Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree
Revised August, 2002
In addition to the requirements specified in the Graduate Catalog, the Department of English stipulates that the following conditions be met by each M.A. candidate in its program:
I. Course Work
1. Each candidate must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.33 on the total number of hours presented for the degree. The GPA will be determined on the following scale: A = 4.00; A- = 3.67; B+ = 3.33; B= 3.00; etc.
2. Candidates must either satisfactorily complete at least 30 hours of course work when taking the non-thesis option or 24 hours of course work, plus at least 6 hours of thesis credit. ENGL 5003 (Composition Pedagogy), required of all incoming English teaching assistants, does not count toward the fulfillment of these course requirements.
3. All candidates must take at least one course in theory or with a large theoretical component.
4. Candidates are allowed to take a maximum of 3 hours at the 4000 level for graduate credit toward fulfillment of degree course requirements without special permission and 3 additional hours at this level with permission of the Director of Graduate Studies.
5. Candidates must take at least 6 hours of seminar courses toward fulfillment of the degree course requirements.
II. DistributionRequirements
Candidates are required to take courses in at least 2 of the following 3 areas:
- Medieval literature and culture
- Renaissance literature and culture
- Restoration and eighteenth-century literature and culture
Candidates are required to take courses in at least 3 of the following 5 areas, with the stipulation that they must take at least one course in British literature and one course in American literature:
- Nineteenth-century British literature and culture
- Twentieth-century British literature and culture
- American literature and culture before 1900
- Twentieth-century American literature and culture
- World literature and culture in English
III. Comprehensive Examinations
1. For candidates who choose the thesis option, the oral defense of the thesis will serve as the comprehensive examination.
2. Candidates who choose the non-thesis option will be required to take and pass a comprehensive written examination based on the department's MA Reading List. This examination will require that candidates demonstrate knowledge of 7 of the 9 areas on the reading list, which include the eight areas in the above distribution requirements, plus a special topics area. This test will be administered by a committee of three faculty members appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies.
3. The written examination for non-thesis candidates will be graded on a pass-fail basis, though the examining committee may, at its discretion, award a grade of "pass with distinction" to candidates whose performance on the examination is genuinely outstanding.
4. A candidate who fails to pass the written examination may retake the examination only once and must do so within one calendar year of initial testing.
5. Having failed to pass the written examination on two attempts, the candidate is dismissed from the program and may not subsequently choose to change to the thesis option to meet the department's graduation requirements.
IV. Thesis
1. A candidate who chooses the thesis option must register for a total of at least 6 thesis hours.
2. Prior to the first semester in which the candidate registers for such hours (usually Fall semester of the second year of study), his or her thesis proposal must have been approved by a faculty member who has appropriate standing with the Graduate School and who will act as thesis director, and by two other faculty members who will serve on the thesis committee. This approved proposal (with approval signatures) must be presented to the Director of Graduate Studies before the student registers for thesis hours.
3. Having submitted a thesis deemed acceptable by his or her committee, each candidate will present a one-hour oral defense of the thesis. This defense should focus on issues raised by the thesis but, at the discretion of the committee, may also address a wider range of issues pertaining to literature, literary history, and literary theory.
4. Candidates who fail to defend the thesis successfully will be allowed to repeat the defense once at a later date. Candidates who fail a second time to defend the thesis successfully will be dismissed from the program and may not subsequently choose to change to the non-thesis option to meet the department's graduation requirements.
5. M.A. candidates who wish to be considered for admission to the department's doctoral program must choose the thesis option.
V. Other
1. Each candidate must document reading proficiency in at least one foreign language relevant to the study of literature in English, preferably French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Ancient Greek, or Latin.
2. M.A. candidates who wish to be considered for admission to the department's doctoral program must present scores from the GRE Subject Test in English Literature upon application to the doctoral program.
3. All graduate students in the department of English must participate in an annual review of their progress toward the degree, as required by the Graduate School.