Department of German
UW-Madison
College of Letters & Science

Graduate Program Booklet: The Ph.D. Degree

To enter the Ph.D. program in German, a candidate must have completed the M.A. degree at the University of Wisconsin - Madison or its equivalent. Students with an M.A. or an equivalent degree from another university may have to take additional courses to satisfy the Ph.D. requirements. To be admitted to preliminary examinations required for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree in German (also known as "dissertator status"), the student must complete courses and/or other requirements in five distinct areas:

• the internal major chosen from one of three fields 
• the internal minor 
• teacher training 
• the external or the distributed minor 
• an additional foreign language 

1. The INTERNAL MAJOR consists of at least 9 courses completed in the Department of German beyond the M.A. requirements. The Ph.D. candidate elects one of the three fields of concentration, which then determines the specific course requirements and distribution. Graduate-level courses refer to those numbered 600 and 700 (with certain exceptions), while seminars are at the 900 level (these are courses listed in parts 2, 3, and 4 of section IV, the complete list of graduate courses in the Department of German).
   
   Field I: Literature and Culture before 1600 
   
   Because of the tightly structured nature of the program, students are expected to commit themselves to it at the beginning of their graduate studies. Students who elect the field later on may have to take more than 9 courses beyond the M.A. to fulfill the requirements.
   
   Field II: Literature and Culture after 1600 
   
   The candidate in this field will complete at least 8 of the 9 required courses in literature after 1600; these will include at least 4 seminars from the series 947/948/949.
   
   Field III: Linguistics 
   
   The candidate in this field will complete at least 9 required courses in linguistics; these may include Old Norse and must include 3 seminars in linguistics. This internal major must include at least 2 courses in historical linguistics and at least 2 in synchronic or applied linguistics.
   
2. The INTERNAL MINOR consists of 3 courses distributed according to the choice of field. Students usually complete 2 of these courses already during the M.A. candidacy. Field I candidates can choose courses from either post-1600 literature and culture or linguistics to fulfill the internal minor. Field II candidates must complete 3 courses in linguistics, including 650 and 651 required for the M.A. Field III candidates must complete 3 courses in literature and culture, including at least one course from 703, 708, 709.
   
3. TEACHER TRAINING is an essential part of the candidate's preparation for the Ph.D. All Ph.D. candidates therefore must hold a teaching assistantship during at least 2 semesters of study in the program, teaching sections of elementary or intermediate German under supervision. Teaching assistants should complete 720 and 722 (College and Theory of Teaching of German) as soon as possible. The Department also provides experienced mentors to work with new TAs. Teacher training does not stop at learning how to become a good TA; it also concerns the ability to help peers develop their own teaching skills, to supervise a language program, and to teach topic courses for language majors. The department offers various opportunities to work toward these goals. Each semester, experienced TAs have the opportunity to apply for one of usually four head TA positions, in which they supervise their peers and act as liaison with the language program coordinators. Furthermore, individual faculty members offer graduate courses on language program supervision and on the teaching of German literature, culture, and linguistics.
   
4. The EXTERNAL OR DISTRIBUTED MINOR is required of every graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. It consists of 10 credits taken in a single department or major field, Option A, or 10 credits in one or more departments, Option B. For Option A, most departments have their own criteria for satisfactory work in that minor. For Option B, the student and German Department advisor determine the courses to be taken. In Option B courses may be chosen in the German Department as well. Section VIII offers some examples of fields for external and distributed minors.
   
5.  Ph.D. candidates must demonstrate that they possess READING KNOWLEDGE of at least one language other than English and German within one year after completion of the M.A.

Upon completing graduate coursework toward the Ph.D., each candidate is required to take the Ph.D. preliminary examination in the field of concentration. It consists of a two-hour oral examination of three components that allows the student to demonstrate both a breadth of knowledge and the intellectual and scholarly skills required for academic research. The examination has three areas of focus determined in consultation with the examining committee, and a reading list is required for each area. For one of the three areas on the oral examination the candidate will prepare a written document that probes a topic in depth and considers scholarly literature in this area. Field II candidates have the additional option of a preliminary examination based primarily on literary history, as described in the graduate policies on file in the Department.

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