Ohio state linguistics graduate application

This Graduate Program Handbook is the definitive statement of the rules, policies and procedures of the Graduate Program in Linguistics, as well a general guide for students and faculty in the program. It is maintained by the Linguistics Graduate Studies Committee in consultation with the regular graduate faculty in the department, to fulfill the following responsibility listed in Section 13.2 of the Graduate School Handbook: "Publishes and makes readily available to students and faculty in the graduate program an updated (at least every five years) graduate program handbook containing the policies, rules, and procedures relevant to its own graduate programs, including pathways to report concerns."

0.1. Relationship to the "Rules of the Graduate Faculty"

The rules and policies described in this Graduate Program Handbook supplement rather than replace the Rules of the Graduate Faculty described in the Graduate School Handbook. The relationship between the two sets of rules is described (in Section 1.4 of the Graduate School Handbook) as follows:

Local Graduate Studies Committees are charged with the responsibility for conducting specific graduate programs within the context of the policies and rules established by the Graduate School. The Graduate School’s rules and policies are the minimum standards within which local Graduate Studies Committees formulate, publish, and enforce their own graduate program policies, rules, and procedures.

See the Graduate School Handbook for the general requirements for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Linguistics. Note especially the rules governing examinations and theses. The Graduate Studies Committee conducts the graduate program in the department and serves as the liaison between the Graduate School and the graduate faculty of the department.

0.2. Cut-off points for previous versions

Students who entered the program before the most recent revision of this handbook may choose to follow these rules or the ones that were in force when they entered the program.

1. Admission

The admission of students to the Graduate Program in Linguistics is the joint responsibility of the Department's Graduate Studies Committee and of the Graduate School. The specifics of the process of Admission to the Linguistics Doctoral Program are described on the Linguistics Department website. Section 2 of the Graduate School Handbook describes general policies and requirements that apply to applicants to all graduate programs at the Ohio State University. The rest of this section of this Graduate Program Handbook describes rules and policies that are specific to the Graduate Program in Linguistics.

1.1. Admission directly into the Ph.D. program

The Department offers an M.A. degree and a Ph.D. degree in Linguistics. However, with certain well-defined exceptions, applicants to the graduate program are normally considered only for the Ph.D., and should check that objective on the application form. Once admitted to the Linguistics Ph.D. program, students can choose to obtain a Master's degree, but they are not required to do so. Financial support is limited to students in the Ph.D. program, and is contingent on reasonable progress toward the Ph.D. degree. Choosing to obtain a Master's degree in Linguistics on the way toward the Ph.D. does not change the determination of reasonable progress toward the Ph.D. degree.

1.2. Admission only once a year

The review procedure for applications to the Ph.D. program involves all regular Graduate Faculty in the Program, and takes place only once a year. Applicants are reviewed in January for admission the following Autumn (or Summer) semester. Because the Department ensures that five years of support are provided to all students admitted into the Ph.D. program, admission is highly competitive.

1.3. Transfer of Graduate Program

Section 2.9 of the Graduate School Handbook states that:

"Current students may transfer from one graduate program to another by completing an Intra-Graduate Transfer (IGT) application with the Office of Graduate and Professional Admissions. This application requires the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee in the receiving program."

  1. an Intra-Graduate Transfer (IGT) application
  2. a copy of the current advising record
  3. writing sample
  4. three letters of recommendation
  5. a statement of purpose
  6. a brief CV or resume (no more than two pages)

2. Course load, registration, and scheduling

Section 3 of the Graduate School Handbook describes the Graduate Faculty rules about course load, registration, schedule adjustment, and related matters. Information about courseload for graduate associates can also be found here. It is the student's responsibility to be aware of these rules, and to comply with the deadlines for registering, and adding or dropping courses. (The University Registrar keeps an online running calendar of relevant dates for each semester.)

2.1. Initial registration

The Linguistics Department's doctoral program is designed for students to enter in the Autumn term of each year. The deadline for registration without incurring late fees is a week before the start of classes.

2.2. Temporary withdrawal

Pre-candidacy students may take a leave of absence from the program for a period of up to one year with the approval of their advisor(s) and the Graduate Studies Committee. Students who withdraw from the program without such approval or remain absent for longer than the approved period must reapply for admission in order to return to the program. International students should consult with an immigration coordinator in the Office of International Affairs about the regulations that apply for different types of visa.

2.3. Enrollment after admission to candidacy

After completing the Candidacy Examination, students are required to enroll for 3 credit hours each semester. Graduate Faculty rules specify that the student has up to five years after the Candidacy Exams to complete all degree requirements, including the dissertation, as specified in Section 7.7 of the Graduate School Handbook. Linguistics graduate students who earn a Master's Degree in Linguistics on the basis of satisfactorily completing the Candidacy Examination also should note the Graduate School requirement of "completion of a minimum of 80 graduate credit hours, at least 50 of which must be completed beyond the master's degree". In normal circumstances, the student will have completed more than 80 graduate credit hours before taking the candidacy exam, and the Graduate School "transfers" 50 of these credit hours to make up this required "minimum of 50 credit hours beyond the master's degree" (see Section 7.13 of the Graduate School Handbook).

3. Support and Reasonable Progress

Section 9 and Section 10 of the Graduate School Handbook specify the eligibility requirements for a student to hold an appointment as a Graduate Associate or to receive a Fellowship from the Graduate School or from other University or external sources. Among these is the requirement that the student "must maintain reasonable progress toward a graduate degree" as determined by the Graduate Studies Committee. The Graduate Faculty rules in Linguistics define reasonable progress in terms of a set of "requirement deadlines" -- dates by when each of the Ph.D. degree requirements must be fulfilled. The same definition is used to establish whether a student is in good standing in the Graduate School, as specified in Section 5.4 of the Graduate School Handbook.

A student who does not maintain reasonable progress toward a degree or who does not fulfill other graduate program requirements, including those regarding professional standards and misconduct, may be denied further registration in that program by the Graduate School on the recommendation of the Graduate Studies Committee chair. No student may be denied further registration in a graduate program without first being warned by the Graduate School that such action may take place. The Graduate School specifies the conditions the student must satisfy in order to demonstrate reasonable progress and to continue enrollment in the graduate program. Conditions consist of completion of course work or other requirements as approved by the graduate studies committee. A student who has been warned that further registration in the graduate program may be denied and who then satisfies the specified conditions is placed in good standing by the Graduate School.

Each student's progress relative to the deadlines for his or her cohort is reviewed twice a year, in closed meetings of the regular Graduate Faculty in the Program in Autumn and Spring Semesters. The Autumn student progress review meeting takes place the last Monday of October, and takes into consideration (among other things) the assessments of completed or under-revision Qualifying Papers due that Autumn by their respective reading committees. The Spring student progress review meeting takes place the Monday of exam week (last week of April or first week of May), and takes into consideration the assessments of the Qualifying Paper colloquia by their respective reading committees. The Spring review is also criterial for reappointment as a GA, as described in the Reappointments clause of Section 9.2 of the Graduate School Handbook. The rest of this section specifies how normal progress relative to the requirement deadlines is determined for this purpose. To facilitate progress review meetings, students beyond the first year are required to submit a current CV along with a brief summary of progress and plans to the graduate program coordinator and their advisor in advance of the Spring review meeting. Students are also encouraged to keep their CV up-to-date and make it accessible on their web page. To help with CV creation, an LCC tutorial on CVs will normally be offered on an annual basis.

3.1. The guaranteed five-year package

  1. University fellowship
  2. Teaching assistantship in the University
  3. Research assistantship from Departmental funds
  4. Research assistantship from funds external to the Department
  5. External fellowship administered through the University
  6. Research assistantship in another program from funds external to the Department

3.2. The deadline "clock"

In keeping with the above definition of a "year of support", no deadline can be specified to occur in Summer, so that progress relative to the requirement deadlines can be "clocked" in terms of number of semesters of enrollment in Autumn or Spring. If a student is enrolled in a semester, the deadline clock does not stop. Inability to complete a requirement because a required course was not offered at a particular time does not count as missing a deadline, and a note to that effect will be entered in the record at the next review. Additionally, in some very exceptional circumstances, a student may petition to count an enrolled semester as equivalent to a leave of absence. Petitions are submitted via the student's advisor(s) to the department chair and Graduate Studies Committee. A leave of absence stops the clock, and all requirements are shifted forward the same number of terms that the student was on leave.

3.3. Seven year limit

If for some reason a student's support is suspended or deferred, the departmental support commitment will not extend beyond seven years from the time that the student entered the program except under exceptional circumstances worked out in consultation with the department chair.

3.4. Withdrawing support

A Graduate Associate who fails to make satisfactory progress relative to the requirement deadlines can have funding withdrawn. Graduate Faculty rules specify how and when the student should be notified when a reappointment is not made, and also state that a GA appointment may not be terminated prior to the end of a normal period of appointment without the written approval of the Graduate School (see the Termination Criteria clause of Section 9.2 of the Graduate School Handbook). Decisions to withdraw funding from a student who is behind in the requirement deadlines are made by the Chair only after discussion in a closed faculty meeting, where the student's advisors are present if at all possible, or if not, represented by proxy. The aforementioned meeting is in conjunction with the regularly scheduled meetings to discuss students' progress. These meetings are typically scheduled to take place during the second half of the Autumn and Spring terms.

3.5. Graduate Associates

Section 9 of the Graduate School Handbook is about Graduate Associate (GA) appointments. It specifies university-wide rules and policies about the purpose of a GA appointment, the process of being appointed as a GA, the associated benefits, and so on. Note particularly the introductory paragraph of section 9.1, which states the purpose of a Graduate Associate appointment as follows:

Appointment as a GA contributes to the overall objective of earning a graduate degree by providing an apprenticeship experience along with financial support. This apprenticeship complements formal instruction and gives the student practical and personal experience that can be gained only by performing instructional, research, or administrative activities. It is expected that GA responsibilities will not interfere with a student’s reasonable progress (Section 5.4) toward completion of the graduate degree and may align and support the student’s graduate degree. It is important for the student, the advisor and the academic unit employing the GA, to understand that the student is to work a maximum of 20 hours per week on duties that are not directly related to their graduate degree. The monitoring of these activities will vary by unit.

This section of the Linguistics Program Handbook provides local rules and information related to GA appointments, as mandated in Section 9.3 of the Graduate School Handbook.

3.5.1. Eligibility and selection criteria

In order to be appointed as a Graduate Associate, a student must be eligible for support. The Eligibility clause of Section 9.1 of the Graduate School Handbook states university-wide eligibility criteria. Among these is the requirement that a student must be judged to be maintaining reasonable progress toward a graduate degree. A student is not eligible for support if the Department Chair has decided to withdraw funding for unsatisfactory progress as specified by the doctoral degree requirements (section 3.4). Primary responsibility for appointing GAs is determined by the funding source. External funding: Graduate Research Associates supported by an external grant are appointed by the PI of the grant in consultation with the department chair. A necessary condition for such an appointment is that the student be capable of carrying out the work required by the terms of the grant. A Graduate Administrative Associate or a GRA who is hired in a GAA-like capacity (e.g., to act as an editorial assistant to a faculty member who is an editor of a journal or to act as a systems administrator on a consortium of grants) similarly is appointed by the recipient of the funds to support the Graduate Associate, in consultation with the department chair. A necessary condition for such an appointment is that the student be capable of carrying out the specified work. Department internal funding: Graduate Research Associates who are supported by department funds and Graduate Teaching Associates are appointed by the department chair in consultation with the faculty. A necessary condition for an appointment as a Graduate Teaching Associate is that the student be capable of teaching a course, as determined by performance in Linguistics 830 and prior teaching evaluations.

3.5.2. Reappointment

The criteria and procedures for reappointing GAs are the same as those for selecting GAs; see section 3.5.1.

3.5.3. Period of appointment

The typical GA appointment is for the two semesters of the academic year (Autumn and Spring), where Spring includes the May term. Under certain circumstances, including limits on the availability of funds, specific appointments (e.g. as a GRA on a grant) may be for only one semester.

3.5.4. Summer semester appointments

Summer semester appointments are possible if there are available grant funds or teaching opportunities. In such cases, procedures specified in section 3.5.1 apply. Summer semester funding for Graduate Associates is never guaranteed.

3.5.5. Stipend levels

Stipend levels for Graduate Research Associates and Graduate Teaching Associates are mandated by the College of Arts and Sciences and monitored by the Department.

3.5.6. Time of offer and acceptance

Dates for notifying students of appointments and for receiving acceptances or refusals are typically as follows: Appointments for the coming year are normally made as early as possible in the Spring semester. Acceptances or refusals are required within two weeks of the offers of appointment. When pending extramural funding for a student is uncertain, the department may plan for a GTA appointment with the understanding that it will subsequently be replaced by a GRA appointment if funding becomes available.

3.5.7. Appointment duties and responsibilities

Responsibility for specifying the duties of a GA is determined by the source of funding and the type of appointment. Externally funded GA: A Graduate Associate supported on external funds is expected to carry out research or other work, as specified by the supervising recipient of the funds (i.e., the PI in the case of an externally funded research grant, the journal editor in the case of a funded editorial assistantship, etc.). The supervisor should state in writing what the expected duties will be and provide this statement to the Department Chair and Fiscal Officer to include in the "Primary Duties" section on page 2 of the Graduate Associate Appointment Document that will be used in offering the appointment to the student. In specifying duties on a research grant, the PI should take into account the following distinction noted in the GA Appointment Document (clause 3, on p. 4, emphasis added):

  1. GRAs on 50 percent appointments should spend approximately 20 hours per week on their appointment duties when they are supporting faculty research that is not directly related to their dissertations or theses.
  2. For many GRAs, their appointment duties overlap with research for their own dissertations or master's theses. In these cases, it is difficult to separate the number of hours devoted specifically to the associateship. It is the responsibility of the faculty member to clarify expectations, including policies related to publication and intellectual ownership.

Department funded GTA: Most Graduate Teaching Associates in our program have full responsibility for teaching a course as the primary instructor. A Graduate Teaching Associate who is teaching a course is expected to prepare the syllabus and lectures and other in-class didactic instruments for the course, to deliver all lectures, to prepare and grade homework and exams, assign grades, and hold office hours to meet with students. A Graduate Teaching Associate who is assisting a faculty member in a course is expected to carry out the duties as specified by the faculty member, typically a subset of what is listed here for a GTA who is the primary instructor for a course. If the duties fall outside of these typical ones in a significant and substantial way, the faculty member should consult with the Department Chair so that these atypical duties will be specified in writing directly in the "Primary Duties" section on page 2 of the Graduate Associate Appointment Document or as an attachment added to the document at the time that the student is assigned to the faculty member. Department funded GRA: The Department Chair assigns duties to department-funded GRAs. In cases where the GRA is assigned to assist a faculty member other than the Chair, the same procedure for specifying the primary duties is used in specifying the duties of a department-funded Graduate Research Associate, with the same distinction between appointments with duties that do not or that do overlap with the student's own research. That is, the faculty member who will be the immediate supervisor should state in writing what the expected duties will be and provide this statement to the Department Chair and Fiscal Officer to include as a addendum to the "Primary Duties" section on page 2 of the Graduate Associate Appointment Document that was used in offering the appointment to the student.

3.5.8. Evaluation

Procedures and information for evaluating and reporting performance of Graduate Teaching Associates include information from the Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEI) form and other student evaluations and by class visits by the Department GTA Coordinator. Procedures for evaluating and reporting performance of Graduate Research Associates normally include regularly scheduled meetings or other regular means of communicating progress on the assigned work between the GA and the PI.

3.5.9. Termination criteria

  1. The GA is registered for fewer than the number of credit hours required for a GA appointment or fewer than three credit hours for a doctoral student who has achieved candidacy status.
  2. Performance or conduct as a GA is determined to be unsatisfactory by the appointing unit; the appointing unit has the discretion to reassign or relocate the GA during the time that the University is investigating or reviewing the GA relating to performance and/or conduct.
  3. Unsatisfactory academic performance.
  4. Breach of the Code of Student Conduct and/or university policies.
  5. The appointing unit has insufficient funds.

3.5.10. Grievance procedures

As stated in Section 9.5 of the Graduate School Handbook, "Regular, clear communication between GAs and their advisors and supervisors is key to establishing and maintaining an effective work environment." Many grievances begin with unintended misunderstandings between the Graduate Associate and the immediate supervisor about the assigned task, the expected work load, or provisions for leave time (see Sections 3.5.12 and 3.5.13). If talking to the advisor or the immediate supervisor does not resolve a problem or potential grievance, Graduate Associates are encouraged to first consult the Department Chair and/or the Graduate Studies Chair. The Department and GSC Chairs may mediate to attempt to correct possible misunderstandings before suggesting alternative resolutions such as reassignment. When concerns arise or persist, the graduate student ombudsperson (https://ombuds.osu.edu/grad-ombuds) is an impartial resource that can help graduate students explore options in resolving their concerns. Section 9.5 and Appendix D of the Graduate School Handbook gives advice about what to do if problems cannot be resolved at the local level in this way. If the concerns cannot be resolved internally within the department, the graduate student is encouraged to contact the assistant dean for graduate studies within the College of Arts and Sciences. In situations where the student believes the issue has not been resolved within the College, they can request further review from the Graduate School.

3.5.11. Space and facilities

The department will use its best efforts to assign a desk space to every student in the program, with priority given, in the event of scarcity, to Graduate Associates, and then to those who are making reasonable progress through the program.

3.5.12. Time off

The Graduate Associates are not required to work during semester breaks. Nor are they required to work on legal holidays noted in the university calendar. A Graduate Teaching Associate who is teaching a course is expected to conduct classes and hold offices hours and so on throughout the semester of assignment, and should consult with the Chair when planning to be away to attend conferences and the like, just as on-duty faculty do. (n.b. Faculty rule 3335-5-08 requires that absence from campus for more than ten days -- not necessarily ten contiguous days -- during a semester be approved by the dean and provost as well as the chair.) A Graduate Research Associate, by contrast, may arrange directly with the primary supervisor to have some time off during the semester in exchange for working an equivalent amount of time during breaks between semesters.

3.5.13. Short-term absences

As noted in Section 11.2 of the Graduate School Handbook: "The university has formalized a set of practices to be used by academic and administrative units at Ohio State to support GAs, fellows, and trainees during instances of personal and/or family illness, bereavement, childbirth, and adoption. Each situation will be individually addressed according to the specific research, teaching, or administrative context the student is in and the individual's reason for requesting the leave."

3.6. Graduate Fellowships

Section 10 of the Graduate School Handbook is about Graduate Fellowships. It specifies Graduate School policies and procedures regarding fellowships that are administered through the Graduate School, as well as responsibilities of Graduate Programs in regards to fellowships and traineeships that are funded from other sources.

Recipients of multi-year fellowships should review the section specifying the process for activation of the dissertation year portion of the fellowship, which can be found in section 10.4 of the Graduate School Handbook. Currently, this states:

  1. A request for the activation of the dissertation year portion of a DDUF, DUF, DGE, DDGE, or Osmer Fellowship is made with the strong expectation that the fellow will complete all degree requirements and graduate within the dissertation year. The dissertation year must be activated by the student’s sixth year of graduate study. The graduate program is under no obligation to provide funding to the student after the dissertation year if the student does not complete their dissertation and graduate at the end of the dissertation year, or if the student has received a total of six years of support.
  2. Requests to activate the dissertation year portion must be made by the fellow’s Graduate Studies Committee Chair to the Graduate School. The request must provide assurance that the fellow 1) has met the minimum cGPA of 3.6 for DDUF and DUF fellows or a minimum cGPA of 3.2 for DGE and DDGE fellows or a minimum cGPA of 3.1 for Osmer fellows; 2) has successfully completed the candidacy examination and is within the five-year time period; 3) completed all doctoral course work. It is expected that enrollments will be limited to research and departmental seminars; however, fellows may register for other degree-related course work with advisor approval. The dissertation year fellowship may not be used to support any course work taken for another degree program; and 4) has received continuous departmental support during the intervening years between the first and dissertation fellowship years.

In keeping with the expectation stated in the first clause of this process, the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics have adopted the policy that the Dissertation Year cannot be activated until the Fellow has fulfilled the requirement that the dissertation proposal be approved by a valid dissertation committee established in accordance with graduate school rules.

4. Advising

According to the Graduate School Handbook, Section 13, one of the responsibilities of the Graduate Studies Committee is to establish procedures for assigning and changing advisors. See Section 12 of the Graduate School Handbook and the description of the two categories of graduate faculty membership in the Linguistics Program for rules concerning who can serve as an advisor and who can serve on the committees that are mandated by the Graduate School (n.b. not the reading committees for the two qualifying papers, which are Program-internal requirements). The Graduate School Handbook Appendix H summarizes the duties and responsibilities of an advisor.

4.1. Selection of the advisor(s)

Before entering the program, each incoming graduate student will be assigned one or more temporary first-year advisors from among the regular graduate faculty to assist them in choosing first-year courses. For administrative purposes, one advisor will be designated as the student's initial advisor of record. At the Advising Meeting at the end of the first year, students may also wish to change their advisor(s).

Students should seek out the best match for their interests, and are free to change advisors at any time, with the permission of the new advisor(s). The student must also notify the old advisor(s) and the Graduate Studies Committee of the change.

4.2. The First and Second Qualifying Papers reading committees

Each of the committees for the First and Second Qualifying Paper is composed of a coordinator, who must be Category P Linguistics Graduate Faculty, and two other Ph.D.'s with relevant expertise approved by the committee coordinator. The Ph.D. requirement for one of the non-coordinator members can be waived, subject to the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee. The two committees share responsibility for certifying that the two papers together exhibit some breadth of knowledge of linguistics.

4.3. The Candidacy Examination Committee

The composition of the Candidacy Examination Committee is subject to the rules stated in the Graduate School Handbook, Section 7.3:

The candidacy examination committee is composed of at least four authorized Graduate Faculty members and may include the student's advisor consistent with Graduate Studies Committee policy. The advisor of a doctoral student must hold membership at the Category P level in the graduate program of the student. A Graduate Faculty Representative may be assigned to an initial candidacy exam at the request of the student and advisor.

Each Graduate Studies Committee decides whether the advisor or another member of the Graduate Faculty serves as the chair of the candidacy examination committee and whether the advisor is a member of the committee. Once a policy on this point is established, it must be applied uniformly to all candidacy examinations administered by the graduate program until a change is reported to the Graduate School. The chair of the candidacy examination committee is responsible for coordinating the preparation and conduct of both the written and oral portions of the candidacy examination.

The responsibility for the written and oral portion of the candidacy examination and responsibility for evaluating the entire candidacy examination rest with the candidacy examination committee. Within the rules of the Graduate Studies Committee, other Graduate Faculty members may participate in generating, administering, or scoring parts of the written portion of the candidacy examination. Non-Graduate Faculty members may be appointed to the candidacy examination committee by approval of the Graduate Studies Committee in the student's home program and by petition to the Graduate School. Non-Graduate Faculty are in addition to the required four, current Ohio State Graduate Faculty members.

It is the policy of the Linguistics Graduate Studies Committee that the student's advisor(s) of record must be (a) member(s) of the Candidacy Examination Committee, and serve(s) as (co-)Chair(s) of the committee, and that only the members of Candidacy Examination Committee participate in generating, administering, and evaluating the written portion of the exam. In particular, the non-(co)chair members are not required to be Category P Graduate Faculty. nor are they required to be Linguistics Graduate Faculty. Once the proposed members of the committee have been fixed, the student's advisor(s) should notifiy the Graduate Studies Committee of the proposed membership, so that the Graduate Studies Committee Chair can verify that at least four of the members are Graduate Faculty in the program, and to approve the appointment of any non-Graduate Faculty members and submit the required petitions to the Graduate School.

4.4. The dissertation committee

Section 7.8 of the Graduate School Handbook describes this committee as follows:

The dissertation committee is composed of the advisor who must be a Category P graduate faculty member in the doctoral candidate’s graduate program and at least two other authorized graduate faculty members. Additional graduate faculty members also may serve on the dissertation committee. The advisor serves as chair of the dissertation committee. Selection of the committee members is the responsibility of the advisor and is subject to the rules of the Graduate Studies Committee. Non-graduate faculty members may be appointed to the dissertation committee as additional external members (Section 12) by approval of the Graduate Studies Committee in the doctoral candidate’s home program and by petition to the Graduate School.

The dissertation committee and the Graduate Faculty Representative assigned by the Graduate School then constitute the student's Final Oral Examination Committee, as specified in Section 7.9 of the Graduate School Handbook.

5. Doctoral degree requirements

5.1. Purpose of the requirements

The Graduate Program in Linguistics is dedicated to producing Ph.D. graduates in linguistics who demonstrate expertise in one or more areas within the field and who have proven themselves to be effective and creative researchers. To that end, requirements include a coherent set of courses that prepare the student for independent research, a language requirement that involves primary data, two major research papers (the "First Qualifying Paper" and the "Second Qualifying Paper"), the candidacy examination, and the dissertation.

The rest of this section describes these requirements in more detail.

5.2. Overview of the requirements

The program requirements are as follows: The following timeline applies to any students who entered the program prior to Autumn 2021:

5.3. Preparation for Research

In the first month of the second semester of graduate study, students meet with a member of the Graduate Studies Committee and a selected group of graduate faculty relevant to the chosen area(s) of specialization. The purpose of this meeting is for the student- with the advice and recommendations of the faculty at their meeting- to develop a plan of study, including a(n) advisor(s), their remaining courses and potential First Qualifying Paper topics and committee membership. No later than two weeks before the meeting, the student should send to the Graduate Studies Chair and the graduate program coordinator a list of faculty that the student wants to attend. In the week after the meeting, the student and advisor should constitute the review committee for their first qualifying paper, and notify the graduate program coordinator. All committee members must receive a paragraph-length description of the general area of the project.

5.4. Coursework

Because the aim of the program is to produce effective and creative researchers, the graduate curriculum in Linguistics is designed to quickly prepare the student to do primary research and then to engage the student directly in doing primary research in the various sub-areas of linguistics that are represented in the Department. Each student develops an individual program of study that includes both a common set of core courses and a coherent set of entry-level and advanced courses in one or more sub-areas within linguistics, as described in the following subsections.

5.4.1. Core Courses