Full-Time Enrollment Requirement
Students must enroll in at least 12 units each fall and spring semester until they file the dissertation.
Required Courses
- Rhetoric 200: Classical Rhetorical Theory and Practice
- Rhetoric 205: Contemporary Rhetorical Theory
- Rhetoric 221: Rhetoric Graduate Research Seminar
- Four elective graduate seminars (three in Rhetoric and one outside of Rhetoric)
RHETOR 375: Teaching Rhetoric (Pedagogy), or an approved equivalent pedagogy course, to be completed prior to or during the first semester of the student’s first teaching appointment
*Rhetoric 200, Rhetoric 205, and the four elective graduate seminars must be taken for a letter grade. Rhetoric 221 is taken as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U).
Second Year Review
Within the first two to three weeks of the fall semester of Year 2, students complete a 30- to 45-minute review with the Head Graduate Adviser and two Rhetoric faculty members of the student’s choice with whom the student took seminars during Year 1.
The Second Year Review is not an exam. Its purpose is to assess the student’s progress during Year 1 and to discuss future coursework, fields, and research topics of potential interest for the Year 3 Research Statement and dissertation. Students may also use the review to discuss their continued enrollment in the PhD program.
Grading and Independent Study
Rhetoric 200, Rhetoric 205, and the four elective graduate seminars must be taken for a letter grade. Rhetoric 221 is taken as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U). Graduate students must maintain a B, or 3.0, grade-point average.Only courses graded A, B, C (+/-), Pass, or Satisfactory may be applied to degree requirements. Courses graded below C- do not yield unit credit toward a graduate degree, irrespective of the overall grade point average. No more than one-third of the Master’s program may be fulfilled by courses graded Pass or Satisfactory. Graduate students are required to maintain a B (or 3.0) grade point average. Courses in the Rhetoric 300 and 600 series do not count toward academic residence or departmental coursework requirements. However, Rhetoric 602 may be used toward the 12-unit minimum required to maintain full-time enrollment.Courses in the 600 series are graded Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory (S or U). Special Study (Rhetoric 295) and Independent Study (Rhetoric 299) may be graded on an S/U basis or letter-graded. All graduate students enrolled in independent study courses (295) who have not yet been advanced to candidacy for the PhD will be required to submit either a brief description of the research completed for the course together with a bibliography of the books read or a paper written for the course. A copy of all the material submitted for each independent or special study course will be placed in the student’s file.
Foreign Language Requirement
Complete the Foreign Language Requirement by the end of the fall semester of the third year. The requirement must be completed before the oral Qualifying Examination.
To fulfill the PhD foreign language requirement, students must demonstrate advanced reading knowledge in one language either through coursework consisting of two semesters at the upper-division level or the equivalent, completed at UC Berkeley or elsewhere, or through a two-hour written, in-person examination. The examination consists of a translation into English of a passage of approximately 500 words and a paraphrase of the argument of a second passage of approximately 500 words. Students may consult a physical dictionary during the examination. Examinations will be conducted by the Rhetoric Department whenever possible or, with HGA approval, by another department, graduate group, or outside agency.
Native speakers of a language other than English may petition the HGA for an exemption. Ideally, the native language should be relevant to the student’s anticipated research areas.
This is the minimum standard for completing the language requirement for all students. Students are encouraged to qualify in languages that are closest to their research foci. Students who need more extensive language skills to pursue their research projects should seek advice early in their graduate careers from their mentors and advisors on how best to achieve this goal.
Optional MA Degree
The MA is optional for continuing PhD students and required for non-continuing PhD students. Students must complete Rhetoric 200, Rhetoric 205, three Rhetoric electives, one external elective, and an MA thesis. The thesis may be an expanded seminar paper of approximately 40 pages or a separate research paper and must be approved by two Rhetoric faculty members.