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Approaching the MA

Admission Requirements
Course Requirements
Foreign Language Requirements
Thesis and defense

Approaching the Ph.D.

Choosing classes
Creating a doctoral committee
Choosing areas for comprehensive exams
Constructing lists for the comprehensive exams
Competing the comprehensive exams
Prospectus and defense
Dissertation
Conclusion
Appendix: Suggested timeline for completion of the Ph.D.

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Two Questions Concerning Alternative Sexualities or Gender Constructs and Pedagogy:

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What about your self-destructive or suicidal gay/lesbian/bi-/transgendered or sexually confused students?

2. Associated Graduate Student Body (AGSB). The AGSB meets to articulate the specific needs of graduate students within the university student body. In recent years, the representatives from the English Department have met with Graduate Instructors from other departments to voice opinions about library services, student fees, and other issues germane to graduate studies. The EGSB selects two representatives to the AGSB.

3. Sigma Tau Delta. Sigma Tau Delta is the international English honors society. Every graduate student is eligible for membership. The university's chapter sponsors social events and offers opportunities for graduate students to take part in fiction and poetry readings as well as Sigma Tau Delta's annual national conference. For more information, email sigmatd@olemiss.edu , or visit the website at http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/sigmatd/.

Table of Contents

EBook: Degrees

Approaching the Master's Degree at Ole Miss:
Editor's Note: The author of this section chose to contrast the description of the Master's degree program found in the Graduate School catalogue with the lived experience of students who proceed through the program. As so often when we chart our course through bureaucratic waters, other pilots are a more reliable guide than the maps. Catalogue copy appears in italic type.
Admissions Requirements:
Admission is competitive and based upon undergraduate transcripts, GRE general and subject test scores, three recommendations, and a writing sample.
Regarding test scores, the department considers only the scores from the Quantitative and Verbal sections of the GRE general test; the Graduate School requires a combined score of 1000 for admission. The average score of students admitted to the program on the subject test is 500.
Course Requirements:
Students must complete 24 hours of course work with a B average and also complete an additional six hours of thesis credit. Students must also take six hours of course work in English or American literature before 1800 and six hours of English or American literature after 1800. Up to six hours may be taken in related disciplines and/or directed reading. It is possible to receive an M.A. with an emphasis in creative writing (fiction or poetry) by completing six hours of creative writing courses and submitting a substantial work of creative writing (a novel, a group of short stories, or a book-length manuscript of poems) for a thesis. Teaching assistants are required to complete ENGL 617: Teaching College English.
How you choose the courses to fill the requirements for a Master's degree depends to a large extent on what you'd like to do with the degree. The Master's is commonly considered a generalist degree--i.e. it should expose you to new areas of literature and new approaches to criticism, allowing you to explore the field in more detail than undergraduate courses allow. If the M.A. will be your terminal degree, you should consider the professional applicability of the degree and adapt your course selections to fit accordingly. If the M.A. is an intermediate step toward the Ph.D., course work should be used to explore and isolate areas of particular interest that will provide background for the more specialized work you will undertake in the Ph.D. program. The average course load per semester for graduate students without Assistantships is nine hours (three classes), although some take as many as twelve hours. Students holding Research and Teaching Assistantships are required to register for nine hours per semester, but often only six hours are classroom time, with thesis or dissertation hours filling the other three.
Foreign Language Requirement:
Students must present evidence of proficiency in one of the following foreign languages before the thesis defense: Greek, Latin, French, German, Spanish, and Italian. Evidence of proficiency ordinarily consists of a grade of B or above in three hours of course work in the literature of the appropriate foreign language (in the original). Students seeking to satisfy the language requirement in a language other than those listed above must petition the Graduate Studies Committee for permission to do so.
If you enter the graduate program with recent experience in a foreign language, you should begin working immediately to fulfill the requirement--get it out of the way early. If you enter with little or no experience, all the more reason to begin work early, as it will take you two years of study in the 100- and 200- level classes to prepare you for the 300-level classes that fulfill the requirement. Many students neglect the foreign language requirement while they are completing their course work in English, and they end up having to study the foreign language while researching and writing a thesis.
There are two ways to complete the department's language requirement. One is by receiving an A or a B in a 300-level (or above) course in the literature of another language. Modern Language Department courses in cultural studies or conversation are not acceptable substitutes. Another option is the standardized Graduate Student Foreign Language Test (GSFLT) which is offered regularly throughout the year at the University of Memphis. You must score at or above the 40^th percentile in order to receive credit and you must take the exam while you are enrolled in the graduate program at Ole Miss. You may take the exam more than once if necessary. The cost is $12.50 per session. Most students opt to take the class rather than the test, despite the greater amount of time involved, simply because the exam requires more fluency and a more exact knowledge of grammar than a literature class--for which one can read, at home, with a dictionary at hand--typically does.
Thesis and Thesis Defense:
Your choice of a thesis topic is again dependent on your career goals and professional aspirations. If the Master's is a terminal degree, the emphasis and focus of your thesis may be different from that of a student planning to go on to the Ph.D. If a Master's candidate were interested, for example, in teaching literature at a secondary school or composition at a community college, the thesis might reflect these specific interests. Some students planning to go on to the Ph.D. apply for admission to the Ph.D. program before writing a thesis, in which case your Master's course work is applied to the doctoral requirements. Yet the majority choose to write a thesis in the belief that the thesis provides an opportunity to research issues, explore concepts, and discuss works to be encountered later--in more depth and maturity--in the dissertation.
A thesis is generally considered to indicate an intensive semester's work, but depending on the topic and the requirements set by the candidate's committee, it may require a substantially larger investment of time. Some students may take up to a year or longer to complete the thesis but the department requires that the degree be completed within five years of admission. Graduate instructors have three years in which to complete the degree with departmental financial assistance.
The manual issued by the Graduate School describes the thesis as a
...less comprehensive doctoral dissertation. In the master's thesis, the candidate demonstrates ability to accomplish a research project of more limited scope and far less originality than that demanded of the doctoral candidate.... In the master's program the emphasis in the thesis is placed more upon the candidate's ability to handle the techniques of research and to communicate results than upon the discovery of new knowledge.
Some committees require that a thesis represent an extension of thought beyond the bounds of a seminar paper; others may require more extensive research and exploration. Page lengths reflect these various demands, but generally masters theses range from 60-150 pages. The format and style requirements of the completed thesis are dictated by a manual available at the Graduate School. This manual will also describe the costs associated with the printing and binding of your thesis, which will become part of the library's permanent collection.
Your thesis defense is going to seem like a really big deal to you before you do it and it is an important part of your education insofar as it marks one of the last obstacles you must hurdle before you attain your degree. Keep in mind though that its function is largely ceremonial and ritualistic. Although this may differ according to the personality(ies) of your particular committee, the defense is largely a formality. If they have fulfilled their responsibilities as your mentors, your committee members will have provided you with the feedback and support and recommendations for revision that you need along the way; and they probably won't pull any fast ones on you at the defense. You do however, need to head into the defense with a clear head, prepared to address questions relative to your thesis topic, both minuscule and general in scope. Keep in mind that this type of situation will pop up again in your academic career, in your oral exam, for example, or your prospectus defense, or your dissertation defense, or in job interviews. Professionally speaking, you need to be able to articulate your ideas clearly and knowledgeably, in person as well as in writing, and the defense is good practice for this.

Approaching the Ph.D. in English at Ole Miss:
Introduction: The Ph.D. in English is a professional degree. Recognize it as such from the beginning of your program and keep the ends always on your mind as you choose the means of getting there. You should enter the doctoral program with some sense of your goals and interests. From day one, ask yourself: Where do I want to be? and How do I get there? All of the decisions you make in the course of your degree program--beginning with the choice of classes and continuing into the creation of a committee, the choice of comprehensive exam areas, the construction of reading lists, the completion of exams, and the writing of the dissertation--require an increasingly clear picture of the professional you want to be when you graduate.
Choosing your classes: There are several goals you pursue during your course work. First, you want to discover or clarify your own academic interests and methodology. Second, you want to familiarize yourself with the faculty members whom you might want to work with in the later stages of your degree. If you enter from the BA, you will take more classes and therefore have more time to experiment with different areas and approaches. Those entering from the MA should be more focused, taking only those classes that serve their needs. We suggest that students take 500-level classes only if you need additional grounding in a particular area. Otherwise, your time is better spent in the more focused 600-level seminars. Be sure to watch for classes that offer a particular scholarly method that you might find useful as well as courses whose content matches your needs.
In regard to the theory requirement, if you have not had a course in literary theory we suggest that you take one as soon as possible. Push the department to offer ENGL 591: Recent Literary Criticism on a regular basis. In the past, many graduate students have fulfilled the requirement by taking courses such as Studies in Gender Theory, Southern Literature and Literary Theory, and various offerings in Rhetoric and Composition.
In regard to the foreign language requirement, we have very little to add to what is said under the MA. Complete the requirement as soon as you can. Be aware that certain fields will require particular language training. You might want to speak to professors in your area to ask what sort of language training they might require. Ultimately, each student's committee determines his or her language requirement, but most of us find ourselves taking language courses before our committees are formed.
Many students find it helpful to take courses in other departments. If you are thinking of using an interdisciplinary approach, you will want to be aware of what the other departments are offering. You will need an outside reader for your dissertation anyway...why not look around now? In recent semesters, students have found the offerings in the Departments of Southern Studies and History quite useful to fleshing out their understanding of literature's cultural context.
Creating your doctoral committee: The English Department has a relatively small faculty to support relatively large undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition, the faculty tend to be disproportionately bunched in certain areas, with Southern Literature--at the time of writing--the area in which the largest number of faculty are working. As you prepare to form your committee, you should have a coherent plan for your comprehensive exams and dissertation, and you should choose faculty members who can best guide that project. Because of the personnel limitations, you may not find three professors in your specific period, so also look for professors whose theoretical or methodological approaches coincide with your own. In addition--and here we must be blunt--you should look for professors you enjoy working with. Sometimes compatibility of personality is more important than similarity of ideas or fields.
When asking a professor to serve on your committee, bear in mind that you are asking of them to make a significant investment of time in you and your project. It makes sense, therefore, to form relationships with the professors in your field well in advance of this stage by taking their classes. Take classes from anyone you see as even potentially serving on your committee. You can also get to know the faculty by checking into the work that they have done: read their articles and books, find out what they have taught in the past. You should also ask around and find out what other graduate students are working with the professors and speak with them about the professors. The Ph.D. requires that you work closely with your committee and that the professors on that committee work with each other. We suggest that you get the essential people, starting with your chair, signed up first. Then ask their help in building a committee that will work well together. Be aware that different committees work differently. On some, the chair handles all the interaction with the other professors. You deal with the chair, s/he deals with the other members. In other situations, the graduate student meets and negotiates with each professor separately.
Choosing the areas for your Comprehensive Exams: As the graduate handbook explains, you will be choosing a literary period and two of the following three areas for your comprehensive exams.
A. The literary period. The concept of a literary period remains vaguely defined, and you should work this to your advantage. In the past, graduate students have chosen a literary movement, a half-century, a century--but others have chosen fields as narrow as Twentieth-Century Southern Women Writers. The definition of the "period" is up to you and your committee, but of course they have the final say. It seems that the period exam was conceived as a guarantee to insure that we would be able to place our more specialized work into a literary-historical context, and so the more narrowly defined periods will not always serve you best, even though there is a real temptation to specialize, to narrow the fields as much as possible.
B. The genre. In recent years, graduate students have been defining their genres very closely--studying, for instance, Women's War Writing, Travel Writing, and Women's Autobiography rather than, say, The Novel. If your project requires an investigation of form, you may find yourself doing a more traditional genre such as the lyric poem.
C. The single author or group of related authors. While fewer and fewer single-author dissertations are coming out every year, this remains a popular choice for the comprehensive exams. Author lists tend to be manageable and can easily form a chapter of the dissertation or a stand-alone article.
D. Special topics. This area covers everything else, essentially. Many students choose theory lists to help themselves bone up on their methodology. Recent topics include Business Women in the American Novel, History of the American Frontier, Race Relations, and the Carnivalesque.
Constructing the reading lists for your comprehensive exams: When you have chosen your three areas, you will then develop a reading list for each. Most committees prefer that you submit all three lists at once, though some students have proceeded one list at a time. It is more efficient perhaps to get all three lists approved at the start, and so we recommend that you get your committee together in a meeting to discuss and approve the lists. This process always involves some negotiation, so come prepared to deal but also come prepared to justify the areas you have chosen and the texts you have added to each list.
Many graduate students spend a lot of time worrying about how many works to put on each list. There are conflicting desiderata in the construction of the lists: you want to become competent in the field, but you also want to complete the exams in a timely fashion. The final word rests with the committee, of course--they must approve of your list. But you should also bear in mind the time line for the completion of the Ph.D. You are expected to complete one exam per semester. How much work are you capable of doing in one semester? Let that be the standard. Most students will take two courses, reading approximately thirty books and writing two papers. With only one paper or a test we can perhaps do more reading, though the writing is held to a higher standard. Many professors recommend that you include works that you have read before on your lists, and so perhaps the numbers will climb as high as fifty. Some lists will naturally be shorter, such as a single author list; others, particularly that for the period exam, will run longer. Theory lists should be shorter because of the difficulty of the reading. Some graduate students advise that you turn in a list shorter than you believe you can complete because most committees feel duty bound to add to lists. Remember, just because a book is not on a list doesn't mean you can't read it later. Each exam is a discrete task; don't plan a lifetime of work. Be professional and ambitious, but also be reasonable about your expectations. The Ph.D. is a long road; be gentle with yourself.
Completing the comprehensive exams: If you haven't met with your entire committee as a group yet, now is the time. Discuss your options, present them with a plan, set tentative deadlines. We can't overemphasize the importance of getting your committee members talking--not just with you, but also with each other. The exams consist of four hurdles: two papers and a timed, written test, followed by an oral exam. Most of us have done the exam first, and most of us have chosen to do the exam on the historical period. The reason for that is that it is easier to generate a paper out of the more focused reading areas. But remember, you are in control of your own destiny. Present a coherent, logical plan to your committee and argue for what you want. Most committees will let you plan your own course of testing. There are two options for the test: a 24-hour take-home version, and a four-hour seated version. There are advantages to each. Most committees will allow and expect you to consult your books when you take the 24-hour version; you also have the advantage of your word processor, spell check, and coffee machine. You are, inevitably, held to a higher standard of polish in this version. Those who take the seated exam are quick to point out that while they experience four hours of extreme stress, they finish twenty hours earlier than the others. A few people who took the 24-hour version swear they would do it differently if they had to do it again, though in fairness we need to say that some liked the 24-hour format just fine.
The oral exam comes at the end. You will sit with your committee for two and a half hours and face a variety of questions that draw from each of the three reading lists. In preparation for this exam, many students take notes during their reading for the first three exams. Otherwise, you have quite a bit to review or reread. While the oral is designed to test the breadth of your knowledge, your committee will expect you to be able to talk in depth about the texts on your lists--not all of them, surely, but at least a few. Additionally, the oral exam expects you to show an ability to think on your feet in front of people--essentially the same skills we use in seminars and in the classes we teach. Recommendations from students who have passed orals in the last year: "Don't BS too much; tell them when you don't know an answer." "Don't worry about saying that you don't remember everything--they will push you until you reach your limit anyway." "Try to turn difficult questions around to something you can talk about." "Try to have your friends give you practice exams so you can get accustomed to talking about these texts and can try out a few answers."
The prospectus defense: Your director will describe the type of prospectus s/he expects you to turn in. Essentially, the prospectus outlines the dissertation project, spelling out the texts you will examine, the methodology you will use, and some reasons for choosing the project (why it is worth pursuing). Most will include a chapter-by-chapter outline and a brief bibliography. At the defense, you will discuss the document with your dissertation committee, which will now include an additional member. Each dissertation committee includes a reader from outside the English Department whose function, institutionally, is to safeguard the integrity of the degree. (That is, they watch over the rest of the committee to ensure that you are being held to a reasonable standard.) The outside reader should also serve as an active member of your committee, making recommendations about your project and the work as you complete it. You have the right to request a particular outside reader, though they are formally appointed by the department chair.
The dissertation: The best advice we've heard about a dissertation is this: "Don't get it right; get it written." Set a regular schedule of working hours for yourself; churn out the material, finish a draft, then go back and fine tune. One student who recently completed the big D suggested the need to look ahead to the tremendous financial burden associated with the process. According to her calculations, for instance, it is far cheaper to buy a laser printer and use it for all of your drafts and the final printing than to pay a commercial copying service. Plus you get to keep the printer when you're done.
Conclusion: This description of the Ph.D. program is meant to offer suggestions for getting through the degree, rather than to proscribe a single method. The Ph.D. program deliberately leaves a lot up to the student and committee to negotiate, which is why a clear idea of who you are and where you want to be is absolutely imperative. As you consider the hurdles that lie before you, take comfort in this: Even though it may feel like it at times, you will not be going through the program alone. There are many people going through the program a step or two ahead of you. Use your colleagues as a resource. Ask other people about everything: which classes they recommend, how they structured their exams, which professors they are working with and why. Many students in the exam stages rely on their colleagues for feedback and support. It is our opinion that the English Department needs more organized support at the later stages of the degree program, for instance a dissertation seminar or student-organized reading group. Look for and create such opportunities for yourself. Good luck.
 

Appendix: The Graduate Studies Committee's Ph.D. Timeline
December 8, 1995
To All Faculty and Graduate Students:
Various graduate students have expressed their wish for some kind of time line for completion of the Ph.D. Realizing that different students have different situations--that, for instance, some are ready to pass the foreign language requirement right away, and others will complete a dissertation prospectus immediately after completing their comps, while others may have family obligations that hold them up for a while--here is a time line based on a completion time of six years from the M.A.
Two years: Course work in English (24 hours). --Any necessary foreign language course work is additional, and may be completed either while taking English courses or later, depending on the student. Note that the foreign language requirement must be complete before advancement to candidacy. Note also that the student should confer with the Graduate Director regarding the Ph.D. committee by--at the latest--the final semester of course work.
Two years: Completion and committee approval of three reading lists. Completion of comprehensive exams, including the oral exam. --Note that while it is advisable to work toward completing the reading lists while one is still taking courses, so that one does not succumb to the notorious dead time, which so often has occurred between finishing courses and starting exams. [Editor's note: this was a real problem when the current Ph.D. was first implemented. It has become less a problem with each passing year.]
One semester: Completion of a prospectus and the prospectus defense. --Note that some students defend their prospectuses immediately after completing their comprehensive exams. That is fine, too.
One and a half years: Completion of a dissertation.
Let me repeat again that each student has his or her own obligations and rhythms, and these are meant as guidelines and suggestions as to what constitutes timely progress toward the completion of a degree.

Ann Fisher-Wirth Director of Graduate Studies, English

Table of Contents

EBook: Policies, Procedures, &c of the English Department and Ole Miss

How to Register:

There are three publications that detail the course offerings at the University. Although the Graduate School Catalog lists all the courses potentially offered by the department, with a brief, general description of each, you will find that many of these courses are never offered, as these descriptions were written up over a decade ago. The Registration Bulletin, which is published each semester by the University, lists all courses (including meeting times & days, and instructors) offered by all departments. (This Registration Bulletin also contains guidelines for the registration process so its good to have one handy when you sit down to register.) The bulletin lists courses by number (English 569), course code (which you need to register over the phone), and title. This information is potentially misleading however, as "Topics in American Literature" could apply to a number of different syllabi. So, for full information, look to the English Department's own Course Description booklet, which is published every semester and which lists all its undergraduate- and graduate-level classes, and provides professors' descriptions of the classes they are teaching.

The U of M employs a telephone registration system (915-RSVP [7787]), referred to as RSVP. In order to access this telephone system, you must have an ID number (usually your Social Security #) and a PIN (which changes every semester). To get your PIN, you must see Ann Fisher-Wirth, the Director of Graduate Studies. Shortly after mid-term, Ann holds pre-registration conferences. Although faculty members do their best to announce these conferences in their seminars, it is ultimately your responsibility to sign up for a conference, on a sheet posted outside Ann's office door (Bishop 335). Use this time to discuss with her your progress toward the degree (for instance, fulfillment of requirements, projected time-lines), as well as the courses you have selected for the following semester; during this conference, Ann will give you your PIN so that you may pre-register.

It is also possible to register for classes at the beginning of a semester; first-time graduate students, for example, will receive PINs and ID numbers at the beginning of their first semester. It is more expedient to pre-register, because the University will then have time to process your paperwork and to send confirmation of your schedule and your anticipated financial aid by mail, relieving you of the necessity of going to the Turner Center. If you receive financial assistance from the department in the form of a Graduate Instructorship or Research Assistanship, it will be reflected on your University bill. If your assistance does not show up there, you'll need to contact the English department; this is usually an indication that there's been a snag in your paperwork and it is the department's responsibility to amend the situation.

We recommend that you try to avoid the Turner Center if at all possible, as the lines are long, the progress confusing, and you have better things to do with your time. If the only reason for you to go to the Turner Center is to pick up your Financial Aid check, and time is not absolutely of the essence, you can wait and pick up your check from the Bursar's office later in the week.

If you miss the pre-registration period, or pre-register but fail to pay your fees, you must register via the telephone at the beginning of the following semester, then proceed to the Turner Center where schedules are finalized, fees assessed, and financial aid dispersed. This is also the time to get your parking sticker.

If you wait until the Turner Center registration period passes, you will incur a late registration fee of $50 for each day after the deadline.

Transferring Credit:

Students enrolled in any graduate degree program and who have completed at least 12 hours of course work at Ole Miss may petition the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) for acceptance of transfer credit from work completed at another recognized and accredited institution. MA students may transfer up to six hours. Ph.D. students may transfer up to nine hours. Transfer credit can only be awarded for grades of B or higher. Upon the recommendation of the GSC, the Graduate School will review the petition and adjust the student's transcript. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Graduate School not follow the GSC's recommendation.

To request a credit transfer, submit to the Director of Graduate Studies the following items: a written statement of your request and your reasons for making it; an official transcript of work completed at the institution from which credit is being transferred; a description of each course for which credit is being requested. (A syllabus from each course is best.)

Several other stipulations established by the Graduate School apply to transferring credit: transferred course hours must have been completed within the past six years, and the institution from which credit is being transferred must offer a graduate degree in the field in which the work was completed.

Directed Readings:

Students in the graduate programs in English are allowed to complete up to six hours of course work through the completion of Directed Readings, courses organized around a specific topic, proposed by the student and carried out under the supervision of a faculty member. They are generally designed to fill in holes in the graduate course curriculum, to replace seminar-level courses which either do not exist or have not been offered in a consistent or timely manner. The student must find a faculty member to direct the study, create a syllabus for the course, and construct the reading list and course requirements. The application requires the approval of both the Graduate Studies Committee and the Department Chair.

Applications for the Directed Reading course are available from the Director of Graduate Studies and specify that the student provide the following information:

--DESCRIBE YOUR PROPOSED PROJECT (Indicated clearly and specifically what you intend to study in the Directed Reading, and why.) --DESCRIBE YOUR PROJECT'S SIGNIFICANCE IN LITERARY STUDY (For example, what makes the material you propose to study significant, or worthy or three hours of graduate credit?) --EXPLAIN HOW THIS DIRECTED READING FITS INTO YOUR DEGREE PROGRAM (Why is this reading important to your personal course of study? How does it relate to other courses you have taken or plan to take, or to your examination fields, or to your plans for a thesis or dissertation?) --COURSE REQUIREMENTS (Indicate how often you will meet with your Faculty Director and what writing and other work you will perform in the course.) --PLEASE ATTACH A COMPLETE READING LIST ON A SEPARATE PAGE

As these questions indicate, application for a Directed Reading requires a great deal of preparation, research, and forethought on the part of the applicant and should not be undertaken lightly. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in undertaking one of these projects is locating a faculty member to direct the course as their service in this area is strictly voluntary; they are not paid for the extra preparation and classroom time involved. While many faculty members have enthusiastically accepted this extra workload, students who request a Directed Reading should realize that the faculty member will expect a level of responsibility and commitment that exceeds that expected in the typical seminar class.

Financial Assistance:

There are currently three forms of financial assistance available to graduate students in the English Department: Research Assistantships,Teaching Assistantships, and dissertation fellowships. If you are interested in any of these, you should clearly indicate that interest in your letter of intent, although you may also apply after entering a degree program.

The Research Assistantship is usually granted to those graduate students who are selected for assistance but who lack the number of graduate hours required for a Teaching Assistantship. R.A.s work in the English Department and Freshman English offices and are assigned other specific tasks (usually to help individual professors with their research needs) by the department chair. R.A.s receive a tuition waver and earn approximately $7000 per year. Most R.A.s receive Teaching Assistantships once they have acquired the requisite 18 hours of graduate credit, depending on their performance in courses and the number of T. A. positions available.

A Teaching Assistantship is available to graduate students who have taken at least 18 credits of graduate credit at any university. Graduate Instructors receiving the T. A. are provided with a tuition waiver and a stipend beginning at $7000 per year. Students may hold the Teaching Assistantship for up to three years in the Master's program and up to six years in the Ph.D. (The sixth year is available only to students who have completed all the requirements but the dissertation within 5 years of beginning their doctoral work--so if you only received your assistantship during your second year on campus, the sixth year would not be available to you.) A limited number of summer instructorships become available to Graduate Instructors. The semesters are short and the pay is good: $2500 for one month's work. Application is made to the department chair and competition is tough; the supposition is that no student will receive summer support two years in a row.

Graduate students who are awarded a Teaching Assistantship are required to attend the Freshman English Program's teaching workshop (held the week before the semester begins) and to take English 617, Teaching College English, during their first semester of teaching. It is recommended that graduate students wait to take 617 until they have been granted the Teaching Assistantship and are teaching at Ole Miss. Graduate Instructors teach two courses per semester, beginning in the first year with Freshman Composition 101 and 102. After the first year, instructors are eligible to teach sections of sophomore literature classes: 200, An Introduction to Literature; 205, Masterworks of British Literature; 206, Masterworks of American Literature; and 210, Masterworks of World Literature. As teachers of record, Graduate Instructors are responsible for the content of their classes, working within the guidelines set forth by the Freshman English and Undergraduate Studies Committees and as set forth in the Undergraduate Catalogue. Graduate Instructors create their own syllabi, hold classes and office hours, and issue midterm and final grades. Each Graduate Instructor shares an office in Somerville Hall with a colleague.

In 1997-1998, the English Department began to offer one-semester fellowships to students working on their dissertations. These fellowships pay a $4000 plus a partial tuition waver (the portion of the tuition figure that represents the fees are not paid). Application for these fellowships is made during the Spring semester. In addition, the department usually offers several one-course teaching reductions to runners-up in the Fellowship competition.

Incomplete Grades:

While it is possible to negotiate with your professor to take a grade of Incomplete (I) for the semester, thus deferring the required completion of the seminar paper until the end of the next semester, we strongly urge you to avoid doing so. Incompletes are a good idea if you fall ill, get divorced, or face a similar life trauma. They are not a good idea as a general rule because: a) most students don't begin work on the incomplete until they are already involved in the next semester's work; b) they tend to create a domino effect, as each semester's work is put off until the next; and c) deservedly or not, too many incompletes can earn you a reputation among the faculty for a lack of seriousness. If you must take an incomplete, we advise you to complete the paper as soon as you can--between semesters if possible.

Grade Appeals:

It is rare for a graduate student to appeal a grade and even more rare for an appeal to succeed. When you undertake to appeal a grade, you should recognize that the university's presumption is always in favor of the professor and the burden of proof of "arbitrary or capricious action" is always on you. Moreover, in a small department like ours, you should think seriously before cutting yourself off from a professor whose cooperation you may need at a later date. That said, there may come a time when you feel the need to make use of your right to appeal. What follows condenses the language on the subject from the University's M Book, which gives more detailed language about the time periods within which certain actions must be taken.

Step One: The first step is to make an appointment with the professor whose grade you are disputing. You should bring to that appointment a copy of your paper and a prepared list of questions for the professor. You might also choose to record the conversation in order to prepare a follow-up letter and to provide evidence of the conversation for the following steps.

Step Two: If you are not satisfied with the professor's explanation, you may appeal in writing to the department chair. The appeal must be completed within 45 calendar days from the beginning of the next regular semester after the one in which the grade was received. You should include in your appeal the follow-up letter you sent the professor after your meeting. The department chair will consult with you and with the faculty member in order to attempt to resolve the matter. He may also consult with other faculty about the matter.

Additional steps: If the chair of the department does not resolve the appeal to your satisfaction, you may send the appeal on to the Dean of the Graduate School and beyond, to the Academic Appeals Committee and the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. These steps involve complicated procedures for which you should consult the M Book.

This is precisely the same procedure for undergraduate appeals against profs and, more importantly for you, against graduate instructors. --ed.

B. Travel Money. There is a limited amount of assistance available for graduate students who are traveling to deliver papers at a professional meeting. The English Department offers each student a travel award of $50 each year. In the past, the Graduate School has awarded $100 for national meetings and $50 for regional meetings, but this funding is currently threatened. Graduate students have also had success in isolated instances appealing to various other departments and deans across campus. These instances usually involve special needs, minority status, or projects that the administration feels merit special consideration. Supplementary travel funding is sometimes available to grad students through the Associated Graduate Student Body. Your correspondence on the matter should be directed to the President of the GSC (Graduate Student Council, formerly the Associated Graduate Student Body) and should supply the following information: total expenses; the amount already funded (by the department and the Graduate School, for example); the amount needed for the trip; the abstract of your presentation; and a cover letter stating your situation. Phoning the GSC offices to contact people is pretty much a lost cause--try http://savant.bus.olemiss.edu/gsc/ instead. (You'll note the organization's bias from the server domain.)

If you are approved for funding by the AGSB, they will notify you in writing and request that you submit a Travel Voucher and appropriate receipts to the Dean of Students' office (Union 422) for processing. You can get Travel Vouchers in the department office in Bishop 309 or from the Dean of Students office (Dot is probably the person you'll need to talk to). This year (1998) was the first that the AGSB was an option for funding, so the processes and personages involved may evolve over the next year or so. The EGSB elects two people as AGSB reps each year so these people will probably be good sources of updated information. This year, the AGSB reviewed applications in March and checks (averaging about $150.00 per person) were cut in late April.

Table of Contents

EBook: Professional Issues:
Check out the new section, Professional Lists and Web Resources

Publishing. Everyone knows that publishing is a good and, indeed, an essential thing to do. There is little organized support at the University of Mississippi for graduate students' publication efforts. Professors are generally quick to tell you when they think a paper is potentially publishable. Moving from potentiality to actuality is somewhat problematic, however. When you are told that a paper has potential, you should actively solicit advice as to how to revise the paper and pinpoint a suitable outlet for it. Don't expect to place your first essay with the first journal you send it to; but if you think your work has merit, keep sending it out until it finds a home. Bear in mind the reason why publications matter: they are an indication of your ability to negotiate the complex world of the academy. This includes your ability to recognize which journals have standing and prestige in your particular academic area and to aim high.

Grants. Grants are financial awards offered by various foundations and government agencies in support of particular kinds of work. In general, there are few available in our discipline but you should seek out the reference books available on the subject and apply for anything that seems to fit. These books are available at the Office of Research, currently a division of the Graduate School.

Professional Societies. The least important part of one's professional life as a graduate student, these organizations generally take your money and recompense you with a journal you will not read. If you submit a paper to, for example, a regional MLA, you may be required to join the organization before the conference. Wait until you are accepted to join. There is little benefit to listing a number of organizations on your vita, especially now that many of the previous benefits of such organizations can be accessed by signing up for various listserves. In fairness, we should mention that many professors find membership in these societies invaluable in their professional lives, allowing them to make contacts that lead to conference presentations and publications.
 

Conferences. The purpose of going to conferences changes over the course of one's graduate career. At first, delivering a paper can provide an opportunity to gain poise and professionalism, to compare your work to the work of others. Graduate student conferences, like our own Southern Writers, Southern Writing or the Sigma Tau Delta national meeting, generally offer friendly and receptive audiences and we suggest that you consider these as a first step. Some regional and national conferences, like the Twentieth Century Literature Conference at the University of Louisville, also especially welcome graduate student proposals. To find out about conferences, consult PMLA or check out the UPenn Calls for Papers listserv or other professional web resources--see below. As you progress in your career, you should begin to seek out conferences in your own particular field. If you do Southern Literature, for example, the regional SAMLA meeting is often a good place to meet others working in the area.

Please see the section on travel monies when you begin to consider conferencing.

There is some argument over the value of conferencing. When you are looking for a job, people will often be put off by too much conferencing in relation to publication. You should use conferences as a way of getting full value from work you have already done, or are in the process of doing, rather than distracting yourself from your academic progress by taking on extra tasks. Some graduate students find conferences a convenient way to set goals for themselves during the comprehensive exam and dissertation writing process; a twenty-minute paper can often serve as the seed of a chapter.

Professional Lists and Web Resources:

H-Net is "an international interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers dedicated to developing the enormous educational potential of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Our edited lists and web sites publish peer reviewed essays, multimedia materials, and discussion for colleagues and the interested public." Their web address is http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/

Perspectives in American Literature is a web site operated by Paul Reuben, and contains a large bibliography on American poets, playwrights, and novelists. http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/home.htm

The UPenn Calls for Papers List is a great way to find out about academic events off of our campus. While their primary service is to present CFPs and information about how to send an abstract to a conference you might want to go to, they also have information about e-journals, and calls for entries for books.

Just sign up and they will send the CFPs to your e-mail address, or you can visit their list of CFPs at their web site. Their information follows below.

====== cfp@english.upenn.edu ======= Calls for Papers in English & American Literature The English Department at the University of Pennsylvania hosts an electronic mailing list (cfp@english.upenn.edu) and web site(http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/) for calls for papers on English and American Literature and Culture. We encourage conference or panel organizers and volume editors to find the largest possible audience for their announcements by posting them on this list and web archive. Announcements can include upcoming conferences, panels, essay collections,and special journal issues related to English and American literature, and can include calls for completed papers, abstracts, and proposals. The boundaries are flexible: all English-language literatures, cultural studies, literary theory, bibliography, humanities computing, and comparative literature (even when not concerned specifically with English or American literature) are within the pale. Conferences or panels devoted exclusively to literature not in English, to music or art, to history, etc., are excluded unless they are relevant to students of English and American literature, as are lecture series, regular meetings of small local societies, fellowship opportunities, etc. Essay competitions and prizes are excluded unless they will result directly in publication or presentation of a paper. Calls for creative writing are also excluded. Due to the volume of postings and the fact that each posting must be approved and edited by hand, the CFP list and web archive is only for calls for papers, not for general conference announcements. ------- SUBSCRIBING/UNSUBSCRIBING -------- To subscribe to the list, address a message to listserv@english.upenn.edu Do NOT send subscription messages to cfp@english.upenn.edu. The subject line can be anything, but the body of the message should read subscribe cfp There should be nothing else: no name, no e-mail address. You should receive a confirmation message after a few minutes. If you have any questions, contact the editor at the address below. To unsubscribe, address a message to listserv@english.upenn.edu (not cfp@english.upenn.edu!) reading just "unsubscribe cfp" (don't include your name or address). To change your address on the CFP list, send an unsubscribe message from your current account, and then login to your new account and resubscribe from that. The Majordomo software on which the CFP list is run, I'm afraid, has no facility for digests and no "no mail" option. Also, we cannot send announcements only in a given field or fields of interest within English and American Literature. Those who find the volume of mail too high should rely on the Web archive; those who wish to stop receiving mail for a short while should simply unsubscribe and resubscribe later. ------ WEB ARCHIVE OF ANNOUNCEMENTS ------ Those interested in the calls for papers need not subscribe to the list directly. The announcements will be archived and available on the Web at http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/ There they'll be grouped under rubrics (such as Renaissance, American,Theory, Gender Studies) to make browsing easier. Postings will remain in this archive until the conference has taken place. The web site also includes a search engine and a monthly archive, which lists calls for papers chronologically as they are posted. Messages are sorted into their respective period- or topic-centered folders within about a week after their posting, but the "Archive by Month" is automatically updated with each new message. Please check to see whether announcements have been posted already before sending additional copies. -------- POSTING ANNOUNCEMENTS -------- All panel organizers and volume editors are encouraged to make their calls for papers or proposals by sending their announcements to: cfp@english.upenn.edu After they are posted to the list, messages will automatically be archived on our web site: http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/ Please send postings as "plain text" (aka. ASCII text) in the body of the message rather than as an attachment. Calls can take any format in the body of the message. The subject line,though, should be as informative as possible (to enable browsers to find relevant announcements quickly), and should take the following form: CFP: Topic of Conference/Panel (deadline; conference date) Messages that don't conform to this standard may be rejected. The subject line should briefly and clearly describe the topic of the conference. Some tips: * Rather than a cryptic panel title like "Imagined Encounters," use a descriptive entry like "New World in16th c." * Put dates in numerals, in American notation (month/day/year).Include both the deadline for submissions and the date of the conference. * In the case of major conferences where the name of the conference will be useful (e.g. ALA, ASECS, NASSR, Kalamazoo),specify the name in addition to the dates. In the case of MLA,specify the year (e.g. MLA '01). * If the conference takes place outside North America, or if it's a graduate student conference, note that as well. Some examples: CFP: Teaching Beowulf in Translation (12/15/00; 3/23/01-3/24/01) CFP: (Post)Colonial Derrida (3/3/00; MLA '00) CFP: American Novel into Film (3/1/01; RMMLA, 10/11/01-10/13/01) CFP: Composition and Rhetoric (grad) (12/1/00; 2/23/01-2/24/01) CFP: Joseph Conrad (Poland) (1/15/01; 5/29/01-6/1/01) CFP: Romanticism & the Woman Reader (grad) (UK) (7/15/00; 9/6/00) CFP: Queer Theory and Disability Studies (8/1/00; journal issue) CFP: Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (4/30/01; collection) Note that with several thousand subscribers, some addresses on the list are no longer correct, as people change addresses without unsubscribing,or as hosts change names. The editor tries to keep the list current, but you may receive error messages from some of these bad addresses when you send a call for papers. You can safely ignore them. If you want to know whether a call for papers successfully made it to the bulk of the subscribers, you can either check the archive on the Web or contact the editor. If a call for papers must be updated -- to reflect a change in the location or date of the conference or the deadlines -- please replace the"CFP:" in the subject line with "UPDATE:" and be explicit about exactly what has changed in the body of the message. Please send only actual updates to the list: refrain from merely reiterating past calls for papers. Also, while I can post updates to the information in a call for papers, I cannot post general updates about the conference itself when the deadline for a call has already passed (e.g. registration info, finalized program, etc.) --------- OFF-TOPIC MESSAGES ---------- The CFP list is meant strictly for announcements of calls for papers, not for discussion of conferences and certainly not for discussion of anything else, including social issues, chain letters, virus warnings, and so on. Please refrain from posting such messages to the list. Advertisements of commercial products or services not directly related to the purpose of the list are forbidden. ------- HISTORY ------- In 1995 the English at the University of Pennsylvania established the cfp@english.upenn.edu mailing list to facilitate the exchange of information on upcoming conferences and publication opportunities, and archives of the postings were later made available on the Web. Since that time, the CFP mailing list has grown to over 6,500 subscribers from allover the world. The CFP list and web archive were founded by Jack Lynch. The current CFP editor is Erika Lin. If you have any questions, please contact Erika Lin at: elin@english.upenn.edu

Table of Contents

EBook: What You Need to Know about Ole Miss

Getting an ID Card:

This handy piece of plastic serves as your library card, a meal card for on-campus dining and vending, and is required when you buy tickets for and attendsporting events on campus. The ID Center is in the basement of Johnson Commons (conveniently situated across the parking lot from Bondurant Hall). As soon as you are on the SIS computer as having been admitted to the university, you can bring a picture ID and have your card made.

The (Main) J. D. Williams Library:

From its marble facade and impressive Faulkner quotations, one might assume that the library at the University of Mississippi is, as it so often claims to be, a library worthy of a "major research institution." But behind the facade lie a number of inadequacies, inconsistencies, and pitfalls. The recent renovation, while attractive, failed to significantly increase the amount of shelf space. Although the library boasts a collection of nearly 800,000 of volumes and 7000 periodicals, careful examination of the stacks will find this number inflated by a collection of, say, twenty copies of certain obscure and outdated texts. And the vagaries of philanthropy have dictated that, while the library has received funds for acquisition, no such funding exists for increased staff or service. This has created a situation that many graduate students find particularly frustrating, in which the overworked staff of student employees are unable to keep up with the flow of books through the building. Many grad students complain that the books they need are either lost, misshelved, or simply unavailable for use. Also, recent budget cuts have resulted in the loss of many of the library's periodical subscriptions. Among other things, this means that the library does not subscribe to many of the newest, most interesting journals--such as, to give one example, Modernism/Modernity.

With all this said, the library has been making efforts to update and improve the quality of its holdings. The online catalogues, for example, allow patrons to suggest books for acquisition--and the suggestions are very often followed. The library now boats greater online services, especially in reference, and the staff in the Reference Room is very good at helping you use them.

Many of us have had cause to bless the Interlibrary Loan department, probably the most efficient and cooperative staff within the library system.

Graduate students are allowed to check books for 42 days. Books can only be renewed in person which is often, as you can imagine, a hassle. Late fees run to $.25 per day per book. You can recall books checked out by another patron. Graduate students can check out volumes of bound journals for one day, which can be helpful as the xerox machines in the library charge $.10 per page, $.03 above what is available downtown. The Dean's current policy is that current (unbound) issues of journals do not circulate, period.

UPDATE: As of right now, graduate students no longer have to schlep their books in by the armload in order to renew them. . . the on-line catalogue now offers an option, under the "view own record" function, that lets patrons renew their own books. Now, this will NOT let you renew if you have too much overdue, or if the items are already overdue, or if anything has a hold on it--but this shuold save everyone a lot of hassle. --DRC, 9/12/1998

Carrells are available for graduate students, particularly those past coursework. There is a waiting list for carrells. Should you feel you need one, you will need a letter from your committee chair attesting to your legitimacy (in fact, a simple signature from Ann or Dan will take car of this). There is a small key deposit. Applications are available at the Dean's office on the third floor. These carrells are far from plush and not for those who suffer from claustrophobia. The lights, as elsewhere in the library, are extremely bright fluorescents and some carrell dwellers find it helpful to bring in incandescent desk lamps. Some carrells include online connections.

Outside of the carrells, the library has little to recommend it as a study space. It is choked with undergraduates every night, many of whom utilize it as a singles bar rather than a study space. During the day, pleasant study areas are sometimes available on the second and third floors.

Getting Connected: Internet Service Information

The first, most important thing to know is that you already have an email account, and space for a web page, set aside for yourself.

Let's begin by talking about how to get that email account active. The computer haven is in Powers Hall, which is one of the last buildings on west side of campus. Go out the west door of the Library, pass the next building (Johnson Commons) a series of dorms, and at the end of the street you'll see a newer building. That's Powers. You can go there for actual human beings to help you. They will not give out information over the phone, however, that would allow someone access to another's account. Take your student ID there, and ask for your account information. Some combination of your last name and initials has already been given to you as a "user ID," or your name on the computer system. This will also be your email address, like mine: gbrown@olemiss.edu. You then go to a computer, such as the ones in the Writing Center in Bondurant (across from Bishop Hall, in the basement). Start sunset, and follow the instructions on the sheet you've been given; first, you'll type new, then you'll give your user ID and temporary password, etc.

Now, you have an email account, and 5MB of space for web pages. I will leave to another discussion how to check your mail or write pages (I use Netscape for both, myself). However, note that 5 megabytes is a lot of space--I have all the information for two separate levels of classes in my site, and the whole lot of it is less than one megabyte. You must follow the appropriate use policy of the University, though--no links to prurient material, and you can't sell anything there, for example. But, unless you live in the (mostly disappointing) dorms, you will only be able to check that email or make up pages on campus in one of the computer labs, such as Weir Hall, or the Writing Center in Bondurant. However, if you have your own computer and a modem for it, you'll likely want to connect to this account from home.

The University's network, for all the complaining you will hear, is actually quite good. There's some nice people over there, namely Kathy Gates and Jimmy Ball, who can help you with everything from email configuration to setting up and managing electronic discussion groups for your composition classes. One thing the University doesn't do very well, at this time, is provide the service to dial up from home. Busy signals and brief connections are the usual fare. They're working to improve this, but in the mean time, most folks pay an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for Internet access.

You will want an ISP if you're going to get on line from off campus. Unless you have cash to burn, I cannot recommend America On-Line. First, there's no local access number, so your modem will have to make a long-distance call at a per-minute charge. AOL has many features, but I find Netscape (free for students) or Microsoft's Internet Explorer (I don't use it because I don't like to have a mini-monopoly in my computer-it's still free though) do just fine, coupled with a "flat rate" ISP account.

The major options are Teclink (Now Meta3), EBIcom, and Watervalley.net. You can also get Internet service from the local phone company, Bell South. The fees run from $12 to $20 per month, in my experience.

The Computer Center Helpdesk will have the most current information on what's available, including contact numbers. You can call them at 915-5222. What follows is simply personal experience from myself and others.

For Bell South service, call 1-800-4DOTNET, or check out their web site at http://bellsouth.com/blsc (you can do this at the Writing Center). Their service is flat rate, a few pennies shy of $20 per month. They also have a cheaper rate, for 10 hours per month. I prefer not to count time on line, but you might want to go that route. There's a charge for time over the allotted 10 hours. I haven't used them, but from what I hear, they're typical.

For Watervalley.net, call 1-601-473-4225. I use them currently, and they're fairly good, and they have the fastest connection I've found. Yes, you'll have to contact them and get tech support long-distance; they say they're changing this over to a 1-800 number soon. They have a local access number for Oxford. They're also upgrading to the fastest currently available modems and lines. They're