Ph.D. Qualifying Exam: Graduates
AMST PhD Qualifying Exam Policy
Reading Lists
Students will prepare two lists for the exam. The first is a mandatory list of texts that reflects critical moments in the theories and practices of American studies. The second list, consisting of approximately 50 works, will be put together by each student in accordance with her/his research, teaching, and disciplinary interests and in consultation with the exam committee and the associate director. The goal of this list is to encourage students to think of the ways that the field of American Studies complements and allows them to develop their interests, and how their work, in turn, contributes to the field.
Before the Exam
- Students may take the exam after completion of the American Studies course requirements; it may be repeated once if necessary. The exam will be offered twice a year, at the end of the fall and spring semesters.
- Students preparing for the exam should plan on consulting the program's associate director about the exam and their topic-specific reading list in the semester prior to the proposed exam date.
- All students must submit a draft of their list together with an explanatory cover letter at least THREE MONTHS in advance of the exam, in order to allow sufficient time for discussion and any needed revisions. Final versions of these documents must be submitted no later than SIX WEEKS in advance of the exam.
Exam Committee
- Students will work with the associate director to constitute an exam committee.
- First they will submit to the associate director the names of two faculty members, at least one of whom must be a member of the American Studies faculty. (Students will be encouraged to name faculty with whom they have worked in the past and who have already, informally, agreed to serve.)
- The associate director will then confirm the participation of the two proposed examiners and appoint a third member to this committee from among the AMST faculty. This appointment should be based on some degree of correlation between the faculty member's area(s) of expertise and the student's research interests.
- Either the director or the associate director will serve as a fourth (ex-officio) member of the committee. This latter provision should help to ensure that standards and criteria remain consistent.
Exam Format
The students will take a seven-hour, written exam in which students will select and answer one question from each of the following two categories:
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The Projects of American Studies
Questions in this section of the exam will address the institutional contexts and intellectual history of American Studies with emphasis on the salient shifts in the understanding of the "field"--its objects, aims, and methodologies. - Critical Problems
Questions in this section of the exam will address how the student's discipline-based research both benefits from and contributes to the work of American Studies. Students should expect to formulate their research interests both topically (by reference to a particular object of study) and conceptually (by reference to the stakes in constructing/investigating such an object). Questions will ask how students are influenced in framing their object of study by the interdisciplinary and increasingly transnational context of American Studies.
