French, Ph.D.

Ph.D. Degree

Admission

The Ph.D. Degree Program will normally be four years in length. Students will be admitted to the Ph.D. program with a completed M.A. in French literature or linguistics, or in a program deemed equivalent. Equivalence will be granted on a case by case basis in consultation with the School of Graduate Studies. Students must obtain a minimum B+ average or equivalent at the Master’s level to be considered for admission. All applicants will be required to submit official transcripts, two letters of recommendation, and a detailed statement of interest. As a rule, part-time studies will not be an option at the Ph.D. level. However, in exceptional circumstances, permission to pursue the doctorate part-time might be granted, provided the student adheres to a rigorously scheduled plan of action for completion of all degree requirements within a reasonably limited timeframe.

Note: Applicants to the French Graduate programme are exempted from the TOEFL requirement.

Fields in the program

The Ph.D. program, “Francophonie et diversité”, comprises the following three fields:

Francophone* Theories, Languages and Literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Colonial and Post-Colonial Contexts in the Francophone World.
Discourse and Representation of the Ancien Régime and 19th Century.

Note: ‘Francophone’ includes France and other French-speaking countries and regions.

Program Requirements

The program will be four years in length. Within the first five months of residency, students will select a thesis supervisor who will in turn recommend, for the student’s approval, at least two other colleagues - to a maximum of four - as members of the supervisory committee. The Graduate Studies Committee, normally comprised of the Graduate Chair, the Chair of the department, two faculty members and two students (one from the MA, one from the Ph.D. program), will also vet supervisory committees. During their third year of the program, students may elect to study or do research abroad, audit classes in other disciplines, at McMaster or at other universities, or participate in a field work/internship program in a Francophone region or country. To spend a period of time in a Francophone region or country, students must obtain the written approval of their committee and of the School of Graduate Studies.

Course Work

All PhD students must complete six half-courses (three units each) within the first year of the program. One of them, FRENCH 705 Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory is required.

Doctoral students who took a course similar to FRENCH 705 in their M.A. program at another university, may submit a syllabus and a reading list of such a course with a request that it be counted as an equivalent. If the permission is granted, they will take instead, as the sixth mandatory seminar, one of the following:

another course offered by the department
FRENCH 730 - Lectures Dirigées /Reading Course
a course offered by another department if relevant to student’s research

Doctoral students who took FRENCH 705 when completing their M. A. degree in French at McMaster will also substitute it by one of the courses from the list above.

The listing of all courses can be found in the following section of the SGS Calendar: French Courses . Not all of the listed courses are offered every year.

All Ph.D. students must pass the workshop on Instruments and Methods of Research in French Literary Studies (Pass/Fail).

All graduate students, including part time students, must also complete courses SGS 101 Academic Research Integrity and Ethics and SGS 201 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Please refer to section 2.6.5 for more information. A graduate student may not obtain a graduate degree at McMaster without having passed these courses.

Milestones

MILESTONES In addition to the Course Work, the Learning Portfolio milestone will be required with four parts to the milestone. Once successfully completed, it will appear on the student’s transcript. A minimum of four milestones must be successfully completed before the end of the second year of the Ph.D. program. These milestones are considered formal components of the student’s academic progress. They will normally be assessed at the time of the student’s supervisory committee meeting at the end of the second year.

Admissible activities for the obtention of the “Milestones” requirement are as follows:
1. Participation in four professional workshops organized by the Department of French
2. Successful completion of course EDU 750/751 (Please note : This course can also be taken to replace the language requirement. Under no circumstances can EDU 750/751 count both as a Milestone and as a replacement for the language requirement.)
3. Participation in four activities of the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship (e.g. the workshop “Introduction to Digital Scholarship” from the series “Demystifying Digital Scholarship”, talks from the series “Graduate Symposium”, talks by an invited speaker).
4. Participation in four activities of the Indigenous Studies Program (e.g. public lectures, Indigenous Graduate Students Symposium, events organized by the Six Nations of the Grand River community).
5. Participation in four activities organized by any of the following programs or institutes: MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation & Excellence in Teaching, Gender Studies and Feminist Research Program, Peace Studies, the Institute on Globalization & the Human Condition.

NB. For points 3-5: proof of participation will be presented to the student’s supervisory committee through a one-page reflective statement

6. Presentation of a paper at the annual French Department Students’ Colloquium
7. Presentation of a paper at the annual French Department Conference Series
8. Peer-reviewed publication in French
9. Peer-reviewed published or exhibited creative works in French
10. Presentation of the candidate’s research for the Hamilton Francophone community (for example in high schools or on a radio program)
11. Submission of a Course Description / Course Outline
12. Submission of a Teaching Philosophy

NB. For points 11-12: in consultation with MacPherson Institute.

13. Submission of a Research Statement
14. Submission of a Grant Application

NB. For points 13-14: these documents must be approved by the student’s supervisory committee. Ph.D. students are encouraged to present their Milestones to their supervisory committee using the E-Learning Portfolio.

Language Requirement

Candidates will successfully pass a proficiency examination in a language other than English or French, consisting of translation into French or English of an approximately one-page text. The choice of language should be made by the candidate in consultation with her/his supervisory committee. With the approval of the Department of French Graduate Studies Committee and the candidate’s supervisory committee, this language requirement may be substituted by:

Successful completion of a 6-unit undergraduate language course, intermediate or advance level, with a minimum grade of B+
Successful completion of the course EDU 750/751 Principles and Practices of University Teaching offered by MIIETL (MacPherson Institute for Innovation & Excellence in Teaching and Learning). The description of the course may be found in the following section of the SGS Calendar: Faculty of Humanities - French - French Courses.
Successful completion of a three-unit, doctoral-level course in another discipline relevant to the candidate’s research topic.

This requirement may be fulfilled at any time before completion of the degree.

Comprehensive Field Examinations

Ph.D. candidates in consultation with their supervisory committee will choose two areas of concentration. The first will be literary in nature and it will require a deep knowledge of primary sources, critical analysis methods and critical questions relevant to the field and to the researched topic. The second area of concentration will be theoretical or interdisciplinary. Students will be asked to demonstrate knowledge of either (a) theoretical frameworks relevant to their research (e.g. postcolonialism, gendre studies and queer theory, psychoanalytic criticism, narratology, semiotics, reader response criticism) or (b) interdisciplinary affiliations between literature and other fields relevant to their research (e.g. philosophy, medicine, film, arts, material culture). Candidates will submit an extensive bibliography for each area of concentration and will be assessed by way of a written examination. Candidates will be given one week to complete a 15-20 page paper, excluding bibliography, for each area. The written examination will be followed by an oral defence. Full-time students will write these examinations within the first twenty months of their program, that is, before the end of April of their second year of residency, assuming the student began residency in September of the first year. These exams are intended as opening stages of the doctoral dissertation. For each examination, candidates must prove their proficiency in the French language and their competence in their selected areas of specialization. They must display in-depth knowledge, not only of the primary texts, but also of the existing scholarship in their areas of concentration. Candidates must obtain a passing grade. In the event of a failing grade, candidates will have one opportunity to rewrite their examinations. This second and final attempt should occur within three months of the date of their first examination. In place of a comprehensive examination paper, students will have the choice to write an original article that will be submitted to a recognized, peer-reviewed journal in their field. The article will be a minimum length of 7000 words.

Thesis Proposal

Students will prepare a 25-page (excluding the bibliography) thesis proposal in consultation with their thesis supervisor. This project will then be presented and examined by the candidate’s supervisory committee. An oral defence of the project, conducted by the supervisory committee, must be successfully completed before the candidate can proceed with research and preparation of the thesis manuscript. This requirement should be completed within the first 24 months of the candidate’s program.

Doctoral Thesis

During the third or fourth year of the program, candidates will write a scholarly thesis of approximately 250 pages (including notes and bibliography), and will defend it at an Oral Examination. The oral examination of the thesis will normally be conducted in French.

Required courses

FRENCH 705 / Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory

Timeline

First Year
• Completion of 6 half courses within 12 months of start date
• Completion of a research methodology workshop
• Selection of thesis supervisor and supervisory committee (as soon as possible and within the first 5 months of study, before the end of January at the latest)
• Two areas of concentration to be determined in conjunction with committee members
• Submission of the First Year Progress Report (before the 12th month)

Second Year
• Comprehensive exams or publishable articles to be completed within the first 20 months of the program. If the article option is chosen, the article will be submitted to a recognized, peer-review journal in the relevant field.
• A 25-page (excluding the bibliography) thesis proposal to be completed and defended orally within the first 24 months
• Submission of Annual Progress Report (before the 24th month)

Third Year
• Submission of draft chapters of the thesis
• Potential study/research/internship in a Francophone country or in a country related to student’s research
• Submission of Annual Progress Report (before the 36th month)

Fourth Year
Submission of the final draft of the thesis; the thesis defence; uploading of the final, electronic version of the thesis to the MacSphere