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Department of French and Italian

PhD Program Requirements

Course Requirements
Students take eighteen quarter courses during their first three years, including at least twelve taught by faculty in the department of French and Italian. They select the remaining courses from offerings in other departments and programs according to their individual interests. The available French courses cover a variety of periods, media (print and visual cultures) and genres comprising French and Francophone literary and cultural traditions, and expose students to a range of critical and theoretical methodologies. One of the required French department courses is a writing tutorial taken in the winter of the second year that provides students the opportunity to expand and revise a term paper. Another is an independent study in which students prepare their thesis proposals.

Students may tailor their elective coursework so as to take advantage of special concentrations such as the Certificate in Italian Studies offered through the Department of French and Italian, as well as concentrations in African Studies, Gender Studies, Critical Theory, and other fields offered through the Graduate School’s Interdisciplinary Cluster Initiative. 

Students are evaluated at the end of their first year on the basis of their performance in courses and the promise they show as Ph.D. candidates. They are evaluated in the second year on the basis of their course work and the advanced research paper that they prepare in the Writing Tutorial. No later than the winter quarter of their third year, they complete their Ph.D. qualifying examination and take an independent study with their chosen thesis advisor in order to prepare the dissertation prospectus. Following the review and approval of the prospectus by their committee, the remainder of the third year and the following two years are dedicated to dissertation research and writing.

Note: students entering the Ph.D. program with an MA in French or a related discipline may, with permission of the graduate faculty, be allowed a two-course reduction in the total number of required courses, so as to proceed to the exam as early as the fall quarter of the third year.  Any recommendation in this regard will be made by the faculty at the time of the first and/or second year review.

 

The Qualifying Exam: Description

The qualifying examination for the Ph.D. in French is intended to satisfy three goals: 1) to establish the student’s knowledge of a field of specialization of his or her choosing so that he or she may proceed without delay to the research and writing of the dissertation prospectus; 2) to develop the student’s knowledge of a second area of literature and cultural production, distinct from the first, in which he or she wishes to teach or do research; and  3) to demonstrate the student’s proficiency in a selection of methodological, theoretical, and/or critical works that will inform his or her approach to the dissertation topic. The exam areas are therefore defined so as to allow students a substantial degree of freedom in determining their intellectual profile, while also ensuring that they are prepared to teach outside their main area of expertise.

The examination consists of a written and oral component.  The written portion has three sections, each of which corresponds to a reading list: 1) the Primary Field, 2) the Secondary Field, and 3) Theory/Methodology. The reading list for each section is developed by the student in consultation with the committee member who agrees to oversee the preparation of that list.  The reading lists should not be overlapping, and should be composed as follows (please note that the suggested length of each list is meant as a guide only and may be adjusted depending on the nature of the material):

1.  Primary Field: Includes main works in the dissertation corpus and a larger primary field around it, conceived in terms of a period or a genre depending on the student’s dissertation corpus and intellectual interests.  It allows for coverage of major authors or genres in the chosen field, as well as works of particular interest to the student’s research.  (Approximately 25-30 titles)

2. Secondary Field: May be conceived as a period (defined in national, transnational, or cross-disciplinary perspective), a genre specific to a period, a genre or style in historical or transnational perspective, a topic within a period, or a geographical region of the francophone world, depending on the student’s interests.  It may also consist of materials drawn from another artistic medium, such as the visual arts, music, cinema, etc.  It should be distinct from the Primary Field.  (Approximately 20-25 titles)

3. Theory/Methodology: Methodology, theory, and/or criticism indicative of the student’s desired approach to the dissertation. Examples: poststructuralism, postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis (or more focused: psychoanalysis and gender), feminist theory, narratology, new historicism, etc. (Approximately 20-25 titles)

Note: For students in Comparative Literary Studies with a home department in French, the director of the exam committee must be in French and Italian and at least two of the three exam areas must be comprised primarily of French/French language materials.

Administration, Required Forms, and Outcomes of Qualifying Exam
The committee is comprised of no fewer than three members of the Northwestern faculty, at least three of whom must be members of the graduate faculty. Ideally, students work with one faculty member on each list; however, depending on the composition of each exam area, one or two committee members may supervise each list.  Students should work closely with each committee member in order to receive feedback and guidance on the preparation of the exam.

The three sections of the written exam are administered in a take-home format, and students are allowed one week to complete all sections of the exam.  Each section consists of one or more questions to be answered in approximately 10 pages double spaced (total) in the language of the student’s choice.  The entire written exam should therefore amount to approximately 30 pages.  A follow-up oral exam takes place after the written exam is completed, usually within one to two weeks.  This exam consists of questions and discussion on topics including but not necessarily limited to those explored in the written exam.  The oral exam should not exceed two hours. The student and the main advisor are responsible for scheduling the written and oral portion of the qualifying examination.  The student should obtain from the department graduate assistant the "Verification of Satisfactory Completion of Qualifying Exam" form, to be filled out and signed by the entire committee and returned to the graduate assistant immediately following the oral exam.

There are three possible outcomes of the qualifying exam.  If the student does not pass the exam on the first try, he or she will be given the opportunity, during the following quarter, to rewrite the section(s) of the exam that were deemed unsatisfactory.  If, however, on the second attempt the results are still unsatisfactory, the student will not pass and will be offered the possibility of taking a terminal master’s under the second year review policy.

Timing of the Exam, Progression to French 596 Thesis Tutorial
By the start of the third quarter of study, students should begin to constitute their examination committee and establish at least one of the three lists so as to devote part or all of the summer to preparing it.  The remaining committee members should be selected and the lists finalized as early as possible in the second year of study, and no later than the end of the spring quarter. 

The qualifying examination should take place in the third year of study, ideally in the winter quarter and no later than the spring quarter.  Students should enroll in French 596 Thesis Tutorial with the dissertation director in the quarter in which they take their examination, or in the subsequent quarter, with the expectation of proceeding to the dissertation prospectus immediately following the exam.  Students must have completed French 596 (and thus have a draft of the dissertation prospectus) no later than the end of the quarter following the quarter in which they pass the exam.

 

The Prospectus: Definition and Guidelines 
The prospectus is a preliminary description and “road map” of the dissertation.  In defining the scope, aims and parts of the project, it enables students to communicate their ideas to others and to achieve the focus necessary to begin work on the dissertation itself. 

There is no required page limit for prospectuses in our department, but they generally range from 8 to 15 pages in length, not including the bibliography.  Students are advised to include the following information in the prospectus (please note that in some cases these categories may provide a useful format for structuring the document itself):

  • A concise overview of the dissertation topic, including an account of the specific research questions motivating the inquiry (i.e. what the student wants to discover and why this is important), the corpus of materials chosen for analysis, and the preliminary argument(s) or hypothesis to be explored.
  • A statement of significance indicating the project’s anticipated contribution to scholarship.  In what ways is it new or different from previous understandings of the topic?  What gaps in knowledge does it seek to fill?  In what fields or debates will it intervene and how?  In some cases it may be useful to describe briefly the most important existing studies on the topic so as to specify the particular contribution of the projected research.
  • A statement of methodology, indicating the methodological principle(s) or theoretical approach that will be used, and why it is particularly well suited to the research questions or materials to be investigated. Students should also indicate any special research that will be required in order to complete the project, such as archival, field, or library research involving travel.
  • A breakdown of chapters, with a brief account of what each will accomplish in relation to the whole.
  • A bibliography of primary and secondary materials the student expects to consult for the dissertation.

 

For additional resources concerning the writing of the prospectus and examples of past prospectuses from our department, see the Graduate Assistant for access to the graduate files.

The Prospectus Review:
No later than one quarter following their completion of 596, students pass a Prospectus Review, which is a meeting with a committee comprised of three members of the faculty (presumably the qualifying exam committee, although exceptions may be allowed in cases in which the prospectus requires the expertise of another faculty member) in which the prospectus is discussed. The purpose of the meeting is to enable students to present their ideas orally, answer questions, and receive constructive criticism from the committee before work on the dissertation gets underway, and to allow for dialogue among committee members.  The student will be expected to defend the ideas in the prospectus itself as well as to demonstrate familiarity with selected works on the bibliography.

The Graduate Committee recommends that the Prospectus Review be scheduled at the time of the qualifying exam.  No later than three weeks in advance of this meeting, the student circulates to the committee members the prospectus, which is prepared according to the specific criteria provided by the department (see above) and includes a bibliography of primary and secondary works.  Prior to the meeting, the student will consult with the members of the committee and make any requested revisions to the draft prospectus.  The student is responsible for submitting the PhD Prospectus form through TGS in Ceasar in advance of the meeting.

Each year a department colloquium will be organized, the express purpose of which will be to highlight the work of those students who successfully passed the Prospectus Review in the previous twelve months.  All students are therefore expected to present their prospectus or  subsequent dissertation work in progress in a department colloquium within one year of their Prospectus Review.

From Prospectus to Dissertation Committee:
While the prospectus committee may in many instances be the same as the dissertation committee, students are free to make changes to their committee as their dissertation takes shape.  Students also have the option to include a non-Northwestern faculty member on the prospectus or dissertation committee, providing that the professor consents in writing to serve in this capacity.  In all cases committees must comprise at least three members of the NU graduate faculty.  When the dissertation committee is finalized, prior to the defense of the dissertation, the student should submit the required Final Exam form to TGS through Ceasar.

As students make progress on their writing, they are advised to communicate regularly with each member of the committee, seeking advice and feedback when needed.

For students who entered prior to Fall 2008:
Those students who entered the Ph.D. program before Fall 2007 are permitted to take their exams under the previous exam structure, if they so desire.  In this case, the written exam will consist of three sections, corresponding to the following lists: Dissertation, Primary Field, Secondary Field, defined as follows:

1. Dissertation (Approximately 25-30 titles total):
This list includes three kinds of materials, as follows:

  • The major primary sources for the dissertation, as well as any essential works in other periods or genres that are closely linked with the dissertation topic. 
  • Any appropriate secondary criticism or scholarship on the primary sources, determined in consultation with the committee member. 
  • A selection of theoretical, historical or philosophical works that will enable the student to develop a theoretical perspective or scholarly methodology relevant to the dissertation corpus.

2. Primary Field:  This list situates the dissertation topic or corpus within a larger field, conceived in terms of a period or a genre depending on the student’s dissertation corpus and intellectual interests.  It should allow for coverage of major authors or genres in the chosen field, as well as other works of interest to the student.  (Approximately 25-30 titles)

3.  Secondary Field:  This section constitutes a secondary area in which the student wishes to teach or do research.  This area may be conceived in terms of a period (defined in national, transnational, or cross-disciplinary perspective), a genre specific to a period, a genre or style in historical or transnational perspective, or a geographical region of the francophone world, according to the student’s individual interests.  It may also consist of materials drawn from another artistic medium, such as the visual arts, music, cinema, etc.  It need not intersect with the proposed dissertation topic.  (Approximately 20-25 titles)