Applicable only to students admitted during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Comparative Literature

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Comparative Literature offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Comparative Literature.

Admission

Program Name

Comparative Literature

Address

350B Humanities Bldg
Box 951536
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1536 

Phone

(310) 825-7650 

Email

manderson@humnet.ucla.edu  

Leading to the degree of

M.A., Ph.D.

The Comparative Literature department admits only applicants whose objective is the Ph.D. 

Admission Limited to

Fall 

Deadline to apply

December 1st 

GRE (General and/or Subject)

GRE: General 

Letters of Recommendation 

3 

Other Requirements

In addition to the University's minimum requirements and those listed above, all applicants are expected to submit a statement of purpose and a writing sample.

A bachelor's degree in literature, ancient or modern, is preferred, with a grade point average of at least 3.4 in upper division literature courses. Literary proficiency in one foreign language and at least an elementary knowledge of a second one are expected.

Care should be taken with the statement of purpose and the writing sample, since the quality of thought and argument these exhibit weigh significantly in admissions decisions. 

Master's Degree

Advising

Since the program only admits students to the Ph.D. program, please consult the requirements for the doctoral degree.

Areas of Study

During the first two years of study toward the Ph.D. degree, each student's study plan combines the work in the major and minor literatures by focusing on a defined area. The area may be a literary period such as Romanticism, a genre such as the novel, or a theoretical problem.

The major area is that of primary concentration. The student specializes in one historically defined period (such as medieval, Renaissance and baroque, neoclassicism and 18th century, Romanticism to modern), but a general knowledge of the major area is a prerequisite for the specialization.

In the minor field, the student focuses on a period comparable to the area of specialization in the major literature, although the student may not have as much historical depth and breadth in this area as in the major field.

Foreign Language Requirement

Literary proficiency in the major and minor languages is an essential prerequisite for courses and degrees in Comparative Literature. Students should be able to take graduate courses conducted in the languages of their specialization, speak the major foreign language adequately, and read literary texts in that language with literary proficiency (in other words, with sensitivity to stylistic nuances).

Before completing the Ph.D. degree, students must demonstrate knowledge of two foreign languages. Proficiency in one language must be certified by completing two or more upper division and/or graduate literature courses in the appropriate language department. Students must prove more than elementary language competency in order to take these courses. The second language requirement may be satisfied by completion of one upper division literature class. In rare cases where sufficient courses are not available, students may substitute a translation examination administered by a departmental faculty member in place of coursework. In such cases, departmental approval is required.

Course Requirements

A minimum of 16 letter-graded seminar courses (and one pedagogy course taken at UCLA) are required for the Ph.D. degree, distributed as follows:

Comparative Literature 200A and 200B, five additional Comparative Literature graduate courses, six graduate courses in the major literature, three graduate courses in the minor literature/field, and Comparative Literature 495, the teaching practicum course.

Students admitted from graduate programs elsewhere may petition to use up to three courses not used toward a previous degree to count toward the course requirements for this degree.

All coursework must be completed by the end of the third year. The recommended schedule is as follows:

First year: Two seminars in the first quarter, followed by a three seminar load for the following two quarters, in addition to any language work required and Comparative Literature 495 that is taken in Spring Quarter.

Second year: For all teaching graduate students, the recommended course load, excluding language coursework, is two seminars per quarter. Altogether, a minimum of 13 seminars should be completed by the end of the second year and before the second year review.

Third year: Students should ideally take seminars only in Fall Quarter and complete coursework no later than Winter Quarter of the third year to ensure enough time for preparing their reading lists and Ph.D. examinations.

Graduate Summer Research Mentor coursework cannot be counted toward graduate degree requirements.

Under special circumstances student may petition for an exception to apply 500-series coursework toward the graduate degree requirements.

Teaching Experience

Although teaching experience is not required, students may have the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant after spending at least one year in the program. Teaching assistantships are not automatically offered to students but are awarded on the basis of merit.

Field Experience

Not required.

Comprehensive Examination Plan

See under Doctoral Degree.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

See under Doctoral Degree.

Doctoral Degree

Advising

The graduate adviser may be contacted at the departmental office. Students should meet at least quarterly with the adviser before the second year review, and once a year thereafter. Student records are reviewed on a regular basis by the core department faculty. Students whose grade-point average falls below 3.4 are sent a warning by the chair and may be placed on departmental academic probation.

First Stage Evaluation

Students in the Department of Comparative Literature are required to have a Second Year Review by the end of their second year or, at the latest, by the fall quarter of the third year. Prior to the review students must complete all the course work for the first two years (altogether, a minimum of 13 seminars) and show significant advance in fulfilling their language requirements. The requirements for at least one of the two foreign languages must be completed prior to the review.

At the date set for the review (students are required to coordinate the review in advance); students shall meet with a committee of three faculty members (one of which must be the Director of Graduate Studies and at least one other must be from Comparative Literature) to review progress toward the degree and plan the remaining course work required for the Ph.D.  All students are required to choose two of their strongest seminar papers, carefully revise them and circulate them among the review committee in advance. The papers shall serve as writing samples that will be discussed during the review. If successful , at the end of the review, students are granted an MA, which is required before they can move ahead towards completing the Ph.D. program.

In cases in which the review committee determines that it is necessary, an MA exam would be added as a pre-condition for receiving the MA and continuing in the Ph.D. program. In such cases a date will be set for the MA exam, which will then be read by the three members of the review committee. At that point the review committee may approve the student’s continual study in the Ph.D. program or grant the student a terminal MA. Upon receiving a terminal MA degree, the student may not continue his/her studies in the Ph.D. program.

The MA exam (offered only upon the recommendation of the Second Year review Committee) is made of 2 written exams, each limited to 3 hours. Part one includes a critical theory reading list based on the readings included 200A and 200B (modifications may be made with the approval of DGS). Part two would be based on a literary field and must include texts in at least two languages). Both exams can be taken in the same day or in separate times within the frame of one week.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

During the third and fourth years of study, the study plan combines the work in a major and minor field by focusing on a limited area in which these fields may be explored. These areas may be a literary period or a particular aspect common to several literatures (for example, a genre like tragedy or the novel, or a phenomenon like neoclassicism or the baroque). They may also concern a critical or theoretical problem, involving analyses of styles or modes of interpretation; comparisons of classical and modern genres and themes; questions about the artistic process in different art forms; or problems in literary aesthetics or epistemology. The minor field can be a second literature as described above, or another discipline such as art history, film or gender studies, but in all cases knowledge of the relevant language(s) and literature(s) must be demonstrated. Students must obtain the approval of their major and minor fields by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Foreign Language Requirement

In addition to the course requirements for the major and minor fields, students must have literary proficiency in at least two foreign languages before taking the qualifying examination, to be demonstrated either by completion of upper division or graduate courses in the language, or, rarely, by examination. Additional details on fulfilling the requirement are included under Master's Degree. A reading knowledge of a third foreign language is strongly recommended. A classical language is usually necessary for anyone majoring in a period prior to the 19th century.

Students who select a non-literary minor must still meet the requirements indicated above. For example, a student who selects French (major) and film (minor) as the areas of specialization is expected to demonstrate literature reading proficiency in another foreign language, for example, Spanish, Arabic, etc.

Course Requirements

See above.

Teaching Experience

Although teaching experience is not required, students may have the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant after spending at least one year in the program. Teaching assistantships are not automatically offered to students but are awarded on the basis of merit.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations the University oral qualifying examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to University requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

Qualifying Examination

There is a two-section qualifying examination for which the student prepares reading lists for one major literature and one minor literature/field. The examination consists of written and oral sections. All coursework and language requirements must be completed before the examination takes place. In rare cases that require approval from the Director of Graduate Studies, students may take their examinations during the quarter in which they are complete their coursework. All reading lists must be approved by the field examiners and the graduate adviser by the end of the quarter preceding that in which the examination is given. It is the student's responsibility to constitute an examining committee, of which two members must be from the department, in the quarter preceding that in which the examination is given.

The examination consists of a written part comprised of a 72-hour take home examination in the major and minor fields based on a reading list of 50 works in the major field and 25 works in the minor field; 15-20 percent of these lists will be theoretical works related to each field. In rare cases that require approval from the Director of Graduate Studies, students may substitute an on-campus examination of shorter duration for the 72-hour take home examination. The major reading list must cover a vast range of genres and periods over at least 150 years or more, depending on the particular field.

Written examinations consist of one long or two shorter questions for the major field examination and one question for the minor field. Altogether students are expected to produce about 25-30 page answers during the 72-hour examination period and they may not include in these pages any excerpts of previously written seminar papers.

An oral examination follows the written examination, no later than two weeks after the submission of the written portion. It is the student's responsibility to constitute a three-member faculty committee that includes the faculty member who wrote the major examination and at least two faculty members from the department.

Second Stage Evaluation

After completion of the written and oral examinations, students enroll in a 597 course with their major adviser to begin work on the dissertation prospectus. This 35- to 50-page prospectus includes a substantial bibliography, a review of the relevant secondary literature, and a critical or theoretical perspective. Students should nominate their examination committee (which is normally the Ph.D. committee) at least two months in advance of the prospectus defense. This examination/doctoral committee is composed of three faculty members from the department and one faculty member from outside of the department. The University Oral Qualifying Examination is a two-hour examination that is based primarily on a defense of the prospectus.

Following advancement to candidacy and the completion of the dissertation, the student's decision to file the dissertation must first be approved by the chair of the doctoral committee. The Director of Graduate Studies and all certifying members of the doctoral committee must be notified of the student's plan to file the dissertation, and the final draft of the dissertation must be submitted to these members for review no later than two months prior to the planned date of filing to allow sufficient time for any needed final revisions.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Not required for all students in the program. The decision as to whether a defense is required is made by the doctoral committee.

Time-to-Degree

Year one: By the end of the third quarter, students must have completed six to eight courses chosen in consultation with the Comparative Literature graduate adviser.

Year two: By the end of the sixth quarter, students must have completed 12 courses chosen in consultation with the graduate adviser and major field adviser.

Year three: By the ninth quarter, students must have completed the written examinations in the major and minor fields and the two-hour oral examination, and must have completed  15 to16 courses.

Year four: By the end of the twelfth quarter, students must have completed 18 to 20 courses chosen in consultation with the graduate adviser and major field adviser, and must have completed the qualifying examinations and been advanced to candidacy.

Years five and six: The dissertation normally takes one to two years to complete.  It must be completed no later than the end of the seventh year or twenty-first quarter.

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

Students may be recommended for termination if their grade point average falls below a 3.4 for two consecutive terms, failure to progress toward the degree through the completion of five courses per academic year or failure to pass the written or oral qualifying examinations. A student may appeal a recommendation for termination to the program chair who will appoint a committee, which may include the chair, to review the recommendation, and if necessary, meet with the student. The chair makes a final decision based on the committee's report.