English (MA)
The MA in English offers broad training in a variety of historical eras and cultural traditions, from the Medieval period to the contemporary moment. There are also opportunities for students interested in the digital humanities, critical theory, and writing pedagogy.
Curriculum
Program Requirements
The Master of Arts in English requires 30 semester hours of coursework and a written examination. The program is designed so that a full-time student can complete these requirements in a year and a half of study.
Required Courses
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ENGL 400 | Intro to Graduate Study | 3 |
| Select Three Courses in Literary Studies Courses | 9 | |
At least one course must be in literature before 1800, and one in literature after 1800. | ||
| Select One Course in Critical Theory | 3 | |
| History of the English Language | ||
| Contemporary Literary Criticism | ||
| Contemporary Issues in Literature and Culture | ||
| Topics in Critical Theory | ||
| Postcolonial Theory | ||
| Marxist Literary Theory | ||
| Feminist Theory and Criticism | ||
| Dramatic Theory | ||
| Select One Course in Textual Studies or Digital Humanities | 3 | |
| History of the Book to 1800 | ||
| Textual Criticism | ||
| Media and Culture | ||
| Select Four 400-Level ENGL Elective Courses 1 | 12 | |
| Total Hours | 30 | |
- 1
Course descriptions for 400 level English courses can be found here. For students interested in taking an elective outside of the English Department, please contact the Graduate Program Director.
Literary Studies Courses
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ENGL 428 | Postmodernism | 3 |
| ENGL 430 | Topics in Literature Studies | 3 |
| ENGL 436 | Women Writers in English | 3 |
| ENGL 433 | Seminar in Individual Authors | 3 |
| ENGL 437 | Topics in Drama | 3 |
| ENGL 440 | Topics in Medieval Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 441 | Old English Language & Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 443 | Middle English Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 444 | Medieval Drama | 3 |
| ENGL 447 | Chaucer | 3 |
| ENGL 450 | Topics in Early Modern Literature & Culture | 3 |
| ENGL 455 | Shakespeare | 3 |
| ENGL 456 | Early Modern Drama | 3 |
| ENGL 457 | Seventeenth-Century Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 458 | Milton | 3 |
| ENGL 460 | Topics in Restoration & 18th Century Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 466 | Eighteenth-Century Novel | 3 |
| ENGL 470 | Topics in Romanticism | 3 |
| ENGL 471 | Poetry of Romantic Period | 3 |
| ENGL 475 | Topics in Victorian Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 476 | Victorian Poetry | 3 |
| ENGL 477 | Victorian Prose | 3 |
| ENGL 478 | Victorian Novel | 3 |
| ENGL 480 | Topics in Modernism | 3 |
| ENGL 481 | Modern Poetry | 3 |
| ENGL 482 | Modern Drama | 3 |
| ENGL 483 | Modern Novel | 3 |
| ENGL 484 | Literature and Culture of the Jazz Age | 3 |
| ENGL 485 | Contemporary Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 487 | Postcolonial Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 488 | 20th Century Literature in English | 3 |
| ENGL 489 | Magic Realism | 3 |
| ENGL 490 | Topics in American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 491 | Early American Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 492 | American Romanticism | 3 |
| ENGL 493 | American Realism | 3 |
| ENGL 494 | American Literature Since 1914 | 3 |
| ENGL 495 | Latino/a Literature | 3 |
| ENGL 496 | African American Literature | 3 |
Part-time students must complete all requirements for the degree within four years.
If you are required to take certain undergraduate courses as a condition of admission, they have priority over all other program requirements. Undergraduate courses cannot be applied to the MA.
MA Qualifying Examination
All students will take a four-hour written examination at the end of their course work. The exam is given during the last week of second summer term in August, and the first day of exam week in December and May. The exam will be prepared and graded by a four-member MA examining committee using a standard set of questions, each testing a particular skill. Faculty teaching graduate seminars in any one year will submit a short list of required readings (literary, critical, and theoretical) from their courses. From that list, the examining committee will form a master list of major texts to be used by students in answering the exam questions. The short lists will be shared with students prior to the exam, the master list will not.
The exam will be graded as High Pass, Pass, Low Pass or Fail. The minimum requirements for the MA degree will be a Low Pass on the exam and a B average in all course work. MA students who fail the exam may retake it once, at the conclusion of the following semester. PhD students who fail the exam may also retake it once, but only to complete the MA degree: they will not be allowed to continue in the program.
The MA exam serves as both a requirement for the master’s degree and a qualifying exam for students intending to proceed toward the PhD. The Committee on Graduate Programs will consider the performance of such students in all facets of the MA program; however, the MA exam is designed as a key indicator of students’ ability to continue work toward the PhD.
Graduate & Professional Standards and Regulations
Students in graduate and professional programs can find their Academic Policies in Graduate and Professional Academic Standards and Regulations under their school. Any additional University Policies supercede school policies.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the MA program students will be able to:
- Write effectively about a broad range of texts in English using effective compositional and rhetorical techniques.
- Assess and intervene in existing scholarly discourses in the field as a literary critic.
- Distinguish and interpret diverse experiences across various social formations (race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc.) as registered in literary works.
- Evaluate and apply the principles of a range of critical and textual theories, including those emerging from communities that have been historically underrepresented, in order to produce a sustained analysis of literary works.