Department of English
M.A. Program

General Information and Requirements

The Department of English offers four areas of emphasis within its M.A. program: literature, writing, language, and literature and environment. These emphases serve a variety of students with a wide range of purposes.

Applicants to the M.A. program must have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher and should have an undergraduate major or minor in English. Potential applicants who do not meet these minimum requirements should talk with the Director of Graduate Studies to determine which undergraduate English courses to take should they wish to prepare for graduate studies in English. Detailed information on applying to the M.A. program is found at the end of this bulletin in the section "How to Apply for Admission."

M.A. and Ph.D. admissions are separate; completion of the M.A. program at the University of Nevada, Reno does not ensure admission to the Ph.D. program.

The following general requirements apply in all emphases within the M.A. program, except where clearly stated in the specific descriptions which follow.

1. Time Limit. All requirements must be satisfied during the six calendar years immediately preceding the granting of the degree.

2. Graduate Committee. As soon as practical and in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, a student should choose an advisory committee and complete a Program of Study. The graduate program in English emphasizes a close working relationship between the student and his or her advisory committee. Advisory committees for master's students consist of a chair and a second member from the graduate faculty in the Department of English and one member of the graduate faculty from another university department.

3. Choice of Plan A or Plan B. Our M.A. program allows students the option of writing a thesis (Plan A) or of substituting course work for the thesis (Plan B). We encourage students to follow Plan B unless there is a compelling reason to select the thesis option (as in the M.A. Writing emphasis).

4. Total Credits. A non-thesis (Plan B) option requires 33 credits of graduate work; a thesis (Plan A) option requires 31 total credits, 6 of which will be thesis credits. No more than 4 credits of Internship and 3 credits of Special Topics may be counted toward the degree.

5. Transfer Credits. No more than nine total credits applicable to the approved program of study may be accepted from graduate courses taken at another institution and/or taken at the University of Nevada, Reno on graduate special status. These courses must have been completed within the six-year time limit for the M.A. degree and must be approved to count toward the degree by the student’s committee chair, the Director of Graduate Studies, and the Graduate School.

6. Residence. In Plan B options, a minimum of 23 credits must be earned in residence; in Plan A options, the minimum is 21 credits.

7. Continuous Registration. Graduate School regulations require graduate students to maintain continuous registration of at least three credit hours per semester to remain active in the pursuit of a degree. This means that students studying for comprehensive exams or writing theses must (even if they are not in residence) register for at least three credit hours each semester (summers excluded) until they graduate.

8. Seminar Requirement. All M.A. students are required to take a substantial portion of their course work at the 700 level or above. In the Literature, Language, and Literature and Environment emphases (Plans A and B), at least 23 credits must be completed in courses numbered 700 or above. In the Writing emphasis, 19 credits must be numbered 700 or above in Plan A, or 16 credits in Plan B.

9. Foreign Language Requirement. Competence in one language is required. French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, or Greek are recommended, but other languages may be approved by the student's advisory committee. The student is strongly advised to complete the work necessary to meet this requirement before becoming a graduate student, or as soon as possible after beginning graduate study. The requirement may be met either by course work or by examination. Course work: competence is demonstrated by the student completing fourth-semester college-level course work in the language with a grade of B or better in the final term of the course. Examination: the student must pass a proficiency exam given by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Nevada, Reno. M.A. students in the Literature and Environment emphasis only may fulfill the foreign language requirement by passing two graduate-level courses in a cognate discipline with a grade of B or better.

10. Comprehensive Examination. The M.A. program requires a comprehensive exam as a part of the degree requirements. In general, the exam includes three parts: a) a professional paper or a writing portfolio; b) a written examination over a set reading list or over course work; c) an oral exam of about an hour and a half, covering the professional paper or portfolio and the written exam. Examinations for each program emphasis are detailed below. A student must have completed the professional paper or portfolio and have passed the written exam prior to taking the oral exam. Failed written or oral exams can be retaken only once.  Students must register for English 795, Comprehensive Exam, 1 credit, the semester they will be completing their exams.

11. Thesis (Plan A only). Students choosing a thesis option will first prepare a thesis prospectus, in consultation with the chair of the advisory committee, for the committee's approval. The finished thesis, after meeting the approval of the advisory committee, is defended in the final oral examination, which also covers the written exam. In the Writing program, the final oral defense is separate from the discussion of the portfolio and written exam. While the thesis is in progress, the candidate should register for the six required hours of thesis credit (English 797), including one hour to be taken during the writing of the prospectus. Documentation and bibliography should follow the current MLA Style Manual. Precise guidelines for thesis format and submission are available at the Graduate School. Students doing research involving human subjects must check with the Office of Human Subjects Research in Ross Hall regarding necessary protocols and review procedures.

12. Graduation. To graduate in any given semester, the student must file an Application for Graduation by the dates specified for that semester in the university catalog and meet that semester’s deadlines for submission of the notice of completion and (if on Plan A) the final copy of the thesis to the Graduate School. Students should be aware that graduation application dates at the University of Nevada, Reno are unusually early: the deadline is generally at the beginning of the last month of the semester prior to graduation.

13. Paperwork. The student is responsible for a knowledge of the degree requirements and for the timely submission of all Graduate School forms. Early in their graduate careers, students should become familiar with the most important of these forms: the Program of Study, the Notice of Completion, and the Application for Graduation. Most Graduate School forms are available on the web at www.unr.edu/grad/forms/index.html. The Application for Graduation must be purchased from the Cashier in the Student Services building.

University of Nevada, Reno
URL of this document:
http://www.unr.edu/cla/engl/program/ma-engl.html
Please direct questions to: English Webmaster
Last Modified: November 27, 2000