Students in French, Italian and Spanish are expected to take a minimum of fourteen courses beyond the M.A. degree are required; they must be taken for a letter grade (B or better) and are normally spread over six quarters; they should be completed before taking the oral exam:

10 Literature courses in the student's respective Romance languages

3 RLLT seminars, as follows:

• RLLT 38800: Acquisition and Teaching of Foreign Languages


• RLLT 30200: History of Romance Languages


• RLLT 31600: Theory of Literature

1 Elective

In addition, all 1st and 2nd year graduate students will be required to attend the Romance Languages Colloquium (RLLT 31400) which will meet once per quarter and will feature the research interests of a faculty member.RLLT courses, if conducted in English, must be approved by the advisor if they are to count towards the 10 required literature courses.Students are encouraged to take additional courses -- in this or other departments -- that may be useful in their program of study; these may be audited or taken Pass/Fail or "R". Students are also encouraged to participate in graduate student workshops throughout the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions as a means of furthering their studies.Note that RLLT 38800, Acquisition and Teaching of Foreign Language, must be taken before applying for a lecturer position (usually after three years), even for students with prior teaching experience or other pedagogical training.
Also note that most RLLT seminars are offered only every other year. It is, therefore, prudent to take them at the earliest opportunity.Students in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies (hereafter REMS) are subject to a slightly altered set of requirements. During their first year, in consultation with their advisor, they must select two Romance languages (a major and a minor) as their object of study. They are expected to take

a sequence of 3 REMS courses introducing them to the main issues of the field

9 courses in the two selected Romance Literatures, 6 of which should be on Renaissance and Early Modern topics

3 RLLT seminars (as above)

1 elective

Language RequirementsBesides competency in English and their language of specialization, students in French, Italian, and Spanish must demonstrate reading proficiency in two other languages.

a) Second Romance Language

Students may fulfill this requirement by receiving a grade of B or higher in a graduate literature course in a second Romance language, or by taking a three-quarter language course sequence and receiving a grade of B+ or higher. Alternatively, they may choose to take a departmental reading exam from a text, generally in the student's area of research, chosen by the student in consultation with the department faculty member who will administer the exam; the professor selects a passage of 500-600 words to be translated into English within two hours; a dictionary may be used.

b) A Research Language relevant to the student's field of study, to be selected in consultation with the graduate advisor.

Students who choose to take the reading exam from the University's Test Administration Office must register for the exam (see the Time Schedule for details); a High Pass is needed to satisfy the requirement. The student may also fulfill the requirements by taking special Latin and German languages courses (GRMN 33300) for graduate students, or by taking a three-quarter language course sequence in the research language of choice; in both cases the final grade of B+ or higher is needed to satisfy the requirement.The DissertationBy the Spring quarter of the third Ph.D. year, students are expected to:

have completed their coursework and language requirements

have passed the oral exam

have selected a dissertation topic and director

Dissertation Proposal and ColloquiumStudents, in consultation with their dissertation director, choose the dissertation topic, plan the stages of its development, and select a dissertation committee that includes a second and a third reader.In the Spring quarter of the third Ph.D. year students prepare and submit a dissertation proposal to their director and the committee. The proposal should explain the nature of the thesis, the state of the scholarship, and the methodology to be followed; it should include an outline of chapters, a table of contents, and a bibliography of relevant works.After the Dissertation Committee has agreed that the proposal is in presentable shape, the student should submit this working draft to the Department along with a date or dates for the Colloquium (consult with the dissertation committee about suitable dates). At the Colloquium, to which all RLLT faculty will be invited, the students will present the proposal, and receive general feedback, suggestions for improvement, etc. The students will also be tested on the principal original texts in the field, knowledge of secondary bibliography, and a grasp of the scholarship relevant to the field. At this point, the director will also notify the Administrative Assistant of the results of the Colloquium. After the Colloquium (circa 1 hour in length), the student should prepare the final version of the proposal, using the suggestions given at the Colloquium, and then submit the final version for departmental approval.Conduct of Dissertation WorkOnce students begin writing the dissertation, they are required to meet at least once a quarter with the dissertation director and once a year with the dissertation committee in order to review the student's progress. The readers on the committee must receive all major stages of the work, from the general outline to the final drafts. They will inform the director of their reactions at each stage.Once the director and readers have approved the dissertation's final form, students schedule their dissertation defense; the Administrative Assistant will help coordinate the details. Two copies of the abstract in English and one clean copy of the dissertation must be submitted to the Department at least three weeks before the date of the defense. The Department submits a request for a Dean's Representative from outside the Department to attend the defense. (Suggestions are welcome.)Details concerning the preparation of the final text of the dissertation, as well as information regarding deadlines for its submission may be obtained from the Office of Academic Publications in Room 100B of Regenstein Library.Once again, the progress through various stages of the Ph.D. program is as follows:(a) First Year Written Exam
(b) Oral Exam
(c) Language Exam (research and departmental)
(d) Dissertation proposal and colloquium:

presentation of the proposal to the Dissertation committee

submission for approval by the Department

public colloquium

final version of the proposal submitted to the Department

(e) Admission to Candidacy
(f) Dissertation Defense