English Language and Literature

Master of Arts

30 credits required. The only specifically required course is ENCR 801 (Introduction to Literary Research). This intensive one-week course, offered in late August and graded on an S/U basis, is a practical introduction to the techniques and uses of literary scholarship, tied to the resources of the University library system. In addition to ENCR 801, the M.A. requires 24 graded credits at the 500, 800, or 900 level, taken in residence at the University and completed with a grade of B or higher. These courses must satisfy the following distribution requirements:

1.        two courses in two different periods of literature before 1800

2.        one course in the history of criticism or literary theory

Students must also complete a final exercise: either an oral examination or a thesis. (Those electing to write a thesis enroll in ENGL 895, which counts as 3 graded credit hours.)  Finally, all students register for the 3-credit, placeholder course ENXX991, enabling them to meet the 30-credit requirement set by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. There is no transfer credit accepted toward the M.A. Students who receive two or more failing grades are not permitted to remain in the program.

MA students are required to demonstrate reading proficiency in a foreign language. This requirement is normally satisfied by passing a translation exam given by the appropriate University department. M.A students may also satisfy this requirement with an intermediate or advanced course taken as an undergraduate in which they received a grade of B or better.

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Candidates approved by the creative writing committee must complete a 30-credit/two year program in residence at the University of Virginia. All work must be completed and the degree received within five years of beginning the program. There is no foreign language requirement. A thesis in poetry or prose, and an oral examination are required. Deadline for applications to the M.F.A. Program and for the Hoyns Fellowships is January 1. The M.F.A. Program accepts only fall admissions.

Doctor of Philosophy (Language, Literature, and Research)

In addition to the general University requirements for the Ph.D. degree, the candidate must normally satisfy the following requirements:

I. Research Course: All entering doctoral candidates, including those who have earned an M.A. degree, must take ENCR 801, Introduction to Literary Research, a three-credit course for an S/U grade. This is usually offered at the end of August before the fall semester begins. (See Master of Arts requirements).

II. General Coursework: Doctoral candidates who come to the program without an M.A. must take twelve graded courses (at the 500, 800, or 900 level) in graduate English or approved related courses, in addition to ENCR 801 in the first semester, ENPG 880 (Teaching Literature) in the second semester, and ENGL 998 (Dissertation Seminar) in the fall of the fourth year. These courses must be chosen to satisfy the M.A. distribution requirements. Doctoral candidates audit two additional courses in their third year. The entire record of a doctoral student’s coursework (including audits or transfer credits) must include three 900-level seminars (not counting the Dissertation Seminar).

Normally, students who enter the doctoral program with the M.A. degree in hand will be allotted the equivalent of a year’s course credits, and will enroll in six graded courses at the 500, 800, or 900 level, plus ENCR 801 and ENGL 998.

III. Foreign Language: Demonstrate either a “reading knowledge” of two languages or a “mastery” of one. The candidate may demonstrate “mastery” by either

1. achieving passing grades in two graduate semester-courses in French or German literature offered in the foreign language itself (not in translation) and taken at the University of Virginia. Such courses, which may also be counted toward completion of the course requirements for the Ph.D. in English, must be approved in advance by the Director of Graduate Studies, or
2. passing a two-hour examination (administered by the language department in question) designed to ascertain the student’s ability to read literary and critical texts in the foreign language (with the aid of a dictionary) and to write discursively in that language.

Under the two language option, one of the languages offered must be French, German or Latin. The second language may be French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Latin, or Greek. (Students who wish to pursue their research in the medieval period must pass the locally administered Latin examination.) For the second language, the department also considers petitions to substitute a language not mentioned above, but appropriate to the candidate’s field of study.

Under the two language option, the candidate demonstrates “reading knowledge” of the languages by passing a ninety-minute examination in each, administered by the appropriate language department at the University and designed to ascertain the student’s ability to translate prose (with the aid of a dictionary).

The full foreign language requirement for the Ph.D. must be completed before the student is permitted to take the doctoral oral examination.

Students may not satisfy the foreign language requirements through qualifying examinations taken at other universities.

IV. Orals: Students must pass a two-hour qualifying oral examination, consisting of two parts: historical teaching and research field, and other teaching and research field. The second field may be a genre, a theoretical tradition, a historical field, or any professional specialization of substance and breadth.

V. Dissertation: Doctoral students prepare a prospectus for a dissertation, which is subject to the approval of the three-person dissertation committee. Within a calendar year of the approval of the prospectus, candidates give a public presentation at a forum open to members of the department (this is not an examination). The completed dissertation is read by the dissertation committee and a member of the faculty from another department, and the candidate meets with them for a defense of the project. Completion of the dissertation requirement depends on the approval of its final form by all four faculty appointed for the defense.

VI. Pedagogy: Doctoral students gain teaching experience by assisting with the instruction of undergraduate courses. First-year students enroll in ENPG 880, in general preparation for teaching one course per semester, beginning in the second year.  Students also receive systematic training in writing instruction.

Course Descriptions

Certain graduate courses are offered in alternative years or are temporarily suspended when the instructor is on leave of absence or for other reasons. The program of course offerings is available in early May, on application to the department. With the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, courses offered by other departments may be allowed toward an advanced degree in English.