The purpose of this exercise is to test students’ ability to conduct preliminary research in carefully selected areas of interest and to communicate them clearly and coherently to a group of interested scholars. The exam emphasizes dialogue and open discussion, as well as the ability to present material in an engaging pedagogical manner, in particular during the textual analysis section of the exam. An important aspect of the exam is the student’s ability to define a topic (through creating the reading lists), to meaningfully engage a group of people, to arouse their interest in a potential research topic, and to present and defend informed viewpoints. These are the qualities of a successful teacher and scholar. The examination is also designed to demonstrate students’ mastery of the French language, their command of selected and carefully defined topics in the literature, and their ability to present and discuss literary texts in ways connected to larger debates and issues.
The oral qualifying examination will take place during the student’s third year of residence.
Students should begin to formulate exam list topics at the end of their third semester, and to communicate with faculty members about advising each of the exam list topics. At the end of the fourth semester, the oral exam committee will meet together with the student for the Pre-Orals discussion, which is a meeting whose purpose is for the student to present their topics to the committee in order to hold an organizing discussion about the scope, range, and connections among the list topics.
The Oral Examination must take place at least three months after the Pre-Orals meeting. In order to begin the dissertation prospectus and advance to candidacy in a timely manner, the Department recommends that students complete the Oral Examination as soon as possible, ideally at the end of the fifth semester; the exam must be completed before spring break of the sixth semester.
For students who receive acceleration credits, this schedule will be negotiated on an individual basis with the DGS.
The exam is conducted in French. It takes place in one two-hour session.
The exam consists of:
- Four topics (25 minutes each), including one that is directly related to the student’s envisioned dissertation research. No notes are permitted for this portion of the exam.
- A close textual analysis of a poem or prose passage (20-minute presentation plus 10 minutes of questions). Notes are permitted for this section, but the student may not read aloud from a prepared text. The student should approach this part of the exam as an opportunity to hone and demonstrate their pedagogical skill.
- Optional: design and present a course syllabus. In consultation with their exam advisers, a student may choose to replace one of the 4-exam lists with a syllabus presentation. Students who choose this option will design and present a course syllabus as one part (10-minute presentation plus 15 minutes of questions) of their oral exam; they may thereby leave the exam with a polished syllabus draft that can be used in future teaching and in their job applications.
Students have a major say in elaborating and developing the areas of interest which eventually become the topics of their Oral Examination. It is up to each student to shape the exam in a manner that colludes with and develops their skills, interests, and preferences. The very act of formulating and refining the exam topics is as much a part of the exam as is the choice of a subject for a research paper. Students should circumscribe a coherent area of inquiry, be it historical, generic, theoretical, intertextual. They may wish to focus on a writer, a school, a movement, and theoretical problem, a comparative axis, an interdisciplinary approach, or a transhistorical issue. They are expected to articulate their topics rigorously and coherently, to defend the validity of the topics, and to demonstrate the relevance of their approach to the texts at hand. Often students find it necessary to read and consider more texts than eventually make it onto their reading lists in order to sharply define the topics. Students should approach the Pre-Orals meeting and discussions with exam advisers as an opportunity to facilitate this refining process.
The exam is conceived so as to allow for the plurality and interdisciplinarity that is built into literary studies and, more specifically, into our department. Students should bear in mind that they will be addressing faculty members who may have various interests, approaches, and intellectual styles; part of the exercise consists of testing their ability to communicate their insights and arguments to people who may not share their approaches or perspectives. Therefore, there can be no strict, recipe-like guidelines.
Unnecessary but all-too-real anxiety can be avoided by not trying to anticipate the precise expectations of an examining committee, and by focusing on developing one’s own informed approach to and perspective on the selected materials.
Plurality does not mean arbitrariness. Whatever approach a student chooses, they should come to the exam informed about both the specifics of the texts discussed and about their historical and theoretical contexts; they should be prepared to support their points with relevant examples. At the same time, an exam topic is not a dissertation prospectus nor is it a mini dissertation. Students are not expected to have formulated a “thesis” of their own about each of the chosen topics so much as they are expected to offer informed insights into the historical, conceptual, and larger theoretical implications of the subjects that they treat. Even the exam topic that is closely related to the dissertation is meant to outline and explore a general area of interest or a particular corpus of texts rather than to pinpoint an original idea or to fully develop and argument about it. That is, students need not know precisely what their dissertation topic will be at this stage—only the broad field and perhaps some of the central questions that it will cover.
- The first step is for the students to prepare a summary of their graduate work to help identify both strengths and lacunae. This can take one of two forms: either a list of courses taken at Yale and other graduate institutions or a copy of the student’s latest Yale transcript. Next, the student should prepare a list of areas of interest that might be developed into orals topics; generally, they should prepare at least four areas of interest. Then, the student should meet with the DGS to present the course list (or transcript) and proposed topics in order to discuss their background, interests, topics, as well as procedures and timing for the exam. The DGS will seek to ensure that the topics augment the student’s coursework in meaningful ways and will discuss with the student their selection of the examining committee. Normally, the committee will consist of four members, one of whom may come from another department; the Chair of the committee must be a core faculty member in French. Upon selection of the committee, the student may either contact the examiners directly or may request that the DGS do it. The topics are not approved until the Pre-Orals meeting.
- The Pre-Orals meeting is to take place at least three months before the Oral examination; normally, this meeting will be scheduled for the end of the fourth semester. The purpose of this meeting is to collectively discuss the students’ chosen topics and to help them clarify the details, enrich their bibliographies, pare down if necessary, and bring additional viewpoints to each topic. Most importantly, the Pre-Orals provide a forum in which students and examiners can appraise and comment on the general configuration of the exam. Students should not wait until they have read everything on their bibliographies before scheduling the Pre-Orals; this meeting is not an examination but a dialogue. At least a day before this meeting, the student is expected to provide each examiner with a document containing the lists and provisional bibliographies for each topic. At the meeting, the student will briefly present what they intend to achieve with each topic. A brief discussion follows these short presentations. Remember, this is not an examination. It is a conversation designed to support the student and to generate intellectual coherence across the lists.
- After this point, students should meet regularly with their examiners to report on their progress and discuss their findings. These discussions are not “rehearsals” of the exam, but an occasion for the student to sharpen their perception of the topics and for the examiner to suggest ideas, comparisons, bibliographical references, limitations, and further connections. The exam lists may be further edited and refined through this process. In other words, preparation for the exam is an important dimension of the exercise.
- One week before the day of the exam, the student must send a complete bibliography—including all four topics—in a single document to all members of the examination committee. These bibliographies should be presented in a single document with a cover page and should include complete references as well as indicate which professor is in charge of which question. Since the complete bibliography will go on file in the Department and remain available for other students to consult, it should be reviewed and proofread carefully. At this point, each examiner should respond with approval of the bibliographies, after which no further changes are permitted.
Textual Interpretation Section (20 minutes)
The student will receive a poem or short prose passage 24 hours before the exam, in order to prepare their textual interpretation. The textual selection will be chosen by the director of the exam committee. This part of the exam lasts 20 minutes (10 minutes presentation followed by 10 minutes of questions). It is essentially an exercise in pedagogy. The student may choose whether to do this section at the beginning or the end of the exam. There is no prescribed methodology for this exercise. The goal is for the student to demonstrate how they would present a text to a class of advanced undergraduates. The student should explain the text in a coherent manner and make its significance come to life. While the student may choose to discuss formal elements such as rhyme and metrics, they are not expected to deliver a formal explication de texte in the French manner. The student should provide a compelling interpretation of the poem or passage as a whole. Students may rely on notes for this section, but they may not simply read a prepared presentation.
Exam Topics (25 minutes each)
The rest of the exam consists of four topics agreed upon between the student and the examiners. The student is examined on each topic for 25 minutes without the aid of notes or texts. The student has the option to begin the discussion of each topic with a brief (2 minute) statement about the list. If a student selects the syllabus option, they will bring a copy of their prepared syllabus to present concisely (10 minutes), followed by questions from the examiner and committee (15 minutes).
Evaluation
At the conclusion of the exam and after deliberation of the committee, the Chair of the committee will announce the result to the student and then will offer an oral evaluation of their performance. In the event of an unsatisfactory performance on the exam, the committee will decide if all or part of the exam can be retaken. If the committee determines that the student’s performance does not merit a second exam, the student will be withdrawn from the program at the end of the term.
Report
Within two weeks after the exam, the Chair of the committee will present to the student a detailed written report countersigned by the other members of the committee. The student is strongly encouraged to discuss their exam individually with the members of the examining committee after reading the report.