Graduate Programs
The MA Program in English at Boğaziçi University is designed to be a rigorous education in modern English literature and an exploration of the very idea of the modern – one that has its roots, it goes without saying, in the literature and culture of the past. Building upon the broad base of an undergraduate education in literature or the humanities, the MA in English focuses upon the major genres of English literature, while at the same time demanding a thorough training in the most significant and influential critical approaches to the literary text.
Courses in critical theory, fiction, poetry and drama offer students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of particular modes, historical moments, or motifs in modern literature. The program consists of 25 credits and 122 ECTS in total. (For students enrolled before the 2025/2026-I term, the program requirements are 29 credits and 110 ECTS.) The coursework requires intensive reading and research as well as seminar reports and discussions. Upon completion of the coursework, students write a thesis supervised by their academic advisor. They defend their theses in front of a committee.*** Students who graduate with an MA in English will be ideally placed to begin a doctoral program in any number of fields in the humanities and the social sciences, including programs in English language and literature, comparative literature, and cultural criticism.
***Publication Requirement for Graduation
To graduate, students must fulfill at least one of the following publication requirements, provided that the work is derived from the master’s thesis*:
- An article that has been published, accepted for publication, or submitted for publication in a journal indexed by SCIE, SSCI, AHCI, ESCI, or Scopus.**
- A full-text conference paper that has been presented, accepted for presentation, or submitted for presentation at an international* conference and has been published or accepted for publication in the conference proceedings.****
- A book or book chapter that has been published, accepted for publication, or submitted for publication by an international*** publishing house.**
- In any publication derived from the thesis, Boğaziçi University must be indicated as the institutional affiliation of both the student and the thesis advisor. If part of the thesis work was carried out at an institution where the student is employed, that institution may be listed as a secondary affiliation.
- The suitability of the submitted work with respect to the publication requirement for graduation must be approved by the relevant department chair.
- Even if the student successfully defends the thesis, the graduation decision will not be issued by the institute unless the publication requirement has been fulfilled.
* This requirement will come into effect on September 1, 2026.
** If the article is only submitted for publication (not yet accepted or published), the thesis advisor must be listed as the corresponding author.
Graduate students from the Faculty of Law and the Department of Turkish Language and Literature may submit an article indexed in TR-Dizin to meet this requirement.
*** Refers to international conferences that are publicly announced and where presentations are delivered in English (excluding the Faculty of Law and the Department of Turkish Language and Literature).
**** In cases where full-text publication in the proceedings is not a common practice in conferences relevant to the discipline, an extended abstract published in the proceedings may be accepted with the approval of the department chair.
***** The publishing house must be listed among the international publishers approved by the University Senate.
Departments may introduce additional requirements with the approval of the relevant institute board.
The aim of the Ph.D. program in English Literature is to prepare students to be productive scholars, intelligent eri ti es of literature, and trained academics in the field.
Candidates for admission must fulfill the requirements specified in the regulations of the Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences. Candidates are required to take both a written and an oral exam to prove their command of the field.
The program requires the successful completion of 28 credits (seven 4-credit courses and one 0- credit course), followed in tum by a qualifying examination, formal proposal, and the writing of a dissertation and its defense.***
Students choose three areas of concentration, building upon their Master's background, and then focus upon a field of interest which may be a historical period, genre, or literary theory. The qualifying examination tests in-depth knowledge of the areas of concentration and a familiarity with the methods of critical interpretation. Each student submits a dissertation in a form approved by their dissertation director and by a faculty committee appointed by the department.
The major areas of concentration are: Medieval Literature, Renaissance Literature, 17th and 18th Century Literature, Romantic and Victorian Literature, Modem English Literature, and Critical Theory.
Students must take one course in three of these areas followed by two special study courses or doctoral seminars in their area of special interest designed to give an early focus to their work on the dissertation.
A final public oral examination is given after the candidate's dissertation has been read and approved. During such an examination the student is expected to offer a justification of the subject treated and the methods chosen, and offer an account of any new contributions made. The student should be prepared to develop and answer any questions developing from the issues presented in the dissertation.
***Publication Requirement for Graduation
In order to graduate, students must fulfill at least one of the following publication requirements, provided that the publication is derived from the doctoral dissertation:
- An article published in a journal indexed by SCIE, SSCI, AHCI, ESCI, or Scopus.
- A book or book chapter published by an international publishing house*.
- The publication must state Boğaziçi University as the institutional affiliation of both the doctoral student and the advisor. If part of the dissertation work was carried out at another institution where the student was employed, that institution may be listed as a secondary affiliation.
- Articles with a DOI number are considered as published articles.
- A single publication derived from a dissertation cannot be submitted as the product of more than one dissertation.
- Even if the student successfully defends the dissertation, the graduation decision will not be issued by the institute unless the publication requirement has been fulfilled.
*This requirement will come into effect on September 1, 2027.
**For graduate students of the Faculty of Law, Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies, Department of Linguistics, and Turkish Language and Literature, publications indexed in TR-Dizin are also accepted.
***The publishing house must be included in the list of international publishers approved by the University Senate.
Academic departments may set additional requirements with the approval of the relevant institute board.
