Students must write a dissertation on their research that will explain and defend a significant original contribution to the field of Texts and Technology. Students choose their dissertation adviser and committee from within the program. Students will submit at least one substantial scholarly article to a national peer-reviewed journal with the approval and assistance of the dissertation chair and the director of the doctoral program.

Required Courses—15 Credit Hours

Core

• ENG 6800 Introduction to Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6810 Theories of Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6801 Texts and Technology in History (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6812 Research Methods for Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)*
• DIG 6836 Design and Development for Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)

* Students may substitute ENG 6812 with an alternate 6000-level research methods course in another discipline, subject to approval by the program director.

Interdisciplinary Elective Courses—18 Credit Hours

Eighteen hours of advised interdisciplinary electives are required for students in the PhD Program in Texts and Technology. This requirement encourages students to find graduate-level coursework best suited to develop their research agendas and to prepare for their dissertation. Sample electives include:

• DIG 6432 Transmedia Story Creation (3 credit hours)
• DIG 6647 Science and Technology of Dynamic Media (3 credit hours)
• ENC 5225 Theory and Practice of Document Usability (3 credit hours)
• ENC 6428 Rhetoric of Digital Literacy (3 credit hours)
• ENC 6426 Visual Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• ENC 6740 Topics in Rhetoric and Composition (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6814 Gender in Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6811 Cultural Contexts in Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6939 Topics in Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6948 Teaching Practicum in Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• DIG 5137 Information Architecture (3 credit hours)

Dissertation—18 Credit Hours

Candidacy Examination—3 Credit Hours

• ENC 7919 Doctoral Research (3 credit hours)

Students are admitted to doctoral candidacy status upon completion of a written examination with three parts—one part based on a reading list reviewed biennially by the Texts and Technology faculty and the other two parts based on reading lists prepared by each student and approved by the examination committee. The candidacy examination for each student is written and evaluated by a committee of three UCF graduate faculty chosen by the student; however, at least two members of each candidacy examination committee must be members of the Texts and Technology core faculty. Students must be registered for ENC 7919 during the semester in which they take their candidacy examination and they must find a Texts and Technology core faculty member to serve as the chair of their examination during the semester before taking ENC 7919. Students cannot register for dissertation credit ENC 7980 until the semester after they have successfully completed the candidacy examination. Students who fail the candidacy examination a second time cannot continue in the program. 

Admission to Candidacy

The following are required to be admitted to candidacy and enroll in dissertation hours:

• Completion of all course work, except for dissertation hours.
• Successful completion of the candidacy examination.
• The dissertation advisory committee is formed, consisting of approved graduate faculty and graduate faculty scholars.
• Submittal of an approved program of study.

Dissertation and Oral Defense—15 Credit Hours

• ENC 7980 Doctoral Dissertation (15 credit hours)

Students choose their dissertation adviser and committee from among the faculty in the Texts and Technology PhD program. They choose the adviser and committee after they have completed approximately 27 credit hours toward the degree or after the first year-and-a-half of course work. All dissertation committee members, including outside readers, must hold a PhD or another relevant terminal degree.

Students must write a dissertation on their research that will explain and defend a significant original contribution to the field of Texts and Technology. It may be of a theoretical, historical or pragmatic nature, but must meet conventional academic standards. Students are required to submit and defend a written dissertation proposal during the first year in dissertation. The dissertation committee administers the candidate’s oral defense of the dissertation, with passing determined by acceptance by a majority of the committee. The dissertation adviser, the dissertation committee and the dean of the college or designee must approve the final dissertation. Format approval is required from the Thesis and Dissertation Office and final approval of degree requirement completion by the College of Graduate Studies (Millican Hall 230).

Students will submit at least one substantial scholarly article to a national peer-reviewed journal with the approval and assistance of the dissertation chair and the director of the doctoral program.

Internship and Practicum—6 Credit Hours

• ENG 6813 Teaching Online in Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)
• ENG 6947 Internship in Texts and Technology (3 credit hours)