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{Home > Graduate : Graduate Handbook: M.A.: Your Committee & the Final Oral Exam }

Your Committee & the Final Oral Exam

Your Committee

You need an examining committee comprised of two faculty members from Writing Studies and one from another department. Some professors hold graduate faculty positions in Writing Studies and another department and can serve in either capacity. You should discuss the composition of this committee with your advisor or the DGS. 

Students should provide members of the examining committee with a copy of the paper and the prolegomenon after the advisor has approved them.

Students should review the paper and rationale with their advisor and provide members of the examining committee with a copy of the paper and the prolegomenon after the advisor has approved them.  When all agree that the paper is ready for defense, schedule the oral exam with your committee, allowing 1-2 hours.  Once you and your committee agree on a date and time, contact the Programs Administrator for help in finding a room and advertising the presentation to the department.

You cannot schedule your oral exam until all course work has been completed and your Degree Program form has been approved. This must be scheduled no later than September 15 of the beginning of your third year. Additional time may be approved by your advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.

 

The Final Oral Exam

Check with your advisor about the nature of the final oral defense or exam. Typically, there is both a public presentation, which should take no more than 30 minutes, and a discussion limited to you and the committee members. The public presentation would include your explaining your interest in the topic, justifying your choice of the targeted journal, and summarizing your argument in the paper. Audience members are invited to ask questions for about 15-30 minutes and then they will be asked to leave; members of the examining committee then ask you additional questions. When members of the committee have completed this questioning, you will be asked to leave the room; the committee discusses your performance and invites you back to tell you its decision. The results can be “Pass” or “Fail” with a majority vote. A retake can only be approved with the unanimous consent of the committee, providing the reexamination is conducted by the original examination committee.

Bring the “Final Examination Report” form with you to the exam.