Independent studies courses are designed to give students greater flexibility in planning their programs of study. At the beginning of each quarter, petitions for these courses may be obtained from the Staff Graduate Advisor. After the instructor’s approval has been obtained for the proposed course and a written description of the project has been approved by the student’s advisor, students may enroll in the class by following the prescribed registration procedures.

Undergraduate courses taken for degree credit by graduate students must be taken under the number 297 and will include such modifications as thought suitable by the instructor to satisfy graduate requirements. Students in the MA/PhD program may take no more than 4 units of English 297, usually before the first qualifying examination. English 297 is not available to students in the PhD program. All students may audit undergraduate courses with the instructor’s permission.

Continuing instruction in the teaching of literature courses. Teaching Assistants must register for this course and will receive an S/U grade. The instructor is the TA Supervisor. Units earned in English 500 do not count toward degree requirements.

A year-long course taught every other week, the Doctoral Colloquium provides support for graduate students in the crucial period after they have completed the first qualifying exam and are developing their dissertation ideas. The colloquium focuses step-by-step on familiarizing students with the nature and structure of dissertations, the dissertation prospectus, the second qualifying exam (“PhD orals”), and the dissertation-writing process—all within a broad framework of professionalization that also considers the relation between the dissertation and the book, publication, the nature of an academic career, etc. At the end of the year, students will have in hand a draft of a dissertation prospectus and reading list that has been discussed with the colloquium instructor and other colloquium members (together with students’ individual faculty advisors). The colloquium is taken following the first qualifying exam. Units earned do not count toward degree requirements.

The Literature and Culture of Media Colloquium gives students 1) an overview of central issues, questions, and debates in the fields of media studies and the digital humanities; 2) an introduction to the hardware and software used in advanced Web-building projects; 3) assistance with colloquia and conference organization. Content and structure varies by term. Units earned do not count toward degree requirements.

Course provides guidance, training, a forum, and a common center for the various technical research endeavors engaged in by student assistants.

Course explores connections between theorizations of the nature and history of globalization and recent reconceptualizations of American literary and cultural studies with an eye to exploring issues for future research into potentially productive intersections.

The EMC Colloquium is an ongoing resource for graduate students and faculty with early modern interests, where they present work in progress, such as dissertation chapters and conference papers, as well as workshop field lists, prospectuses, job letters and talks, and so forth.

Students wishing to work on an independent studies project under the supervision of a faculty member should meet with the instructor and work out a reading list for the quarter. A written proposal must be approved by the Graduate Advisor prior to enrollment. Courses must be taken for a letter grade and are usually restricted to the interval between the first and second qualifying exams.  596 courses should be directed toward helping to define the dissertation area.  Students may take no more than 8 units of 596.

Students may take up to 12 units per quarter of 597. A 597 course must be taken S/U and does not count toward a degree. The instructor should be the student’s advisor.

Only students who have passed the second qualifying examination and been advanced to candidacy can register for a 599 course.  During the time students are in the Doctoral Candidacy Fee Offset Program (see 10.1 below) they must continue to remain registered for 12 units — those who are TAs in 500 and 599; students who are not teaching in 12 units of 599.  The grading option is S/U and the instructor is the dissertation chair.