both the Graduate College and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Applicants are eligible to apply to the program if they have earned a bachelor's or master's degree from a regionally accredited institution.

Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in the last 60 hours of their first bachelor's degree program, or a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.50 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in an applicable master's degree program.

All applicants must submit:

• graduate admission application and application fee
• official transcripts
• statement of purpose
• resume or curriculum vitae
• three letters of recommendation
• academic writing sample relevant to the field
• statement of teaching philosophy (teaching assistantship only)
• proof of English proficiency

Additional Application Information An applicant whose native language is not English and has not graduated from an institution of higher learning in the United States must provide proof of English proficiency, regardless of current residency. Applicants can find more information about English proficiency requirements on the school website . Please note that official scores must be sent to ASU in order for the application to be processed.

The well-considered, one- to two-page, single-spaced statement of purpose should explain the applicant's scholarly background and training, career goals, proposed research specialization, any secondary field of interest and why the applicant wishes to pursue a PhD in English (Literature) at Arizona State University. Applicants applying for funding must also submit a statement of teaching philosophy.

Next Steps to attend ASU

Learn about our programs, apply to a program, visit our campus, application deadlines, learning outcomes.

• Identify and evaluate various disciplinary arguments, trends, traditions and debates within the knowledge community of literary and cultural studies scholars.
• Demonstrate the ability to produce written work of publishable quality.
• Demonstrate research skills necessary to bring a project of literary or cultural analysis to fruition, including the ability to evaluate disciplinary debates and developments; and the ability to produce research on historical and cultural meanings of texts and related cultural productions.

Career Opportunities

Graduates are prepared for careers in higher education and other fields that value this expertise. Sectors employing high numbers of arts and humanities graduates include information and communication, financial and insurance, public administration and defense, arts and entertainment, and education.

Career examples include:

• art director
• criminal investigator or special agent
• intelligence analyst
• market research analyst
• museum curator, educator or exhibit designer
• political analyst
• public relations specialist or manager
• technical writer

Global Opportunities

Global experience.

With over 250 programs in more than 65 countries (ranging from one week to one year), study abroad is possible for all ASU students wishing to gain global skills and knowledge in preparation for a 21st-century career. Students earn ASU credit for completed courses, while staying on track for graduation, and may apply financial aid and scholarships toward program costs. https://mystudyabroad.asu.edu

Program Contact Information

If you have questions related to admission, please click here to request information and an admission specialist will reach out to you directly. For questions regarding faculty or courses, please use the contact information below.

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Doctor of Philosophy in Literature

Program description.

The graduate program in literature brings together scholars, creative writers and translators who share a commitment to transnational and interdisciplinary approaches to literary study and practice. The PhD in literature provides students with a flexible context in which to pursue research across a wide range of literary traditions, critical approaches and theoretical debates. In addition to coursework in literary studies, students have the opportunity to participate in creative writing and/or literary translation workshops as well as seminars in other disciplines, such as film studies, the history of ideas, philosophy and the visual and performing arts.

Students pursuing the PhD in literature may, if their coursework supports it, submit a translation or creative writing project as part of their dissertation.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of the program seek positions such as: teacher/educator, writer, editor, publisher, translator and critic. Career settings may include higher education, nonprofits, cultural and historical organizations, publishing houses, government agencies, international development organizations, museums and archives, business/corporate entities and independent consulting.

Marketable Skills

Review the marketable skills for this academic program.

Application Requirements

Visit the  Apply Now  webpage to begin the application process.  

Applicants to the Doctoral degree program should have:  

• A baccalaureate degree (BA or MA) or its equivalent from an accredited institution of higher education, normally in an arts and humanities field.  
• Letters of Recommendation: Applicants must submit 3 letters of recommendation from faculty, or other individuals, able to judge the candidate’s potential for success in the program.  
• Admissions Essay: Applicants must submit a 650-word narrative essay, which should be reflective rather than factual. The essay should address the applicant’s academic interests and goals and indicate how the program would enable such pursuits.  
• A writing sample: Submit an academic writing sample (e.g., a seminar paper or a critical essay). 
• International applicants must submit a TOEFL score of at least 80 on the internet-based test.  Scores must be less than two years old. See the  Graduate Catalog  for additional information regarding English proficiency requirements for international applicants.  
• Each application is considered holistically on its individual merits. You must submit all supporting documents before the Graduate Admissions Committee can review your application. 
• The Graduate Record Examination is not required. 

Deadline:  The application deadline is January 15. All applications completed by the deadline will be reviewed for admission. Applications submitted or completed after January 15 may be reviewed for admission only if spaces remain within the upcoming cohort and will be reviewed in order by the date the application file became complete.

Contact Information

Literature Graduate Programs Email: [email protected]

Dr. Charles Hatfield Associate Professor and Program Head Phone: 972-883-2780 Email: [email protected]

Graduate Advising Kelly Erb Phone: 972-883-6167 Email: [email protected]

Graduate Admissions Phone: 972-883-6176 Email: [email protected] Request Bass School Graduate Program Information

Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas, JO31 800 W. Campbell Road Richardson, TX 75080-3021

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DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

• Graduate Admissions
• PhD application

The Doctoral Program in English Literature

Applying to the doctoral program.

Look for Program Code E25PH when searching for the PhD program in the online application system

Application information FOR

Matriculation in fall 2025, application deadline:  thursday, december 12, all application materials are due by 11:59 pm (cst) on the day of the deadline.

When reviewing applications, we look for evidence of keen intellectual ability, skill in literary analysis, scholarly potential, and a strong sense of academic purpose. We do not emphasize any single factor, but pay close attention to written work and to applicants' competency in one or more foreign languages. We typically expect to receive between 200 and 300 applications for admission to the doctoral program, with a target class size of between 6 and 8 students.

Notification of the admissions committee's decisions will most likely occur in early February. Once our offers of admissions have been made, we will invite those prospective students to campus for a Visiting Weekend around the beginning of March. This is a chance for you to meet with faculty and current graduate students, discuss future projects, and hear about current doctoral work, tour the department and the campus, sit in on graduate seminars, and to look at some of the many advantages that Evanston and Chicago have to offer.

All supplemental application materials must be submitted through The Graduate School's application system. Please do  not  send, or have sent, paper copies of any documents. If you or your recommenders are having difficulty submitting any component of the application online, and the application system's online help is unable to resolve your problem, please contact the  Graduate Program Coordinator .  Never have any application materials sent directly to The Graduate School or their Office of Admission.

In all cases , our department's specifics regarding supplemental application materials supersede those listed on The Graduate School's website, as well as any listed in the application itself.  

Supplemental Application Materials

The English Department requires that the following documents be submitted as part of the online application for the PhD program (program code E25PH).  

• We cannot accept printouts of unofficial grade reports,
• Transcripts for non-degree courses are  not  needed,
• Transfer credits and courses taken as part of a study-abroad program will usually be included in your degree-awarding institution's transcript. There's no need to submit separate transcripts from those other institutions;
• Two letters of recommendation , though we strongly advise you to ask for three;
• An academic statement (1000 word max) answering the following questions: what are your academic interests, why do you wish to pursue graduate studies in our department, how has your academic and professional background prepared you for graduate study, and how will our program help you achieve your intellectual and professional goals? Please include mention of any research, training, or educational experiences you have that would be relevant to our program;
• A personal statement (500 word max)  addressing how , as a student in our graduate program, you could contribute to an intellectual community that prioritizes equity, inclusion, belonging, and cultural humility.  Your answer may draw upon past or present experiences, whether in academic work, extracurricular or community activities, or everyday life;
• It is not required, but feel free to submit an additional statement (250 word max) addressing concerns you may have with your application. If you feel that your academic credentials do not demonstrate your true capabilities, or if there are gaps in your academic career that you think it would  like to explain, this is the section in which to share that information;
• Please do not submit creative writing samples of any kind;
• Standard margins, Times New Roman 12 pt, double spaced;
• You may submit more than one sample, so long as the total page count does not exceed 25
• To be considered official, the exam must have been taken no more than two years prior to the intended September of entry ,
• Because of the level of English fluency required of students in our program, we will only consider applications with a TOEFL score of at least 100, or IELTS score of at least 7,
• Rules governing exemptions from this requirement can be found in our  FAQ ;
• Additional details from Northwestern's Graduate School about the application (including further details on the TOEFL/IELTS requirement, transcript submission, application fees, etc...) can be found on The Graduate School's website .

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• PhD in English Language and Literature
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The doctoral program in English Language and Literature is designed to lead to the PhD in six years of post-baccalaureate study. Students can specialize in diverse fields of British, American, or Anglophone literatures and explore a wide range of critical, theoretical, and cultural perspectives on those literatures.

The program assures that students gain broad literary and cultural knowledge along with the research skills that will allow them to make innovative contributions to the world of ideas.

We are committed to the idea that learning is a social process, and that one can learn a great deal from one's peers when lodged in a community that encourages students to share ideas. Such a community is impossible to establish when students are made to compete for funding with one another, however. To foster a collective enterprise, we guarantee six years of funding to all admitted students. During the first and fifth years of graduate studies, all students in English Language and Literature receive a full fellowship which consists of a living stipend, tuition costs, and health care benefits. In later years, students receive tuition, health care, and living expenses as part-time graduate student instructors (GSIs). The department, in conjunction with the Rackham School of Graduate Studies, is also committed to supporting students' professional activities and pays many of the expenses for research travel and for participation in academic conferences. The second year of fellowship support is provided by a number of annual dissertation fellowships, awarded to deserving students by the graduate program, the graduate school, and the Institute for the Humanities. 

The department strongly recommends for applications to the doctoral program to hold a bachelor's or master's degree in English.For more information on how to apply to the PhD in English Language & Literature, please review the  How to Apply: PhD in English Language & Literature page.

Program Requirements

Foreign Language Requirement:  Satisfied by coursework or departmental examination in the first two years of the doctoral program.

• 2 basic languages, equivalent to 2 years of college study or
• 1 advanced language, equivalent to 3 years of college study

Specific Course Requirements:

• Introduction to Graduate Studies
• 3 upper level seminars
• 2 cognate courses (graduate level coursework outside of the English Department)
• 992, directed study with the dissertation chair

No other specific coursework is required, but students are expected to devote the first year to a broad, well-balanced coverage of the discipline. Subsequent coursework in the second and third years should be directed primarily toward the student's special areas of interest.

Third-Term Review:  In the first term of the second year, each student's career will be reviewed to provide direction, counseling, and an early professional orientation. If the review is favorable, the Graduate Committee will recommend that the student continue to work for the PhD.

Preliminary Examination:  During the second year, each student chooses three faculty members to serve on his or her Examinations Committee. During the third year, each student must successfully complete one oral examination administered by the Examinations Committee.

Dissertation Prospectus:  A prospectus outlining plans for the student's dissertation must be approved by the Graduate Chair by the fall of the fourth year of the PhD program. Future fellowships and other support are contingent upon the timely completion of the prospectus.

Candidate Status:  In order to be nominated for candidacy, a student must complete two years of coursework, including cognates; meet the foreign language requirement; and receive a favorable third-term review.

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Ph.D. in Literature

General info.

• Faculty working with students: 16
• Students: 26
• Students receiving Financial Aid: 93%
• Part time study available: No
• Application terms: Fall
• Application deadline: December 2

Roberto Dainotto Director of Graduate Studies Program in Literature Duke University Box 90670 Durham, NC  27708-0670

Email: [email protected]

Website:  http://literature.duke.edu/

Program Description

The Graduate Program in Literature (GPL) endeavors to train future scholars in theory and global culture. Originally conceived as a critical expansion of "comparative literature" beyond its founding Eurocentrism and its (near) exclusive focus on literature and language, the GPL hosts a robust range of scholarship and teaching in a variety of areas, ranging from feminist and gender studies to political theory and Marxism, from psychoanalysis to cognitive studies and neuroscience, from philosophy of language and experimental literature to media studies in the digital age, and from global cinema and film theory to visual culture and postcolonial studies. The program defines itself through its diverse investment in theory and is dedicated to understanding literary and cultural history as a complex and evolving exchange between the past and the (future-oriented) present.

The immense geopolitical changes of the last decades have challenged the logic of the traditional disciplines, altered the status of the arts, and interrogated classical aesthetic values. With its broad and open-ended embrace of global cultural objects and processes, the GPL seeks to theorize the cultural upheaval of recent times in all of its contemporary richness.  By questioning the traditional conception of literature as a privileged cultural domain, and of the literary text as an isolatable aesthetic object, the GPL adopts a "post-textualist" approach to culture - including literature - that engages the profusion of diverse modes of production across received boundaries. We encourage our students to explore the connections between theory and innovations in other disciplines - anthropology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, art history, film and media, gender and sexuality studies, religious studies, the history and philosophy of science and technology, law - that share an investment in narrativity, structure, communication, and interpretation.

• Literature: PhD Admissions and Enrollment Statistics
• Literature: PhD Completion Rate Statistics
• Literature: PhD Time to Degree Statistics
• Literature: PhD Career Outcomes Statistics

Application Information

Application Terms Available:  Fall

Application Deadline:  December 2

Graduate School Application Requirements See the Application Instructions page for important details about each Graduate School requirement.

• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts required with application submission; official transcripts required upon admission
• Letters of Recommendation: 3 Required
• Statement of Purpose: Required
• Résumé: Required
• GRE Scores: GRE General (Optional)
• English Language Exam: TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test required* for applicants whose first language is not English *test waiver may apply for some applicants
• GPA: Undergraduate GPA calculated on 4.0 scale required

Department-Specific Application Requirements (submitted through online application)

Writing Sample The submission of a writing sample (limited to 15-25 pages) is required.  It should be an essay (nonfiction), preferably a critical or scholarly essay submitted as an academic requirement in a course related to literary/critical theory broadly understood.  The writing sample should be uploaded in the Departmental Requirements section of the application.

We strongly encourage you to review additional department-specific application guidance from the program to which you are applying: Departmental Application Guidance

List of Graduate School Programs and Degrees

Department of English

Graduate Program Overview

Ph.D. Program in English at Princeton

The aim of the Princeton graduate program in English is to produce well-trained and field-transforming scholars, insightful and imaginative critics, and effective and creative teachers. The Ph.D. program is both rigorous and supportive. With two years of coursework and three years of research and teaching, all fully funded, it is possible to complete the degree in five years. We offer multiple funding opportunities for research fellowships in year six, should students need additional time for dissertation completion and for the academic job market, or for pursuing other career opportunities.

Princeton is a research institution with strengths across the disciplines, but it maintains a feeling of intimacy. In keeping with the goals of the University at large, the Department of English seeks to cultivate and sustain a  diverse , cosmopolitan, and lively intellectual community. Because this is a residential university, whose traditions emphasize teaching as well as research, the faculty is easily accessible to students and committed to their progress.

The  faculty  of the Department of English is notable for its world-renowned scholarly reputation, and commitment to teaching and close collaboration with colleagues and students. The faculty showcases wide-ranging interdisciplinary interests as well as a diverse range of critical approaches within the discipline. In addition to offering seminars in every major historical field of concentration, from medieval to contemporary literatures, we offer a wide range of theoretical specializations in fields such as feminist theory, gender and sexuality studies, psychoanalysis, Marxism, postcolonialism, environmental studies, political and social theory, and cultural studies. Students may also take courses in cognate departments such as comparative literature, classics, philosophy, linguistics, history, and art history.

Course of Study

The graduate program in English is a five-year program (with multiple opportunities for funding in year six) leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). Students may not enroll for a Master of Arts degree. During the first two years, students prepare for the General Examination through work in seminars, and directed or independent reading. The third, fourth, and fifth years are devoted the writing of a dissertation, and to teaching in undergraduate courses. Through numerous funding opportunities, we are able to offer sixth-year students generous research support.

Although programs are flexible, during the first two years graduate students normally take an average of three courses per semester, to complete the required 12 courses by the end of the second year. The comprehensive General Examination is then taken at the beginning of the third year of study.

Students must also demonstrate a reading knowledge of two foreign languages before the completion of the General Examination.

Course Requirements

Graduate students are required to take a minimum of twelve courses over their first two years in the program, usually enrolling in three courses per semester.

Our distribution requirements are designed to acquaint each student with a diverse range of historical periods and thematic and methodological concerns. The Department values both historical expertise and theoretical inquiry, and assumes that our discipline includes the study of film, visual culture, and media studies.

Graduate Students in English must take courses in each of the following six areas:

• Medieval and Renaissance
• 18th Century and 19th Century
• Modern and Contemporary
• Race, Ethnicity, and Postcoloniality
• Gender and Sexuality

All distribution requirements must be taken for a letter grade. The six-course distribution requirement comprises 50% of the courses required for the degree, leaving sufficient room for intensive coursework in areas of specialization. 

While some graduate seminars may cover more than one field, students may not use one course to fulfill two or more distribution requirements at the same time. For example, a medieval course with a substantial commitment to theory may fulfill either the medieval and Renaissance or the theory requirements.

Each entering student is assigned a faculty advisor who works with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in planning course selection in the first and second years. After successfully submitting and presenting the dissertation proposal during the spring of the third year, students choose three faculty members to serve as their dissertation advisers.

Graduate Action Committee (GAC)

The Graduate Action Committee (GAC) is a representative group of graduate students in the Department that advocates for graduate student with faculty and administration. Among its primary goals are representing the concerns of the entire graduate student body, promoting intellectual and social interaction between faculty and graduate students, organizing an annual speaker series of distinguished academics, and improving the quality of graduate student life at Princeton. Every graduate student in the Department is welcome and encouraged to participate in GAC.

Working Group on Graduate Issues (WGGI)

The Working Group on Graduate Issues (WGGI) is a four- or five-person elected group of students who meet at several points during the academic year with the chair, director of graduate studies, and one additional faculty member to represent graduate student concerns.

In addition to participating in a variety of seminars and colloquia organized by the Department and other units at the University, graduate students are welcome to organize colloquia of their own. These may involve the discussion of an article or problem, the presentation of a paper, or a forum for debate.

Graduate students who have passed the General Examination are required to teach in undergraduate courses. While the minimum Department requirement is four hours, most students teach more than this. Students may conduct sections of large lecture courses, or direct precepts in upper-division courses. This teaching is supervised by experienced members of the faculty. The Department and University also offer, on an annual basis, a teacher training seminar and workshop. Advanced graduate students may co-design and co-teach courses with faculty through the  Collaborative Teaching Initiative . 

Library Collections

In addition to the general collections of Princeton’s libraries, Firestone Library has a number of special collections that are particularly rich in materials for study: one of the most important collections of medieval and renaissance manuscripts in the United States; works of the Restoration Period, with emphasis on drama; the theater collection, which contains materials for the study of theatrical history; extensive collections concerning the history and literature of the middle Atlantic and southern states; little poetry magazines; concrete and visual poetry; the Sinclair Hamilton Collection of American Illustrated books, 1670–1870; the Morris L. Parrish Collection of Victorian Novelists; the J. Harlin O’Connell Collection of the 1890's and the Gallatin Collection of Aubrey Beardsley; and the archives of major American publishing houses. The extensive Miriam Y. Holden Collection of Books on the History of Women is located adjacent to the Department’s literature collection in the Scribner Room.

Job Placement

We offer strong support and deep resources for students pursuing careers inside and outside academia. Our Job Placement and Career Resources page provides details, as well as information and statistics about recent academic appointments.

Admission  and Financial Aid

Competition for admission to the program is keen. About ten new students from a wide range of backgrounds are enrolled each year. The Department looks for candidates of outstanding ability and intellectual promise who have the potential to be lively, effective, and sympathetic scholars and teachers. Its judgments are based on letters of recommendation, transcripts, a personal statement, and a sample of the candidate’s academic writing. GRE scores are not required. Facility in foreign languages is also taken into account. To access the online application, please visit the  Graduate Admission Office .

All admitted students are fully funded. Fellowships are awarded by the Graduate School on the Department’s recommendation. Students are also eligible to apply for competitive external and internal fellowships, such as those offered by the Graduate School, the Center for Human Values, and the Center for the Study of Religion.

English Department

The Department offices, lecture halls, and seminar rooms are located in McCosh Hall. There are two libraries in McCosh Hall: the Thorp Library, home to the Bain-Swiggett Library of Contemporary Poetry, and the Hinds Library, the Department’s reading room and lounge. There is also a separate English Graduate Reading Room in Firestone Library, where reserve books for graduate seminars are kept on the shelves. It is adjacent to the Scribner Room, the Department's large non-circulating collection of books and journals.

The Graduate School provides University housing for about 65 percent of the graduate student body. New students have first priority. Although housing in the Princeton area is expensive, many graduate students find convenient and attractive private housing, sharing accommodations or investigating neighboring towns. There are also opportunities for graduate students to apply for resident positions in the undergraduate colleges.

Visiting Princeton

Applicants for admission are welcome to visit the campus at any time, and  tours  of the campus are available. Once the formal admissions period is over by the end of February, admitted students will be invited to campus and will have the opportunity to visit seminars, and meet with faculty and current graduate students.

Comparative Literature

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Harvard’s Department of Comparative Literature is one of the most dynamic and diverse in the country. Its impressive faculty has included such scholars as Harry Levine, Claudio Guillén, and Barbara Johnson. You will study literatures from a wide range of historical periods and cultures while learning to conduct cutting-edge research through an exhilarating scope of methods and approaches.

Your dissertation research is well supported by Harvard’s unparalleled library system, the largest university collection in the world, comprising 70 libraries with combined holdings of over 16 million items.

Recent student dissertations include “Imagined Mothers: The Construction of Italy, Ancient Greece, and Anglo-American Hegemony,” “The Untimely Avant-Garde: Literature, Politics and Transculturation in the Sinosphere (1909-2020),” and “Artificial Humanities: A Literary Perspective on Creating and Enhancing Humans from Pygmalion to Cyborgs.”

In addition to securing faculty positions at academic institutions such as Princeton University, Emory University, and Tufts University, graduates have gone on to careers in contiguous fields including the visual arts, music, anthropology, philosophy, and medicine.  Others have chosen alternative careers in film production, administration, journalism, and law.

 Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Comparative Literature and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Comparative Literature .

Writing Sample

The writing sample is supposed to demonstrate your ability to engage in literary criticism and/or theory. It can be a paper written for a course or a section of a senior thesis or essay. It is usually between 10 and 20 pages. Do not send longer papers with instructions to read an excerpt; you should edit the sample so that it is not more than 20 pages. Writing samples should be in English, although candidates are permitted to submit an additional writing sample written in a different language.

Statement of Purpose

The statement of purpose should give the admissions committee a clear sense of your individual interests and strengths. Applicants are not required to indicate a precise field of specialization, but it is helpful to tell us about your aspirations and how the Department of Comparative Literature might help in attaining these goals. The statement of purpose should be one to four pages in length.

Personal Statement

Standardized tests.

GRE General: Optional GRE Subject: Optional

Theses and Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Comparative Literature

See list of Comparative Literature faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

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• Guidelines for Admission

Application for admission to the Harvard English Graduate Program is completed through the  Graduate School of Arts and Sciences .  The application deadline for 2023-2024 admission is January 5th, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  For a full list of application requirements and instructions for the application process, please see the  GSAS Application Instructions  and  GSAS Admissions Requirements .

The Harvard English Department does not discriminate against applicants or students on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry or any other protected classification.

The following is a set of general guidelines for the English Department’s admissions process. It should be noted that while several areas are emphasized here, the Admissions Committee carefully examines the overall profile of each applicant, taking these and other aspects of the application into consideration:

Writing Samples

The writing samples (one primary and one secondary) are highly significant parts of the application. Candidates should submit two double-spaced, 15-page papers of no more than 5,000 words each, in 12-point type, and with 1-inch margins. The writing samples must be examples of critical writing (rather than creative writing) on subjects directly related to English. Applicants should not send longer papers with instructions to read an excerpt or excerpts, but should edit the samples themselves so that they submit only fifteen pages for each paper. Candidates who know the field in which they expect to specialize should, when possible, submit a primary writing sample related to that field.

While candidates’ overall GPA is important, it is more important to have an average of no lower than A- in literature courses (and related courses). In addition, while we encourage applications from candidates in programs other than English, they must have both the requisite critical skills and a foundation in English literature for graduate work in English. Most of our successful candidates have some knowledge of all the major fields of English literary study and advanced knowledge of the field in which they intend to study.

Three Letters of Recommendation

It is important to have strong letters of recommendation from professors who are familiar with candidates’ academic work. Applicants who have been out of school for several years should try to reestablish contact with former professors. Additional letters from employers may also be included. Recommenders should comment not only on the applicant’s academic readiness for our PhD program but also on the applicant’s future potential as teachers and scholars. 

Unfortunately, Interfolio does not work well with Harvard’s online application system. We ask that your recommenders upload their letters directly to the online application, with upload tool provided.

Statement of Purpose

The Statement of Purpose is not a personal statement and should not be heavily weighted down with autobiographical anecdotes. It should be no longer than 1,000 words. It should focus on giving the admissions committee a clear sense of applicants’ individual interests and strengths. Applicants need not indicate a precise field of specialization, if they do not know, but it is helpful to know something about a candidate’s professional aspirations and sense of their own skills, as well as how the Harvard English department might help in attaining their goals. Those who already have a research topic in mind should outline it in detail, giving a sense of how they plan their progress through the program. Those who do not should at least attempt to define the questions and interests they foresee driving their work over the next few years.

While there are no specific prerequisites for admission, a strong language background helps to strengthen the application, and students who lack it should be aware that they will need to address these gaps during their first two years of graduate study. For more details, please see the “Language Requirements” section of the Program Description .

The GRE General and Subject Tests are not required as part of the English PhD application process. Students wishing to send in scores may do so, but they will not be factored into the admissions decision.

Areas of Study

Unspecified | Medieval | Renaissance/Early Modern | 18th Century/Enlightenment | 19th Century British/Romantics/Victorian | Early American (to 1900) | 20th Century British | 20th Century American | Criticism and Theory | The English Language | Transnational Anglophone/Postcolonial | African American Literature | Drama | Poetry

The Harvard English Department is committed to admitting and supporting a diverse community of graduate students. The Department encourages applications from students from all undergraduate institutions and backgrounds, including students of color and underrepresented minorities, queer and transgender students, first-generation students, foreign nationals, and veterans. The Department also encourages applications from students across a range of sub-fields, critical perspectives, and methodological orientations. You can browse current student research interests by going to “Graduate Students” under the “People” tab at the top of this page and sorting by field. For more information about issues of diversity at the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, please review the resources and informations below:

Diversity at GSAS

Perspectives: Resources for Minority Applicants 

Smooth Transitions: Organizations and Resources

W.E.B. Du Bois Graduate Society

Graduate Admissions FAQ

How many people apply to the program, and how many are admitted.

The PhD program in English at Harvard is extremely competitive. We receive an average of 300-350 applications per year, and we admit approximately 10-15 students (acceptance rate of about 4-5%).

Does the Department of English offer an MA or MFA?

No; the Department of English only offers a PhD in English Literature. Students already in the doctoral program who have met certain curricular requirements are able to apply for a non-terminal AM degree, but no terminal Master's program exists. We do not offer a graduate program in creative writing.

Does the Department of English offer a degree in TEFL/TESOL/TESL

No, the Department of English does not offer these programs. Our graduate program leads to a PhD in English Literature.

Are international applicants encouraged?

The department welcomes international applicants, including non-native English speakers who have a strong command of the English language. Per GSAS:

"Adequate  command of spoken and written English  is essential to success in graduate study at Harvard. Applicants who are non-native English speakers can demonstrate English proficiency in one of three ways:

• Receiving an undergraduate degree from an academic institution where English is the primary language of instruction.*
• Earning a minimum score of 80 on the Internet based test (iBT) of the  Test of English as a Foreign Language  (TOEFL)**
• Earning a minimum score of 6.5 on the  International English Language Testing System  (IELTS) Academic test.**

A master’s degree or other graduate degree is not accepted as proof of English proficiency.

*Special note for applicants with an undergraduate degree from a US institution where English was not the primary language of instruction: if a portion of your program was conducted in English, you may petition for a waiver of the TOEFL/IELTS requirement. Contact  [email protected]  for details.

**Some degree programs may require a higher score on either the TOEFL or IELTS. Visit your  degree program  page of interest for more information."

Many international students inquire about non-degree granting program. Information for Special Student, Visiting Fellow, and other programs can be found here .

Can accepted students enroll on a part-time basis?

No, our graduate program is full-time, and requires residency at Harvard. The majority of our students take five or six years to obtain their PhD. If you are interested in taking graduate courses part-time, online, and/or at night, you may want to look into the offerings of the Harvard Extension School .

Can accepted students pursue a secondary field of study?

Yes. For a list of fields and more information, please visit the secondary field of study page on the GSAS website . Students who choose to pursue courses for a secondary field remain under GSAS time limits and must meet all milestones and deadlines in the English PhD program.

Does the department offer financial aid?

Admissions decisions are made without knowing the financial need of the applicants, so that financial status (including availability of supplemental funding) plays no role in the assessment of one's suitability for admission. All students (including international students) who are admitted to the PhD program receive full and equal funding, through tuition waivers and modest living stipends. Teaching fellowships are made available to graduate students starting in their third year. You may want to review the "Tuition and Fees" section of GSAS's website for details about other fees and the approximate cost of living in Cambridge.

Can you provide a list of required documents for application?

-  Two writing samples  (one primary and one secondary) 15-pages in length each, double-spaced (bibliographies do not count toward the page limit).

-  A Statement of Purpose  of 1000 words, which gives a clear sense of your strengths and interests and which details what you wish to pursue in a doctoral program.

-  Transcripts  from each college/university attended. The Graduate School requires that you upload your transcript(s) with your online application. Please do not send paper transcripts.

-  Three recommendations  from faculty members who can speak to your academic capabilities.  All recommendations should be uploaded via the GSAS online application system.  Please do not send paper recommendations. We do not recommend the use of Interfolio.

- A minimum score of 80 on the TOEFL iBT (internet-based test) is required for all non-native English speakers who have not received a degree from a university or college in which English is the language of instruction.

What if I am missing any of the required components?

An incomplete application will still be reviewed in its entirety, but it will not be seen as competitive as applications considered "complete."

What if I did not major in English as an undergraduate?

Students admitted to our program have not always been English majors as undergraduates; however, applicants must have both the requisite critical skills and a foundation in English literature for graduate work. This is generally demonstrated by substantial undergraduate coursework and recommendations from faculty in the field. Applicants from other disciplines will sometimes pursue a Master’s degree (or other graduate coursework) in English Literature first – before applying to the PhD program – to obtain a stronger background in the subject.

What if I already have a Master's Degree in English?

If you already have an MA, a maximum of four graduate-level courses may be transferred from the other institution, at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies. Transferred courses will count as 100-level courses toward your PhD requirements. Please note that an MA is not required for admission to the PhD Program – and indeed, the majority of our applicants do not have one.

Is proficiency in languages other than English required?

There are no specific language prerequisites for admission, but a solid background in languages other than English, particularly those that would be useful for scholarly research, will strengthen your application. Demonstrated reading knowledge of two languages (usually Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, and Italian) is required by the beginning of the third year in the program. You can view examples of past language exams on our  Resources for Grad Students page.

Can I meet with a professor?

Appointments to meet with faculty members must be made by contacting them directly. You can find their contact info on the faculty page .

Where should I mail supplemental application materials?

The entire application system is conducted online. Please do not send any paper materials to the English Department. GSAS admissions also no longer accepts paper materials. 

I'm having a technical problem with the GSAS online application.

The Department of English is not able to troubleshoot or provide help for technical issues with the online application tool. Please click the “Technical Support” link on the application login screen to notify tech support.

When will I hear back about application decisions?

GSAS Admissions sends out letters containing application decisions in early- to mid-March. Please note that the English Department is not able to answer questions about a candidate’s application status over the phone or via email.

Can I study as a visiting fellow at Harvard?

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offers the option of enrolling as a Special Student or Visiting Fellow. See here for more details. Please note that the Department of English does not play a role in the administration of this program.

I have another question that hasn't been answered here.

Please email questions to [email protected] .

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About our program 

The UC Santa Cruz doctoral program in literature offers an innovative multilingual and multidisciplinary approach to literary studies, involving the use of more than one language literature. The program is relatively small, and students work closely with faculty throughout their graduate careers. They are encouraged to take advantage of the rich array of intellectual and cultural events, research clusters, and lectures offered on campus.

The doctoral program combines critical and independent thought with global perspectives. Working across linguistic, national, and period boundaries, students blend critical approaches, literary traditions, and/or cultural archives in comparative and interdisciplinary projects.

A Creative/Critical Writing concentration within the Ph.D. program is available, for which prospective students apply during the admissions process. Creative/Critical applicants submit additional creative writing samples of poetry, prose fiction, creative nonfiction or hybrid/cross genre. Students in the Creative/Critical concentration complete all the requirements for the literature Ph.D. with the addition of a creative/critical degree component in the form of coursework, original creative work with a critical introduction and, if desired, work in poetics, translation, form and/or critical writing focused on creative practices.

Students may apply for a designated emphasis on the literature doctoral diploma in programs and departments such as Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Education, Feminist Studies, History of Consciousness, Latin American and Latino Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, and the History of Art and Visual Culture. Applications and requirements are available at the respective department offices.

For specific information on course and degree requirements, please see our current student handbook . To get an idea of our recent graduate course offerings, please see our current courses . 

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Last modified: August 12, 2024 185.126.86.119

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MA/PhD in English Language and Literature

Program Overview

Our MA/PhD in English Language and Literature is an integrated program that allows students to earn an MA on the way to the PhD. We do not admit students for a terminal MA degree. The program receives over 250 applications of admission each year and typically enrolls an entering class of 10-14 students, all of whom receive funding.   

The MA/PhD program offers two tracks: one in Literature and Culture, the other in Language and Rhetoric. Within each track, students will develop individualized programs of study in close consultation with faculty mentors. Intellectually, there is substantial connection between work in these areas of the department: faculty teaching in the Language and Rhetoric track are certainly thinking about matters of culture, just as faculty teaching in Literature and Culture clearly attend to the nature and politics of language. Students in either track can and do take courses in the other.

However, these two tracks offer distinct forms of professional training and accreditation: students in the Literature and Culture track are trained to conduct research and to teach in literary and cultural studies (e.g., in fields such as Victorian literature, ecocritism, or contemporary speculative fiction). Students in the Language and Rhetoric track are trained to conduct research and to teach in areas broadly related to language-in-use (e.g., in fields such as composition studies, rhetoric, history of English, applied linguistics, literacy, and writing pedagogy). Their research might study practices in the composition classroom or might address topics in discourse analysis, language policy, and translingualism. On completion of the PhD, Literature and Culture students are qualified to apply for jobs teaching in their area of literary or cultural study; students in Language and Rhetoric are qualified to apply for jobs in rhetoric and composition studies, applied linguistics, or writing program administration. When applying to the program, applicants must choose between these two tracks and may not apply to both simultaneously.

Department faculty work across a range of historical periods (Medieval, Early Modern, 19 th , 20 th , and 21 st centuries) and methodological frameworks with a focus on the study of discourse, literacy, textuality, genre (including speculative fiction and SF), gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, postcoloniality, indigeneity, disability, environment, media, and public culture. For a fuller snapshot of the work we do, please consult our faculty profiles . 

Application Information

Application materials are due December 1. (If December 1 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, then the deadline is the following Monday.)  Offers of admission are usually made by mid-March.  

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For frequently asked questions, please see our  MA/PhD FAQ  page. 

Funding Opportunities

We offer a funding package to all admitted MA/PhD students. The funding package includes a tuition waiver, health insurance, and a monthly stipend during the academic year through an Academic Student Employee position. In general, duties include teaching one English class, assisting in a large lecture and leading quiz sections, or assisting in program administration.

PhD students also have opportunities to compete for fellowships and scholarships offered through the Department of English.

• Check out our other Funding Opportunities

MA/PhD Degree Requirements

MA/PhD degree requirements can be found here: PhD Degree Requirements .

Students who enter our PhD program without a related master’s degree will be required to complete an MA in the first two years. More information can be found here:  MA/PhD Degree Requirements: Master's Degree .

Placement & Alumni

A recent survey of our graduates from 2008-2018 showed the following employment rates:

• 43% in tenure-track positions
• 43% in other academic positions (not tenure-track)
• 8% in professional careers

Dissertation abstracts from recent graduates can be found here: Graduate Research .

Check out our  PhD Alumni Spotlight page where recent alumni have shared their current job placements, highlights from their time at UW, and advice for current and prospective students. 

Contact an advisor

• We welcome questions and correspondence from prospective graduate students at  [email protected]
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Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature

Get a ph.d. in creative writing and literature.

Admission to the creative writing program is extremely competitive, with up to 20 new students across the two genres selected each year from the hundreds of applications received from around the world. The curriculum for Ph.D. students emphasizes creative writing and literary study. The city of Houston offers a vibrant, multi-cultural backdrop for studying creative writing at the University of Houston. With a dynamic visual and performing arts scene, the Houston metropolitan area supplies a wealth of aesthetic materials.

Overview of Admissions Requirements

Minimum requirements for admission.

• M.A. in English or M.F.A. in Creative Writing  
• 3.5 GPA in graduate studies 

Application Deadline

The admissions deadline for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature is January 15.

For more admissions information, visit the How to Apply web page for our Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature.  

History of the Creative Writing Program

Over the years many more internationally acclaimed writers have made the Program their home, including Mary Gaitskill, Richard Howard, Howard Moss, Linda Gregg, Adam Zagajewski, Daniel Stern, David Wojahn, Edward Hirsch, Alan Hollinghurst, Mark Strand, David Wagoner, Philip Levine, Charles Wright, Claudia Rankine, Kimiko Hahn, Mark Doty and Ruben Martinez.

Current faculty includes Erin Belieu, Robert Boswell, Audrey Colombe, Chitra Divakaruni, Nick Flynn, francine j. harris, Antonya Nelson, Alex Parsons, Kevin Prufer, Brenda Peynado, Martha Serpas, Roberto Tejada, and Peter Turchi.

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Writing a research proposal for the PhD in English Literature

You apply for the PhD in English Literature through the University’s online Degree Finder. Here is our guidance on how to write an effective application.

The two elements of an application that are most useful to us when we consider a candidate for the PhD in English Literature are the sample of written work and the research proposal.

You will probably choose your sample of written work from an already-completed undergraduate or masters-level dissertation or term-paper.

Your research proposal will be something new. It will describe the project that you want to complete for your PhD.

Your research proposal

Take your time in composing your research proposal, carefully considering the requirements outlined below. Your proposal should not be more than 2,000 words .

PhD degrees are awarded on the basis of a thesis of up to 100,000 words. The ‘Summary of roles and responsibilities’ in the University’s Code of Practice for Supervisors and Research Students stipulates what a research thesis must do. 

Take me to the Code of Practice for Supervisors and Research Students (August 2020)

It is in the nature of research that, when you begin, you don’t know what you’ll find. This means that your project is bound to change over the time that you spend on it.

In submitting your research proposal, you are not committing yourself absolutely to completing exactly the project it describes in the event that you are accepted. Nevertheless, with the above points in mind, your research proposal should include the following elements, though not necessarily in this order:

1. An account of the body of primary texts that your thesis will examine. This may be work by one author, or several, or many, depending on the nature of the project. It is very unlikely to consist of a single text, however, unless that text is unusually compendious (The Canterbury Tales) or unusually demanding (Finnegans Wake). Unless your range of texts consists in the complete oeuvre of a single writer, you should explain why these texts are the ones that need to be examined in order to make your particular argument.

2. An identification of the existing field or fields of criticism and scholarship of which you will need to gain an ‘adequate knowledge’ in order to complete your thesis. This must include work in existing literary criticism, broadly understood. Usually this will consist of criticism or scholarship on the works or author(s) in question. In the case of very recent writing, or writing marginal to the established literary canon, on which there may be little or no existing critical work, it might include literary criticism written on other works or authors in the same period, or related work in the same mode or genre, or some other exercise of literary criticism that can serve as a reference point for your engagement with this new material.

The areas of scholarship on which you draw are also likely to include work in other disciplines, however. Most usually, these will be arguments in philosophy or critical theory that have informed, or could inform, the critical debate around your primary texts, or may have informed the texts themselves; and/or the historiography of the period in which your texts were written or received. But we are ready to consider the possible relevance of any other body of knowledge to literary criticism, as long as it is one with which you are sufficiently familiar, or could become sufficiently familiar within the period of your degree, for it to serve a meaningful role in your argument.

3. The questions or problems that the argument of your thesis will address; the methods you will adopt to answer those questions or explain those problems; and some explanation of why this particular methodology is the appropriate means of doing so. The problem could take many forms: a simple gap in the existing scholarship that you will fill; a misleading approach to the primary material that you will correct; or a difficulty in the relation of the existing scholarship to theoretical/philosophical, historiographical, or other disciplinary contexts, for example. But in any case, your thesis must engage critically with the scholarship of others by mounting an original argument in relation to the existing work in your field or fields. In this way your project must go beyond the summarising of already-existing knowledge.

4. Finally, your proposal should include a provisional timetable , describing the stages through which you hope your research will move over the course of your degree. It is crucial that, on the one hand, your chosen topic should be substantial enough to require around 80,000 words for its full exploration; and, on the other hand, that it has clear limits which would allow it to be completed in three years.

When drawing up this timetable, keep in mind that these word limits, and these time constraints, will require you to complete 25–30,000 words of your thesis in each of the years of your degree. If you intend to undertake your degree on a part-time basis, the amount of time available simply doubles.

In composing your research proposal you are already beginning the work that could lead, if you are accepted, to the award of a PhD degree. Regard it, then, as a chance to refine and focus your ideas, so that you can set immediately to work in an efficient manner on entry to university. But it bears repeating that that your project is bound to evolve beyond the project described in your proposal in ways that you cannot at this stage predict. No-one can know, when they begin any research work, where exactly it will take them. That provides much of the pleasure of research, for the most distinguished professor as much as for the first-year PhD student. If you are accepted as a candidate in this department, you will be joining a community of scholars still motivated by the thrill of finding and saying something new.

Ready to apply?

If you have read the guidance above and are ready to apply for your PhD in English Literature, you can do so online through the University of Edinburgh's Degree Finder.

Applications to start your PhD in September 2025 open in October 2024.

Take me to the Degree Finder entry for the PhD in English Literature

If you've got any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Aaron Kelly by email in the first instance.

Email Dr Aaron Kelly