PhD Program

PhD students complete at least 47 linguistics credit hours. 

Step 1: Take the following required courses (2 credits): 

  • Ling 890 Graduate Seminar I (1) – required in first year
  • Ling 891 Graduate Seminar II (1) – required in first year

Step 2: Take at least 15 credit hours of graduate courses approved by the supervisory committee. 

These can be linguistics courses offered at SFU, but can also be graduate courses in other subjects, or graduate courses offered at other institutions. 

Step 3: Enroll in the Qualifying Papers courses (12 credits):  See Qualifying Paper regulations

  • Ling 894 Qualifying Paper I (6) –second year (usually Fall semester)
  • Ling 895 Qualifying Paper II (6) -second year (usually Spring semester

Step 4: Submit a written thesis proposal to the supervisory committee. 

Step 5: Present the proposal at a departmental colloquium no later than the end of the ninth semester of residence. 

Step 6: Enroll in Ling 899 PhD Thesis (18).

Step 7: Write and defend a dissertation. 

*Note: Residency requirement is five semesters. 

Typical PhD Academic Schedule