The
following is a hypothetical two-year schedule for completing
a dissertation (and making a first attempt at the job market).
The schedule is timed on the premise that a student has
completed the Department's "Doctoral
Colloquium" course
(English 591) the previous academic year with the completion
of a draft prospectus and reading list; has spent the summer
revising as needed; and is ready to submit the final prospectus
to the Department's Graduate Committee at the beginning
of Fall Quarter. (Of course, individual students may be
on schedules that anticipate or lag this hypothetical timeline
in some interleaved way.
Year
1: Fall Quarter
- First
week of quarter:
Submit prospectus draft (and reading list)
to Graduate Committee.
- Last
week of quarter: Take
second qualifying exam ("Ph.D. orals
exam." Go "ABD"!
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Year
1: Winter
Quarter
- January: Begin
work on a first chapter of the dissertation
(whether the ordinal first chapter or some
other chapter that it makes sense to start
with).
- Early
March: Complete
draft of a chapter and schedule the
required follow-up "first chapter" meeting
with your dissertation committee. (Circulate
this initial chapter to your committee
both to set up for this meeting
and to stoke the fires of any reference
letters you may ask committee members
to write for dissertation fellowship
applications due in April.)
- Early
April (1-15): Apply
to Graduate Division and Interdisciplinary
Humanities Center for dissertation fellowships
(deadlines April 1-15).
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Year
1: Spring Quarter (and Summer)
- May:
"First chapter conversation" with
your dissertation committee.
- June: Begin
work on second chapter (unless suggestions
from your committee about the first
chapter are serious enough to make it a
priority to revise that chapter before
continuing).
- July-September: Prepare
drafts of your job application materials
(cover letter, c.v., dissertation abstract,
sample chapter) and run them by your committee.
Also consider preparing a piece of the
dissertation for publication.
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Year
2: Fall Quarter
- September: Complete
draft of a second chapter.
- October-November: Revise
job materials with help from the Department's
Job Placement Committee. Mail job applications.
- Early
March: Complete
draft of third chapter.
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Year
2: Spring Quarter (and Summer)
- Early
April (1-15): Register
for Commencement (ask your advise to "hood" you
at the ceremony)
- June: Walk
at Commencement!
- April-August: Complete
remaining chapters. Or, if you have succeeded
in placing in a job that starts in Fall,
make contingency plans to cut a chapter
or finish the dissertation while starting
your new job.
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The
Finish Line
- September: File
your dissertation!
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Meanwhile . . .
While
writing your dissertation,
- TA
at least once in the field in which you
will be seeking a job
- Circulate
for publication at least one article in
your field
- Present
a paper in one to two conferences (not
too many).
- Keep
in contact with your advisor (and committee),
even if--or especially if--you are blocked.
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By Elizabeth
Cook, with Alan Liu; last revised
March 3, 2005
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