In the second and third years, students pass a "General Exam". The General Exam is composed of three parts: (i) successful completion of the two Workshop subjects (24.959, 24.969); (ii) the writing of two papers ("Generals Papers"); and (iii) oral exams based on, but not strictly limited to, these papers. One paper must be submitted by the last day of classes (set by the Institute Academic Calendar) of the student's fourth semester. The other must be submitted by the last day of classes of the fifth semester. The two Generals Papers must present research on two distinct topics in two distinct subdisciplines of linguistics. The subdisciplines include phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, language acquisition, language processing or any other area of linguistics, so long as there is a substantial theoretical-linguistic component to the Generals paper.
The two required workshops provide students with a forum for discussion of ongoing work in syntax/semantics (24.959) and phonology/morphology (24.969), respectively. Students present their work to their fellow students and to the instructors, and discuss the work at length. These workshops also provide practice in presentation techniques, and often include exercises in abstract writing as well. The ultimate goal of each workshop is the production of an original research paper. By requiring one workshop in syntax/semantics and one in phonology/morphology, the department is encouraging its graduate students to develop a broad research competence in linguistics before proceeding to dissertation work.
The two papers written in the two workshops may be presented as Generals Papers. However, a student may choose instead to present one or two papers not written in the workshops as Generals Papers. If the area covered by a workshop is not represented by a Generals Paper, the student must demonstrate to the Generals exam committee (before the second oral exam is scheduled) that the workshop in that area has been satisfactorily completed. This will normally take the form of a note from the instructors for that workshop describing the paper completed for the workshop, and attesting to its quality. This requirement helps ensure the breadth of students' research experience within the program.
The two oral exams are conducted by a committee of three faculty members and is scheduled as soon as is feasible after the submission of each written paper. The makeup of the Generals Committee is determined by the Chair of the Linguistics Program, to whom students provide a list of committee preferences. Two of the committee members serve as advisors on the papers in their area of expertise, and work closely with the student to ensure good progress and success.
