www.english.ohiou.edu

Program Overview:

The Ph.D. in English is designated primarily as professional preparation for scholars and teachers of literature, creative writing, and rhetoric/composition. The program at Ohio University offers students the opportunity to concentrate in one of the three areas of English studies described below. While our program requires students to concentrate in an area, it also asks them to explore other areas and to seek the common concerns that unite them. Accordingly, the program includes general requirements, as well as specific requirements within each of the concentrations. In all concentrations student work culminates with a dissertation.

Literature: Doctoral students in this concentration aspire to a comprehensive knowledge of literature through a systematic historical, theoretical, and critical course of study. They develop techniques and skills in scholarly research, theoretical reflection, and careful reading of texts. 

Creative Writing:  Doctoral students in creative writing  specialize in one genre (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction), while also taking  workshops in at least one other genre.  Students also study literature to discover and articulate connections between the achievements of particular authors and  literary traditions and their own creative work. 

Rhetoric and Composition: Doctoral students in rhetoric and composition study the history and tradition of the discipline and the theories that underlie the teaching of writing.

Admissions Policy:  

Applications for the Ph.D. program must be submitted electronically to the Graduate College, along with the general scores from the GRE, three letters of recommendation from professors familiar with the applicant’s academic work, a writing sample, and a one-page statement of purpose, indicating at the top the name of the concentration for which the prospective student is applying (literary history, rhetoric and composition, or creative writing), and in the case of creative writing, the genre (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction). The application should also include transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate courses. Students applying to the doctoral program must have completed their M.A. or M.F.A. by the time of enrollment. Applicants in literature should submit a critical essay of ten to fifteen pages in length. Applicants in creative writing should submit as their writing sample a portfolio of poems, a manuscript of short fiction, or a ten- to fifteen-page selection of creative nonfiction. Applicants in rhetoric/composition should submit a piece of scholarly writing ten to fifteen pages in length. The deadline for submission of materials is January 15 for admission in the following Fall semester. This is the only annual admissions period. The English Department does not admit students for Spring semester.

Change Policy:

No selective or limited admission requirements.

Transfer Policy:

No requirements beyond Departmental admission requirements.

Opportunities:

The Ph.D. in English provides professional training for teachers, scholars, and creative writers. The department offers counseling and practical support in important areas of job search, planning, preparation of applications and letters of candidacy, and interview techniques.