Twenty credits (a maximum of eight credits may overlap with the credits required for the MA or PhD); Proseminar in Poetics and the Origins of Literary Theory; the Poetics and Theory Seminar; among the three additional courses, one must cover either philosophy or rhetoric, or be a theory survey, and two must be listed outside the student's home department (cross-listing in the home department is allowed). In addition to the five classes, the students seeking the Advanced Certificate must present a paper at least once at one of the yearly workshops or conferences offered by the Program in Poetics and Theory. The students planning on participating in a conference or workshop will develop a paper in the context of the Poetics and Theory Seminar, which will focus on a topic leading to the conference. This paper may be a chapter of the dissertation.

Each semester a list of classes qualifying for credit in the Advanced Certificate will be publicized.