L. Robert Stevens, Chair
Graduate Faculty: Baird, Bogle, Bond, Buckalew, Clogan, Duban, Eubank, Ford, Holdeman, Jetton, Kesterson, Kobler, Leath, Lee, Martin, May, Mitchell, Montler, Nichols, Palmer, Parrish, Pettit, Preston, Raign, Richardson, Rodman, Ross, Shirk, Simpkins, Sims, Spiller, Stevens, Tanner, Vann, Warde, Wright.
Students in the graduate program in the Department of English will have the opportunity to study with active scholars who publish regularly and lecture both in the United States and abroad in their areas of scholarly interest. Graduates who choose to pursue a college or university position can make use of the department's associations with other departments in several countries to find employment. Students who choose to use their skills in business or industry will find that the department's intern program can place them in paid positions that will allow them to put their liberal arts education to work on practical tasks. Technical writing, creative writing, process analysis, journalism, advertising and management positions are among the many jobs held by students and graduates of the department.
Library holdings in English are strong in British literature and American literature. The rare books collection includes manuscripts and incunabula. Especially strong are library holdings in prose fiction, both primary works and criticism, and Texana. The library maintains special collections of 18th- and 19th-century travel narratives; 18th-century English literature; 19th- and early 20th-century children's literature; and manuscripts, papers and special editions of the novelist Larry McMurtry, a UNT graduate.
Members of the faculty regularly contribute articles to such journals as Centennial Review, Literary Review, Philological Quarterly, Lingua, Modern Philology, Chaucer Review, Semiotica, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Technical Communication Quarterly, Language Variation and Change, Second Language Research, and Studies in Language. English faculty have also recently published books on Hemingway, Mansfield, Melville, Porter, Smollett, Victorian periodicals, serialized Victorian novels, Texas literature, the core curriculum, professional communication, Universal Grammar, American Indian language, and African-American Vernacular English. They have also read papers at national and international conferences such as those of the Modern Language Association, the Linguistic Society of America, and the Second Language Research Forum.
The student who has permission to write a thesis or to enroll in ENGL 5920-5930 must complete a total of 30 semester hours of work, including either 6 hours of thesis credit (ENGL 5950) or 6 hours of credit in ENGL 5920-5930, as approved by the graduate adviser.
International students may satisfy the GRE requirement by making a score of 575 on the TOEFL examination. In addition, the international student must submit an essay to be judged by the graduate committee.
A student who has permission to write a thesis or to enroll in ENGL 5920-5930 will not be allowed to register for the courses until the foreign language requirement has been met.
No student who has permission to write a thesis or to enroll in ENGL 5920-5930 will be allowed to register for the courses until the foreign language requirement has been met.
The student who is given permission to write a thesis or to enroll in ENGL 5920-5930 will complete 21 hours of course work in addition to the required courses listed above. Course work to complete the additional requirements may be taken in the traditional areas of literature, technical writing, creative writing, or linguistics, as approved by the chair of graduate studies.
The student, during the first semester of graduate work, must consult the chair of graduate studies.
Only one 4000-level course may count toward the Master of Arts with a major in English.
No more than one 4000-level course may be counted as part of the degree program.
All applicants must meet the following minimum standards.
1. Graduate Record Examination. While most students in the doctoral program have scores above the 85th percentile, every applicant is required to make a score representing the 70th percentile or above on the verbal portion of the aptitude test. The student must also meet GRE requirements established by the Graduate Council and must comply with general regulations concerning the GRE in relevant sections of this bulletin.
2. Academic record. The applicant must have at least a 3.5 overall GPA on all undergraduate semester hours of work prior to receiving the bachelor's degree. An applicant who has completed any graduate-level work must have at least a 3.5 overall GPA on such graduate work.
3. School of Graduate Studies admission. The applicant must meet the qualifications for admission set by the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies of the University of North Texas.
1. by passing the Foreign Language Proficiency Examination administered each semester and summer term by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, application for which must be obtained in the office of the chair of the department; scheduled dates for taking the examination in the current academic year appear in the front of this catalog; or
2. by completing four advanced courses (3000, 4000, or 5000 level) in a single foreign language, with a grade point average on all four courses of at least 3.0.
Students satisfying the requirement, by either method, through the UNT Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures will, generally, be limited to French, German, Latin or Spanish. Another language may be offered to satisfy the requirement, provided that both sufficient rationale as a tool and linguistic competency are demonstrated to the satisfaction of the graduate committee of the Department of English.
1. successful completion of all required courses;
2. successful completion of foreign language requirements; and
3. successful completion of the fourth year qualifying oral examination.
Scholarships may be awarded to incoming graduate students who show unusual promise as indicated by their application credentials. These will normally be one-year scholarships for students not yet eligible to be teaching fellows. Similar scholarships may also be awarded to students in their fifth year, principally to help defray the costs of producing a dissertation.
This self-contained English PhD program requires that twelve courses normally be taken sequentially within the first two years after admittance to the program (part-time students may take a little longer); therefore, the number of hours transferred into the program is limited to those courses deemed by the graduate committee to be essentially similar to courses specifically required here or to be suitable as electives, normally taken after the first two years of required courses. In no case will more than 24 hours taken at UNT or elsewhere be applied to this program either as required or elective courses.
Students who are in the master's program in English at UNT and who are qualified in all respects for the PhD program may apply for admission, with the same provision that only approved courses up to 24 hours may be applied to the doctorate. If they have completed applicable courses, these students may be admitted to fill vacancies in a prior year's class of 15 full-time (or 5 part-time) students or they may apply for admission as part of a new year's quota of 15 (or 5) students.
All students are admitted to begin work only in fall semesters.
Each student is encouraged to choose a major area by the end of the second year and must have chosen a major prior to registration for the spring semester of the third year.
The student must major in one of the following seven areas, and must write the dissertation in that area:
First year, fall semester: 9 semester hours, as follows: ENGL 5000, Old English; ENGL 5550, Studies in the Teaching of Composition, only for those who are teaching fellows the first year; ENGL 5580, Theories in Composition, for those who expect to become teaching fellows in the future or will not be teaching fellows ever; ENGL 5750, Bibliography and Methods of Research.
First year, spring semester: 9 semester hours, as follows: ENGL 5030, Studies in Medieval Literature; ENGL 5410, Studies in the British Renaissance; a course in the student's potential major area, as approved by the chair of graduate studies.
Second year, fall semester: 9 semester hours, as follows: ENGL 5250, Studies in British Literature of the Eighteenth Century; ENGL 5510, Studies in American Literature, 1800 to 1865; ENGL 5810, Studies in Literary Criticism.
Second year, spring semester: 9 semester hours, as follows: ENGL 5260, Studies in Nineteenth Century British Literature; ENGL 5520, Studies in American Literature, 1865 to 1914; a contemporary American literature course (ENGL 5530, 5890, or, when appropriate, 5800 or 6530) or a contemporary British literature course (ENGL 5540, 5490, or, when appropriate, 5800 or 6410).
Third year, fall semester: 9 semester hours chosen from courses or special problems in the student's major, potential major, or related fields of interest with the approval of the area adviser of the student's major or the chair of graduate studies.
Third year, spring semester: 9 semester hours chosen from courses or special problems in the student's major or related fields of interest with the approval of the area adviser of the student's major or the chair of graduate studies.
Fourth year, fall semester: 9 semester hours chosen from a combination of courses in the major and special problems topics, all as approved by the area adviser in the major area.
Fourth year, spring semester: 9 semester hours, as follows: research for the dissertation courses: ENGL 6941, 6942, 6943. A student may, with the approval of the area adviser, substitute one organized course for ENGL 6943.
Fifth year, fall semester: 9 semester hours, as follows: ENGL 6943 or 6944, Directed Research, for 3 hours of credit; ENGL 6950, Dissertation, for 6 hours credit.
Fifth year, spring semester: 9 semester hours, as follows: ENGL 6944, Directed Research, for 3 hours of credit; ENGL 6950, Dissertation, for 6 hours credit.
Students will be given a choice of essay topics in all the areas covered by the required course work and will write two 2-hour essays on topics from two different areas of the student's choice.This examination will normally be administered during the first summer session each year.
2. Fourth year oral examination. During the period from November 1 to the end of the fall semester of the fourth year in the program, each full-time student will take a two-hour oral examination covering the major only. Part-time students will be required to take this examination when they have reached an equivalent point in their program, i.e., the completion of approximately 54 hours of course work. This oral examination will be administered by an examination committee composed of at least three faculty members appointed by the chair of graduate studies in consultation with the area adviser of the relevant major area. Students may pass outright, may pass conditionally, or may fail. The conditional student may be required to write an essay(s) or retake all or part of the oral examination. The student who fails the oral may petition to take another oral examination the following spring semester, but will not be allowed to register for courses during that semester.
3. Final comprehensive examination (dissertation defense). The candidate is required to take an oral comprehensive examination over the contents of the dissertation. This examination will be administered and evaluated by the members of the student's dissertation committee.
2. Students cannot enroll for dissertation credit until the fourth year oral examination has been passed and foreign language requirements have been met.
3. Students enrolled for dissertation credit must comply with the continuous enrollment policy set forth in appropriate sections of this bulletin.
4. The dissertation committee is composed of four faculty members. The dissertation will be directed by a qualified faculty member whose area of expertise is in the student's major area. The three other members of the dissertation committee are comprised of two faculty members from the Department of English and one faculty member from a department other than English. Area advisers and the chair of graduate studies will assist students in the selection of the dissertation committee.
5. When the dissertation is completed and has received the preliminary approval of the dissertation committee, the dissertation director will schedule the final comprehensive examination (dissertation defense) and notify the chair of graduate studies in English and the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies of the date and time of the examination. The dissertation will be submitted to the chair of graduate studies in English only after this examination has been passed. After the approval of the chair of graduate studies in English has been secured, the dissertation will then be transmitted to the graduate dean's office and finally approved by the graduate dean.
6. Instructions for submitting the dissertation may be obtained from the graduate dean's office. Students should consult the Academic Calendar in the annual Graduate Catalog for deadlines.