The Comprehensive Examination

NOTE: The website currently details the revisions to the doctoral handbook that were approved in May 2025. Students who enrolled in the program before Fall 2025 may use the older version of the handbook if they wish. Contact the Graduate Program Director or the Program Director if you would like a copy of this version.

Candidates for the Ph.D. should take the comprehensive examination at the end of their third year (sixth semester) of graduate study. It is important to understand that the comprehensive exam is an exercise, not an end in itself, and that taking this milestone in a timely fashion is key.

Comprehensive Examination Timeline

Below is a suggested timeline for the comprehensive examination process.

• By the end of your G2 year: Select your advisor/exam committee chair.
• During the fall of your G3 year/fifth semester, select the rest of your exam committee and, once they have agreed to serve on your committee, inform the GPD via email, cc’ing your advisor.
• Select topics in consultation with your advisor; begin creating bibliographies and working on rationales.
• Ideally by February (or the start of your 6^th semester, if you entered in the spring), submit drafts of all three topic rationales to your advisor; in all likelihood, you will also be working with one or more other committee members on your various rationales throughout the process of writing them.
• By the middle of your sixth semester, submit all three rationales to your full committee.
• Meet with the full committee to approve the rationales.
• After the meeting, you have at least 30 days for reading and preparation, followed by a one-week written exam period; the exam dates will be established in consultation with your committee. Notify the GPD of the date of your oral exam at least 30 days before it takes place.
• About a week after the written exam period ends, your committee will meet with you for the oral exam; this should take place before the end of your G3 year/6^th semester.

See below for details regarding these steps.

Purpose of the Comprehensive Examination

The comprehensive examination is based on three topics and serves to demonstrate your competence in comparative work, including the critical, theoretical, and bibliographic skills relevant to Comparative Literature and your areas of specialization. The exam must address at least two different historical periods and cover three distinct topics that draw on your coursework, areas of interest, and languages.

Comprehensive Examination Topics

You will develop your three topics in close consultation with your chair/advisor and members of your comprehensive examination committee. A topic is a conceptual issue of considerable breadth that has implications for study in a variety of geographical, linguistic, and artistic/intellectual traditions. More than one critical approach to individual literary texts should be reflected among the three topics; the three topics can also be interdisciplinary and should include among them at least three literary, cultural, or linguistic traditions as well as at least two distinct historical periods (a “period” generally being at least one hundred years, at the discretion of the advisor). To be competitive for jobs in national literature departments, you should ensure that you cover one national literature (broadly conceived) in sufficient depth and historical breadth. Texts read as primary material for a topic must be read in the original languages.

For each topic, you will submit for your committee’s approval a bibliography of approximately 20-25 primary texts and an appropriate range of secondary texts (about 20) along with a rationale of approximately 1000-1500 words. These must then be approved by the committee.

The Comprehensive Examination Committee

By the end of the second year of study, you will select—from among the faculty of the Program in Comparative Literature—the advisor of your comprehensive examination committee, who then becomes your primary advisor. If you wish to have a co-chair for your committee, you should consult with the GPD. By the beginning of the spring semester of the G3 year, you and your advisor will select the rest of the committee, which consists of a total of at least four members of the graduate faculty, including the advisor, at least one other member from the Program in Comparative Literature, and at least one member from another program. The fourth member may come from either inside or outside the program or department, or even from another institution. 
 

Once the committee has been determined, the student emails this information to the GPD (cc-ing their advisor/committee chair), apprising them of the makeup of the committee, so that the GPD may write a memo to the Graduate School.  

It is your responsibility to stay in close and regular contact with committee members while preparing to take the comprehensive examination. Should you experience any difficulties meeting with your examiners, please be in touch with the GPD as soon as possible. 

Topic Rationales

The student submits a rationale for each of their three comprehensive exams topics. Each rationale should be a short essay of about 1000-1500 words (excluding the bibliography) explaining the scope and aims of the topic, research questions that you intend to explore, and how it fits into your wider program of study and career goals. Topic rationales must be approved by the committee along with the bibliographies. It may be helpful to think of these rationales and bibliographies as having the scope and breadth of a graduate course syllabus on the topic. Sample rationales are on file in the office of the Program Administrator (currently Jennifer Carbery). Rationales should also include a bibliography of about 20-25 primary sources and an appropriate number of secondary sources (usually about 20).  

Formal Approval of the Topics

When the student has selected the three topics, drafted the rationales and bibliographies, and secured the approval of individual committee members, the student arranges a meeting of the entire Comprehensive Examination Committee for the purpose of formal acceptance of the topics and final input from the committee members.

The final, committee-approved versions of the rationales and bibliographies are to be submitted to the Graduate Program Director no fewer than 30 days before the Examination. These become part of the student’s permanent file.

The Examination

All three topics are evaluated by both written and oral examination. Successful completion of this examination allows the candidate to proceed to the dissertation.

The written examination is a take-home exam. Students write three essays of 2500-3500 words apiece, one on each topic, within a seven-day period agreed upon by the committee. The advisor releases questions to the student at 9AM on day 1 and the essays are returned by the student to the whole committee via email by 5 PM on day 7. Normally, the student will have several questions on each topic to choose from and will select one question for each topic. NB: Students with dependents, disabilities, and other needs are entitled to reasonable accommodations regarding this timeline.

The oral examination takes place one week after the written exam. The comprehensive exam committee examines the student for two hours on the candidate’s three topics, especially their essays. The oral examination also includes a review of the candidate’s achievement in critical and theoretical methods as well as bibliographic skills in Comparative Literature and related disciplines in the candidate’s area of specialization.

At the conclusion of the oral examination, the committee meets behind closed doors and takes a vote to determine whether the candidate has passed or failed. The Chair/advisor makes known to the candidate the decision immediately after the examiners have conferred at the conclusion of the oral exam. The Committee Chair, at that time, provides an explanation for the decision of the committee. In the event of a negative decision by the examiners, the student’s committee consults with the Graduate Program Director during the week following the examination. The Graduate Program Director thereupon informs the student either that permission to take the examination a second and final time has been granted, or that termination of graduate studies is advised.

The M.A. en Passant

Upon passing the comprehensive examination, Ph.D. candidates are granted an M.A. on request. The student must initiate the request for this degree. Students entering with a related M.A. may request the M.A. en passant only if they have transferred fewer than six credits toward their M.A. requirements.