Hows and Whys: Guidelines
for the Ph.D.
Program specific guidelines are available for Chinese, Japanese Literature, and Japanese Linguistics.
General Aims
The goal of graduate study is to train students to make
original contributions to scholarship in a given field
and to present them in a coherent form with the appropriate
scholarly apparatus. For this purpose, the graduate student
needs to build a solid awareness of the publications in
the field of specialization, the major questions that are
being (and could be) researched, as well as the methodology
for answering such questions. In addition, the student
should have a solid grasp of the broader academic context
in which the field of specialization is situated (i.e. "the
big picture").
How to Proceed
The following explains the rationale behind the each of
the general requirements for Ph.D. students in the department,
and outlines the procedure students should follow to satisfy
them.
1. Meeting with the Advisor
Each new student is assigned an interim advisor, that
is, a graduate faculty member with whom the student can
discuss the course of his/her study in the initial stages.
Upon arrival, the student should meet as soon as possible
with the assigned interim advisor to chart a plan of course
work (download fillable form as RTF) and
the student should meet quarterly with the advisor to keep
him/her apprised of his/her progress. It is the student's
task to take the initiative for these meetings, and the
advisor's to file a formal progress report once a year.
Once the student has determined the area of specialization
and the faculty member he/she would like to work with,
he/she should discuss this with the interim advisor and
appoint a permanent advisor (download fillable form
as RTF).
2. Filing a Program of Study
Practically, the graduate student should start by carefully
planning a program of study (download fillable form
as RTF) that
will contribute to achieving the skills mentioned above.
Each of the department's programs has its own required
graduate courses. The student should carefully plan when
to take which courses, keeping in mind that many courses
are not offered every year, and that some courses will
not be offered when faculty are on leave. Ideally, students
should take at least one course with every faculty member
in their program, so as to familiarize themselves with
the full range of scholarship and expertise available to
them.
The student should submit a feasible proposal of study to
the advisor, which, after approval, will be filed by
the graduate secretary no later than the third quarter
of graduate study. The plan of study should be viewed as
a guideline rather than a straightjacket; specifics of
the plan are likely to change as the student proceeds,
but the general course of study should be clear.
There is a minimum course requirement of 90 credits (45
of which must be taken before pre-candidacy), and the student
must take classes and examinations relating to both the
linguistic and literature aspects of the language of specialization.
Classes in other disciplines might also be advisable (e.g.,
religion or anthropology), depending on the student's
chosen field of specialization.
The student's file will contain a checklist (download
fillable form as RTF) of
the required courses in his/her program and the student
will be responsible for checking off each requirement
as the courses are completed. When all courses are taken,
the student will present the completed list to the Program
Coordinator and ask him/her or his/her designated representative
to sign off the box "course work completed" on
the checklist.
If there are any irregularities (such as course substitutions),
an explanation will be placed in the file along with the
signature.
Please note that a graduate student is required to maintain
a minimum 3.0 GPA.
In addition, during the second and no later than the third quarter after the student has started graduate studies, an appointment should be made with the academic adviser to develop a plan of language study. The plan of language study should clearly state the reasons for selecting a specific language to satisfy this additional language requirement, how it is relevant to the student’s field of study, and the level of proficiency the student should attain in view of those reasons, as well as a time schedule, determining which courses to be taken when, which works to be read when, and how the student will generally endeavor to work towards this proficiency.
Please also note that fulfillment of the credit requirements
does not automatically ensure admission to the Ph.D. Program.
All students must be formally admitted to pre-candidacy
by the faculty in their Program (download fillable
form as RTF).
3.a. Students with an MA from this Department
Students with an MA from this Department cannot automatically
assume successful admission into the PhD program. (See "Petitioning
to Proceed" below).
3.b. Students with an MA from another University or in
another area
Students with an MA from another University or in another
area than the one to be pursued will first need to fulfill
the following requirements before petitioning to proceed.
1. The student must complete at least 45 credits of relevant graduate
credits at the UW.
2. Except when the student has undergone a comparable
MA examination in a comparable program, the student needs
to pass also the departmental MA General Examination,
which is a written test, consisting of two two-hour parts
to be taken in the same week. The point is to establish
the student's general competence in the field, that
is, the aforementioned "big picture". The advisor
will suggest which steps should be taken by the student
to prepare for the exam. In some cases, a student may be
advised to take the Department's General Examination
even when he/she has passed a comparable exam elsewhere,
in order to strengthen the student's petition to
proceed.
4. Petitioning to Proceed
All PhD students must file a Petition to Proceed (download
fillable form as RTF).
The petition will demonstrate to the program faculty
the student's ability to pursue the PhD, i.e. to make
a meaningful contribution of original research to the
field. This document should highlight the student's accomplishments
(MA thesis or papers, exam papers, transcript of graduate
courses, other preparation for research, honors) as well
as indicate future direction (study and language plan,
proposed four fields and dissertation topic and scope).
It should also include a time schedule. If the petition
is successful, the student becomes a Pre-candidate.
5. From Pre-candidate to Candidate: Four Fields and the
General Exam
The Pre-candidate will engage in further course work (minimum
45 credits) as established in the study plan. In addition,
he/she will work towards fulfilling a language requirement, as established in the language
plan (download
fillable form as RTF). The student should select his course work such that
he/she acquires a solid foundation in the field and builds
expertise in an area of specialization, as well as prepares
for the field exams. The four fields represent
areas of specialization but also span the broader range
of the program area. The purpose is to assure that the
student develops into a broadly versatile scholar. In order
to maintain this broad range, linguistics students should
have at least one field in literature, and literature students
at least one field in linguistics. Each field is supervised
by a faculty member; one of the fields can be taken outside
the department. The nature and scope of the field exams
is early on to be agreed on with the main advisor and the
individual field advisors, who together constitute the
student's supervisory committee. This committee
will also oversee the General Examination, which
again is intended to demonstrate the student's general
knowledge of his/her program area. No later than the quarter
prior to the exam date, the student should meet with the
advisor to discuss exam preparation. In preparation for
this meeting, the student should compile a list of classes
taken and readings completed, so as to give the advisor
a good idea of what the student already knows and what
needs more work. On the basis of this information, an effective
strategy for exam preparation can be devised. If successful,
the student becomes a Candidate.
6. From PhC to PhD: Writing the Dissertation
Officially, it is only after passing the General Examination
that the student will proceed to work on a dissertation,
but it is advisable to start thinking about a topic of
specialization and discussing it with the advisor early
on, and to start working on it as soon as feasible.
The PhD dissertation should make an original contribution
to existing research in a given field and present it in
a coherent form with the conventional scholarly apparatus.
In this department, demonstrating the ability to work with
primary sources in the language of specialization is a
requirement of the dissertation.
In practical terms this means that the graduate student
will go through a study process to familiarize him- or
herself with the publications in the field of specialization,
the major questions that are being (and could be) researched,
and the methodological approaches to answering such questions.
The end product of this process, the dissertation itself,
demonstrates the mastery of these materials and approaches.
The PhD dissertation differs from the MA thesis in that
it is broader in scope. It is similar to a book in length
and scope, while the MA thesis is comparable to a lengthy
scholarly article.
Before beginning to write the dissertation, the Candidate
should select an informal reading committee and
provide the members with a prospectus of the dissertation (topic,
state of the field, student's contribution, resources
to be used) and a time schedule. The student is to send
yearly progress reports to the members and should meet
regularly with the advisor, submitting drafts for comments.
It is advisable to consult early on the graduate school
guidelines for formatting and to make sure the dissertation
is in compliance with these rigid stipulations. Once the
dissertation is nearing the stage of completion, the committee
(download fillable form as RTF) is
formalized (usually the quarter before the final
examination). The committee consists
of three members, two of whom should be in this department;
in addition, the student, with the help of his/her adviser, recruits a GST who will
oversee the procedure, and needs to be consulted about
the scheduling of the examination. Usually this committee
is the same as the supervisory committee. Each member should
receive an abstract of the dissertation. The complete
draft should be given to the committee six (or eight,
if the committee members so require) weeks before the final
examination. The Final Examination is an oral
defense of the dissertation before the committee and the
general public. The final version of the dissertation must
be submitted to the Graduate School by the last day of
the quarter of graduation.
