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All PhD students are required to pass a Major Field Examination and participate in a Dissertation Lists Discussion.

Major Field

The Major Field examinations can be taken in areas defined by period, nation, genre, or special subject. One’s “Major Field” should be thought of as “the literature in which one wants to specialize and about which one will have something of significance to say/write.” It holds much of the literature one will teach and continue to study over the length of a career. A “Major Field” is one’s ground.

Major Field Reading Lists

There are basic reading lists for fields available in the Programme Office. These basic lists may be modified to suit the interests of individual candidates. Each list requires students to choose a total of 60 texts. A substitution of 20% is permitted for all reading lists for the purposes of tailoring the lists to the interests of the student and for working around texts the student may already know well. Such substitutions are to be determined by agreement between the candidate and the candidate's supervisor and are subject to approval by the Graduate Study Committee.

We define “text” as the number of poems, chapters, or articles deemed by field specialists as sufficiently representative of an author’s work or period. To ensure relative consistency in total number of pages per reading list, we consider a “text” to mean a single novel or play, or approximately eight-to-ten lyric poems of some length, or three chapters from a larger critical volume. 

Students begin reading for their Major Field in their first term and take the examination in their fourth term. They prepare for the examination by working with a supervisor in the field, meeting from time to time as agreed to discuss the works on a prepared reading list.

Period

(mainly, but not only, British):
Medieval Literature* (to 1500) medieval reading list (.pdf)
Renaissance Literature (1485 to 1660) renaissance reading list (.pdf)
Restoration & 18th Century Literature (1642 to 1798) restoration reading list (.pdf)
Romantic Literature (1789 to 1840) romantic reading list (.pdf)
Victorian Literature (1832 to 1901) victorian reading list (.pdf)
Modern Literature (1885 to 1950) modern reading list (.pdf)
Contemporary Literature (1945 to present) contemporary reading list (.pdf)
*Students are advised that an introductory graduate course or, at the least, an upper-level undergraduate course in Old English, is deemed to be an almost essential preparation for the Medieval field and examination.

Nation

Canadian Literature Canadian reading list (.pdf)
Post Colonial & Diasporic Literature post colonial reading list (.pdf)
U.S. Literature Before 1900  pre 1900 reading list (.pdf)
20^th Century U.S. Literature 20th Century reading list (.pdf)
World Literature reading list (.pdf)

Subject

Theory theory reading list (.pdf)
Drama drama reading list (.pdf)
Poetry poetry reading list (.pdf)
Prose Narrative prose narrative reading list (.pdf)

Students begin reading for their Major Field in their first term and take the examination in their fourth term. They prepare for the examination by working with a supervisor in the field, meeting from time to time as agreed to discuss the works on a prepared reading list.

Examinations in the Major Field

Candidates take the Major Field examination in Term 4 (end of Fall term, Year II). The examination has two parts, written and oral. The written exam comprises one half-day sitting and is followed, normally within one week, by a two-hour oral examination. In the examination, candidates will be expected to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the designated field as well as an original, critical understanding of the field and its constitutive texts. The written examination contains questions concerning generic, historical, critical, and theoretical issues pertinent to the field. The oral examination comprises questions formulated in relation to the candidate’s written answers. Impromptu follow-up questions ensue. Generally, candidates are asked to move from their written responses to other texts on the list, so as to demonstrate truly comprehensive knowledge.

Dissertation Lists Discussion

This milestone requires students to isolate three sub-fields informing their dissertation topic and find appropriate supervision for each field, with the understanding that these supervisors may form the student’s dissertation committee. The student will establish three lists of 20 texts chosen in consultation with each area supervisor to represent fields of inquiry and areas of knowledge useful for developing the dissertation and proposal. Together, this list of 60 texts will help generate and further develop ideas of significance for exploration in a dissertation.

We define “text” as the number of poems, chapters, or articles deemed by field specialists as sufficiently representative of an author’s work or period. To ensure relative consistency in total number of pages per reading list, we consider a “text” to mean a single novel or play, or approximately eight-to-ten lyric poems of some length, or three chapters from a larger critical volume. A text cannot appear on the DLD if it has been included on the student’s Major Field list.

In consultation with the supervising professors, students must also generate a brief rationale (up to one page, single-spaced) for their choice of fields and texts, articulating the kind of knowledge they seek to gain from the fields and texts, and to what end it will be put in the dissertation. The rationale proposes fields of overlapping inquiry, texts representative of those fields, and the relation of the fields themselves. The Lists and Rationale are to be submitted for approval to the Graduate Study Committee (following the program’s formatting guidelines) through the Program Administrator a minimum of 6 weeks prior to the Discussion date.

The milestone concludes with a 2-hour Dissertation List Discussion, between the student and all three list supervisors, meant to explore and review the student’s knowledge of texts, and their readiness to begin the dissertation project. This discussion is to be arranged by the three area supervisors, and to be held by the end of term 7.

Reading Lists

• Three reading lists of approximately 20 texts, each representing fields of inquiry and areas of knowledge useful for developing the dissertation and proposal.
• By “text,” we mean the number of poems or articles deemed by field specialists as sufficiently representative of an author's work or period. As on some current field lists in the GPE, eight-to-ten lyric poems of some length add up to “one text,” for instance, as would three essays or articles.  A novel or a play (other than very short ones) would also constitute “one text.”
• A text cannot appear twice on any of the lists, including that of the Major Field.
• Lists are drawn up in consultation with a committee of professors whose areas of demonstrable teaching and/or research qualify them to supervise in those areas.
• In consultation with the supervising professors, students must also generate a brief rationale (up to one page, single-spaced) for their choice of fields and texts, articulating the kind of knowledge they seek to gain from the fields and texts, and to what end it will be put in the dissertation.  The rationale, therefore, proposes fields of inquiry, texts representative of those fields, the relation between texts within and across fields, and the relation of the fields themselves.  In colloquial terms, it articulates what one feels one needs to know in order to get a footing in the dissertation topic, and thus the rationale also suggests what one hopes to produce with and from these texts.  The lists and texts are not exhaustive, but they must be justified as necessary.
• Please read our Reading List formatting guidelines (pdf).