PhD in RWPC Program Details

The PhD program offers you the opportunity to combine theory and practice in the study of rhetoric, writing, and professional communication. Focusing on public and community rhetoric across genres and media, we provide future scholar-teachers with diverse, well-supported research and pedagogical experiences and foster professional development within intellectual and professional communities.

Please contact the PhD Coordinator, Dr. Michelle Eble (eblem@ecu.edu), if you have questions about the program. We are looking forward to working with our next PhD cohort.

Curriculum

Policies and Requirements

Residency and Credit Hour Requirements

As a doctoral student, you must complete at least 80% of the required degree credit for your program (i.e., 48 s.h.) through enrollment in courses offered by East Carolina University. Thus, you can complete up to 12 s.h. (20%) at another institution. Additionally, courses offered as face-to-face or web-based may count toward residency, although some portion of your coursework must be completed face-to-face.

The PhD degree requires satisfactory completion of at least 60 credit hours beyond the master’s degree.  All transferred courses, whether taken before being admitted or while working toward your degree, must be approved by the Graduate School. Normally, courses can transfer if the courses are graduate level, offered by a unit that grants a doctoral degree, and within the allowed length of time the semester that you complete your degree. See “Transfer Credits” in the ECU Graduate Catalog for the official policy concerning transfer credit.

It is important that you consult with your mentor/Dissertation Committee chair, as well as the Director of Graduate Studies, before you complete courses outside of ECU.

Time for Completion

You must complete the degree requirements within seven years of your admission into the program. With the endorsement of your committee and the department’s Director of Graduate Studies, you may request one extension of not more than two semesters. The ECU Graduate Catalog, which can be accessed from the ECU website, is final authority.

If you earn 60 s.h. (credit hours required for the PhD in Technical and Professional Discourse), but you have not completed all of the degree requirements (e.g. exams and/or dissertation), you must be continuously enrolled. You must register each semester, but not during summers, until you complete all degree requirements.

Progress Milestones

Once admitted, you should use the Degree Checklist and Progress Timetable forms to help you plan your advancement through the PhD program. These documents list requirements and accomplishments by which your progress will be evaluated through a typical full-time plan of study of eight semesters (four years). If you are completing your degree based on either accelerated or part-time study, you should consult your faculty mentor or the Director of Graduate Studies.

Course Requirements

The doctoral program requires:

• a minimum of 60 s.h. of course work beyond the master’s degree
• Candidacy Examinations
• Completion and defense of a dissertation

Catalog >

Required courses – 30 Semester Hours

Electives in ENGL or Affiliate Departments – 9 Semester Hours

Dissertation – 21 Semester Hours

• ENGL 9000 – Dissertation

Preliminary Review Examination & Annual Reviews

Preliminary Review (PR)

By the first day of classes of the semester directly following completion of 18 hours, you are responsible for submitting a portfolio which includes:

1. Updated Degree Sheet
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Two (2) academic/scholarly projects developed in your courses
4. A reflective essay (1500-3000 words) that
   • discusses the initial goals of the academic/scholarly projects, strengths and weaknesses, and potential revisions
   • articulates a preliminary research agenda and its relationship to future coursework, research, and professional development

The committee for the PR will be made up of your primary advisor, one faculty member you choose, and one faculty member chosen by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).

The committee evaluates the portfolio for the your ability to (1) make and sustain an academic argument; (2) choose and synthesize supporting sources and/or data; (3) rethink and discuss revision of work; and (4) express yourself in academically appropriate ways (organization, style, etc.). The committee passes or fails the portfolio and provides the results to the DGS within 30 days of the date the portfolios are submitted. The DGS and the student’s primary advisor will meet with the student to review results within two weeks of receiving the results.

If you do not successfully complete the preliminary review exam the first time, you will have one opportunity to revise your reflective essay and portfolio, given the committee’s feedback, and re-submit the portfolio materials within 30 days of receiving the decision.

Annual Reports

After successful completion of the Preliminary Review (PR) examination, you are responsible for turning in an annual report to the Director of Graduate Studies by the first day of classes each fall which include:

1. A reflective letter (5-10 double-spaced pages) that documents your work (coursework, teaching, professional development, and research) and its relationship to future coursework, research, and professional development activities.
2. Curriculum Vitae

Exam Info

The comprehensive exam structure has four parts and provides you with opportunities to illustrate your breadth and depth of knowledge developed in your coursework. All of the parts are designed to assess your readiness to complete your dissertation research project.

The committee for the comprehensive examination will be made up of your primary advisor, one faculty member of your choice, and one chosen by the Director of Graduate Studies. Your exam committee may or may not serve as the student’s dissertation committee.

1. Journal-Ready Article or Bibliographic Essay (Manuscript-Ready Submission)
   You will complete an article or essay and a memo with information on the targeted journal and any publication guidelines that is judged ready to be submitted to a referred journal. This will be sent to the exam committee on the day the PhD Core Exam is scheduled. After successfully completing this part of the exam, you are expected to submit the article.
   In consultation with your committee, you will compile separate reading lists for parts 2 and 3 of the comprehensive exam described below and submit them to their exam committees for approval. The committee will use the reading lists to compile the exam questions.
2. PhD Core Exam
   This exam will assess your breadth of knowledge from the core areas of rhetoric, writing, and professional communication. You will sit for this exam and answer two (2) out of four (4) questions during a four-hour period. The reading list should include works from the core areas of the PhD: rhetorical theory and history; writing studies and pedagogy; and professional communication theory and practice.
3. Specialization Exam
   This take-home exam will assess your developing area of specialization and its relationship to the rest of the field. You will have seven (7) calendar days from the time you receive your exam questions to complete this exam.
4. Oral Comprehensive Exam
   After successfully passing parts 1, 2 and 3, the student will meet with her or his exam committee and respond to questions related to the student’s exam answers and reading lists. Students should be prepared to discuss the process used to complete the parts of the comprehensive exam as well as the arguments they made in any part of their written work. Committee members will ask a series of questions before excusing the student to confer about the results of the oral portion of the exam. Results and feedback from all parts of the comprehensive exam will be delivered to the student at that time and reported to the Director of Graduate Studies. Students will schedule the oral comprehensive exam for a date that is to occur 2 weeks and no more than 6 weeks after the completion of the specialization exam.

Scheduling and Timing of the Comprehensive Exam

Students should plan to complete all parts of the comprehensive exam by the end of their 6th semester (or 10th semester for part-time students) in the program. The reading lists for the exams need to be approved by the student’s exam committee by the mid-point of the semester prior to a student taking the exam. The journal article proposal or draft should also be received and approved by the committee in the semester prior to submission. Students should work with their committees to schedule their comprehensive exam no later than two weeks before the end of the semester.

Students will have 7 calendar days from the time they submit part 1 of the exam to complete parts 2 and 3 of the exam. (For example, If a student sits for the core exam [part 2] on a Thursday, he or she will have until the following Monday to begin the Specialization Exam [part 3], which must be completed by Thursday [8:00 am] at the latest.)

The exam committee evaluates part 1 of the exam according to the publication guidelines of the journal and whether the article is ready to be sent to the selected journal.

The exam committee evaluates parts 2 and 3 of the exam for the students’ abilities to (1) make and sustain an academic argument; (2) choose and synthesize supporting sources; (3) recognize, analyze, and discuss issues/trends/ conversations in the field; (4) express themselves in academically appropriate ways (organization, style, etc.); and (5) articulate the relationship between their area of specialization and other conversations in the field.

If a student fails any part of the comprehensive exam, the student will be allowed to re-take one exam, one time. If a student fails more than one part, the student will meet with his or her primary advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies to determine a course of action, which may include dismissal from the program.

After determining a date and time, you will ask the Graduate Administrative Assistant to schedule a room. A room, with a desktop or laptop computer, will be provided for you to complete your exams.

Guidelines for Creating Reading Lists for PhD Comprehensive Exam

Part 1: Journal-Ready Article or Bibliographic Essay The works cited or references page of the article/essay will serve as the reading list for this part of the exam.

(from handbook) “In consultation with their committee, students will compile separate reading lists for parts 2 and 3 of the comprehensive exam and submit them to their exam committees for approval. The committee will use the reading lists to compile the exam questions.”

Part 2: PhD Core Exam The reading list for the PhD Core Exam should include approximately 20 works, to be approved by your exam committee, balanced between the areas that make up the core. The reading list should be accompanied by a 500-1000 word statement/rationale and guiding questions for how you understand and position yourself within the core areas of study. Readings from core coursework are allowed and encouraged.

Part 3: Specialization Exam The reading list for the Specialization Exam will include approximately 30-40 works, to be approved by your exam committee, that inform your area of specialization and its relationship to the rest of the field. Your reading list should be accompanied by a 500-1000 word statement/rationale and guiding questions that defines your area of specialization and its relationship to the rest of the field.

Note: Reading lists should include books, chapters, excerpts, and journal articles applicable to how the students understand the relationships between the core areas and their area of specialization. There may be some overlap between the lists. Committee members will consider this when approving reading lists.

Dissertation

This section covers your dissertation prospectus and dissertation.

Prospectus

Before you can begin official work on your dissertation, your committee must formally approve your dissertation prospectus. Although you cannot submit a formal prospectus until you complete the candidacy examinations and satisfy the language requirement, you should begin discussing and drafting your prospectus as soon after selecting your Dissertation Committee as possible. The length and format of the prospectus may vary considerably and should be determined in consultation with your committee. In this prospectus, you should consider the following questions:

• What thesis, hypothesis, or research question do you intend to explore?
• How do you plan to develop your thesis, test your hypothesis, or answer your research question?
• What research methods will you use?
• What data will you collect?
• How will you analyze the data collected?
• What is currently known about this thesis, hypothesis, or research question? [Your prospectus should include a literature review or a working bibliography that the committee considers to be sufficiently comprehensive.]
• Of what consequence is your proposed research? What is the significance of your proposed research? What will it add to the body of literature in your field?
• What schedule will you follow to ensure timely completion of the dissertation?

Your prospectus should include a project timetable for the dissertation. The full Dissertation Committee (i.e., your Dissertation Committee consisting of three faculty from the English Department and the added member from an Affiliate department) should meet with you as you begin work on your prospectus. If you have informally prepared a draft of your prospectus, you and your full Dissertation Committee can discuss that draft at such a meeting. The full Dissertation Committee must meet with you to assess the prospectus and indicate any necessary changes. While developing the prospectus, you should discuss your ideas with your committee members, either individually or collectively. After these meetings and after you have made any necessary changes to the prospectus, your Dissertation Committee must formally approve the prospectus. The committee must also approve any subsequent changes that committee members judge to be significant. The prospectus, accompanied by the Dissertation Prospectus Cover Sheet (see Appendices) signed by all committee members, should be delivered to the Director of Graduate Studies.

The Dissertation

Following the approval of your dissertation prospectus and submission to the Director of Graduate Studies, your Dissertation Committee chair has the responsibility for guiding you through the research and writing of the dissertation, but you should consult regularly with all members of your committee throughout the dissertation process. It might, though, be a good idea for you to ask committee members whether they wish to be consulted about any drafts of chapters that you produce or whether they wish to receive chapters after you, in consultation with your committee chair, have a near final version. You should submit individual dissertation chapters to your committee members for review and approval before you submit the completed dissertation. If and when your committee considers your dissertation to be defensible, you must defend the dissertation publicly. At that time, your committee may ask for additional revisions of the dissertation. Every member of your committee must approve and sign your dissertation before you may submit it to the Graduate School for approval. Students submit dissertations electronically the Graduate School. Be aware of format and other requirements for the dissertation by going to the Graduate School’s “Theses and Dissertation” part of their website.