MTLIT-PHD - Modern Thought and Literature (PhD)
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Program Overview
Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) is an interdisciplinary humanities graduate program advancing the study of critical issues in the modern world. The program trains students to understand the histories and methods of disciplines and to test their assumptions. It considers how disciplines shape knowledge and, most importantly, how interdisciplinary methods reshape objects of study. MTL students produce innovative analyses of diverse texts, forms, and practices, including those of literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, law, and science; film, visual arts, popular culture, and performance; and material culture and technology.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Degree Requirements
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Eight courses of graduate-level courses in the study of modern literature or literary theory in courses offered by departments of literature. Courses should be taken for letter grades for a minimum of three units. A letter grade lower than that of A- is not in itself of major concern. However, any pattern of grades below A- in graduate courses is a sign that the student is struggling. Although the University minimum grade point average for graduate students is 3.0, the Committee considers a GPA of under 3.5 evidence of less than satisfactory progress and therefore cause for concern. Should a student’s grades fall below the level of satisfactory progress, the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) will consult the Committee about the advisability of creating a plan for improvement, or considering dismissal procedures.
Up to two courses may be self-designated directed readings. Students must petition for directed readings to replace substantive, regularly scheduled courses to the Director of Graduate Studies.
Eight courses of graduate-level courses outside of literature departments in a coherent and individually arranged interdisciplinary program. Courses should be taken for letter grades for a minimum of three units. A letter grade lower than that of A- is not in itself of major concern. However, any pattern of grades below A- in graduate courses is a sign that the student is struggling. Although the University minimum grade point average for graduate students is 3.0, the Committee considers a GPA of under 3.5 evidence of less than satisfactory progress and therefore cause for concern. Should a student’s grades fall below the level of satisfactory progress, the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) will consult the Committee about the advisability of creating a plan for improvement, or considering dismissal procedures.
Up to two courses may be self-designated directed readings. Students must petition for directed readings to replace substantive, regularly scheduled courses to the Director of Graduate Studies. Students must petition for directed readings to replace substantive, regularly scheduled courses to the Director of Graduate Studies.
This certifies that students are likely to be able to undertake the quality of research, sustained argumentation, and persuasive writing demanded in a doctoral dissertation. The qualifying paper must be a substantial revision of a seminar paper written at Stanford during the first year and should embody considerable independent research, develop an intellectual argument with significant elements of original thinking, and demonstrate the ability to do interdisciplinary work. Each paper is evaluated by two or three readers (designated before the end of the first year of graduate study), one of whom must be a member of the Committee in Charge or have been a member within the previous five years. Qualifying papers must be submitted to the program office no later than the end of the third week of the fifth quarter of enrollment, typically winter quarter of the second year.
A coherent program of eight courses of advanced work in literary studies is to be worked out with the advisor, of which at least six must be regularly scheduled literature courses. Courses in the teaching of composition, independent study, or thesis registration may not be counted among these six courses; course Pedagogy Seminar I, course Reading for Orals, course TGR Dissertation may not be counted toward these requirements under any circumstances. Petitions to modify this requirement to substitute a course from a non-literature department for one or more of the required eight literature courses must be approved by the MTL Committee in Charge.
Eight courses of advanced work in non-literature departments, the core of which is completing either a departmental minor or an interdepartmental concentration, typically six courses. Departmental minors are available from several departments in the humanities and social sciences, including the departments of Anthropology, Art and Art History, Communication, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Theater and Performance Studies (see the relevant information in those sections of this Bulletin). Alternatively, students may choose to join interdisciplinary PhD minors in either Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity or Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Individually designed concentrations may be approved by petition to the Director of Graduate Studies. In addition to the required six courses in a minor or a concentration, two additional courses from non-literature departments are chosen in consultation with the student’s academic advisor. At the end of the first year, each student must submit to the Director of Graduate Studies a preliminary statement of approximately 1500 words outlining the scope and coherence of the interdisciplinary focus, either as it relates to the departmental minor or the interdepartmental concentration. In either case, the student should note the relevance of any proposed coursework to the overall program. Course restrictions mentioned above also apply.
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In the winter or spring of their second year, students are expected to lead two sections of one class in the English Department or another literature department.
In their third year, students are expected to lead two sections of one class in an interdisciplinary department or program .
Teaching is an essential part of the program. One quarter is typically undertaken in conjunction with the Department of English. The second quarter may be undertaken in conjunction with any department or program within the university. Although students have some flexibility in arranging teaching appointments, program approval is required to ensure that each experience provides appropriate and helpful training. Students must complete two quarters of teaching no later than the third year of residency in the program. However, they are welcome to teach more courses to bolster their teaching portfolio and develop their pedagogical credentials. MTL actively seeks collaborations with other university units to enhance students’ teaching opportunities.
At the end of the second year, students apply for candidacy. The decision to advance a student to candidacy is a faculty judgment. Failure to advance to candidacy will result in dismissal from the program. The student is only admitted to candidacy if, in addition to the student’s fulfilling departmental prerequisites, the faculty makes the judgment that the student has the potential to complete the requirements of the degree program successfully. The following qualifications are required before candidacy can be certified:
Earlier submission of a satisfactory qualifying paper
Demonstration of reading knowledge of one foreign language
Satisfactory progress in coursework
A list of courses applicable to the degree, distinguishing between courses appropriate to the literary component and courses relevant to the non-literary component
Designation of a departmental minor or an interdisciplinary concentration
The submission of a statement outlining the scope and coherence of the interdisciplinary component of the program in relation to the literary component and noting the relevance of the course work to that program
Submission of a revised professionalization checklist
This examination, covering the student’s areas of concentration, is typically taken in the third year of graduate study. It is a two-hour oral examination administered by four faculty members specializing in the student’s areas of concentration and a chair from another department. The exam is based on a substantial reading list prepared by the student in conjunction with the faculty committee and designed to cover the areas of expertise pertinent to the student’s dissertation project.
Within one quarter of the university oral examination, the student writes the dissertation proposal. The recommended length for the dissertation proposal is five pages, double-spaced (with a maximum length of eight pages). It should contain (additionally) a full bibliography. The proposal is submitted to the program director and the dissertation committee for approval. After completing one chapter of the dissertation, the student sets up a meeting with the dissertation committee for one hour to discuss the work accomplished in the first chapter and plans for completing the rest of the dissertation.
The fourth and fifth years are devoted to the dissertation, which should be a substantial and original contribution acceptable to the Committee in Charge of Modern Thought and Literature. The subject is drawn from the literature of specialization and nonliterary studies. The dissertation project will conclude with a two-hour defense. The first hour is open to the public and includes a brief presentation of the dissertation project on the part of the PhD candidate. The second hour is reserved for the candidate and their Dissertation Committee.
Before the beginning of the second year of study, students must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one foreign language and, by spring quarter of the third year, a reading knowledge of one other foreign language. Reading knowledge means the ability to make genuine scholarly use of the language: that is, to read prose of ordinary difficulty. Students may not take the university oral examination before completing the foreign language requirement.
The language requirement may be fulfilled in any of the following ways:
Meet the language requirement by passing a reading examination given by the various language departments.
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The chosen course should be completed with whatever grade is deemed satisfactory by the department offering the course (usually B or higher).
Meet the language requirement by passing, with a grade of B or higher, a course in literature numbered 100 or higher in a foreign language department at Stanford, for which the texts are read in the original language, or the equivalent taken at another university within the past five years.
There may be no appropriate class or reading exam for some languages. If so, a student may arrange for a special reading examination with a Stanford instructor. The examination consists of an oral translation of an unprepared passage of expository prose of standard difficulty. The instructor must then certify to the Director of Graduate Studies that the student has reading proficiency in that language.