Field Examinations
Doctoral Field Examinations are the pinnacle requirement half-way through the program, and consist of written and oral components that are based on student-selected bibliographies in three fields best representing the student’s broad specialty(-ies) as a scholar. (These components are described in more detail below.) Having passed these exams, the Ph.D. Candidate in AC becomes officially an A.B.D. (that means that “all-but-dissertation” requirements in the Doctoral Program have been fulfilled).
The examination is designed to produce two results: (1) constructive, evaluative information for the student, and (2) a determination of satisfactory or unsatisfactory progress to degree. The chair of the committee makes a formal report to the Graduate Director about the student's performance on the examination. Grades for the exam are pass/no pass; there is a possibility of a High Pass (or Passed with Distinction); there is a form to fill out by the committee, with room for brief comments and recommendations. The student must complete the exam to the satisfaction of all the examiners in order to pass. Students whose performance on the examination is satisfactory advance to the dissertation stage.
If a student fails the exam or part of it (written or oral), he or she remains eligible for enrollment and financial support for one more term and must retake the exam (or its part) no later than by the end of the Winter semester in their third year. To assist this student with the process of retaking his/her exams, the committee will explain to the student in writing what areas in his/her exam were not satisfactory. If the student fails the exam again, however, neither continuance in the Program nor continued funding can be expected. They may be offered in exceptional cases only, at the discretion of the Program Director and the American Culture faculty, and upon the recommendation of the Graduate Director.
Preparation
Students begin the process of preparation for their Doctoral Field Examinations as soon as they enter the Program. This means that, as they progress through their first year, take AC 697, AC 698, and other courses, and as they prepare for their Second Year Review, the students and their Faculty Advisors strive to identify broad areas of interest and academic fields within which the students locate their academic expertise. (e.g., both the books read in the courses along the way, as well as the ones listed on the Summer Reading List for the First Year students can serve as inspirations for compiling early drafts of the 3 reading lists on which the Field Examinations are based.)
By the end of their Second Year Review, the student and his/her committee identify the 3 fields that will constitute the areas covered by the Field Examination. Within 2 weeks of the Second Year Review, the student submits the final Reading Lists to his Committee and to the Graduate Director. In some cases, very little time may elapse between advancement to candidacy and field examinations. As required by Rackham Graduate School, students take the Field Examination during the first term of their third year, typically no later than the end of the Fall term. A student who has not taken the field examinations by the end of the fall term shall be considered on departmental probation, risks loss of funding, and being dropped from the Program. The Program recognizes that, in exceptional cases, a delay in this timetable may be legitimately caused by a variety of serious and unexpected factors. A student who is behind schedule should be asked to supply frequent information about her or his progress.
Process
Students are examined, on the basis of bibliographies designed in consultation with a faculty supervisor, in three fields. (There is no objection to one list being jointly supervised by two faculty members.)
The 3 fields can be conceived of either broadly and traditionally or more specifically and individually (e.g., frontier cultures, 20th-century minority literature, queer studies and the American novel, etc.), but with one field required to be broad and traditional in terms of mapping a general disciplinary, teaching, and subject area of expertise that the student will need to define him- or herself vis-à-vis future job applications (e.g., American literature 1800-1945, American labor history, Native American history and culture). It is the responsibility of the Exam Committee to assure a combination of broader and more specific fields and the breadth and depth of (inter)disciplinary coverage. The student should work out the definition of each field with the relevant examiner and submit in writing a brief description (500 words) of all three fields to his/her committee for approval. The description should be accompanied by a list of books (bibliography) in the field, approved by the examiner.
Each reading list should contain no more than 75-100 books and articles, and it is the responsibility of each list Advisor to identify “core” and “context” books/articles on that list, that, is to advise the student which 20-30 texts must be read closely and which may be read more selectively.
All students are required to file their lists with the Graduate Assistant and all lists -- past and present -- are available in the American Culture library.
Exam Format:
An oral examination of approximately two hours is required, and follows a required written part, in which the student writes 3 essays on the basis of the questions provided by the committee members (one question for each field). The 3 examination essay questions are agreed upon by the committee members and given to the student at a specific time (e.g., 12 noon on Mon); these questions are often generated in conversation with the lists of questions and suggestions that the student has been submitting to the committee members throughout his or her preparation process in all three fields. The written parts of the examination (the 3 essays) are take-home exams. The student has 2 days, or 48 hrs for each essay; the whole exam takes place over the period of six days (e.g., Mon noon till Saturday noon). The essays are then submitted to all the committee members, who have several days to read them, after which the committee and the student meet for the 2-hour oral examination. The exam essays serve as a springboard for the oral examination, but the student can expect to be questioned on all and any of the books on his or her reading lists. At the end of the exam, the student and the committee should spend some time on discussing the student’s progress toward the dissertation prospectus.
Field Examinations Committee
Usually a committee is composed of at least three faculty members, but usually no more than five. One faculty member will be designated as chair of the committee, and will serve as the student's primary advisor during the period of preparation for the examinations. The chair of this committee should be an American Culture budgeted faculty member, or can be an AC Faculty Associate, pending the approval of the Graduate Director and other committee members. At least two disciplines must be represented on the committee. Occasionally, when a student has established a working relationship with a scholar at another institution, one field may be supervised by someone who is not a University of Michigan faculty member; this option should be exercised only when the field in question is not represented on the Michigan faculty or when the external member has particularly outstanding qualifications. The external member cannot serve as committee chair; however, at the committee's discretion and with program approval, an external member may be able to serve as a co-chair.
AC 995: Dissertation Candidate
AC 995, “Dissertation Candidate,” is a course designed to facilitate independent work towards the completion of field exams and the dissertation prospectus. It is graded as “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” by the sponsoring faculty advisor.
Students enrolled in AC 995 are required to submit a one-page written statement of their progress to the faculty sponsor at least one week before the end of classes in the term. In order to achieve a grade of “satisfactory” progress, the student must demonstrate concrete advancements over the previous 14 weeks—e.g. s/he must explain the specific reading, research, and and/or writing completed during the term, and how this work is moving towards the completion of the larger goal. A student cannot receive a “satisfactory” grade in AC 995 without completing all of this work to the satisfaction of the faculty sponsor. Students who receive more than one “unsatisfactory” grade in AC 995 may become ineligible for future departmental funding and teaching assignments.
The Dissertation Prospectus
The Dissertation Prospectus is a requirement that comes right after the Doctoral Field Examinations and must be completed in Winter term of the student’s 3rd year. The student is required to present the drafted Dissertation Prospectus to the AC Community and to discuss it extensively with their entire prospectus committee.
Chronology
- Following the preliminary discussion of the readings related to the dissertation project at the end of the oral examination in the Doctoral Field Examinations (Fall of 3rd year), the student selects a Prospectus Committee and drafts the prospectus in consultation with its members (this committee is selected by the student; some or all of its members typically serve on the student’s Dissertation Committee).
- Early in Winter term of their 3rd year (or sixth semester in the Program), the student presents their project in the Prospectus Presentation (see description below) and meets with their Prospectus Committee to discuss it. The committee fills out the Prospectus Evaluation Form, which is filed with the Graduate Assistant immediately after the meeting.
- Following the approval of the prospectus by the committee, the student has 14 days to file its final version with the Graduate Assistant.
- The student then selects the final Dissertation Committee, including designating its Chair (or co-chairs), who will serve as their primary advisor through the process. Agreement must be secured from each potential committee member. This committee is formally established by the Program and the Graduate School to supervise the dissertation. (See the description of the Dissertation Committee below).
- Within four weeks following the Prospectus Presentation and its approval, the student and her Dissertation Committee convene for their first meeting, at which they draft and sign the Dissertation Completion Plan, which is then filed with the Graduate Assistant.
Description of Prospectus
The dissertation prospectus is a substantial description (approximately 5000 words in total length) of the intended dissertation project. It covers three areas that may be roughly presented as a sequence of answers to the basic questions of:
WHAT? - WHY? - HOW?
(This format is work-shopped in AC850, and students who at this stage have not yet taken it, or who wish to take it again, should sign up for this class):
(1) This is what I am doing (subject, main themes, topics that are located historically and in relationship to the disciplinary spine[s]).
(2) This is why the dissertation is important (locates the project in the field[s] of study, outlines its methods and methodologies, and puts its contribution in conversation with the main ideas and critics/theorists relevant to the project)
(3) This is how I do it (your main argument, thesis statement for the overall project, research plan, goals and projected outcomes).
Outline
A well-organized prospectus should include six components:
1. A clearly written and jargon-free summary of the intended project
(this part includes some indication of how the project framework relates to existing scholarship and theoretical debates in the field[s] under consideration).
2. Summaries of the contents, methodologies, and main argument in each proposed chapter of the dissertation.
3. Concluding remarks on the projected outcomes and contribution of this project to the wide arena of American Studies scholarship.
4. A detailed bibliography of primary and secondary sources (MLA or other consistent format).
5. A statement of at least 500 words outlining a proposed schedule for research and writing of the dissertation, including the intended defense date (this part echoes and develops the information from the Dissertation Plan form)
6. A detailed list of external funding sources to which the student may apply for research support (this list also includes names of archives and sites that the student will be traveling to for research purposes)
Students are encouraged to complete the prospectus fairly quickly, within a few weeks of having taken their Doctoral Field Examinations. As a genre, a dissertation prospectus must present a coherent, feasible, and clear narrative description of the project that the student is proposing to work on in their dissertation. However, it is understood that the finished dissertation may, and often will be, different (sometimes substantially so) from the version proposed in the prospectus. The purpose of the prospectus is, therefore, to help the students to organize and articulate their early ideas and primary and secondary material as they embark on the dissertation writing process. It is expected to be a “work-in-progress,” and it serves to offer a preliminary and well-organized framework within which the student will begin not only the private labor of research and writing but the community- and cohort-related public discussion of the work. As a finished document, the prospectus will be a useful draft for fellowship applications and may serve as a springboard for exploratory conference papers; in that sense it may also encourage the early dissemination of the student’s doctoral project through professional venues.
The Prospectus Presentation consists of two parts:
(1) An hour-long, informal workshop open to the general public in the AC Community that consists of the Candidate’s 30-minute informal presentation of the project and a 30-minute discussion and feedback session with the audience. (The student’s cohort must attend this presentation as part of their peer collaboration, community-building, and professionalization process.)
(2) The student’s private meeting with the Prospectus Committee, in which they together discuss and assess the prospectus and the composition of the Dissertation Committee. The Prospectus Committee must attend the public presentation of the prospectus.
The final version of the prospectus must be filed with the American Culture Graduate Assistant no later than 2 weeks after the date of the prospectus presentation. Within four weeks of that presentation, the student meets with their Dissertation Committee and they draft and sign a Dissertation Completion Plan form (see below).
AC 850: Dissertation Workshop and Professionlization Seminar
AC 850 (Advanced Research Colloquium) is a required course and may be taken any time and more than once. It is designed to support a number of different writing and professionalizing goals: organizing and writing the dissertation, preparing for field examinations, preparing a prospectus, developing individual dissertation chapters, drafting conference papers, articles, and job talks
