phd in english literature admission 2023

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

• Graduate Admissions
• PhD application

The Doctoral Program in English Literature

Applying to the doctoral program.

Look for Program Code E25PH when searching for the PhD program in the online application system

Application information FOR

Matriculation in fall 2025, application deadline: tba, all application materials are due by 11:59 pm (cst) on the day of the deadline.

When reviewing applications, we look for evidence of keen intellectual ability, skill in literary analysis, scholarly potential, and a strong sense of academic purpose. We do not emphasize any single factor, but pay close attention to written work and to applicants' competency in one or more foreign languages. We typically expect to receive between 200 and 300 applications for admission to the doctoral program, with a target class size of between 6 and 8 students.

Notification of the admissions committee's decisions will most likely occur in early February. Once our offers of admissions have been made, we will invite those prospective students to campus for a Visiting Weekend around the beginning of March. This is a chance for you to meet with faculty and current graduate students, discuss future projects, and hear about current doctoral work, tour the department and the campus, sit in on graduate seminars, and to look at some of the many advantages that Evanston and Chicago have to offer.

All supplemental application materials must be submitted through The Graduate School's application system. Please do  not  send, or have sent, paper copies of any documents. If you or your recommenders are having difficulty submitting any component of the application online, and the application system's online help is unable to resolve your problem, please contact the  Graduate Program Coordinator .  Never have any application materials sent directly to The Graduate School or their Office of Admission.

In all cases , our department's specifics regarding supplemental application materials supersede those listed on The Graduate School's website, as well as any listed in the application itself.  

Supplemental Application Materials

The English Department requires that the following documents be submitted as part of the online application for the PhD program (program code E25PH).  

• We cannot accept printouts of unofficial grade reports,
• Transcripts for non-degree courses are  not  needed,
• Transfer credits and courses taken as part of a study-abroad program will usually be included in your degree-awarding institution's transcript. There's no need to submit separate transcripts from those other institutions;
• Two letters of recommendation , though we strongly advise you to ask for three;
• An academic statement (1000 word max) answering the following questions: what are your academic interests, why do you wish to pursue graduate studies in our department, how has your academic and professional background prepared you for graduate study, and how will our program help you achieve your intellectual and professional goals? Please include mention of any research, training, or educational experiences you have that would be relevant to our program;
• A personal statement (500 word max)  addressing how , as a student in our graduate program, you could contribute to an intellectual community that prioritizes equity, inclusion, belonging, and cultural humility.  Your answer may draw upon past or present experiences, whether in academic work, extracurricular or community activities, or everyday life;
• It is not required, but feel free to submit an additional statement (250 word max) addressing concerns you may have with your application. If you feel that your academic credentials do not demonstrate your true capabilities, or if there are gaps in your academic career that you think it would  like to explain, this is the section in which to share that information;
• Please do not submit creative writing samples of any kind;
• Standard margins, Times New Roman 12 pt, double spaced;
• You may submit more than one sample, so long as the total page count does not exceed 25
• To be considered official, the exam must have been taken no more than two years prior to the intended September of entry ,
• Because of the level of English fluency required of students in our program, we will only consider applications with a TOEFL score of at least 100, or IELTS score of at least 7,
• Rules governing exemptions from this requirement can be found in our  FAQ ;
• Additional details from Northwestern's Graduate School about the application (including further details on the TOEFL/IELTS requirement, transcript submission, application fees, etc...) can be found on The Graduate School's website .

PhD Program in English Language and Literature

The department enrolls an average of ten PhD students each year. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package. We also offer a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical and cultural fields. Each student chooses a special committee that works closely along side the student to design a course of study within the very broad framework established by the department. The program is extremely flexible in regard to course selection, the design of examinations and the election of minor subjects of concentration outside the department. English PhD students pursuing interdisciplinary research may include on their special committees faculty members from related fields such as comparative literature, medieval studies, Romance studies, German studies, history, classics, women’s studies, linguistics, theatre and performing arts, government, philosophy, and film and video studies.

The PhD candidate is normally expected to complete six or seven one-semester courses for credit in the first year of residence and a total of six or seven more in the second and third years. The program of any doctoral candidate’s formal and informal study, whatever his or her particular interests, should be comprehensive enough to ensure familiarity with:

• The authors and works that have been the most influential in determining the course of English, American, and related literatures
• The theory and criticism of literature, and the relations between literature and other disciplines
• Concerns and tools of literary and cultural history such as textual criticism, study of genre, source, and influence as well as wider issues of cultural production and historical and social contexts that bear on literature

Areas in which students may have major or minor concentrations include African-American literature, American literature to 1865, American literature after 1865, American studies (a joint program with the field of history), colonial and postcolonial literatures, cultural studies, dramatic literature, English poetry, the English Renaissance to 1660, lesbian, bisexual and gay literary studies, literary criticism and theory, the nineteenth century, Old and Middle English, prose fiction, the Restoration and the eighteenth century, the twentieth century, and women's literature.

By the time a doctoral candidate enters the fourth semester of graduate study, the special committee must decide whether he or she is qualified to proceed toward the PhD. Students are required to pass their Advancement to Candidacy Examination before their fourth year of study, prior to the dissertation.

PhD Program specifics can be viewed here: PhD Timeline PhD Procedural Guide

Special Committee

Every graduate student selects a special committee of faculty advisors who work intensively with the student in selecting courses and preparing and revising the dissertation. The committee is comprised of at least three Cornell faculty members: a chair, and typically two minor members usually from the English department, but very often representing an interdisciplinary field. The university system of special committees allows students to design their own courses of study within a broad framework established by the department, and it encourages a close working relationship between professors and students, promoting freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of the graduate degree. The special committee for each student guides and supervises all academic work and assesses progress in a series of meetings with the students.

At Cornell, teaching is considered an integral part of training in academia. The field requires a carefully supervised teaching experience of at least one year for every doctoral candidate as part of the program requirements. The Department of English, in conjunction with the  John S. Knight Institute for Writing  in the Disciplines, offers excellent training for beginning teachers and varied and interesting teaching in the university-wide First-Year Writing Program. The courses are writing-intensive and may fall under such general rubrics as “Portraits of the Self,” “American Literature and Culture,” “Shakespeare,” and “Cultural Studies,” among others. A graduate student may also serve as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate lecture course taught by a member of the Department of English faculty.

Language Requirements

Each student and special committee will decide what work in foreign language is most appropriate for a student’s graduate program and scholarly interests. Some students’ doctoral programs require extensive knowledge of a single foreign language and literature; others require reading ability in two or more foreign languages. A student may be asked to demonstrate competence in foreign languages by presenting the undergraduate record, taking additional courses in foreign languages and literature, or translating and discussing documents related to the student’s work. Students are also normally expected to provide evidence of having studied the English language through courses in Old English, the history of the English language, grammatical analysis or the application of linguistic study to metrics or to literary criticism. Several departments at Cornell offer pertinent courses in such subjects as descriptive linguistics, psycholinguistics and the philosophy of language.

All PhD degree candidates are guaranteed five years of funding (including a stipend , a full tuition fellowship and student health insurance):

• A first-year non-teaching fellowship
• Two years of teaching assistantships
• A fourth-year non-teaching fellowship for the dissertation writing year
• A fifth-year teaching assistantship
• Summer support for four years, including a first-year summer teaching assistantship, linked to a teachers’ training program at the Knight Institute. Summer residency in Ithaca is required.

Students have also successfully competed for Buttrick-Crippen Fellowship, Society for the Humanities Fellowships, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), Shin Yong-Jin Graduate Fellowships, Provost’s Diversity Fellowships, fellowships in recognition of excellence in teaching, and grants from the Graduate School to help with the cost of travel to scholarly conferences and research collections.

Admission & Application Procedures

The application for Fall 2024 admission will open on September 15, 2023 and close at 11:59pm EST on December 1, 2023.

Our application process reflects the field’s commitment to considering the whole person and their potential to contribute to our scholarly community.  Applicants will be evaluated on the basis of academic preparation (e.g., performance in relevant courses, completion of substantive, independent research project). An applicant’s critical and creative potential will be considered: applicants should demonstrate interest in extensive research and writing and include a writing sample that reveals a capacity to argue persuasively, demonstrate the ability to synthesize a broad range of materials, as well as offer fresh insights into a problem or text. The committee will also consider whether an applicant demonstrates a commitment to inclusion, equity, and diversity and offers a substantive explanation for why study at Cornell is especially compelling (e.g., a discussion of faculty research and foci). Admissions committees will consider the entire application carefully, including statements and critical writing, as well as transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a resume/cv (if provided). Please view the requirements and procedures listed below, if you are interested in being considered for our PhD in English Language and Literature program.

Eligibility: Applicants must currently have, or expect to have, at least a BA or BS (or the equivalent) in any field before matriculation. International students, please verify degree equivalency here . Applicants are not required to meet a specified GPA minimum.

To Apply: All applications and supplemental materials must be submitted online through the Graduate School application system . While completing your application, you may save and edit your data. Once you click submit, your application will be closed for changes. Please proofread your materials carefully. Once you pay and click submit, you will not be able to make any changes or revisions.

Deadline: December 1st, 11:59pm EST.  This deadline is firm. No applications, additional materials, or revisions will be accepted after the deadline.

PhD Program Application Requirements Checklist

• Academic Statement of Purpose Please describe (within 1000 words) in detail the substantive research questions you are interested in pursuing during your graduate studies and why they are significant. Additionally, make sure to include information about any training or research experience that you believe has prepared you for our program. You should also identify specific faculty members whose research interests align with your own specific questions.  Note that the identification of faculty is important; you would be well advised to read selected faculty’s recent scholarship so that you can explain why you wish to study with them. Do not rely on the courses they teach.  Please refrain from contacting individual faculty prior to receiving an offer of admission.
• Personal Statement Please describe (within 1000 words) how your personal background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree and the research you wish to conduct.  Explain, for example the meaning and purpose of the PhD in the context of your personal history and future aspirations.  Please note that we will pay additional attention to candidates who identify substantial reasons to obtain a PhD beyond the pursuit of an academic position. Additionally, provide insight into your potential to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect where scholars representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn (productively and positively) together.
• Critical Writing Sample Your academic writing sample must be between 3,000 and 7,500 words (12-30 pages), typed and double-spaced. We accept excerpts from longer works, or a combination of shorter works.
• Three Letters of Recommendation We require 3 letters of recommendation.  At the time of application, you will be allowed to enter up to 4 recommenders in the system.  Your application will be considered “Complete” when we have received at least 3 letters of recommendation.   Letters of recommendation are due December 1 . Please select three people who best know you and your work. Submitting additional letters will not enhance your application. In the recommendation section of the application, you must include the email address of each recommender. After you save the information (and before you pay/submit), the application system will automatically generate a recommendation request email to your recommender with instructions for submitting the letter electronically. If your letters are stored with a credential service such as Interfolio, please use their Online Application Delivery feature and input the email address assigned to your stored document, rather than that of your recommender’s. The electronic files will be attached to your application when they are received and will not require the letter of recommendation cover page.
• Transcripts Scan transcripts from each institution you have attended, or are currently attending, and upload into the academic information section of the application. Be sure to remove your social security number from all documents prior to scanning. Please do not send paper copies of your transcripts. If you are subsequently admitted and accept, the Graduate School will require an official paper transcript from your degree-awarding institution prior to matriculation.
• English Language Proficiency Requirement All applicants must provide proof of English language proficiency. For more information, please view the  Graduate School’s English Language Requirement .
• GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test are NO LONGER REQUIRED, effective starting with the 2019 application In March 2019, the faculty of English voted overwhelmingly to eliminate all GRE requirements (both general and subject test) for application to the PhD program in English. GRE scores are not good predictors of success or failure in a PhD program in English, and the uncertain predictive value of the GRE exam is far outweighed by the toll it takes on student diversity. For many applicants the cost of preparing for and taking the exam is prohibitively expensive, and the exam is not globally accessible. Requiring the exam narrows our applicant pool at precisely the moment we should be creating bigger pipelines into higher education. We need the strength of a diverse community in order to pursue the English Department’s larger mission: to direct the force of language toward large and small acts of learning, alliance, imagination, and justice.

General Information for All Applicants

Application Fee: Visit the Graduate School for information regarding application fees, payment options, and fee waivers .

Document Identification: Please do not put your social security number on any documents.

Status Inquiries:  Once you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email. You will also be able to check the completion status of your application in your account. If vital sections of your application are missing, we will notify you via email after the Dec. 1 deadline and allow you ample time to provide the missing materials. Please do not inquire about the status of your application.

Credential/Application Assessments:  The Admission Review Committee members are unable to review application materials or applicant credentials prior to official application submission. Once the committee has reviewed applications and made admissions decisions, they will not discuss the results or make any recommendations for improving the strength of an applicant’s credentials. Applicants looking for feedback are advised to consult with their undergraduate advisor or someone else who knows them and their work.

Review Process:  Application review begins after the submission deadline. Notification of admissions decisions will be made by email by the end of February.

Connecting with Faculty and/or Students: Unfortunately, due to the volume of inquiries we receive, faculty and current students are not available to correspond with potential applicants prior to an offer of admission. Applicants who are offered admission will have the opportunity to meet faculty and students to have their questions answered prior to accepting. Staff and faculty are also not able to pre-assess potential applicant’s work outside of the formal application process. Please email [email protected] instead, if you have questions.

Visiting: The department does not offer pre-admission visits or interviews. Admitted applicants will be invited to visit the department, attend graduate seminars and meet with faculty and students before making the decision to enroll.

Transfer Credits:  Students matriculating with an MA degree may, at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies, receive credit for up to two courses once they begin our program.

For Further Information

Contact [email protected]

Department of English

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Admissions - ph.d. in literature.

The 2023-2024 Graduate Admissions Application is OPEN! https://grad.ucdavis.edu/apply The deadline to apply to our program is January 5, 2024

Graduate Studies  Application Components page covers many admissions questions, but feel free to contact our program's staff if you would like more details. For information regarding your application status, please check online or contact us.

Application Requirements In preparing your materials, please note the department implements holistic review of applications, which considers every element of the application in an effort to reach a contextualized assessment of students' accomplishments an potential.

•  Writing sample (see below for details) •  Statement of Purpose •  Personal History & Diversity Statement •  Three letters of recommendation •  TOEFL or IELTS scores, if applicable •  Copies of transcripts •  Application Fee 2023-2024 cycle: $135 for U.S. and $155 for international applicants •  Admissions Requirements and Eligibility as set by UC Davis Graduate Studies  

Writing Sample

One-two research or term papers written for English courses; the total should not exceed 30 pages excluding images and bibliography.

If your research or term paper(s) are not recent (e.g., written in the past 2-3 years or so), it is advisable that you revise the papers to include more current research/sources on your topic.

Be sure that you closely proofread any research or term paper(s) you submit in order to present your best work possible.

We are actively recruiting graduate students with a variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance.

There is no independent application for admission to the M.A. program , emphasis in Literature; this degree can only be earned by those admitted to the Ph.D. program, en route to their Ph.D.

International applicants , please review the  following application information .

Graduate Studies only offers application fee waivers to applicants who have participated in specific graduate preparation programs .   Applicants who are affiliated with these programs must indicate their participation AND must provide the name and contact information for their program coordinator in the relevant section of the online application system to receive a fee waiver.  

Please highlight your academic preparation and motivation; interests, specializations, and career goals; and fit for pursuing graduate study at UC Davis.

Preparation and Motivation:  may include your academic and research experiences that prepare you for this graduate program (for example coursework, employment, exhibitions, fieldwork, foreign language proficiency, independent study, internships, laboratory activities, presentations, publications, studio projects, teaching, and travel or study abroad) and motivation or passion for graduate study.

Interests, Specializations, and Career Goals:  may include your research interests, disciplinary subfields, areas of specialization, and professional objectives.

Fit:  may include how your preparation, experiences, and interests match the specific resources and characteristics of your graduate program at UC Davis. Please identify specific faculty within your desired graduate program with whom you would like to work, how their interests match your own, and how you would benefit from engaging with their research.

Personal History and Diversity Statement

The University of California Davis, a public institution, is committed to supporting the diversity of the graduate student body and promoting equal opportunity in higher education. This commitment furthers the educational mission to serve the increasingly diverse population and educational needs of California and the nation. Both the Vice Provost of Graduate Education/Dean of Graduate Studies and the University of California affirm that diversity is critical to promoting lively intellectual exchange and the variety of ideas and perspectives essential to advancing higher education and research. Our graduate students contribute to the global pool of future scholars and academic leaders, thus high value is placed on achieving a diverse graduate student body to support the University of California’s academic excellence. We invite you to include in this statement how you may contribute to the diversification of graduate education and the UC Davis community.

The purpose of this essay is to get to know you as an individual and a potential graduate student. Please describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. You may include any educational, familial, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges, community service, outreach activities, residency and citizenship, first-generation college status, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey; how your life experiences contribute to the social, intellectual, or cultural diversity within a campus community and your chosen field; or how you might serve educationally underrepresented and underserved segments of society with your graduate education.

Three Letters of Recommendation

From professors or other persons situated to speak about your potential for graduate study.  In general, letters from professors or instructors involved in post-secondary academic studies who can speak to your research and/or the potential for your research profile, as well as any other aspect of your academic profile (e.g., any experience teaching, tutoring, or mentoring others) are preferred. These persons may also address your extra-curricular and personal histories as applicable.

Transcripts

Copies are allowed. Once admitted, Graduate Studies requires official transcripts.

UC Davis requires academic records from each college-level institution you have attended - instructions can be found here .  

Prospective students may also submit a Fellowship Application after applying to the program.

For the Fall 2023 cohort, we received 137 applications, admitted 19, and 6 matriculated.  

All students admitted to the Ph.D. program are provided guaranteed funding for 5 years in the form of Teaching Assistant and Associate Instructor positions. These appointments provide a  tuition waiver  which covers the Resident Regular Tuition cost & Health Insurance in and provides a  monthly salary . A limited amount of Graduate Student Researcher positions are available each year where students assist faculty with various projects.

Departmental funds are also available, such as the Miller Travel Fund, for students to attend conferences, interviews and conduct research.  Additional progress-based and summer language and travel fellowship stipends are awarded with funding allocated to us by Graduate Studies.

The  UC Davis Humanities Institute  offers fellowships students can apply for to fund their projects. Admitted students are also considered for University-wide fellowships.

Ph.D. Program Requirements Designated Emphases We Offer

Questions? Contact Us

Ph.D. Admissions

Thank you for your interest in our Ph.D. program, which offers an unparalleled combination of intellectual rigor and graduate support.  We are dedicated to training the next generation of scholars, and to confronting the opportunities offered by a changing job market. We look for various qualities in our applicants, including a proven capacity for advanced critical thinking and independent research.

The Department of English recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision. 

Note: Stanford does not offer a terminal Master of Arts in English.  

Autumn 2024 Admission

The deadline for the submission of graduate application forms to the Department of English for matriculation in Autumn 2024 will be  December 1, 2023 at 11:59pm PST .

Read all instructions at the  University Graduate Admissions website  before starting the application process.

Application Requirements/Checklist:

• Application form: Completed online through the  University Graduate Admissions website
• Non-refundable fee of $125.  For information on eligibility for fee waivers, please refer to  Graduate Application Fee Waiver
• Statement of Purpose (ideally 500-600 words, maximum 1000, double spaced, submitted as part of the application): reasons for applying, preparation, specific study and research interests (e.g., 18th century, American lyric poetry, Middle English, etc.), future career plans, and any other information to elucidate background and potential as a scholar/teacher.
• Letters of Recommendation:  Three letters of recommendation are required from faculty members or others who are qualified to evaluate academic work and teaching potential.  Recommenders submit their letters through the online system by the application deadline.
• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts from all universities and colleges you have attended for one year or more must be uploaded to the online application.  We only require admitted applicants who accept the offer of admission to submit official transcripts that show degree conferral. Please do not send any official transcripts to us at this time.
• Writing sample: a critical paper of approximately 12-25 pages, ideally in your stated field of interest. The writing sample is also submitted with the online application.
• Official TOEFL and/or TSE: required for all international applicants (whose primary language is not English) sent via ETS.  To see if you need to provide this information, please check the  Exam Requirements for International Applicants . Stanford does not accept IELTS scores.

Note to Stanford Undergraduates (both current and former):  

As a department we are gratified when some of our undergraduate majors decide to pursue advanced degrees in English.  To foster breadth in the students’ educational experience and also to expose our department to diverse ideas, our philosophy is that students who receive their undergraduate degrees from our department should generally look elsewhere to pursue their doctorates.

Inquiries about the Ph.D. in English should be directed to  englishadmissions [at] lists.stanford.edu (englishadmissions[at]lists[dot]stanford[dot]edu) .

Knight-Hennessy Scholars 

Join dozens of  Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences students  who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as  Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS). KHS admits up to 100 select applicants each year from across Stanford’s seven graduate schools, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders ready to address complex global challenges. As a scholar, you join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of your PhD studies at Stanford. Candidates of any country may apply. KHS applicants must have earned their first undergraduate degree within the last seven years, and must apply to both a Stanford graduate program and to KHS. Stanford PhD students may also apply to KHS during their first year of PhD enrollment. If you aspire to be a leader in your field, we invite you to apply. The KHS application deadline is October 11, 2023. Learn more about  KHS admission .

Start English PhD Application

Autumn 2023 Admissions

Poetry and poetics.

For the 2022-2023 graduate admissions cycle, the University of Chicago English Department is accepting only applicants planning to focus on poetry and poetics. Comparative and multilingual approaches to literature are welcome, as are students from international and diverse backgrounds. We are particularly interested in applicants whose intellectual projects engage with one or more of the following: comparative poetics; ecopoetics and environmental humanities; historical poetics; translation and translation studies; the poetry and poetics of migration, indigeneity, empire, and/or colonialism; hemispheric poetics and intercultural exchange; poetics in relation to sound and performance studies; poetry and inter-arts exchange; emerging archival practices; the convergence and polarities of creative and critical thinking; and poetry and poetics in relation to race, gender, class, and sexuality.

Past Admission Cycles

Pre-1900 Research

Black Studies

For more information, visit Admissions.

All applications must be completed online through UChicago Humanities Division's  Online Application .

The Autumn 2023 application cycle is now closed. The application deadline was December 15, 2022.

Division of the Humanities FAQ

English Faculty Bookshelf

Creative Writing Faculty Bookshelf

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: should i apply this year if my research interests are outside of the disciplinary focus for this year’s application cycle  ​.

No. For the application cycle 2022-23 the department is only considering the applications of students planning to focus on Poetry and Poetics. However, if your interests include other topics in addition to  primarily poetry and poetics we would be interested in considering your application.​

Q: Will enrolled students be able to take courses and work with faculty outside of the research area specified in the admissions application?​

Yes. New students will benefit from the robust array of poetry and poetics faculty and courses within the department but also from the entire departmental faculty, who have unanimously supported this admissions initiative and are uniformly committed to support the thriving of all of our graduate students, this year and thereafter. In addition, many of our students do coursework in other departments such as History, Cinema and Media Studies, Comparative Literature, etc. ​

Q: Will this year’s focus apply to future admissions cycles?​

No. This year’s focus applies to the admissions cycle for the Autumn 2023 application cycle only. ​

Q: What kinds of courses are offered for graduate students? ​

For a list of current course offerings, please see our  course catalog .

Partial List of Faculty Working on Poetry and Poetics

Suzanne buffam.

I am the author of three books—two collections of lyric poetry ( Past Imperfect,  2005,   and  The Irrationalist,  2010) and a hybrid book-length poem in prose ( A Pillow Book,  2016). My fourth book, currently in progress, will be a collection of microfictions / prose poems that explore the contradictions of contemporary life with regard to gender, class, aging, and mental health. What unites these books, across a range of forms and modes, is an attempt to leverage humor and irony in service of existential and metaphysical inquiry. 

Poetry and poetics, fiction, nonfiction, hybrid literature, translation, gender studies 

James Chandler

My research and teaching interests include the Romantic movement; the study of lyric poetry; the history of the novel; relations between politics and literature, history and criticism; the Scottish Enlightenment; modern Irish literature and culture; the sentimental mode; cinema studies; and the history of humanities disciplines.  Poetry and poetics have always been central to my work, from my first book on Wordsworth through writings about Blake, Barbauld, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron, Tighe, Tennyson, Hardy,  Yeats, and Heaney. My most recent book,  Doing Criticism,  returns to I.A. Richards famous experiments with student responses  to poetry to find new departures for critical writing.

18th Century British/Romanticism, Poetry and Poetics, British Literature, Global Literatures, Critical Theory and Objects of Study

Alexis Chema

I specialize in Romantic literature and culture, with particular interest in poetry, visual art, and the civic functions they have been engaged to serve. The book I am writing,  Roads of Excess: Poetry and Public Address in the Age of Revolutions , is about changes to the public sphere over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the impacts these changes had on poetry—who wrote and read it, how it circulated, and, most of all, on how matters of language and style adapt to the perceived conditions of mass reading.

Poetry and Poetics, Gender and Sexuality, 18th Century British Literature, Romantic Literature, Victorian Literature, History of Ideas, History of the Book, Literary History, Literature and Philosophy, Literature and the Arts, Visual Culture and Iconography

Rachel DeWoskin

Rachel DeWoskin is the award-winning author of the poetry collection, Two Menus (University of Chicago Press, 2020); five novels: Someday We Will Fly (Penguin Random House, 2019); Banshee (Dottir Press, 2019); Blind (Penguin Random House, 2015); Big Girl Small (FSG, 2011); Repeat After Me (The Overlook Press, 2009); and the memoir Foreign Babes in Beijing (WW Norton, 2005). She has received a National Jewish Book Award, a Sydney Taylor Book Award, an American Library Association's Alex Award, and an Academy of American Poets Award, among others. Her poems and essays have appeared in journals including The New Yorker , Vanity Fair , Ploughshares , Agni , and and the anthologies New Voices from the Academy of American Poets , and Wherever I’m At (Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, 2022). DeWoskin is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Arts and an affiliated faculty member in Jewish and East Asian Studies. Her interests include lyric poetry, sonnets, and translations from Chinese, particularly Tang poems.

Rachel Galvin

I am a scholar, poet, and translator. My research and teaching interests include twentieth- and twenty-first-century poetry and poetics in English, Spanish, and French; comparative literature, U.S. Latinx literature, Hemispheric Studies, war literature, multilingual poetics, the Oulipo, and the theory and practice of translation. I’m currently writing a book on Latinx poetry and hemispheric poetics, and often teach courses related to both. My first book,  News of War: Civilian Poetry 1936-1945 , is an account of how civilian poets confront the problem of writing about war, with a focus on literatures of the Spanish Civil War and World War II and an epilogue on contemporary poetry published in the U.S. about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. My newest poetry collection,  Uterotopia ,is forthcoming from Persea Books in Fall 2022. I also translate poetry from French and Spanish. Alongside teaching courses in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature, I teach in the Creative Writing Program   and serve as the faculty lead for Translation Studies. 

Poetry and Poetics | Latinx Literature | Translation | Hemispheric Studies | Comparative Literature | 20 th -C and 21 st -C American Literature | 20 th -C and 21 st -C Latin American Literature | 20 th -C and 21 st -C French Literature | Contemporary Literature | European Modernism | The Avant-Garde | Theories of Diaspora and Decolonization | Literary History | Literature and the Arts | War Literature 

Edgar Garcia

I am a poet and scholar of the hemispheric cultures of the Americas. My most recent book, Emergency: Reading the Popol Vuh in a Time of Crisis (University of Chicago Press, 2022), is a collection of 9 essays that show what this foundational creation story of the indigenous Americas (the Popol Vuh) has to teach people about the relation between emergency and emergence. My scholarship and poetry are likewise inquiries into the relation between crisis and creativity or world creation—often experimenting with literary and disciplinary form to bring ideas and feelings to life. My other works include Skins of Columbus: A Dream Ethnography (Fence Books, 2019) and Signs of the Americas: A Poetics of Pictography, Hieroglyphs, and Khipu (University of Chicago Press, 2020). Alongside my books, my work has appeared in such venues as Publications of the Modern Language Association (PMLA), Modern Philology, The Chronicle of Higher Education, American Religion, Portable Gray, Poetry Magazine , and Fence .  

In addition to teaching in the Department of English and the Department of Creative Writing, in 2022 I also am serving as guest editor in chief of Fence , a journal of innovative literary writing. A more detailed description of my past and present work can be found here .

Critical Race Studies, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Theories of Diaspora and Decolonization, Contemporary Literature, Animal Studies, Literature and the Arts, Translation, Visual Culture and Iconography

Timothy Harrison

I am the author of  Coming To: Consciousness and Natality in Early Modern England  (University of Chicago Press, 2020). My current research focuses on the relationship between Renaissance and early modern literary texts (particularly lyric poetry), the first-person perspective, and the history of concepts across languages and cultures. With Jane Mikkelson, I am currently co-authoring a comparative study on how lyric poetry represents human mindedness in seventeenth-century English and Persian literary traditions. I have taught such graduate courses as: Creations:  The Popol Vuh  and  Paradise Lost ; The Uses of Fiction: Poetry and Philosophy in Early Modernity; and Early Modern Natality.

Poetry and poetics, Renaissance and Early Modern Literature, History of Ideas, Literary History, Literature and Philosophy, Nonfiction Prose

Chicu Reddy

I’m a poet, scholar, and literary editor who studies poetry across a range of forms, historical periods, and regions. My most recent book of poetry,  Underworld Lit , is a long narrative poem cast in the form of lecture notes for an imaginary course in the humanities; at the university I teach a variety of courses in literary studies and creative writing, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary work in the arts and humanities. 

My research interests include modern American poetry, theories of global and transnational literature, and contemporary Asian American writing. In Fall 2015, I delivered the Bagley Wright Lectures in Poetry; these lectures, on poetry as an “affective technology” within a variety of historical periods and cultural traditions, is forthcoming from Wave Books. 

In addition to teaching in the Department of English and the Program in Creative Writing, I also serve as Series Editor for the Phoenix Poets book series at the  University of Chicago Press . 

Poetry and Poetics, Creative Writing, Contemporary Literary Publishing, Asian American/Pacific Studies, Global Anglophone, Translation Studies

Jennifer Scappettone

Jennifer Scappettone works at the confluence of the literary, scholarly, visual and performing arts, with particular research and teaching interests in poetry and poetics, translation and multilingualism, geography (both urban and natural), environmental humanities, documentary, and the relationship between writing, the present moment, and social change, across several departments. These interests come to bear in scholarly monographs like Killing the Moonlight: Modernism in Venice (Columbia University Press, 2014) and the forthcoming Poetry After Barbarism: Fascism, the Xenoglossic Word, and the Invention of a Motherless Tongue; Locomotrix , a collection of translations and scholarly glosses devoted to the work of the poet-refugee from Fascist Italy Amelia Rosselli (University of Chicago Press, 2012); and The Republic of Exit 43 : Outtakes & Scores from an Archaeology & Pop-Up Opera of the Corporate Dump (Atelos, 2016), a transgenre scoring of the attempt to piece together environmental injustices surrounding a Superfund-listed landfill. Scappettone has worked solo and in collaboration with musicians, architects, code and movement artists on performances crafted in response to sites ranging from Trajan’s aqueduct on the Janiculum Hill to Fresh Kills Landfill. Her work has been recognized by fellowships and other honors by the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Stanford Center for the Humanities, the Bogliasco Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, and the American Academy in Rome, among others, and is currently on display at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art in New York City.

Performance, translation, multilingualism, translingualism, urbanism, environmental justice, Romance languages, geography, environmental humanities, ecopoetics, documentary, social change, poetry and politics, geopoetics, installation, interarts

Special Collections and Archives

The Library builds and preserves research collections that support the present and future needs of its faculty, students, and staff. Thirty-eight percent of the Library’s collections are in languages other than English, supporting faculty research with a global impact and making the Library a mecca for international scholars.

The Hanna Holborn Gray   Special Collections Research Center  is home to the Library’s rare books, manuscripts, and the University of Chicago Archives. Highlights include:

• A comprehensive collection of print editions of Homer’s works
• Editorial files of  Poetry: A Magazine of Verse
• Walt Whitman's original manuscript of "the Bible as Poetry"
• The Goodspeed New Testament Manuscript Collection
• The Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica
• The Chicago Jazz Archive

The Library digitizes its own collections in order to provide greater access, preserve at-risk materials, and enable new forms of digital scholarship. One hundred subject-based collections, 44 archival collections, and 150 early manuscripts have been made accessible online, with items ranging from 4th century Egyptian manuscripts to early editions of the  Maroon  student newspaper to maps of Chicago before and after the Great Chicago Fire. Many more individual titles are available via our Library catalog and through our participation in the international digital preservation repository, HathiTrust.

Concrete Poetry, Concrete Book: Artists' Books in German-Speaking Space after 1945

Poetic Associations: The Nineteenth-Century English Poetry Collection of Dr. Gerald N. Wachs  

Whitman, Walt, "The Bible as Poetry." Manuscript, 1883  

Modern Poetry

The Berlin Collection

Helen and Ruth Regenstein Collection of Rare Books  

St. Albans Collection of Music  

Censorship and Information Control  

Field, Eugene. Correspondence, 1884-1895  

Sample Courses

Creations: the Popol Vuh and Paradise Lost

Shakespearean Dramaturgies: Text/Medium/Performance and the Magic of the Theatre

The Print Revolution and New Readers: Women, Workers, Children

Romantic Poetry

Ecopoetics: Literature and Ecology

Prosody and Poetic Form: An Introduction to Comparative Metrics

Modernist Poetry: Yeats, Eliot, Pound

Modernist Poetry

Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance: Issues and Methods

Old English Riddles

William Blake: Poet, Painter, Prophet

Anthropological Poetics

The Means of Production: Contemporary Poetry and Literary Publishing

Migrant Poetics

Coursework Overview

Teaching Opportunities

Departmental Resources

Affiliated Journals

Critical Inquiry  has published the best critical thought in the arts and humanities since 1974, presenting articles by eminent critics, scholars, and artists on a wide variety of issues central to contemporary criticism and culture. Cofounded by faculty members of the Department of English, including Sheldon Sacks and Wayne Booth, the journal currently has English faculty member W. J. T. Mitchell as its editor and English faculty members Bill Brown, Frances Ferguson, Elizabeth Helsinger and Patrick Jagoda as its coeditors. Many English graduate students have worked on the Critical Inquiry staff over the years as well.

Modern Philology ,  formed in 1903, is one of the oldest journals of modern literary scholarship. This journal is unusual in that it is not dedicated to one field in literature (a chronological period) or to the literature of one country or language. But despite its wide range and reach (or perhaps because of this)  Modern Philology  has always been edited by professors in the Department of English; currently, Ellen Mackey, Josephine McDonagh, and Tim Campbell serve as co-editors. The journal publishes all sorts of high-quality literary studies, from the most "traditional" (source studies, etc.) to the most "advanced" (theoretically motivated essays, etc.).

Chicago Review  is a literary magazine founded in 1946 and based at the University of Chicago. It is a premier venue for innovative poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism. Recent and forthcoming issues focus on the Black Arts Movement in Chicago, Jaime de Angulo, the Infrarealistas, Helen Adam, and Ed Roberson. The magazine is run by graduate students from across the disciplines, including many from the Department of English.

Recent Issues

The Chicago Review Spring 2022

UChicago Centers Abroad

Graduate students are also free to work on projects at one of UChicago's centers abroad. The overseas centers expand opportunities for collaboration with universities, research institutes, and cultural organizations as well as provide research support for faculty and students. 

Yuen Campus in Hong Kong

Center in Beijing

Center in Delhi

Center in Paris

Our students regularly work on projects sponsored by the following centers:

The Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT)  The shared query that drives the center is: How do we theorize the present? 3CT supports work that interrogates systems of power and value, that proposes methods and frameworks for making sense of recent events and ongoing transformations, and that demands that theory be relevant to the world we live in. In doing so, we foster an interdisciplinary community of scholars, students, and practitioners who produce new forms of theory that help to illuminate both what is and what could be. Founded in 2004 by seven faculty members from the Divisions of the Social Sciences and the Humanities, our collective has grown to include eighteen fellows, enabling imaginative collaborations across the disciplines. Our intellectual activities include ongoing projects, lectures, teach-ins, book salons, conferences, publications, and teaching.

Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry   The Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry is a forum at the University of Chicago for experimental collaborations between artists and scholars. The Center seeks to intervene in existing structures that keep scholarship and the arts separate from each other, and to help reimagine new relationships between them. At the Center’s heart are its year-long collaborative fellowships involving at least two people, one from inside and outside the university community, who eventually co-teach a course open to undergraduate and graduate students. The experimental nature of the Gray Center’s work has yielded a wide variety of forms through which past, current, and prospective fellows share their work with diverse constituencies on campus, throughout Chicago and the US, and globally; these include the monthly public conversation series Sidebar and (virtually) FarBar; the experimental music/performance initiative Gray Sound; various conferences and symposia; and our biannual journal Portable Gray, published by University of Chicago Press and distributed to over 30 countries on 4 continents. The hallmark of the Gray Center is the creation of a zone of commitment that allows scholars and artists to take risks not otherwise possible given their professional profiles. The Gray Center, in short, is a place for serious play and genuine exploration.

Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society   The Neubauer Collegium cultivates communities of inquiry at the University of Chicago. Our faculty-led research projects bring together scholars and practitioners whose collaboration is required to address complex human challenges. Our Visiting Fellows program brings the best minds from around the world for collaboration, animating the intellectual and creative environment on campus. Our gallery presents art exhibitions in the context of academic research, and our public events invite broad engagement with the scholarly inquiries we support. The aim of these activities is to deepen knowledge about the world and our place in it.

The Franke Institute for the Humanities   The Franke Institute for the Humanities is both an idea and a place. Conceptually, it represents the highest research and teaching ambitions of the University of Chicago, sponsoring creative and innovative work in established academic disciplines in the arts and humanities and encouraging new projects that cross traditional disciplinary and departmental lines. Materially, its physical space—a suite of offices and public rooms in the Regenstein Library—provides facilities where scholars and artists can do their work, and where that work can be tested and disseminated through discussions, debates, symposia, and public conferences.

Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture  From its inception, CSRPC faculty affiliates, students, and staff have been committed to establishing a new type of research institute devoted to the study of race and ethnicity, one that seeks to expand the study of race beyond the black/white paradigm while exploring social and identity cleavages within racialized communities. Scholars affiliated with the Center have also endeavored to make race and ethnicity central topics of intellectual investigation at the University of Chicago by fostering interdisciplinary research, teaching, and public debate. Fundamentally, the Center is committed to contributing intellectually challenging and innovative scholarship that can help people transform their thinking and their lives. Towards those goals, the Center provides funding and other types of support for projects initiated by faculty affiliates, graduate students, undergraduates, artists-in-residence and visiting fellows.  After extensive renovations in 2013, our building now features seminar rooms to host classes and workshops, space for our events and community activities and other resources.

The Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture   The Scherer Center helps coordinate the University’s rich and diverse scholarly interest in the study of American culture by sponsoring courses, seminars, and lunch-time discussions of new work; by bringing distinguished visitors to campus for lectures, symposia, and conferences; and by developing forums for meaningful interactions among scholars of different disciplines and the public.

Nicholson Center for British Studies  In 2003, the Robert Nicholson Center for British Studies was formed in order to bring together the university’s strength in things British. To further this mission of interdisciplinary study, the center funds short- and long-term graduate research in the British Isles or Ireland, sponsors lectures in British Studies, hosts graduate-run conferences and other projects on topics of broad interest, and co-sponsors a variety of campus events involving British Studies.

  News

• Departmental
• Administrative

Meet the Class: The 2023 PhD Cohort

We caught up with the incoming 2023 PhD cohort to find out why they choose UCLA, what they love about studying literature, and the research they hope to explore while in the program. Learn more about this class below!

Johan Lorraine Alvarado BA, UC Berkeley

Why pursue a PhD in English?

I’m passionate about bringing attention to the critical cultural productions of underrepresented people, especially those of queer, trans, communities of color.

What made you decide to study at UCLA?

Meeting the faculty, staff, and current graduate students solidified my decision to study here. The unbridled passion for their research, the adoration for their colleagues, and the excitement for the incoming cohort made me realize that I, too, will find a home at UCLA.

What interest areas do you plan to research and explore in the program?

I’m interested in contemporary work that is attentive to queer diasporic sensibilities. Though I have mainly focused on poetry during my undergraduate career, I wish to expand my inquiries into multimedia/hybrid texts and performance practices.

What books are you currently reading? Any recommendations?

I’m currently reading Franny Choi’s newest poetry collection The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On and re-reading Richard Siken’s Crush. I definitely recommend both texts, even for non-poetry readers; these books will make you feel something, I promise.

Do you have any hobbies?

With my vast love for reading poetry, it’s no surprise that I write and perform as well! But when my nose isn’t stuck in a book, you can find me crocheting, painting, or being a bit pretentious about coffee.

Valerie Barrios BA, Boston University

I am pursuing a PhD in English to broaden my depth of knowledge in my chosen research area, and to gain skills that will help me develop as a scholar and researcher.

The range of work done within the department and the faculty at UCLA were two big draws for me. I felt my research would be well supported and able to thrive within this program.

Broadly, I am interested in Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x cultural productions and postcolonial theory. I was also an Economics major as an undergraduate, and I am eager to explore interdisciplinary research that incorporates economic theories within these areas.

I just started The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea, which I am really enjoying. It’s hard to narrow down recommendations, but a recent read that I really loved and would recommend is The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

I like to make time to read and write outside of my work as a student. I also enjoy going for walks, exploring new places, and cooking.

Ames Loji BA, Wayne State University MA, Michigan State University

I enjoy both teaching and research, and English feels like a natural disciplinary home to me. I appreciate the way that scholars of English center textual and creative expression in exploring questions about culture and society more broadly, and I hope to contribute to these conversations myself.

The department! I admire the work of many scholars in UCLA’s English department, and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to learn from them. I am also excited to be in a program that supports interdisciplinarity, and everyone I spoke to during the admissions process made me feel very welcome.

I hope to study literary and cultural production from Oceania in conjunction with decolonial theory, the environmental humanities, and disability studies.

At the moment, I’m reading Claire G. Coleman’s speculative fiction novel Terra Nullius , and I’m finding it very compelling! It’s set in Australia, and uses sci-fi conventions to critique colonialism in a really interesting way.

In addition to reading, I like to hike, ski, and spend time with my wife and our cats. I also love food and am excited to experience the food scene in LA!

Madeline Werner BA, University Of Washington

Why pursue a PhD in English? I value and enjoy studying language, culture, and history through the medium of literature.

What made you decide to study at UCLA? UCLA has a strong community of scholars working in early modern and medieval fields. I am particularly excited about the work being done in the Center for Early Global Studies. What interest areas do you plan to research and explore in the program? I am interested in medieval and early modern texts. I hope to strengthen my analysis of disability, race and racialization, and the environment in those literatures. What books are you currently reading? Any recommendations? I am currently reading Piranesi by Suzanne Clarke and I am currently listening to the audiobook of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, both of which I recommend. Others that I have enjoyed recently include The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Big Tree by Brian Selznick, and The Devourers by Indra Das.

PhD Program

The English Department will begin reviewing completed MA applications on January 1, 2024 and will continue to accept them until the March 15, 2024 deadline

BU PhD Program Profile metrics

Requirements for the PhD

In the PhD Program, students move toward specialization in a particular area of study. The requirements include:

• Sixteen graduate-level courses, including a required eight courses taken in the first year.
• A successful review by the Graduate Committee upon completion of the first year.
• Demonstration of a reading knowledge of one foreign language at an advanced level or two foreign languages at an intermediate level – including one language completed as part of the first year.
• Completion of a Qualifying Oral Examination
• Submission and approval of a Dissertation Prospectus
• Completion and defense of a Ph.D. dissertation

Please note that successful completion of requirements in the first year earns each Ph.D. student an M.A. degree as a matter of course.

Satisfactory Academic Progress for PhD Students

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English guarantee five full years (12 months each) of financial support for PhD students who maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress . This support will be in the form of Teaching Fellowships or Graduate Fellowships. All requirements for the doctorate, including dissertation, must be completed within seven years (exceptions require a petition to GRS). A leave of absence of up to two semesters is permitted for appropriate cause.

Given these time constraints, students should work closely with their advisers and dissertation readers to devise an efficient schedule for meeting all benchmarks. Faculty and students share responsibility for adhering closely to this schedule.

The following achievements are required to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress:

Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher, have no more than 2 failing grades (lower than B- or an incomplete grade older than 12 months), and pass qualifying exams and other milestones on the following recommended schedule:

Year 1:      Eight graduate courses – for the M.A. degree / first foreign language requirement.

Year 2:      Continue course work and study toward the completion of the language requirement.

Year 3:     Complete course work and language requirements. In the fall of the third year, students take the pro-seminar (EN794 A1), in which they develop their Qualifying Oral Examination rationale and reading list, and form an oral exam committee.

Year 4:      Fall: Students should take the Qualifying Exam early in the Fall semester.

Spring: Prospectus submitted and dissertation writing begins.

Years 5+ : Dissertation.

Additional departmental details regarding all stages of the degree can be found in the graduate handbook

For GRS college policies and general information please see the Graduate Bulletin

Robert Chodat, Director of Graduate Studies

• Schools & departments

English Literature PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: English Literature

Discovery Day

Join us online on 18th April to learn more about postgraduate study at Edinburgh

View sessions and register

Research profile

Doctorate-level study is an opportunity to expand upon your interests and expertise in a community that really values research; and to make an original, positive contribution to learning in literature and related fields.

As the oldest department of English Literature in the UK, based in one of the largest and most diverse Schools in the University of Edinburgh, we are the ideal place for PhD study.

Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in all periods and genres of literature and literary analysis.

Research excellence

Based on our performance in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF), over 90 per cent of our research and impact is classed as world-leading and internationally excellent by Research Professional. 69 per cent is graded at the world-leading level – the highest of REF’s four categories.

In Times Higher Education's REF analysis, English at Edinburgh is ranked fifth in the UK (out of more than 90 institutions) for:

• the overall quality of our publications and other outputs
• the impact of our research on people’s lives
• our supportive research environment

Given the breadth and depth of our expertise, we are able to support students wishing to develop research projects in any field of Anglophone literary studies. These include American studies, literary and critical theory, the history of the book, gender and sexuality studies, and global Anglophone literatures - where our specialisms include Pacific, African, South Asian, and African-American writing.

We have particular strengths in each of the main periods of English and Scottish Literature:

• Renaissance/early modern
• Enlightenment
• 21st century
• Contemporary

Emergent research themes in the department include the digital humanities, the economic humanities, the environmental humanities and literature and medicine.

• Explore our range of research centres, networks and projects in English and Scottish Literature

Working with colleagues elsewhere in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, and across the wider University, we are able to support PhD theses crossing boundaries between disciplines and/or languages.

• Be inspired by the range of PhD research in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

Over the course of your PhD, you’ll be expected to complete an original body of work under the expert guidance of your supervisors leading to a dissertation of usually between 80,000 and 100,000 words.

You will be awarded your doctorate if your thesis is judged to be of an appropriate standard, and your research makes a definite contribution to knowledge.

• Read our pre-application guidance on writing a PhD research proposal

Go beyond the books

Beyond the Books is a podcast from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at research and the people who make it happen.

Listen to a mix of PhD, early career and established researchers talk about their journey to and through academia and about their current and recent research.

• Browse Beyond the Books episodes and hear our research community talk about their work

Training and support

Between the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC), the Careers Service, and the Institute for Academic Development (IAD), you’ll find a range of programmes and resources to help you develop your postgraduate skills.

You will also have access to the University’s fantastic libraries, collections and worldwide strategic partnerships.

Part of a community

As part of our research community, you will be immersed in a world of knowledge exchange, with lots of opportunities to share ideas, learning and creative work.

Activities range from talks by visiting speakers and work-in-progress seminars, to reading groups, conferences, workshops, performances, online journals and forums, many of which are led by PhD candidates.

Highlights include student reading for the James Tait Black Prizes, Britain's oldest literary awards which typically involve reading submissions across fiction and biography and advising the judges on the shortlists.

• Read an interview with 2022 James Tait Black reader, Céleste Callen

Our graduates tell us that they value the friendliness of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC), the connections they make here and the in-depth guidance they receive from our staff, who are published experts in their field.

A UNESCO World City of Literature, Edinburgh is a remarkable place to study, write, publish, discuss and perform prose, poetry and drama.

Take a PhD with us and you will be based in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) in the historic centre of this world-leading festival city.

You will have access to the University’s many literary treasures. These include the libraries of:

• William Drummond
• Lewis Grassic Gibbon
• Hugh MacDiarmid
• Norman MacCaig

The Centre for Research Collections holds the W.H. Auden collection; the Corson Collection of works by and about Sir Walter Scott; and the Ramage collection of poetry pamphlets.

It also holds a truly exceptional collection of early Shakespeare quartos and other early modern printed plays put together by the 19th century Shakespearean James Halliwell-Phillipps, the correspondence of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle (the focus of one of the major editorial projects in Victorian studies of the last half-century), and the extensive Laing collection of medieval and early modern manuscripts, as well as letters and papers by - and relating to - authors including:

• Christopher Isherwood
• Rudyard Kipling
• John Middleton Murry
• Walter de la Mare
• George Mackay Brown
• Compton Mackenzie

Many of the University's Special Collections are digitised and available online from our excellent Resource Centre, Computing Labs, and dedicated PhD study space in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC).

Look inside the PhD study space in LLC

In the city

Our buildings are close to the National Library of Scotland (where collections include the Bute Collection of early modern English drama and the John Murray Archive), Edinburgh Central Library, Scottish Poetry Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Writers’ Museum and a fantastic range of publishing houses, bookshops, and theatres.

We have strong links with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which annually welcomes around 1,000 authors to our literary city.

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK masters, or its international equivalent, with a mark of at least 65% in your English literature dissertation of at least 10,000 words.

If your masters programme did not include a dissertation or included a dissertation that was unmarked or less than 10,000 words, you will be expected to produce an exceptional research proposal and personal statement to show your ability to undertake research at the level required by this programme.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Fees and costs

Scholarships and funding, featured funding.

There are a number of scholarship schemes available to eligible candidates on this PhD programme, including awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Please be advised that many scholarships have more than one application stage, and early deadlines.

• Find out more about scholarships in literatures, languages and cultures

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4086
• Contact: [email protected]
• School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• 50 George Square
• Central Campus
• Programme: English Literature
• School: Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Select your programme and preferred start date to begin your application.

PhD English Literature - 3 Years (Full-time)

Phd english literature - 6 years (part-time), application deadlines.

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines. We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024/25:

• How to apply

You must submit two references with your application.

The online application process involves the completion of a web form and the submission of supporting documents.

For a PhD programme, you should include:

• a sample of written work of about 3,000 words (this can be a previous piece of work from an undergraduate or masters degree)
• a research proposal - a detailed description of what you hope to achieve and how
• Pre-application guidance

Before you formally apply for this PhD, you should look at the pre-application information and guidance on the programme website.

This will help you decide if this programme is right for you, and help us gain a clearer picture of what you hope to achieve.

The guidance will also give you practical advice for writing your research proposal – one of the most important parts of your application.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Study Postgraduate

Mphil/phd in english and comparative literary studies (2023 entry).

Course code

2 October 2023

4 years full-time; 7 years part-time

Qualification

English and Comparative Literary Studies

University of Warwick

Find out more about our MPhil/PhD in English and Comparative Literary Studies.

With 91% of our research outputs ranked as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” in the 2021 REF, , Warwick's English and Comparative Literary Studies Department offers an innovative MPhil/PhD with a wide range of research areas to choose from. Harness your intellectual ambitions and study amongst a globally renowned network of experts on the MPhil/PhD in English and Comparative Literary Studies.

Course overview

A PhD is undertaken for a variety of reasons: as preliminary training for an academic career; as an advanced degree that may contribute to a future career in other sectors; or simply as an exciting and rewarding pursuit. Your final dissertation of approximately 80,000 words is expected to make an original contribution to knowledge.

Studying at Warwick means joining a supportive and world-leading network of experts across a broad spectrum of literary, cultural, and theoretical topics.

Our warm and vibrant research community is one of the largest in the UK, with around 80 postgraduates every year. We offer a full calendar of seminars, symposiums and conferences, with a busy diary of speakers from around the world. We also offer funding for postgraduate study, and career development support during your time here.

You will study alongside ambitious scholars and researchers at the forefront of their fields. We want you to harness your intellectual ambitions and interests and bring your own distinct personal experiences and circumstances to bear on your work.

Teaching and learning

As a research student, your closest contact will be with your supervisor, or co-supervisors, who will meet with you regularly to discuss your work. The supervisory relationship is at the heart of your research. Your supervisor(s) are experts in their field, who will guide you throughout your degree and will agree upon a programme of reading, research and writing with you.

You will also be able to seek advice from our Director of Graduate Studies, who oversees our research students; and participate in sessions organised by our PG Professionalisation Officer, who organises seminars on employment in both the academic and non-academic sectors. With your peers, you will have the chance to participate in seminars, conferences, reading groups, and symposia; and you will be encouraged to apply for internal funding to support research trips and participation in academic events outside of the University.

General entry requirements

Minimum requirements.

2:i undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject. You must hold, or be currently studying for, an MA or international equivalent in a relevant discipline, with a predicted or final mark of 65 or above.

If you have not already taken an MA at Warwick, you may be required to take part in the ‘Foundation Module’ of the taught MA. This will not be formally assessed but will ensure that you have acquired the necessary skills for further research.

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirements Link opens in a new window . This course requires the following:

• IELTS overall score of 7.5, minimum component scores of two at 6.5/7.0 and the rest at 7.5 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements page Link opens in a new window .

Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Our research

Our research is interdisciplinary and comparative. We have particular strengths in American studies, eighteenth and nineteenth-century studies, environmentalism and ecocriticism, gender studies, the literary and cultural history of the medieval and early-modern period, performance studies, poetics, and World Literature.

Our major research groups include the Critical Theory Network, Feminist Dissent, the Centre for Ecopoetics, Poetry at Warwick, and the Warwick Research Collective (WReC).

We also work closely with the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance; the Centre for Research into Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts; the Early Modern and Eighteenth-Century Centre; and the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies.

We particularly welcome research applications in the following research areas Link opens in a new window .

You can also read our general University research proposal guidance.

Find a supervisor

You can ask any academic from our department to be your supervisor. See our staff pages for more details and to see whose research interests align with yours.

You can also see our general University guidance about finding a supervisor.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Taught course fees   Research course fees

Fee Status Guidance

The University carries out an initial fee status assessment based on information provided in the application and according to the guidance published by UKCISA. Students are classified as either Home or Overseas Fee status and this can determine the tuition fee and eligibility of certain scholarships and financial support.

If you receive an offer, your fee status will be stated with the tuition fee information, however we are awaiting guidance from the UK government regarding fee status for EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals and their family members living in the UK for academic year 2021/22 onwards. We are not able to confirm the fee status for these students until the relevant eligibility criteria have been confirmed. Once we have received further information from the UK government, we will provide you with an update on your fee status and let you know if any additional information is required. If you believe your fee status has been incorrectly classified you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire (follow the instructions in your offer) and provide the required documentation for this to be reassessed.

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) provides guidance to UK universities on fees status criteria, you can find the latest guidance on the impact of Brexit on fees and student support on the UKCISA website .

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad. Information about department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below, such as:

Please contact your academic department for information about department specific costs, which should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below, such as:

• Core text books
• Printer credits
• Dissertation binding
• Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships and financial support

Find out about the different funding routes available, including; postgraduate loans, scholarships, fee awards and academic department bursaries.

Living costs

Find out more about the cost of living as a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick.

English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick

Have the freedom to follow your own path.

We’re fond of freedom at Warwick. Freedom to learn, through an enormous array of modules to suit your interests, and through a range of innovative assessment techniques. You’re also free to explore the award-winning Warwick Arts Centre on campus, or you can travel further afield and visit the home of Shakespeare in Stratford or immerse yourself in the poetry scene in Leamington Spa and Birmingham. You can build your skills in public engagement with the Warwick Institute of Engagement and become involved in our exciting international consortia, including EUTOPIA and the Monash Warwick Alliance.

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, the Department ranked among the top 10 in the country for research environment: a great place for graduate study.

Find out more about us on our website. Link opens in a new window

Our Postgraduate courses

• Critical and Cultural Theory (MA)
• English and Comparative Literary Studies (MPhil/PhD)
• English and Drama (MA)
• English Literature (MA)
• Environmental Humanities (MA)
• World Literature (MA)

Taught course applications

Here is our checklist on how to apply for taught postgraduate courses at Warwick.

Research course applications

Here is our checklist on how to apply for research postgraduate degrees at the University of Warwick.

After you’ve applied

Find out how we process your application.

Applicant Portal

Track your application and update your details.

Admissions statement

See Warwick’s postgraduate admissions policy.

Join a live chat

Ask questions and engage with Warwick.

Postgraduate Open Day

Postgraduate fairs.

Throughout the year we attend exhibitions and fairs online and in the UK. These events give you the chance to learn about our Master's and PhD study routes, and the wider context of postgraduate study.

Find out more

Every week, you can connect directly with representatives from Warwick, who will be answering your questions on applying to and studying postgraduate studies at Warwick.

Sign up for Live Chats

Departmental events

Some academic departments hold events for specific postgraduate programmes, these are fantastic opportunities to learn more about Warwick and your chosen department and course.

See our online departmental events

Connect with us

Want to hear more about postgraduate study at Warwick? Register your interest and find out more.

Learn more about Postgraduate study at the University of Warwick.

Why Warwick

Discover why Warwick is one of the best universities in the UK and renowned globally.

6th in the UK (The Guardian University Guide 2022) Link opens in a new window

64th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2023) Link opens in a new window

5th most targeted university by the UK's top 100 graduate employers Link opens in a new window

(The Graduate Market in 2023, High Fliers Research Ltd. Link opens in a new window )

About the information on this page

This information is applicable for 2023 entry. Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our terms and conditions to find out more.

Ph.D. Programme in English

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The Ph.D. in English at Ashoka University is designed for students who are passionate about literature as well as the wider world. The curriculum exposes students to diverse modes of analysing texts that collapse the traditional disciplinary silos of historical period and language. Students are asked to formulate questions that are firmly grounded in academic rigour while pushing the boundaries of current scholarship. Teaching and research are seen as mutually constitutive, and students receive extensive training in pedagogic practice, underscoring the dialogic nature of all learning and writing. As they progress in the programme, students are encouraged to experiment with their teaching in the classroom. The Ph.D. in English thus aims to produce colleagues whose work is academically rigorous, but who are also not afraid to inject intellectual adventurousness into their theory and practice.

The English Department at Ashoka University has strengths in literary theory, Indian literatures (including Dalit and Sufi literatures), Translation Studies, global medieval and early modern literature, Indian Shakespeares, Precolonial literature of European-Indian encounter, Queer Theory, Digital Humanities, Performance Studies, Postcolonial Literature, Modernism, Film Studies, and Ecocriticism.

Students thinking of applying to the Ph.D. programme in English at Ashoka are advised to first visit the university website and acquaint themselves with faculty specializations before devising a possible topic of research. The programme will only accept students whose specific research interest makes a clear fit with the scholarship of one or more members of the faculty.

All our PhD students are fully funded for a period of five years. In addition, we also offer funds for books and travel, including for international conferences.

Requirements

Requirements to Apply

Students with an MA or MPhil in English (with 55% or higher). We will also consider applicants from non-English backgrounds so long as they can demonstrate expertise in the field of English literature.

To apply to the Ph.D. in English, applicants need to complete an online application form and to provide the following:

Statement of Purpose (700 words)

Research essay on student’s area of interest (3500 words): We are looking for a critical writing sample and not a research proposal or programmatic abstract of your dissertation. The writing sample can be an academic essay or a chapter of an undergraduate or graduate (MA or MPhil) thesis that best represents your academic interests.

Two academic letters of recommendation

Applications to the PhD programme are based on the online application followed by

a) a written examination of the longlisted candidates and

b) an interview of candidates shortlisted after the written examination.

Requirements for the Ph.D. in English

As part of the programme, students sign up for a maximum of 12 credits–3 4000L English courses of 4 credits each–during each semester. Among the total of 12 required courses, students can opt for a maximum of two Independent Study Modules (ISM) on topics of their devising, and with professors of their choosing (provided the professors are willing). The maximum number of courses that students can take in other departments is three across the first two years.

Alongside these courses, the Ph.D. students also have to fulfil a teaching requirement for 6 semesters.

Timeline for applications: 2023-24 Applications Open: 20 January, 2024 Applications Close: 21 February, 2024 Online Written Exam for longlisted candidates: 17 March, 2024 Shortlist and Interviews: End April Decisions: Early May

The first two years will consist of coursework. Each PhD student must take three courses – of four credits each – per semester. This will allow students to study a wide range of theories and texts as they move towards formulating their dissertation topic.

Monsoon Semester

Mandatory Courses – Introduction to Literary Theory

Elective Courses – Two elective courses, at the 4000 level; classes at any other level will require special permission from the professor

Spring Semester

Mandatory Courses – Research Methods and Ethics

Elective Courses – One elective course at the 4000-level; classes at any other level will require special permission from the professor

Teaching Requirement –  Pedagogy Seminar: TA for one undergraduate class

End of Summer 1 / Beginning of Year 2: Written Qualifying Exam based on a mandatory list of tests. The list for this exam will involve literature stretching from 800 CE to the present. You will be provided with a list of 100 texts from among which you should pick 25, with the stipulation that at least half the texts should date from before 1800.

Elective Courses – Three elective courses, including, preferably, a seminar in Advanced Theory

Teaching Requirement – A Pedagogy Workshop and GA for the ASP Proseminar

Teaching Requirement – GA for the ASP Proseminar

Second week of the fifth semester in Year 3: Oral Qualifying Exam

PhD students must select at least 7 of their 9 elective courses from the department’s 4000-level graduate seminars. With the permission of the DGS, students can take two of their electives in the form of an ISM, an upper-level UG course, or a course in another department.

The maximum number of courses you can take in other departments is three across two years. The PhD Director can provide for exceptions to this rule under compelling circumstances.

End of third year: Defend a 10-12 page dissertation prospectus which will allow students to advance to the dissertation-writing stage of the PhD program. This prospectus will include a rationale for, and an outline of, the stakes of the proposed dissertation.

Years 4 and 5:-

The fourth and fifth years will be spent in researching and writing the thesis.

Teaching Requirement – Teach one Critical Thinking Seminar in one semester of your fourth or fifth year

End of fifth year: Dissertation submission and defense.

Download the Ph.D. Handbook

Applications for the Ph.D. Programme in English are now open

Applicants must apply through the online admissions portal., study at ashoka.

Programme Interested In Undergraduate Programme Young India Fellowship YSP PhD MA - Economics MA English MSC Biology

Year of Admission 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26

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English Literature

PhD, MPhil English Literature

Research in the Department of English brings the core values of our discipline - textual scholarship, critical and theoretical analysis, and contextual knowledge - to the dynamic and changing field of English literary studies. We cover the full chronological range, from the medieval to the contemporary period, with many colleagues engaged in interdisciplinary research.

We are proud of our expertise in medieval and early-modern literature, in Romantic and Victorian literature, in modernism, and in contemporary writing in English. The department is notable for its breadth of research in English poetry across the periods, and our range of specialist interests includes literary theory, the history of book, literature and science, literature and medicine, literature and the environment, digital humanities, women's writing and gender studies, queer writing, postcolonial literature, Black British writing, world literatures in English, 20th-century American literature, and Welsh and Anglo-Welsh writing.

In these and other areas we foster doctoral research both within the department and in collaboration with other departments at Bristol and beyond, including in art history, medical sciences, philosophy, history, politics, drama, classics, theology and modern languages.

Programme structure

MPhil: a stand-alone, one-year (full-time) research degree. Students will undertake their own research project, concluding with the submission of a 25,000-word dissertation. Students may have the option to audit units from our taught master's programmes if they are relevant to their research.

PhD: a research project undertaken across four years (full-time, minimum period of study three years), culminating in an 80,000-word thesis. As well as having the option to audit taught units where appropriate, there may be the potential for PhD students to teach units themselves from their second year of study onwards.

The MPhil and PhD can be studied via distance learning.

World-leading research

The University of Bristol is ranked fifth for research in the UK ( Times Higher Education ).

94% of our research assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent.

Entry requirements

MPhil: An upper second-class degree or international equivalent. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree.

PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study.

See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.

Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.

If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our  profile level A.

Further information about  English language requirements and profile levels .

Fees and funding

Fees are subject to an annual review. For programmes that last longer than one year, please budget for up to an 8% increase in fees each year.

More about tuition fees, living costs and financial support .

Alumni discount

University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study.  Check your eligibility for an alumni discount.

Funding for 2024/25

The University of Bristol is part of the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP), which will be offering studentships for September 2024. For information on other funding opportunities, including University-funded studentships, please see the Faculty of Arts funding pages .

Further information on funding for prospective UK and international postgraduate students.

Career prospects

A large number of graduates from this programme develop careers in higher education or work on high-level research projects in the field of English Literature. Some graduates take up careers in freelance writing and editing.

Meet our supervisors

The following list shows potential supervisors for this programme. Visit their profiles for details of their research and expertise.

Research groups

We see postgraduate study as a vital component of our research culture, with students bringing their own ideas and initiatives to fruition and engaging in research conversations with their fellow students and academic staff.

Postgraduates take part in organising conferences and study days, regularly present papers at departmental research seminars, and are active in research clusters and reading groups.

The successful completion of an innovative research project, with the guidance of demanding and stimulating supervisors, remains at the heart of postgraduate study. We aim to deliver that outcome, but we also want your experience to be enriched by wider academic contacts and by focused, helpful professional development.

All of the department's researchers have interests that coincide with (but are not limited to) the following areas:

• Early Modern to 1780
• The Long Nineteenth Century
• Modern and Contemporary Literature
• Literatures of the Global South
• Creative Writing and Creative Practice
• Material and Digital Texts
• Poetry and Poetics
• Literature, Science and Medical Humanities
• Literature and the Environment
• Spatial Humanities
• Gender and Sexuality
• Race and Ethnicity

The department co-leads the Bristol Poetry Institute , which draws on the department's established strength in this field, and members of the department are directors of and/or active in the faculty's interdisciplinary research centres: Health, Humanities and Science , Environmental Humanities , Creative Technologies , Black Humanities , and Medieval Studies . The centres bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines to share their research, devise innovative research projects, and give interdisciplinarity a real basis in academic practice.

The departmental research seminar, which meets throughout the academic session, is the principal forum for academic staff and graduate students to present and discuss their recent research. At each session there is a mix of speakers from outside Bristol, graduate students, and members of staff. Two annual lectures - the Churchill Lecture and the Tucker-Cruse Lecture - also bring distinguished scholars from outside the University.

How to apply

Apply via our online application system. For further information, please see the guidance for how to apply on our webpages.

January 2024 start: 1 December 2023 September 2024 start: 1 August 2024 January 2025 start: 1 December 2024

The deadlines for funding applications fall well in advance of these dates. Preliminary contact with staff from the department is welcome at any time of the year. We strongly encourage prospective applicants to contact us early, before submitting an application.

Faculty of Arts Postgraduate Research Admissions

Faculty of Arts

School of Humanities

Department of English

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English Literature MPhil, PhD

The research-led English Literature MPhil and PhD enable you to study a specialist area of literature.

You are currently viewing course information for entry year:

Start date(s):

• September 2024
• January 2025

Join our thriving School with an energetic, creative and well-resourced research culture. Throughout your English Literature MPhil/PhD, you'll benefit from expert supervision.

Our specialist areas of literature range in periods from the medieval to the contemporary. We normally offer supervision in the following areas:

• Medieval and Early Modern literature
• 18th-century and Romantic
• Victorian literature
• Postcolonial and Black Atlantic literature
• American literature
• children’s literature
• medical humanities
• poetry criticism
• scholarly editing and animating text
• theatre and performance

Important information

We've highlighted important information about your course. Please take note of any deadlines.

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our  Academic experience page , which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2023-24.

See our  terms and conditions and student complaints information , which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Related courses

Qualifications explained.

Find out about the different qualification options for this course.

An MPhil is available in all subject areas. You receive research training and undertake original research leading to the completion of a 40,000 - 50,000 word thesis.

Find out about different types of postgraduate qualifications

A PhD is a doctorate or doctoral award. It involves original research that should make a significant contribution to the knowledge of a specific subject. To complete the PhD you will produce a substantial piece of work (80,000 – 100,000 words) in the form of a supervised thesis. A PhD usually takes three years full time.

How you'll learn

Your work will focus on a single, sustained piece of writing and research. The MPhil thesis is a maximum of 50,000 words and the PhD thesis is a maximum of 100,000 words.

You'll be assigned a supervisor or a supervisory team who you will meet on a regular basis. Your supervisor will be able to give you advice on reading and research training. They'll help you use our research facilities and support you in the development of your work. Our research training programme will support you with researcher development training throughout the programme.

You'll be taught and based on our Newcastle campus. There may be opportunities to carry out work with our School's partner institutions .

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

We offer a wide range of projects for the thesis. These will be provided by our academics. You can also propose your own topic.

Our mission is to help you:

• stay healthy, positive and feeling well
• overcome any challenges you may face during your degree – academic or personal
• get the most out of your postgraduate research experience
• carry out admin and activities essential to progressing through your degree
• understand postgraduate research processes, standards and rules

We can offer you tailored wellbeing support, courses and activities.

You can also access a broad range of workshops covering:

• research and professional skills
• careers support
• health and safety
• public engagement
• academic development

Find out more about our postgraduate research student support

Your development

You'll have plenty of opportunities to network with fellow students and staff and become part of our School research community. These include:

• our Postgraduate Speaker Series
• lunchtime Postgraduate Forum seminars
• an annual postgraduate conference organised by our postgraduate students

You can also take part in a range of university and regional research groups and centres.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) researcher development programme 

Each faculty offers a researcher development programme for its postgraduate research students. We have designed your programme to help you:

• perform better as a researcher
• boost your career prospects
• broaden your impact

Through workshops and activities, it will build your transferable skills and increase your confidence.

You’ll cover:

• techniques for effective research
• methods for better collaborative working
• essential professional standards and requirements

Your researcher development programme is flexible. You can adapt it to meet your changing needs as you progress through your doctorate.

Find out more about the Researcher Education and Development programme

Doctoral training and partnerships

There are opportunities to undertake your PhD at Newcastle within a:

• Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT)
• Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

Being part of a CDT or DTP has many benefits:

• they combine research expertise and training of a number of leading universities, academic schools and academics.
• you’ll study alongside a cohort of other PhD students
• they’re often interdisciplinary
• your PhD may be funded

Find out more about doctoral training and partnerships

If there are currently opportunities available in your subject area you’ll find them when you search for funding in the fees and funding section on this course.

The following centres/partnerships below may have PhD opportunities available in your subject area in the future:

• ESRC Northern Ireland/North East (NINE) Doctoral Training Partnership
• Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership

Your future

Our careers service.

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Quality and ranking

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information .

The School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics is a lively and diverse community with over 700 undergraduates and 200 postgraduates.

We are based in the Percy Building. Our purpose-built postgraduate suite includes:

• several dedicated computer clusters
• meeting rooms
• lounge area

Our award-winning  Philip Robinson Library has an extensive audio-visual collection.

You will also be part of the rich research culture in the  Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and may be able to participate in and lead events for our research groups.

We encourage the use of the archival opportunities offered by our various partner institutions, including the Seven Stories Centre for the Children's Book, the Wordsworth Trust (Dove Cottage), and the Keats-Shelley House in Rome.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2024 entry (per year), home fees for research degree students.

For 2024-25 entry, we will be aligning our standard Home research fees with those set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . The standard fee will be confirmed in Spring 2024 by UKRI. The Home tuition fees for this course will be updated after this confirmation. 

If your studies last longer than one year, your tuition fee may increase in line with inflation.

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here .

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See  our   searchable postgraduate funding page  for more information.  

What you're paying for

Tuition fees include the costs of:

• matriculation
• registration
• tuition (or supervision)
• library access
• examination
• re-examination

Find out more about:

• living costs
• tuition fees

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section .

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.

Search for funding

Find funding available for your course

Entry requirements

The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.

Qualifications from outside the UK

English language requirements, admissions policy.

This policy applies to all undergraduate and postgraduate admissions at Newcastle University. It is intended to provide information about our admissions policies and procedures to applicants and potential applicants, to their advisors and family members, and to staff of the University.

Download our admissions policy (PDF: 201KB) Other policies related to admissions

Credit transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) can allow you to convert existing relevant university-level knowledge, skills and experience into credits towards a qualification. Find out more about the RPL policy which may apply to this course

• How to apply

Using the application portal

The application portal has instructions to guide you through your application. It will tell you what documents you need and how to upload them.

You can choose to start your application, save your details and come back to complete it later.

If you’re ready, you can select Apply Online and you’ll be taken directly to the application portal.

Alternatively you can find out more about applying on our applications and offers pages .

Open days and events

You'll have a number of opportunities to meet us throughout the year including:

• campus tours
• on-campus open days
• virtual open days

Find out about how you can visit Newcastle in person and virtually

Overseas events

We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University.

Visit our events calendar for the latest events

• Get in touch

Questions about this course?

If you have specific questions about this course you can contact:

Sherelle Coulson Programme Administrator School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7199 Email: [email protected]

For more general enquiries you could also complete our online enquiry form.

Fill in our enquiry form

Our Ncl chatbot might be able to give you an answer straight away. If not, it’ll direct you to someone who can help.

You'll find our Ncl chatbot in the bottom right of this page.

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We regularly send email updates and extra information about the University.

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• PhD Programs

Direct-Admission Ph.D. in English: English & American Literature

For this six-year program, the minimum course requirements include 60 credit hours, not more than 12 of which may be taken in Dissertation Preparation. No more than 15 hours may be taken in courses numbered at the 500 and 600 levels.

• One course in American Literature, one in English Literature before 1660, one in English Literature after 1660, and one additional course in the student’s primary area
• English 700 is recommended and one critical theory course (732, 734, or equivalent) is required
• Twelve hours of electives, which may include the 3-hour 691-692 pedagogy sequence. (No more than six hours of electives may be taken from outside the department during the student’s total coursework; all such electives must be approved by the Graduate Director or the doctoral committee)
• Admission to doctoral candidacy at the beginning of the third term (see description of the process below).
• Eighteen hours of electives; course work must include at least two 800-level seminars
• Twelve hours of Dissertation Preparation (ENGL 899)
• Reading knowledge of one language other than English (satisfied by passing a reading exam or a 400-level course in literature, not in translation, with a grade of B or better, or a 500-level course in literature, not in translation, with a grade of C or better). Students may also fulfill a language requirement by passing ENGL 701: Old English or ENGL 701: Beowulf and Old English Heroic Verse with a grade of B or better.
• Written Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination in the primary and secondary field
• Oral Examination in the primary field
• Dissertation and Oral Dissertation Defense

Major areas may be chosen from the following literary fields: Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration and 18th-century English literature, 19th-century English literature, 20th–century English literature, Colonial and 19th-century American Literature, and 20th-century American Literature. Unless you minor in Children’s Literature or Rhetoric and Composition or you are completing the certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies (each has an established curriculum, listed below), you must create your own minor field of concentration. Students often minor in a second literary field or in specialized fields such as Linguistics, Comparative Literature, Criticism and Theory, Southern Literature, and History of the Book and Authorship.

To form your minor, you must work with an appropriate faculty member to assemble a specialized reading list and a committee for the minor field exam. Students are strongly encouraged to pursue relevant coursework. All minor fields must be approved by the Graduate Director.

By the beginning of your third term, you must, in consultation with your advisor, fill out the Ph.D. Program of Study form and submit it to the Director of Graduate Studies; students will bring this form to the meeting to determine qualification for doctoral candidacy scheduled with the Graduate Director and major advisor at the start of the third semester. This form must be on file with the Dean of the Graduate School before you will be cleared for graduation. But it will also help you and your advisor direct your progress toward the degree. The Program of Study should be amended periodically to reflect actual courses taken by filing the Adjustment form available through the forms library on the Graduate School’s website.

Admission by the Department of English for graduate study does not mean admission as a candidate in the English and American Literature Ph.D. program.

Students are admitted to doctoral candidacy on the basis of their record and a meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies and the major advisor, which students should schedule by the beginning of their third term. Prior to this meeting, the Graduate Director will review the student's class grades with the expectation of at least a 3.0 GPA over the course of the first year of study. The student will come to the meeting with a completed Program of Study form and an accompanying statement (5-6pp.) detailing progress toward dissertation and degree thus far and plans for future study and research. In the event of an unsuccessful review, the student will be put on probation, not be admitted to candidacy, and be required to maintain a 3.5 GPA for each of the following two semesters. Additionally, field faculty will meet at the end of the student's second year in order to make a recommendation to the Graduate Director about the probationary student’s future in the program. The Graduate Director will factor this recommendation and the student’s GPA into a decision about whether the probationary student should be admitted to candidacy at the end of the second year and allowed to continue in the program.

No later than the end of your second year, you should notify the Graduate Director that you have assembled a doctoral committee of three or four professors from the department and one professor from outside the department by obtaining the necessary signatures and filing a Doctoral Committee Appointment Request form available through the forms library on the Graduate School website.  In consultation with this committee, you must devise and file with the Graduate Office a reading list and tentative body of course work. As you progress toward your degree, you will likely need to file an Adjustment to the Program of Study form you completed as part of the process of admission to doctoral candidacy.

 At any time, you may change the composition of your committee by notifying the Graduate Director and any members removed from the committee (letters advising members of their removal should be copied to the Graduate Director) and by revising the aforementioned Doctoral Committee Appointment Request form.

Direct-admit PhD Students are required to take written comprehensive exams in both a major and minor field by the spring of their fourth year in the program. This 72-hour take-home exam will consist of a response to a question in the primary field and another response to a question in the secondary field. The completed exam should not exceed 7500 words in length. 

There are no standardized reading lists for the Ph.D. comprehensive exams in literature; instead, you are required to compile your own reading lists in consultation with your committee.  The purpose of these lists is twofold:  these lists should cover the major texts, authors, and debates in your chosen fields of expertise, but they should also reflect your particular interests, investigations, and priorities for your emerging dissertation project.  It is your responsibility to strike this balance between field coverage and dissertation focus.  To do this, you should start consulting with your committee about your reading lists well in advance (ideally a year before you take exams).  No later than three months before you plan to sit the exams, you must secure your committee’s approval for a provisional set of reading lists, which you must then file with the Graduate Office.  By the beginning of the semester in which you plan to sit the exams, you must secure your committee’s approval for your final lists, which you should also submit to the Graduate Office.  Students who have not followed this procedure will not be allowed to sign up for the exams.

Questions for the primary field exam are written and graded by the qualified members of your doctoral committee. Questions for the secondary field exam are solicited from appropriate faculty by a member of the doctoral committee, who also calls on members of that faculty as graders (graders are notified that they are reading minor field exams).

In the semester you plan to take the comprehensive exams, you must sign up with the Graduate Office during the first week of classes. The exams will be offered once in the fall semester and once in the spring semester (usually in the fourth week of each semester and will take place over a weekend—i.e., from Friday at noon until Monday at noon). Students will not be allowed to schedule alternative days or times in which to take the written exams.

To pass each exam, you must receive passing grades on both questions from two of your three readers. To receive a pass with distinction, you must receive grades of pass with distinction from two of your three readers. Should you fail one part of the exam, you will only have to retake that part; if, however, you fail both parts of the exam, you are required to retake the entire exam. You have two opportunities to pass the written exam, and you must retake any failed portion of the exam within one year.

You must take the oral comprehensive examination within one month of the time you are notified that you have passed the written examination. This exam typically lasts from one to two hours. The oral examiners will be the departmental members of your doctoral committee and may also include one faculty member from outside the department. The exam covers only your primary field and will be limited to those texts that appear on your reading list for your major field written comprehensive exam. If you do not pass the oral examination, you must take it again within a year. You have two opportunities to pass this exam.

Within thirty days of passing your oral exam, you must have a dissertation prospectus approved. This is done by submitting the written prospectus to your full committee, including the outside reader, and then discussing it at a meeting with that full committee. The purpose of this meeting is to help you avoid problems in research methodology, scope of the project, etc., during the later stages of the process.

Students should obtain the prospectus defense form from the Graduate English Office, bring it to the prospectus meeting, and obtain the necessary signatures at the end of the meeting. The prospectus defense form together with a brief description of the project should be filed with the Graduate English Office as soon as possible after the meeting.

Your dissertation committee is your doctoral committee in its final form; it includes your dissertation director, at least two specialists in your research area or areas, and one faculty member from an outside department. (English department faculty affiliated with other programs or with joint appointments may not serve as outside readers). The dissertation must be defended orally before the dissertation committee. At least two weeks before the defense is to be held, you must submit the dissertation in its final form, to the director and the rest of the committee. Be sure to consult the Graduate School for current requirements regarding the format of the dissertation as well as for information about electronic submission of the dissertation to the Graduate School .

Each applicant who applies by the first deadline (January 1) and is admitted to this PhD program will be considered for a Graduate Instructional Assistantship ('GIA') in the first year that provides in-state tuition status, a tuition supplement, and a stipend (currently $14,800). In the first year the student should complete the 18 hours of graduate English course work required to hold a Graduate Teaching Assistantship ('GTA') during the second year of study. Potentially renewable for five consecutive years, the Teaching Assistantship comes with the same benefits as the Direct-Admission student's GIAship.

Students awarded an assistantship by the Department of English are expected to

• carry no incompletes;
• earn no more than one grade below B during their academic career;
• perform assigned duties in a satisfactory manner;
• maintain a GPA of 3.5; and
• make steady progress toward the degree.
• Opportunities to present papers at conferences sponsored by USC graduate student organizations and by affiliated programs such as Women's and Gender Studies.
• Opportunities for financial support to fund paper presentations at other local, regional, national, or international conferences.
• Opportunities to teach undergraduate literature and writing courses.Eligibility for recognition and awards from The Graduate School (especially for presentations at Graduate Student Day).
• Opportunities for editorial or other career-advancing internships within the university or outside it.
• Guidance through the job search by an expert faculty committee, including CV workshops, presentation strategies, and mock interviews.
• Opportunity to apply for lucrative year-long Bilinski Dissertation Fellowship

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

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Information for Prospective Ph.D. Students

Application deadlines, the appliation for fall 2024 will be available in september 2023. application deadline is december 1 2023..

PhD Admissions Open House Want a PhD in English? Why NYU? New York University, Department of English

Friday, October 20, 2023 at 11:00AM EST https://nyu.zoom.us/j/91310527661  (approximately 1 hour)

2022 Open House:  Zoom Recording 

Are you considering a PhD in English? Come meet faculty and graduate students from the NYU Department of English, who will share their experiences about the structure and culture of the program. You will get a quick overview of what a degree here entails, including the university’s new Advanced Certificate in Public Humanities. We hope to highlight what we (and New York City’s landscape of civic and arts institutions and archives) can offer you as you prepare for a future in teaching, research, and writing. 

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS 

Your application to the PhD program should consist of the following components:

• The Online Application .
• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) or resume.  This should provide an overview of your academic and, if applicable, professional experience.
• A Statement of Academic Purpose.  The work of the faculty of the Department of English at NYU is characterized by a wide variety of interdisciplinary approaches, encompassing literary history, theory, and criticism, as well as careful reflection on the methods of literary study. We are especially interested in graduate students who will be comfortable bridging historical periods in their reading and writing, and who are curious about a wide variety of approaches to literary studies. The admissions committee requires from all applicants a statement of academic purpose, which will be judged as a piece of writing. It will use this statement to evaluate how well your aspirations and interests suit those of the Department of English at NYU. This statement of academic purpose should be succinct (no more than 1200 words) and address most, if not all, of the following questions: What kinds (genres, styles, forms, etc.) of literature most engage you? What, for you, is the purpose of reading literature critically? Are there particular kinds of criticism/theoretical approaches/methods of literary study that you would like to work within or learn more about? How have your intellectual and scholarly interests been shaped by your time outside and beyond the college classroom? In the light of the description above, do you have a particular reason for wishing to work within the Department of English at New York University?
• A Writing Sample  of academic literary criticism is required. It should demonstrate your strongest work in that mode and should not exceed 20-25 double-spaced pages, including any bibliography or notes.
• Three Letters of Recommendation . It is important to have strong letters of recommendation that come from professors and instructors who know you and are familiar with the your academic work. Applicants who have been out of school for several years should make every effort to reconnect with former teachers to ensure that their letters of recommendation address their academic preparation and abilities and their readiness to pursue the degree for which they are applying.  http://gsas.nyu.edu/admissions/gsas-application-resource-center/faqs/letters-of-recommendation.html
• Transcript . An official, electronic copy of your transcript.For further Admissions information, please visit http://gsas.nyu.edu/admissions/gsas-application-resource-center/faqs/academic-transcripts.html  
• TOEFL or IELTS:  TOEFL or the IELTS is required of all applicants who are not native English speakers or who do not have a bachelor's or master's degree from an institution where the language of instruction is English.  http://gsas.nyu.edu/admissions/gsas-application-resource-center/faqs/testing-requirements.html

All accepted Ph.D. students in English receive up to five years of funding through the Graduate School’s MacCracken program. In 2023-2024 students will receive a $32,888 stipend for nine months, plus a full tuition scholarship, registration and services fees, and full coverage of NYU student health insurance for an individual under the comprehensive plan. The MacCracken award includes a one-time $1,000 Dean's Supplementary Fellowship Grant. This grant is intended to provide support for start-up research and educational expenses such as books, academic supplies, and computer equipment. In addition, the Department of English offers a one-time $3,000 Supplementary Grant that may be used at the student's discretion and a $5,500 stipend during both the first and second years of study to help defray the cost of housing. While teaching is not required as a condition of the MacCracken award, the English Department still sees teaching as crucial to the professional development of its doctoral candidates. We therefore expect that our Ph.D. students will teach for four semesters starting after the second year of study, typically scheduled across the third through fifth years. Students who participate fully in the department's teaching program will receive in excess of $22,000 in adjunct-instructor compensation for their four semesters of teaching service, over and above the fellowship stipend payments they will receive during the term of the MacCracken award.

The English Ph.D. program is designed to be completed within the five-year term for which the MacCracken award ensures full funding. However, students can arrange to set aside as much as half of the fellowship stipend they receive during each semester in which they teach, to be drawn on at later points in the period of their enrollment. Thus if they follow the Department’s recommendation and teach for a total of four semesters during the MacCracken term, they can guarantee themselves an additional year of full funding in case they require a sixth year of matriculation in order to secure employment and complete the degree.

Teaching opportunities primarily include serving as a recitation leader in general education courses in the undergraduate college, and in departmental undergraduate survey courses. Students who follow the department's teaching protocol will be assigned to a range of different courses over their four semesters of service, and will thereby achieve the breadth of literacy-historical knowledge appropriate to doctorate holders in the discipline. Students who forgo teaching may be required to demonstrate the breadth of their literary-historical knowledge through other means.

If your question is not answered, please contact the director of graduate admissions, Jenny Mann. 

Open House for Newly Admitted Doctoral Students

Students who are admitted to the Ph.D. program are invited to attend our annual Open House for Newly Admitted Doctoral Students, which this year will take place on (dates to be determined). Admitted students will be asked to arrive in New York City the afternoon of (TBA), when there will be an informal cocktail party with English Department faculty and current students. Scheduled events on (TBA) will allow admitted students the opportunity to interact with faculty as well as current graduate students and other admitted, prospective students, attend classes and tour the campus.

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Admission Steps

English and literary arts - literary studies - phd, admission requirements.

Terms and Deadlines

Degree and GPA Requirements

Additional Standards for Non-Native English Speakers

Additional standards for international applicants.

For the 2023-2024 academic year

See 2024-2025 requirements instead

Fall 2023 quarter (beginning in September)

Final submission deadline: December 15, 2022

Final submission deadline: Applicants cannot submit applications after the final submission deadline.

Degrees and GPA Requirements

Bachelors degree: All graduate applicants must hold an earned baccalaureate from a regionally accredited college or university or the recognized equivalent from an international institution.

Masters degree: This program requires a masters degree as well as the baccalaureate.

Grade point average: The minimum undergraduate GPA for admission consideration for graduate study at the University of Denver is a cumulative 2.5 on a 4.0 scale or a 2.5 on a 4.0 scale for the last 60 semester credits or 90 quarter credits (approximately two years of work) for the baccalaureate degree. An earned master’s degree or higher from a regionally accredited institution supersedes the minimum standards for the baccalaureate. For applicants with graduate coursework but who have not earned a master’s degree or higher, the GPA from the graduate work may be used to meet the requirement. The minimum GPA is a cumulative 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for all graduate coursework undertaken.

Program GPA requirement: The minimum undergraduate GPA for admission consideration for this program is a cumulative 2.5 on a 4.0 scale

Official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), C1 Advanced or Duolingo English Test are required of all graduate applicants, regardless of citizenship status, whose native language is not English or who have been educated in countries where English is not the native language. Your TOEFL/IELTS/C1 Advanced/Duolingo English Test scores are valid for two years from the test date.

The minimum TOEFL/IELTS/C1 Advanced/Duolingo English Test score requirements for this degree program are:

Minimum TOEFL Score (Internet-based test): 80

Minimum IELTS Score: 6.5

Minimum C1 Advanced Score: 176

Minimum Duolingo English Test Score: 115

English Conditional Acceptance Offered: No, this program does not offer English Conditional Admission.

Read the English Language Proficiency policy for more details.

Read the Required Tests for GTA Eligibility policy for more details.

Per Student & Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) regulation, international applicants must meet all standards for admission before an I-20 or DS-2019 is issued, [per U.S. Federal Register: 8 CFR § 214.3(k)] or is academically eligible for admission and is admitted [per 22 C.F.R. §62]. Read the Additional Standards For International Applicants policy for more details.

Application Materials

Transcripts, letters of recommendation.

Required Essays and Statements

Writing Sample

We require a scanned copy of your transcripts from every college or university you have attended. Scanned copies must be clearly legible and sized to print on standard 8½-by-11-inch paper. Transcripts that do not show degrees awarded must also be accompanied by a scanned copy of the diploma or degree certificate. If your academic transcripts were issued in a language other than English, both the original documents and certified English translations are required.

Transcripts and proof of degree documents for postsecondary degrees earned from institutions outside of the United States will be released to a third-party international credential evaluator to assess U.S. education system equivalencies. Beginning July 2023, a non-refundable fee for this service will be required before the application is processed.

Upon admission to the University of Denver, official transcripts will be required from each institution attended.

Three (3) letters of recommendation are required.  Academic recommendations preferred.  Letters should be submitted by recommenders through the online application.

Essays and Statements

Personal statement instructions.

The 1-2 page personal statement should address the applicant's past academic experience, future scholarly goals, and address his/her suitability for graduate study in our program.

Résumé Instructions

The résumé (or C.V.) should include work experience, research, and/or volunteer work.

Writing Sample Instructions

Please submit a writing sample demonstrating your ability to write analytically about literary works. For your academic writing sample, we recommend that you submit a 25-page close-reading of a text that takes into account secondary (critical) sources or a comparative paper.

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Online Application

Financial Aid Information

Start your application.

Your submitted materials will be reviewed once all materials and application fees have been received.

Our program can only consider your application for admission if our Office of Graduate Education has received all your online materials and supplemental materials by our application deadline.

Application Fee: $65.00 Application Fee

International Degree Evaluation Fee: $50 Evaluation Fee for degrees (bachelor's or higher) earned from institutions outside the United States.

Applicants should complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by February 15. Visit the Office of Financial Aid for additional information.

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Application Requirements

All applications to the Graduate College must be submitted by 12 NOON (CST), December 1 . All supporting material must be received in our office by December 1 . For the 2023-2024 application season, the English Department is not requiring the GRE general test, but students may choose to submit their scores.

All applicants for Literature and Writing Studies enter either the MA/PhD Program or the PhD Program. Applicants who have not yet earned an MA will do so in the course of their studies and should apply to the MA Program. Applicants who have already earned (or will have earned at the time of their enrollment at Illinois) a MA from another institution, should apply to the PhD Program.

The English department does not offer a terminal Master's degree.

We admit students for the Fall semester only.

It is your responsibility to certify that your application is complete. You may call us to check on materials at (217) 300-5918 or e-mail us at [email protected]  

Application Information

Please note: this is the application directions for the MA/PhD Program. All students without a Master's in English (or akin field) are required to apply to the MA; however, we do not have a terminal MA. All admitted students are understood to be on track to eventually receive their PhD.

Applicants to the M.A. programs in literature and writing studies are required to:

• Submit an online Application for Admission to the Graduate College.
• Indicate your intent to specialize in Writing Studies or in a particular field or period of literature . If necessary indicate more than one field or period of literature; i.e., Early American Literature, Medieval, 16th-century British Literature, etc. Use the space provided on the application form.
• Submit one copy of each transcript of all previous college-level work. The transcript must indicate the name of the applicant, name of the institution, and show grades by semester/quarter. You are required to upload one copy of all previous college-level work to your online application. Please include a copy of the transcript legend or university key (back page in most cases) for each institution. English translations should be included if the credentials are not in English. Official transcripts are not required at initial time of application; however, the University of Illinois reserves the right to require official academic credentials at any time during the admissions process, and may rescind any offer of admission made if discrepancies between unofficial and official transcript(s) are found. Additional details about uploading are available on the graduate college website. Only if you are recommended for admission will you need to provide official credentials (sent to us by mail directly from the institution). Your offer of admission will be contingent upon the receipt and verification of these official documents which must show the award of degrees. Please do not send these official records until we request them from you.
• Literature applicants no longer need to submit Subject Test scores.
• Writing Studies applicants — the GRE Subject Test for Literature in English is NOT required.
• For the 2023-2024 application season, the English Department is not requiring the GRE general test.
• Submit three letters of recommendation , preferably from instructors of your college English courses. Letters may be electronically uploaded to your online application by your recommenders, or through Interfolio. Letters can also be mailed with a sealed envelope with the recommender's signature across the seal.

Please write a statement that answers the following questions (1,000 words max): 

• How has your academic background, including any training, research, or other educational experiences, prepared you for graduate study? 
• What are your intellectual interests, and what scholarly questions are you interested in exploring in graduate study? 
• Are there any specific faculty members whose research interests align with your own with whom you would like to work? 
• How will our program help you achieve your academic and professional goals? 

Upload Personal Statements (250 words max) :

Required    Please describe any experiences and/or challenges that may have shaped your intellectual and personal development.  

Required    Provide insight into your potential to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect in which scholars with diverse perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn and collaborate productively and positively. 

Optional    Please address any concerns you may have in your application. If, for example, you do not believe that your academic credentials demonstrate your true capabilities, please explain why. Also, describe any gaps in your academic career and work experience or any extenuating circumstances in your profile of which the admissions committee should be made aware.

Optional    If there is something that you would like to highlight that you have yet to discuss in other areas of the application, please do so here. 

• Upload one Writing Sample (1 sample required,15-20 pages). For  Literature  or  Writing Studies  applicants, the writing sample can be a revised class paper or a section of an honors thesis or longer project. It should demonstrate your ability to write lucidly and originally, to analyze skillfully literary or cultural texts, to use and cite recent secondary sources, and to engage with the languages and issues of contemporary criticism. If possible, you should choose an essay that addresses the interests or issues identified in your Academic Statement. Please include on your writing sample your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address (if available). Please upload to your online application in the “Writing Sample" area. 
• Upload a  CV/Resume to "Resume." In addition to the information included in the Academic Statement and on the application form, you are encouraged to send a concise résumé that indicates your academic honors, your participation in department and university communities, your teaching or tutoring experience, and your work and volunteer experience. If you are currently enrolled in school, you may want to note the courses you are currently taking and plan to take in the following semester since these will not appear on your transcript.

Applicants to the Ph.D. programs in literature and writing studies are required to:

• Submit an online Application for Admission to the Graduate College.   *Applicants to  must have MA before entering into the PhD program.  
• Indicate your intent to specialize in Writing Studies or in a particular field or period of literature . If necessary indicate more than one field or period of literature; i.e., Early American literature, Medieval, 16th-century British Literature, etc. Use the space provided on the application form.
• Submit one copy of each transcript of all previous college-level work.  The transcript must indicate the name of the applicant, name of the institution, and show grades by semester/quarter. You are required to upload one copy of all previous college-level work to your online application. Please include a copy of the transcript legend or university key (back page in most cases) for each institution. English translations should be included if the credentials are not in English. Official transcripts are not required at initial time of application; however, the University of Illinois reserves the right to require official academic credentials at any time during the admissions process, and may rescind any offer of admission made if discrepancies between unofficial and official transcript(s) are found. Additional details about uploading are available on the graduate college website. Only if you are recommended for admission will you need to provide official credentials (sent to us by mail directly from the institution). Your offer of admission will be contingent upon the receipt and verification of these official documents which must show the award of degrees. Please do not send these official records until we request them from you.

Upload Personal Statements (250 words max):

Optional     If there is something that you would like to highlight that you have yet to discuss in other areas of the application, please do so here. 

• Upload two Writing Samples (2 different samples required, 15-20 pages each). For  Literature  or  Writing Studies  applicants, the writing samples can be revised class papers or a section of an honors thesis or longer project. They should demonstrate your ability to write lucidly and originally, to analyze skillfully literary or cultural texts, to use and cite recent secondary sources, and to engage with the languages and issues of contemporary criticism. If possible, you should choose essays that address the interests or issues identified in your Academic Statement. All copies should include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address (if available). Please upload to your online application in the "Writing Sample" area.
• Upload your  CV/Resume to "Resume." In addition to the information included in the Academic Statement and on the application form, you are encouraged to send a concise résumé which indicates your academic honors, your participation in department and university communities, your teaching or tutoring experience, and your work and volunteer experience. If you are currently enrolled in school, you may want to note the courses you are currently taking and plan to take in the following semester since these will not appear on your transcript.
• Upload a succinct description of the requirements in the Master’s Program that you are either currently enrolled in or have already completed. This description should include course requirements (including area distribution requirements) and language requirements. Please upload your description under “Resume" after you have uploaded your CV/Resume.

The English PhD with a literature emphasis allows students to develop their literary criticism and scholarly interests, culminating in a dissertation of literary analysis. With a dedicated Graduate Faculty across all primary fields of literary studies, the program allows graduate students to either specialize in one of these fields or pursue broad preparation as a generalist. Our graduate programs pay particular attention to professional development, including scholarly and creative publishing. With its dual emphases in literature and creative writing, the English program offers students a uniquely hybrid experience in which emerging writers and critics study alongside one another and work with specialists in both fields, preparing students for creative, academic, and professional careers.

Campus:  Hattiesburg

Admission Requirements

Successful applicants for regular admission to the PhD program usually have a GPA of 3.5 in all (undergraduate and graduate) English courses and will typically have completed a B.A. and/or an M.A. in English. The PhD with an emphasis in literature offers direct admission to the doctoral program from the B.A. For specific details, see program requirements below. Application materials include transcripts, three letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, a curriculum vitae, and a substantial writing sample. Letters of recommendation should be from persons qualified to assess the applicant’s readiness for graduate study.

Conditional admission is sometimes possible for applicants who do not meet all the criteria for regular admission. To remove conditional status, students must meet the Graduate School requirements described in the Admission Requirements and Procedures section of this Bulletin, and they must satisfy all additional requirements stipulated by the school.

Members of all underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply

See Admission Requirements and Procedures    for other admission requirements. The English graduate programs do not require GRE or other standardized exam results.

Program Requirements and Academic Policies

Students must complete one research tool: either proficiency  in one foreign language OR six graduate hours of coursework in an allied field of study approved by their advisor or the Graduate Program Coordinator.

500-level classes count towards a degree only with the approval of the Graduate Program Coordinator or the Dean of the Graduate School; at least 6 hours (2 courses) must be at the 700-level.

Students must take ENG 690 - Practicum in the Theory and Teaching of Composition if they hold an assistantship that includes teaching as one of their duties.

Students must successfully complete a Doctoral Qualifying Examination in August, after the first year of study. The exam may be retaken once, in the following December. Students who fail the exam twice will be dismissed from the Ph.D. program.

Students must successfully complete a Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam.

Students must write a dissertation, a substantial project embodying the result of significant and original research on a subject chosen by the candidate and approved by the student’s Doctoral Committee.

A 3.0 GPA is required for graduation.

See General Degree Requirements    and General Academic Information    for other requirements and policies.

Course Requirements (45 or 63 hours)

Students who are admitted to the PhD program who already have an MA must complete a minimum of 45 hours:

• ENG 640 - Critical Reading and Methods in English    (3 hours)
• ENG 641 - Advanced Research and Methods in English   (3 hours)
• 1 early literature course (American literature to 1865 OR British literature to 1800)
• 1 course in British literature 
• 1 course in Aritish literature 
• 1 course designated non-traditional
• 1 literary theory course or 1 course designated theory-rich
• Note: a single course may fulfill up to 2 of the above requirements 
• ENG 898 - Dissertation    (9-12 hours)

Students who are admitted to the Ph.D. without an M.A. must complete a minimum of 63 hours:

• ENG 641 - Advanced Research and Methods in English    (3 hours)
• 1 course in American literature to 1865
• 1 course in American literature post 1865
• 1 course in British literature to 1800
• 1 course in British literature post 1800
• Note: a single course may fulfill up to 2 of the above requirements
• ENG 698 - Thesis    (6 hours required)

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Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

The Literature division offers a wide variety of electives for the undergraduates and specialized courses for doctoral candidates in English. While drawing largely on the canonical and noncanonical texts in Anglo-American and World Literatures in English, these courses aim to train students in ways of negotiating various literary traditions and cultural diversity. Seeking to inculcate analytical and critical thinking skills in its learners, the Literature courses primarily expose them to literary texts and theories and thereby encourage lucid writing practices besides involving them in theatre, literary discussion clubs, and creative writing workshops. The doctoral students, especially, are acquainted with current areas of research as well as the latest theories and advancements in existing fields and thus are trained to be research scholars of high calibre and competent teachers. 

The postgraduate teaching programme in Linguistics addresses issues of contemporary relevance in the field with emphasis on an interdisciplinary perspective on language. The Linguistics programme at this institute is perhaps the only one in the country that offers a variety of courses at the undergraduate level. Apart from introducing students to the issues of language structure and use, Linguistics courses sensitise them to a variety of issues concerning cognitive underpinnings of language and language-society interface. 

The ELT stream offers postgraduate courses in syllabus development, applied linguistics, second language acquisition and language assessment among others. The focus is on teaching English in Indian contexts. The undergraduate courses focus on advanced language skills such as academic reading and writing, and also introduce basics of second language acquisition theories. 

All three streams pool their resources together in offering the undergraduates instruction in English Language and Communication Skills, Communication Skills: Composition, and Preparatory English for those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

The English Discipline has a dynamic research programme. 

The Literature faculty currently focuses on the following research areas: 

• African American Literature
• American Literature
• The Anthropocene Literature
• British Literature
• Climate Fiction and Films
• Cultural Studies
• Cyberpunk Literature
• Dalit Literature
• Feminist Theory and Literature
• Film Studies
• Indian Literature and Aesthetics
• Indian Writing in English
• Jewish Literature
• Literature and the Environment
• Literature in Translation
• Modernist/Postmodernist Theory and Literature
• Postcolonial Theory and Literature
• Posthuman Theory and Literature

The research carried out by the literature faculty in these areas focuses on the cultural, historical, theoretical, pedagogical, and textual perspectives. Insights that accrue from such scholarship invigorate both our undergraduate and graduate literature courses by ensuring that instruction is informed by the most current and relevant disciplinary knowledge. 

The Linguistics faculty focuses on the following research areas: 

• Cognitive Linguistics
• Discourse Semantics
• Generative Grammar
• Language Acquisition and Evolution
• Lexical Semantics
• Computational Linguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• South Asian Linguistics
• Language Documentation and Description
• Linguistic Typology
• Dravidian Linguistics
• Historical Linguistics

The ELT faculty focuses on the following research areas: 

• Instructed second language acquisition
• Syllabus design
• Task-based language teaching and learning
• Language assessment

The research in these areas focuses primarily on English as a second language in Indian contexts. An attempt is made to draw on theories of linguistics and education and apply them to pedagogic contexts. The ELT faculty is involved in supervising research in applied linguistics, classroom-based language assessment, task-based language teaching and its interface with current developments in linguistics and education, form focus in ESL contexts, etc. 

The English discipline as a whole involves itself with various administrative responsibilities and initiatives consistent with a programme of academic counselling, student support and faculty governance. 

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PhD in Literature Admission Open 2024

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PhD in English Literature Admission: Application Form, Notification, Exam Dates, Eligibility, Top Colleges

PhD or Doctor of Theory in English Literature is a doctorate level course spread over a range of least 3 years and greatest 5 years. This course is great for students who are keen on concentrating on literature written in English language. The candidates who have finished their master’s certificate in English language with least 55% of imprints are qualified to apply for this course.

Admission to PhD English Literature program is for the most part entrance based followed by private meeting. In any case, a few universities might acknowledge confirmation on merit premise moreover.

The typical expense charged by schools or colleges for this course differs from INR 30,000 to 1.3 Lakhs. The charge is liable to change according to the kind of the foundation.

The typical beginning compensation that a PhD English Literature degree holder can procure ranges between INR 4.5 to 6 Lakhs. The compensation offered is straightforwardly relative to the experience acquired in the field. The compensation increments with an expansion in the involvement with the field.

PhD English Literature experts secure positions as an English Teacher, English Educator, Manager, Columnist, Pundit Essayist, Specialized Essayist, Public Connection Official, Interpreter, and so on. Some top enlisting regions for such experts are Media Houses, Education Establishments, Distributing Houses, Interpretation Houses, and so on.

PhD English Literature: Course Highlights

Phd english literature: what is it about.

• PhD English Literature is a doctorate Level course. The course includes a high mind and interest in English subject. The course includes the investigation of English language and literature from every one of the regions of the planet, their starting point, their examination and so on.

• The students need to go learn about various areas of literature – english literature, roman literature, American literature and so on.

• The students are expected to go to classes and lead research under teachers.

• The students need to show up for assessments and present a postulation on their research pursue the finish of the course.

• Students get to find out about various parts of English language, their use and an opportunity to add something of their own to the language.

Why study PhD English Literature?

• PhD English Literature is a helpful course for the people who are keen on learning about the rich history of the language and need to find out about various kinds of English literature.

• The course additionally helps you in creating different abilities research abilities, scientific abilities, verbal and composed relational abilities.

• There are various open positions accessible for candidates in both government and confidential areas, for example, in media houses, print offices, educational establishments and so on.

• Candidates can function as Teachers in schools, manager in different organizations, content makers, compose their own books or books and so on.

PhD English Literature Admission Process

The admission to PhD in English Literature course is for the most part based on entrance test which is trailed by an individual meeting round led at the university or the school. In any case, a few schools or colleges might offer confirmation on a legitimacy premise. A few universities likewise request M.Phil as a necessity for PhD confirmations. In such cases, chose candidates will be expected to show up for just an individual meeting round.

Merit Based admission process

• Candidates need to apply at the authority site of the school/university they need to take confirmation in.

• They need to fill the application structure and present the necessary reports.

• After fruitful enrollment, universities discharge their legitimacy rundown of chosen candidates.

• In the event of certain schools or colleges, chose candidates might be expected to go through an individual meeting round.

• Choice for this situation is finished based on execution in the individual meeting round.

Entrance Based admission process

• It is fitting for candidates to visit the authority site of the school or university they need to apply in to check whether they meet the qualification models and what entry test is expected for affirmation.

• Then, candidates should enroll themselves for the entry test on the authority site of the directing body.

• Those candidates who clean off the cut from placement test are then required an individual meeting round.

• Last choice is made based on execution in the Individual Meeting round.

PhD English Literature Eligibility Criteria

Candidates who wish to apply for a PhD English Literature program should meet the qualification rules referenced underneath. The overall qualification rules is:

• Candidates probably finished their Master’s certification in English language with least 55% imprints from a perceived University.

• There might be an unwinding of 5% imprints for held class students.

• Candidates need to have substantial imprints in the placement test as expected by the school or university.

• In certain schools, M.Phil is an essential for PhD English Literature confirmation. In Such cases, chose candidates will be expected to show up just for an individual meeting round.

• The qualification rules might change from one school to another.

PhD English Literature Entrance Exams

The generally acknowledged selection test for PhD English Literature affirmations is the UGC NET test. Nonetheless, a few colleges or schools might direct their own placement tests for PHD confirmations at their own level.

• UGC NET: Public Qualification Test (NET) is directed by University Awards Commission of India (UGC). There are two segments in this assessment comprising of 50 and 100 various decision questions separately. The complete length of the test is 180 minutes. It is led two times every year, once in June and once in December.

• GATE: GATE assessment is mutually directed by IISC and 7 IITs. A legitimate score in GATE is considered as a premise by IITs for PHD Confirmations. A brief assessment comprises of MCQs and NAT.

• JNUEE: It is a public level selection test directed by NTA for M.Phil/PhD confirmations.

• DUET: It is led by NTA for confirmation in PHD courses in Delhi University. It is a 2 hour assessment.

How to prepare for the entrance exams?

• The test for PhD English Literature comprises of schedule of English just aside from GATE. GATE comprises of inquiries from the science area.

• Significant areas of study are – heartfelt period, Victorian period, Current period, Contemporary period, Present day English Literature, Indian writing in English, History of Indian language and that multitude of subjects that you have considered during graduation and post graduation.

• Partition the schedule into areas of strength for you powerless regions.

• Plan flowcharts, utilize different variety pens to retain stuff.

• Practice earlier year question papers and overhaul.

How to get admission in a good college?

Given underneath are a few hints to get confirmation in a decent PhD English Literature School.

• The primary thing to remember is to get great imprints in master’s certificate.

• Then, candidates ought to be completely mindful about the placement tests, their application method, significant dates, schedule, test design and so on.

• Get ready well for placement tests by rehearsing and modifying ideas. Additionally get ready by endeavoring earlier year assessment papers and counterfeit tests.

• Be refreshed about current issues and get ready well for the individual meeting round.

PhD English Literature Top Colleges

Given below are details of some top colleges and universities offering PhD English Literature.

PhD English Literature College Comparison

Now and then choosing between two schools can be an overwhelming undertaking. Thus to facilitate the cycle, a correlation between two of the top universities offering PhD English Literature is given beneath.

PhD English Literature Distance Education

A few schools and colleges offer the choice of distance learning and parttime PhD choice for PhD English Literature courses. These choices are reasonable for those candidates who are either working experts or are chasing after another course of study.

• The qualification for these courses are likewise comparative candidates are expected to have at least 55% imprints in master certificate in English language.

• Admission to these courses might be merit based or entrance based according to school or university standards.

• A portion of the schools offering PhD English Literature in distance mode or as parttime courses are Kerala University, Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam,Mewar University, Friendship University, and so on.

PhD English Literature Syllabus

Since PhD English Literature consists of theory, research work and writing theories, so there is no predefined syllabus. Some of the areas of interest around which the course may revolve are mentioned below in the table:

PhD English Literature Books

Some of the books which can be read by PhD English Literature students are given below in the table.

Course Comparison

Phd english literature vs phd english.

PhD English Literature and PhD English are two comparative looking courses. Yet, their possibilities are unique. PhD English Literature manages the literature written in english language while PhD English arrangements with the actual language. A definite examination between these two courses in view of different boundaries is given underneath.

PhD English Literature Job Prospects and Career Options

• After finishing of a PhD English Literature, candidates ordinarily search for a task in educational foundations.

• Be that as it may, there are a few work jobs accessible for candidates which they can seek after subsequent to finishing their PhD.

• Open positions are accessible in various media houses, distributing houses, Interpretation houses, server farms, and so on. Occupations in these working environments are accessible in both government and confidential areas.

A portion of the gig jobs proposed to PhD English Literature students are given underneath:

PhD English Literature Future Scope

• There are a great deal of profession potential open doors accessible for candidates who wish to seek after PhD English Literature.

• Open positions are accessible for candidates in both government and confidential areas They can work in media houses, distributing houses, educational establishments, print organizations and so on.

• Work jobs offered are of Editors, Columnists, pundit essayists, teacher, teachers, public connection officials and so forth. The beginning compensation proposed to PhD English Literature lies between the scope of INR 4.5 to 6 Lakhs.

• Candidates can likewise compose their own books, books or stories or can compose for historical centers or expressions exhibitions. They can likewise fill in as etymologists which implies they will have a chance to compose, gather or alter a word reference.

• They additionally have a choice to work in the public area in English talking nations since they have superb spoken and composed relational abilities and due to their capacity to research and examine.

PhD English Literature Admissions: FAQs

What does phd stand for in phd english literature, how long does it take to get a phd english literature, does a phd english literature lead to an increase in salary as an editor, what are the areas of study in phd english literature, do phd english literature students get a stipend, what is the scope of phd english literature, what is the difference between m.phil in english literature and phd english literature, can i do a direct phd english literature after completing my ma, can i work as a journalist after completing a phd english literature, what minimum marks are required to pursue phd english literature, whar our students say, testimonials, government teacher, satya shree.

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Frequently asked questions.

To get Admission in Phd, one should have more than 50% in Post Graduation 

Student can enroll in Phd if they have cleared UGC NET Exam or they can appear for University Entrance Exam

No, NET exam is not mandatory for PhD.

Yes CRSU, Jind is State Government University established in 2014.

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