Required Course Work
Incompletes
Financial Aid
Satisfactory Progress Toward the Degree
Language Requirements in Non-Slavic Languages
Language Requirements in Modern Slavic Languages
Permission to Proceed
Russian Language Examination
PhD Comprehensive Examination
Dissertation Proposal
Dissertation Seminar
Pertinent Materials
University of Virginia Graduate Record
The following Departmental requirements should be read in conjunction with the Graduate School requirements contained in the University of Virginia Graduate Record (see link above).
Procedures and requirements are subject to change.
- Required Course Work
No fewer than 60 hours of approved graduate-level courses plus any further work requested by the Graduate Committee will be required for the PhD. Normally, this consists of 30 credits of actual course work (i.e. not including non-topical research) beyond the 30 credits of the MA. Beyond the 60 hours of course work required for the PhD, the Graduate School requires 12 further hours of graduate-level credit which may be fulfilled either through additional course work or by signing up for non-topical research.
All incoming PhD candidates are required to take RUSS 503 in the fall, since it will serve as a training course for graduate teaching assistants and provide students with a comprehensive grammar review. In general, language courses (except RUSS 501, 503, and 504) do not count towards the 30 credits beyond the MA.
Previous graduate work at other institutions will be assessed by examination. An equivalent Master of Arts degree from another university can count for up to 30 credits toward the PhD. Students entering with an MA degree from another university will take the remaining 30 credits from required courses and electives listed below.Required Courses
All the courses required for the MA, plus an additional 3 hours (minimum) in 19th-century literature, an additional 3 hours (minimum) in 20th-century literature, and:RUSS 729 - Medieval and 18th-Century Russian Literature (3 credits)
SLAV 743 - The Church Slavonic Tradition (3 credits)
18 further hours of electives
Electives may be courses relevant to the study of literature, linguistics, or folklore. Students are strongly encouraged to take at least one course outside the department. Possible courses outside the department include literary theory, linguistic theory, and anthropology courses on folklore, as well as almost all folklore, linguistics, and literature courses offered by other departments. Students should be aware that some undergraduate courses within the Department can be taken -- with increased workload -- also at the graduate level.
Incompletes (request
form available at http://www.virginia.edu/slavic/forms/incomplete_request_form.pdf)
- Students are expected to complete their course
work on time. Students wishing to receive an incomplete in a course
must obtain the permission of the instructor and approval from the Graduate
Advisor. All incomplete work must be finished by the end of the next
semester (this includes the Summer Session) in which the student is
in residence. Otherwise, the report of "incomplete" will automatically
be changed to a failing grade by the University Registrar.
Language Requirements in Non-Slavic Languages
Reading proficiency in either French or German is required for all students in the PhD program. Proficiency may be demonstrated by passing a written examination in the appropriate department or by attaining a grade of B or above in an approved reading proficiency course (e.g., GERM 101G-102G). The proficiency examination in French or German must be taken in a semester before the one in which a student expects to sit for the comprehensive examination. Students should contact the appropriate department for information concerning the administration of the exam.
A student will be presumed to be making satisfactory progress in meeting the language proficiency requirement at the PhD level if the student passes the proficiency examination by the end of the second semester of the program or if the student attains a satisfactory grade in an approved reading proficiency course before the beginning of the third semester of the program (i.e. by taking a summer course).
- Language
Requirements in Modern Slavic Languages
- In addition to the Russian proficiency requirement,
all doctoral students must demonstrate a reading knowledge of a modern
Slavic language other than Russian.
This requirement may be satisfied by receiving the grade of A- or higher in the 122 course of the appropriate language or by passing an equivalent examination. The requirement must be completed before the comprehensive examination may be taken. (Note, however, that the 121-122 courses do not count towards the 60 credits of required course work.)
- Examinations
- Permission to Proceed
-
Students who have completed the MA comprehensive examination must request formal permission to proceed into the doctoral program. All work done in this department or elsewhere will be taken into account. Students who have not written an MA thesis or substantial research paper must submit an equivalent written work before permission to proceed will be granted.
- Students in the PhD program will be required to
pass a Russian Language Examination before they take the PhD Comprehensive
Examination. The exam will consist of two parts, a 3-hour written examination,
and a 30-minute oral examination. The format of the written examination
is as follows:
Part I
60 mins.
translation into English
Part II
60 mins.
translation into Russian
Part III
30 mins. each
pedagogy and an essay
The oral examination will consist of a conversation to test oral/aural comprehension as well as fluency.
The Russian Language Examination may be taken in the same semester as the Comprehensive Examination or in an earlier semester. The exam may be taken up to a maximum of four times. Students may find it to their advantage to begin taking the exam as soon as possible. The exam is offered only once per semester, typically within the first month of classes.
- PhD Comprehensive Examination
To apply for permission to take the Comprehensive Examination the candidate should first consult with the Graduate Advisor, who may consult with other faculty members in evaluating the candidate's readiness. Upon receiving a positive recommendation, the candidate must then write a formal letter of request to the Chair of the Department. The letter should provide the names of 4 faculty members, one from outside the department, who have agreed to serve on the examination and dissertation committees. (The outside member normally attends the dissertation defense and must approve the dissertation, though attendance at the Comprehensive Exam is at his/her own discretion.) The faculty member who has agreed to be the dissertation advisor should be indicated.
No specific dates are set for the PhD comprehensive examination. They must be requested by the candidate at least one month in advance, and must begin at least three weeks before the last day of classes. All PhD non-course examinations (PhD Qualifying, Russian Proficiency, other Slavic Language Proficiency, comprehensive, dissertation seminar) must be taken between the first and last day of classes during the fall or spring semester excluding vacation periods.
Comprehensive examinations must be completed within a three-week period. The Russian Language Examination must be completed and passed at least one week before the student is allowed to take: A) the written examination and B) the oral examination. Students will automatically proceed to the orals, except in cases in which the written exams are clearly failing. The comprehensive examination will be passed or failed as a whole.
The comprehensive examination for the PhD will consist of:
A five-hour written examination, to be conducted over two days usually a week apart (e.g., two hours the first day, and three hours on the second day). The material tested on the examination will be weighted in the direction of the student's academic interests (literature, linguistics, or folklore).
Oral Examination
- Oral exams will be open to guests at the discretion of the student being examined. Any Slavic Department faculty member may attend if they so desire.
The major portion of the oral examination will deal with material similar to that found on the written examination. Each questioner will have about twenty minutes of questioning. The last part of the oral exam will focus on the preliminary dissertation proposal. There will be no formal time limits to the exam as a whole, although normally it lasts about two hours.
Students who pass their doctoral examinations may request a certificate of candidacy from the Enrolled Student Office, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 438 Cabell Hall.
- Using the Thesis Proposal Outline (available in
the Department office or download a pdf-formatted
version here) as a guide, the student, in consultation with his/her
dissertation advisor will prepare a dissertation proposal. (The dissertation
advisor is the faculty member who will direct the student in his/her
research and writing, NOT the graduate advisor, and who is a specialist
in the subject of the dissertation). Once it is approved by the dissertation
advisor and the Graduate Advisor, the two advisors form the doctoral
committee, which convenes for a one-hour discussion with the student.
The committee must have 4 members, one from outside the Department.
(This is a university rule.)
The proposal must be approved by the committee as a whole.
I. The proposal must consist of the following:
a. Date of submission
b. Short title
c. Name of student
d. Name of dissertation advisor
e. Statement of the problem to be studied
f. Research already accomplished
g. Approach to the solution of the problem
h. List of works already consulted
i. List of main works to be consulted
j. Proposed date of completion
k. Signature of approval of thesis or dissertation advisor
II. The proposal should not exceed five pages.
III. The PhD dissertation proposal should submitted in two typed copies to the Graduate Advisor. Once the proposal has been approved by the dissertation advisor and the Graduate Advisor, the two advisors form the doctoral committee, which convenes for a one-hour discussion with the student.The proposal must then be approved by the committee as a whole.
-
After a student has submitted the final draft of a dissertation to his/her committee, the committee has accepted it as a completed and potentially final draft, and all committee members are available to participate, the dissertation advisor, in consultation with the student and the committee, establishes a date for the dissertation seminar. The date must fall between the first and last days of class during the fall or spring semester excluding vacations.
The student is responsible for organizing with all committee members a date for the dissertation defense.
Transliteration of Russian chart
Thesis/dissertation proposal form
Revised 01/14/08