Comprehensive Exam for Art History PhDs

When to start: We recommend that you begin compiling bibliography for your comprehensive exam in your 2nd semester (normally the Winter semester of your first year). After your coursework is finished (spring/summer of first year), you can concentrate your studies on the preparation of the comps, with the aim of completing them in the Fall semester of your second year.

What you need to start:
An advisor.
A specific idea of where you want to focus your thesis work.

Step 1: In consultation with your advisor, prepare two bibliographies of approximately 20 sources each. Each one should focus on a broad problematic or area of study. One of the (many) benefits of the comps is that they will enable you to articulate the contribution of your thesis to recent scholarly debates. For this reason, the bibliographies should engage with wider fields of research. To give some examples, recent students have worked on areas such as: space/place, travel/tourism, early modern print culture, museum and exhibition practices, Orientalism, colonialism/post-colonialism, curiosity collecting, ‘thing’ theory, etc.

Step 2: You and your advisor will agree upon a second Art History faculty member, who together with your advisor, will make up the committee. You meet with this person to discuss your research interests and ask them to serve on the committee. This second reader will approve the bibliography after suggesting any modifications to it (it is customary for the second reader to make some changes/suggestions). These two faculty members will constitute the Comprehensive Examination Committee, which is chaired by the advisor. In certain cases, a third member may be added to provide additional expertise. If appropriate, and with the approval of the Graduate Program Director, a reader can be designated by the student from outside the Department.

Step 3: You read and annotate everything on the bibliography.

How to do the annotations: These do not need to be lengthy—we recommend a short paragraph—not longer than one double-spaced page for each source. Each annotation should summarize the publication’s subject, key claims, methodology, and mode of argumentation. The most important thing is to identify the argument, evidence mobilized towards that argument, and how this fits into the research on the topic as a whole. Avoid general descriptive information about the text, except for what you need to explain its relevance. At this point, you don’t have to state its relevance for your research topic, but it’s good to think about that. Methodology refers to how one does the work: the steps and procedures employed to transform “evidence” (which might be formal features of artworks, period response to them, wills and inventories, theoretical discourses, datasets, or any number of other materials) into art-historical knowledge claims. Many students find they gain a clearer overview of each area by organizing the sources in chronological (rather than alphabetical) order.

Step 4: Once you’ve completed Step 3, submit the annotated bibliography to your committee members. Your advisor will consult with the second reader and then provide you with two questions arising out of the bibliography. You will receive these questions within 2 weeks of submitting the bibliography. You will then have 4 weeks from the receipt of the questions to prepare the response essays.

How to do the essays: You can address the two questions in one 30-page paper (double-spaced) or in two separate 15-page papers. Since the questions arise from the bibliography, additional research is not required to write the essays. The general aim of this part of the comps is to write a critical assessment of the main scholarly debates that relate to your research—the questions will help to focus and guide your argument.

Step 5: Send your paper(s) electronically to the Comprehensive Examination Committee and to the Graduate Program Coordinator (graduate.ahcs [at] mcgill.ca).

Step 6: Within four weeks of submitting the paper, you will have a scheduled oral defence. Normally, students are asked questions about the response essay(s) and about possible directions for the thesis arising out of the work in the exam.

Step 7: If you pass, take a week or so off, and then start your thesis research. (If you do not pass, meet with your advisor to find out what went wrong and how to proceed). A formal thesis proposal is not a requirement of the Art History program, but you and your supervisor may decide that it is useful to do one at this point. Or you may need to first plan a research trip to do in-depth primary research, archival work, etc.

A Hypothetical ‘Best-case Scenario’ Timeline for the Comprehensive Exam

A number of our students have successfully completed their comps according to this timeline, but some students may need to take longer. You should work out a timeline that works best for you in consultation with your supervisor and the Graduate Program Director (we usually do this as part of Progress Tracking).

January of your first year: Meet with your advisor to agree on the two subject areas and an appropriate second reader. Begin compiling lists of sources which may go into the bibliographies. By April, you finalize the bibliographies in consultation with your two readers.

Between April and September: Read and annotate the 40 sources; submit to supervisor and second reader, who have two weeks to submit questions to you.

September: You have a month to write one or two essays answering the questions (usually 2 questions).

October: Oral defence held with your supervisor and second reader. With your coursework and comps completed, you are now considered ABD (“all but dissertation”) or a PhD/Doctoral Candidate.