Graduate Bulletin
Document Number 3.05.01

ENGLISH

[1] Objectives

The Master of Arts program in English is designed to prepare students for work on the doctoral level and to enhance the knowledge of subject matter for secondary school teachers.

[2] Program Admission Requirements

In addition to meeting the general requirements for admission to graduate school, the student must present satisfactory scores on the General Section of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). (See Admission to Graduate Study.) Further, the student must have earned a minimum 3.00 GPA in an undergraduate major or minor in English literature to gain regular admission to the program. Finally, a student must show the equivalent of one year of undergraduate foreign language study, or must remedy this deficiency before the MA Comprehensive Examination is taken.

Those international students required by the university to submit TOEFL scores for entrance to graduate study must score a minimum of 600 on the written exam or 250 on the computerized exam in order to gain admission to graduate study in English. Further, the student must attain a minimum score of 5 on the essay portion of the exam.

For conditional admission to the program, consult the department chair or graduate coordinator.

[3] Degree Requirements

Candidates must fulfill one of the following plans:

Satisfactorily complete 30 hours of English and pass a comprehensive examination based upon the department's Master's Reading List.
Satisfactorily complete 24 hours of English, pass a comprehensive examination based upon the department's Master's Reading List, prepare a thesis for which 6 hours of credit are earned, and pass an oral examination over the subject matter of the thesis.

In both plans, at least 15 of the student's 30 hours must consist of 6000-level courses. All students pursuing the MA are required to pass ENGL 5360 (History and Structure of the English Language), ENGL 5366 (Literacy Theory and Criticism) and ENGL 6393 (Research Methods in English). The department strongly recommends that ENGL 6393 be taken at the earliest opportunity.

Upon acceptance into the graduate program, each student will be advised by a member of the department's graduate faculty and will procure a Master's Reading List from the departmental secretary. At or near the end of the candidate's program, the Coordinator of Graduate Study and members of the graduate faculty will give the student a comprehensive, written examination. If the candidate's performance is unsatisfactory, the student may be re-examined during one of the regularly scheduled comprehensive exam periods.

Should the student elect the thesis option, he or she will select a major professor to direct the thesis. When the thesis is submitted, an oral examination will be given by a committee composed of the major professor, a member of the graduate faculty (to be appointed by the departmental chairperson), and a member of the graduate faculty from outside the Department of English.

CERTIFICATE IN DIVERSE LITERATURES

[1] Objectives

The Certificate in Diverse Literatures program is designed to help secondary-school teachers enhance the diversity of their curricula.

[2] Program Admission Requirements

The admission requirements for the Certificate Program are the same as those for the Master of Arts program detailed above.

[3] Certificate Requirements

Candidates must satisfactorily complete 15 hours of English Certificate coursework.* All students pursuing the Certificate are required to take the following core courses:

6323 Literatures of the Americas for Teachers**

6325 Asian/Asian American Literature for Teachers

6365 Diverse Literatures Seminar

In addition, students must select two courses from the following electives:

5362 Southern Literature and Folklore

5370 Women's Literature

5380 African/ African American Literature

5381 Major African/African American Writers

5382 Race in American Literature

5304 Studies in English and American Literature***

5385 Travel Seminar in Literature***

6321 Readings in American Literature***

6394 Graduate Independent Study***

*Up to 9 hours of coursework from this Certificate program may be applied to the English MA at the discretion of the Graduate Coordinator and English Department Chair.

**This course will focus on the literature and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and/or Latin American/Hispanic literature.

***No more than one of these courses (depending on relevance of topic to the Certificate curriculum) may be counted toward Certificate credit. Requires approval in advance from the Graduate Coordinator and Chair.

[7] Graduate Courses in English (ENGL)

Follow this link to ENGL course descriptions: course link.

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