Department of English

Spring 2010 Courses

Fall 2009 Courses

Archived Course Descriptions

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

Graduate students are seriously discouraged from taking undergraduate courses. In very rare cases, a graduate student may take undergraduate English courses (300- and 400- level) for graduate credit, provided that additional work is assigned to make the demands of the course comparable to those of a graduate course. Before the add/drop deadline, the student must file with the Graduate School office the Tutorial Registration form (Word), describing the supplementary work, and approved by the professor of the course and by the Director of Graduate Studies in English. It is important to submit the form before the deadline; graduate credit is not granted retroactively.

A student may take up to 6 credits in other departments of the university, provided that he or she has the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies in English and of the instructor of the course.

M.A. candidates may take graduate courses through the Washington Consortium of Universities. Courses taken through the Consortium must be on topics not available at Georgetown and must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies in English and the course instructor. Since it is not possible to pre-register for Consortium courses, students have to add in at the beginning of the semester. Approval forms may be obtained at our Registrar's office (G-01 White-Gravenor) or the Graduate School office (302 Intercultural Center). Consortium courses may not be taken Pass/Fail or S/U. The Registrar maintains a file of Consortium university catalogues. For up-to-date information on course offerings and schedules, it is best to call the particular department at the Consortium university.

The Institute of Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Studies at the Folger Shakespeare Library offers a full program of seminars convened by scholars of international note. As a member of the Institute, Georgetown offers its graduate students an opportunity to join graduate students from other major mid-Atlantic universities in taking these seminars for credit. Seminars for the entire academic year are announced in the spring of the preceding year. Descriptions and applications are available from the Georgetown member of the Institute Executive Committee, Professor Jo Ann Moran Cruz, Department of History. Ordinarily, application must be made during the semester preceding the seminar; when spaces remain available, it is sometimes possible to apply for a seminar at the beginning of a semester.

Students taking 12 credits in a semester may, on rare occasions and with the written approval of the director of Graduate Studies in English, distribute their credits in order to take one course for 4 credits (the core course), one course for 2 credits, and two courses for 3 credits. This arrangement is designed to enable them to do extra work on a core course of special interest and to relate that course thematically to one of the 3-credit courses. Core courses are restricted to graduate seminars offered by the English Department. This option is not open to students taking fewer than 12 credits per semester; they must take each course for 3 credits.

All graduate students (not only Writing Center Associates) can take advantage of opportunities to gain practical experience by tutoring in such established programs as the Prison Outreach Program, a prison tutoring program; the DC Schools Project, which matches tutors with D.C. public school students; and other programs sponsored through the Center for Social Justice. With the approval of the department, graduate students can also gain teaching experience by being paired with faculty at Georgetown or at other Washington area colleges and schools. Students can pursue such opportunities on a purely volunteer basis, or for credit under the direction of a faculty member. Students interested in any of these opportunities should contact Professor Norma Tilden, Director of the Writing Program, at 202-687-7483.

Students may receive up to 6 credits toward the MA for graduate English courses taken at another university, provided they have earned at least a grade of B, and have completed 12 credits in this department. Students requesting a transfer of credit need to fill out a Student Petition for Change to Graduate Program form (Word or PDF). This should then be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies for approval (if approved, the form will be sent to the Graduate School for final approval). Transcripts should also be included with all requests. Courses taken seven or more years ago are not usually accepted for transfer.

English M.A. courses are not open to non-matriculating students. However, qualified prospective students may enroll in courses through the School for Summer and Continuing Education. Credits from these graduate courses, as well as courses taken by students under Special Student status, may be transferred prior to admission to the M.A. program in English. In these two situations, only 6 credits may be transferred toward the M.A. degree. Students required to register as Special Students for probationary purposes will sometimes be permitted to transfer more than 6 credits toward the degree, depending upon the conditions of their admission.

It is expected that students will complete all coursework by the end of the semester in which that coursework is taken. In special circumstances, an instructor may grant a student permission to delay submission of work up to one semester after the course ends. Instructors are not bound to grant such requests, nor are they bound to grant an entire semester to complete such work . When an instructor has granted such permission, he or she will assign the student a grade of "Incomplete" ("I") for the course; this grade will appear on the student's official transcript until a final grade is reported.

The student must submit the completed work to the instructor in a timely manner, sufficient to enable the instructor to review the work and to send a final grade (recorded on a Grade Change Authorization form) to the Graduate School before the last day of classes in the semester following the semester in which the Incomplete grade was given.

If an "I" is assigned by the instructor and not subsequently changed to a grade by the instructor, it will remain permanently on the student's transcript. More than two unalterable Incompletes on the students' record may result in dismissal from the program (See the Graduate Bulletin for more information.)

The Add/Drop period generally begins the first day of classes and lasts for ten days; see the Academic Calendar for exact dates. During the Add/Drop period, students may make registration changes including changes of grade status (i.e., letter-grade, pass/fail, or audit), changes of courses already selected, the addition of tutorials, or changes in the number of credits assigned to a variable-credit course. In the last case, the number of credits indicated in the Schedule of Classes will remain on the student's record unless changed during the week following registration.

Students wishing to make such changes in their registration may do so via the Internet, using StudentAccess+ on the Georgetown University home page. For enrollment in Tutorial courses or in undergraduate courses for graduate credit, see Section III.

Courses cannot be added after the Add/Drop period.

Courses may be dropped up to, but not including, the last week of classes. After the Add/Drop period, withdrawal from one or more courses may be accomplished only by processing official Course Registration Change forms, (also known as Drop/Add forms) through the Graduate School and the Registrar.

WITHDRAWING FROM THE UNIVERSITY
Section taken directly from the Graduate School Bulletin; see complete Bulletin for additional information

A student who wishes to withdraw formally from the University must notify the Graduate School in writing. In addition, the student must notify Student Financial Services (in person, when possible) if he or she has received financial assistance from Georgetown University or from state-guaranteed or federally-insured loan lenders outside the University. Students who withdraw from the University must consult with a Student Accounts representative to be certain that financial records are in order. By act of registration, students accept financial responsibility for tuition and fees for the entire semester regardless of attendance in class and regardless of the method of payment used; registration includes Early Registration, Registration, and all courses added after the student's initial registration. A percentage credit toward tuition will be calculated from the date the Graduate School receives notification in writing, according to the schedule printed in Section I. Registration, "The Add/Drop Process and Withdrawal from Courses."