Course Descriptions

For students who entered the program in Spring 2004 or after. The first comprehensive requires a student to trace the history and development of her/his major field (Buddhism, Hinduism or Chinese Philosophy) in a paper of approximately 50 pages, excluding bibliography. A student may use a topical “thread” for this project to frame its presentation. Students have written about women, yoga practice, or even ecology in tracing the history and development of their field from its earliest beginnings through its many schools and philosophies. (On rare occasions a student may have a major field other than the three major fields mentioned and, then, of course, this field or an associated field would be focused on for this “history and development” project.) Obviously, when tracing the complex histories of these large fields it is understood that these will be historical sketches, not fuller pictures, and there may be elements or schools that may need to be covered in a very brief manner. The second comprehensive is a literature review on a topic that will possibly become the dissertation topic. It is expected to be between 10 and 20 pages in length without bibliography. The literature review comprehensive project requires a review of dissertations, books and journals in the field(s) covered by the project. This literature review is not like a book report, telling the contents of various sources, but an argument for a research project which shows that there are good bases for beginning research and showing that other sources are inadequate, incorrect or non-existent to cover the topic and project proposed. ASC PhD student