Graduate
The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UCLA offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Slavic Languages and Literatures.
Admission
In addition to the University minimum requirements, the department requires an undergraduate major in the field or three years of Russian language and a sufficient number of Russian history, literature, and linguistics courses to document a foundation for graduate study. For application to the Ph.D. program, the department requires a UCLA M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures or its equivalent. If you do not hold a UCLA M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures, you are required to make up deficiencies as stipulated by the graduate adviser and take the M.A. examination as a screening examination within your first year.
All applicants must provide three letters of recommendation from persons capable of judging their academic potential and submit a writing sample in the field they wish to pursue. No departmental admission tests are necessary, but the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required for those who have received, or are about to receive, their Bachelor’s Degree at a college or University where the principal language of instruction is English.
Major Fields or Subdisciplines
Candidates for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees select a specialization in either literature or linguistics, with Russian as the principal language and literature. On the Ph.D. level, students may specialize in a language or literature other than Russian by special arrangement.
Master of Arts Degree
Foreign Language Requirement
Demonstrated proficiency in two foreign languages is required for the M.A. degree: (1) Students must pass a departmental Russian language proficiency examination which tests ability to translate from Russian to English and vice versa. This examination may be retaken each quarter until a pass grade is achieved, within the time limits for completion of the M.A. degree, and must be passed before the M.A. comprehensive examination; (2) Students must demonstrate an ability to read scholarly literature in either French or German by one of the following methods: (a) passing the departmental reading examination, or (b) completing course 5 at UCLA in one of the languages with a grade of B or better (equivalent university-level coursework in French or German taken within two years of admission may satisfy this requirement at the discretion of the graduate adviser). Either the French or the German requirement should be satisfied no later than the sixth quarter. The Russian, French, and German examinations are offered at the beginning of each quarter.
Course Requirements
A minimum of 40 units is required of students in literature and 36 for students linguistics.
Slavic 201 and Russian 220A are required of all M.A. students.
Literature students must also take Slavic 200A, Russian 211A, 211B, 212A, 212B, 213A, 213B ,and one graduate-level elective in the Department.
Linguistics students must also take Slavic 200B, Slavic 202; Russian 204, and 220B; and Linguistics 200A, 200B and 200C
The remaining 4 course units are an elective and may be drawn from any departmental offering in Russian literature: Russian 219 (Movements and Genres); Russian C-240 (Russian Folklore); Russian 270 (Russian Poetics), etc. Courses in the 500 series may not be applied towards the MA course requirements.
Courses in the 500 series may not be applied toward the M.A. course requirements.
Students with M.A. degrees from other institutions must pass the M.A. comprehensive examination in order to be admitted to the doctoral program. Students whose degree is in Slavic Languages and Literatures and who are continuing in the same area of specialization (literature or linguistics) should take the examination within three quarters following matriculation. Courses should be selected to fill in lacunae as determined by the requirements of the M.A. program of this department. All lacunae must be filled before admission to the doctoral examinations.
Students with M.A. degrees in disciplines other than that of their planned specialization, or students who do not have a M.A. degree but who have taken graduate-level courses equivalent to those required at UCLA for a MA degree, must complete the required number of course units. Course substitutions may be made with the permission of the graduate adviser. Independent study courses (500-level) may not be used as substitutes.
Comprehensive Examination Plan
Applications for advancement to candidacy must be made no later than the second week of the quarter in which the M.A. examinations are to be taken and are accepted only if students have passed the Russian Language Proficiency Examination. M.A. examinations are offered at the end of each quarter. Under exeptional circumstances, and with the permission of the student’s graduate adviser, the exam may be taken at the beginning of the Fall quarter. After students have declared their intention to take the examination in a given quarter, a committee consisting of three members is appointed by the chair.
The MA examination in Russian literature consists of three two-hour written examinations, spaced one day apart over the course of a week, and a two-hour oral examination in the following week.. The first written examination is devoted to medieval and eighteenth-century Russian literature, the second to nineteenth-century Russian literature, and the third to twentieth-century Russian literature; the oral examination consists of questions on the written examinations and on other required material.
The MA examination in Russian linguistics consists of: one three-hour written examination, taken at one sitting, and a two-hour oral examination in the following week. The oral examination consists of questions on the written examinations and on other required material.
The student's combined performance in the written and oral examinations is graded high pass, pass, or fail. A grade of high pass or pass is necessary to receive the M.A. degree; the grade of high pass is necessary to enter the Ph.D. program. Examinations may be repeated once; there is a six-month limit on retaking examinations graded pass and a one-year limit on examinations graded fail.
Ph.D. Degree
Admission
Students preparing to enter the doctoral program choose a specialization in either literature or linguistics, with Russian usually as the principal language and literature. By special arrangement doctoral students may specialize in a language or literature other than Russian.
Students are formally admitted to the PhD program after passing all the departments requirements for the MA degree (see above). Students with MA degrees from other institutions must pass the departmental MA comprehensive examination with a high pass and satisfy the departmental MA foreign language requirements for admission to the doctoral program. Students whose degree is in Slavic Languages and Literatures and who are continuing in the same area of specialization (literature or linguistics) should take the MA examination within three quarters after matriculation. Courses should be selected to fill in lacunae as determined by the requirements of the MA programs in either literature or linguistics. Students with MA degrees in disciplines other than that of their planned specialization, or students who do not have an MA but have taken graduate level courses equivalent to those required in our department at UCLA for an MA degree, must complete the required number of course units; course substitutions may be made with the permission of the student’s advisor.
Foreign Language Requirement
Proficiency in both French and German is required for the Ph.D. degree. Proficiency in one of the languages is satisfied by the method of fulfillment selected and approved prior to the award of the M.A. degree. Proficiency in the second language is demonstrated by the inclusion of text in that language on the bibliographies prepared for the Ph.D. examinations. Familiarity with said texts must be attested to by the faculty member designated as chair of the doctoral committee. Proof that the student has satisfied the language requirement must be submitted in the form of a departmental language examination report to the Graduate Division concurrent with the nomination of the doctoral committee.
With departmental consent, students specializing in linguistics may substitute a reading knowledge in another language important to the study of Slavic linguistics (Finnish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Romanian, or a Turkic language relevant to East or South Slavic historical linguistics). A reading knowledge of two such languages may, by the same procedure, be substituted for the French or (more rarely) German requirement.
Course Requirements
Before the formation of a doctoral committee, students must be officially admitted to the doctoral program and have taken the following required courses:
Students whose specialization is linguistics must take a minimum of 20 units beyond those used to satisfy the MA. They must take one 200-level literature course in the department and four additional 200-level courses as approved by the student's adviser. These four courses may include offerings in other departments and programs, e.g., the Department of Linguistics, the Indo-European Studies Program, or other language departments such as Germanic Languages or Near Eastern Languages and Literatures.
Students whose specialization is literature must take a minimum of 28 units, including two courses from the comparative literature cluster (Slavic 230A, 230B, 230C), Russian 204, Russian 214, and three advanced literature courses or seminars. Students are also advised to acquire a sound general knowledge of modern Western European literature.
Russian 203 is required of all PhD students for two quarters a year.
Major Fields or Subdisciplines
Doctoral students choose a specialization in either literature or linguistics, with Russian usually as the principal language and literature. By special arrangement doctoral students may specialize in a language or literature other than Russian.
Students may create an optional sub-specialty at the Ph.D. level that consists of at least four courses approved by the graduate adviser. The courses come from graduate offerings in one or more departments or programs. These include the following departments or programs: Anthropology; Applied Linguistics; Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, English, Film, Folklore and Mythology, History, Indo-European Studies, language and literature departments (French, Germanic Languages, etc.), Linguistics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Theater, and Women's Studies. The courses also may come from graduate offerings within this department (students in linguistics choose from courses in literature and students in literature choose from courses in linguistics).
Qualifying Examinations
Written Examinations
Students in linguistics take two three-hour written examinations. In the first examination students are examined in the general area of the proposed dissertation research. In the second examination students are examined in comparative Slavic linguistics, the history of Russian, and the history and structure of a second Slavic language.
Students in literature must take a series of seven written examinations: four on Russian literature, one on a Slavic literature other than Russian, one on a school of literary theory, and one on the prospective dissertation topic. Students make up an appropriate reading list for each with members of their doctoral committee. Each of four periods of Russian literature -- early literature, the 18th century, the 19th century, and the 20th century -- must be represented by a field. The examination in a Slavic literature other than Russian tests students' knowledge of the history of the literature and familiarity with representative works. Each examination is one hour in length; the seven examinations are taken over the course of a single week.
Oral Examination
Students who receive a grade of pass on the written examinations are admitted to a two-hour University Oral Qualifying Examination, which is designed to test the fields of major interest and general background, and which typically includes discussion of the dissertation topic.
After considering students' overall performance in both the oral and written examinations, the committee assigns a cumulative grade. A pass grade entitles students to write a dissertation. At the committee's discretion, students may be required to retake any or all portions of the Ph.D. examinations within one calendar year after the first attempt.
Within one quarter after passing the qualifying examinations, students must submit a prospectus and commence writing the dissertation.
Formal Lecture.
Students are required to deliver a formal lecture in the California Slavic Colloquium orvat a major professional convention no later than two calendar years after advancement to candidacy.
Advancement to Candidacy
Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations
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