Department of English
M.A. Literature Emphasis

Specific Requirements

The M.A. Literature emphasis is designed for students interested in developing their knowledge of English and American literatures; it focuses on the ability to think and write critically about literary texts. The Literature emphasis requires students to take a variety of courses dealing with different literary genres and periods, yet also allows them to concentrate their studies in the areas they find to be of greatest interest. This emphasis is primarily, but not exclusively, intended for people who are preparing for professions in which they will teach literature and do literary research.

1. General Requirements. See the section above on general master's degree requirements.

2. Course Requirements.

a) Research Methods. English 711, Introduction to Graduate Study, is required and must be taken at the first opportunity. It is customarily offered each fall semester.

b) Distribution Requirements. The student must take at least one course in nine of the following fields: Poetry, Fiction, Drama, Linguistics, Nonfiction/Intellectual Prose, Rhetoric, Literary Criticism, American Literature, British Literature before 1800, and British Literature after 1800. Five of the distribution requirements may be met by courses taken at the advanced undergraduate level (the equivalent of our department's 400-level courses) in which the student earned a B or above. The Director of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the faculty, determines which field requirement(s) specific courses may meet.

3) Literature Topic or Field. The student must take at least two courses in a particular field of interest, determined in consultation with his or her M.A. committee chair. Fields or topics might, for instance, include the Renaissance, nineteenth-century British poetry, or the American novel.

3. Professional Paper or Portfolio. In consultation with his or her M.A. committee chair, each student will complete either a professional paper or a portfolio. No credit toward Course Requirements (see above) will be granted for work on the professional paper or portfolio.

a) The professional paper is a substantial literary-critical essay. The student selects one seminar paper written in the M.A. program and revises it, working with the professor in whose course it was originally written, who must be a member of the student's committee. When revised, this paper will be presented to the committee as an example of the student's ability to perform research and write a convincing, reasoned argument on a topic related to literature. The paper should be approximately twenty pages long and should be of professional, publishable quality.

b) The portfolio consists of three of the student's most substantial, successful, and representative essays or other projects from three different courses and a brief essay in which the student introduces the three essays, explaining their purposes, their merits, and the rationale behind including them in the portfolio. At the discretion of the committee chair, the student completing a portfolio may be asked to expand the introductory essay into a longer metacognitive essay regarding his or her critical development as someone working with literature.

4. Comprehensive Examination (written). In consultation with the M.A. committee chair, each student will put together a reading list based on his or her particular topic or field of concentration. The list should consist of 10 to 15 items, eight of which should be book-length. The written portion of the comprehensive exam will be designed to demonstrate the student's mastery of the materials on this reading list in one of the following ways:

a) Written exam: the student completes a one-day exam on the reading list. The exam questions will be set by the members of the student's M.A. committee, who will then evaluate the written exam.

b) Course plan: the student prepares materials for a course in the area covered by the reading list. The materials should include a complete syllabus; an indication of the audience for whom the course is designed; a discussion of the course's purposes; an explanation for the selection of texts; specific writing assignments about the texts; and notes for class lecture and discussion.

5. Thesis (Plan A only). The first step is to present a prospectus, written in consultation with the student's committee chair, to the student's advisory committee. This prospectus should constitute a sound plan for writing the thesis and may include a bibliography and a tentative table of contents. The prospectus is normally approved before the student completes the written exam or comprehensive syllabus. He or she then writes the thesis, working closely with committee members.

6. Comprehensive Examination (oral) and Thesis Defense. The oral exam lasts about an hour and a half and is administered by the student's M.A. committee. In Plan B, the student takes the oral exam after completing the professional paper or portfolio and the written exam or course plan; the oral will include questions on each of these works. In Plan A, the student takes the final oral exam after the completed thesis has been approved by his or her committee. In addition to those works covered in the Plan B exam, the oral for Plan A students also includes a defense of the thesis. It is the responsibility of the student to schedule the oral exam with his or her committee. The student must register for English 795, Comprehensive Examination, one credit, the semester he or she will be completing the oral exam.

Last Updated: January 1, 2009