English – Master of Arts

Admission Requirements

1. General admission to graduate study (for criteria, refer to "Admission to Graduate Study").
2. Completion of an undergraduate major or minor in English or equivalent.
3. A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on all undergraduate English courses above the freshman level, to have included 12 credits of upper division English and American literature courses.
4. One of the following:
   1. A minimum score of 146 verbal section and 140 quantitative section of the GRE.
   2. Students may bypass the GRE and will be unconditionally admitted if, after completing 12 credit hours at MSU in English, which must include a required major author course, they achieve an MSU GPA of 3.75 or higher, with no grade lower than "B."
   3. If students fail to achieve a 3.75 after completing 12 credit hours at MSU in English, which must include a major author course, or receive a grade lower than "B," they have the option of taking the GRE, and if students then meet the English MA program's GRE cut scores, they will be granted unconditional admission.

Program Competencies

All students are expected to demonstrate:

1. Mastery of research methods.
2. Mastery of major periods in British and American literature.
3. Command of literary terminology.
4. Ability to write about literary texts at a sophisticated level from a definable critical approach.
5. Command of linguistic techniques.
6. Mastery of the conventions of the critical essay.

Assessment

1. Research Exam, taken in major author course (competency 1)
2. Embedded Course Documents (competencies 4, 5, and 6)
3. *M.A. Exam (competencies 2 and 3)
4. (Optional) Critical or Creative Thesis Defense

The MA in English exam is a three-hour essay exam offered twice yearly, April and November. No student may take the examination more than twice.

Requirements for the Degree

1. Satisfy general degree requirements.
2. Maintain a 3.0 GPA in all English courses; a maximum of two "C" grades will be accepted for credit toward the degree. No student with a current GPA below 3.0 may sit for the M.A. in English Exit examination.
3. Satisfactory performance on the M.A. in English examination. (No student may take the exam more than twice.)
4. A minimum of 33 graduate credit hours, with at least 27 hours in English and no more than six hours in one other field. The 27 graduate credit hours in English are to include the following minimum requirements: three hours in writing, three hours in linguistics and 12 hours in literature, with at least three hours in British and three hours in American literature. Only three hours of ENG 676 may count toward the completion of the M.A. in English.
5. Thesis option: in place of two elective graduate courses, students may complete a thesis (six hours) and an oral defense.

Program Requirements

Required Core

Major Author - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 634	Chaucer	3
ENG 635	Topics in Shakespeare	3
ENG 636	Major American Author	3
ENG 637	Major British Author	3
ENG 638	Milton	3
Total Credit Hours:		3

Writing - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 612	Theories of Teaching Writing	3
ENG 683	Advanced Poetry Writing	3
ENG 684	Advanced Fiction Writing	3
ENG 690	Technical Writing	3
Total Credit Hours:		3

Linguistics - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 601	Semantics	3
ENG 604	Linguistics: Grammar	3
ENG 680	English Syntax	3
ENG 685	Psycholinguistics	3
ENG 697	Sociolinguistics	3
Total Credit Hours:		3

American Literature - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 619	American Renaissance	3
ENG 620	American Poetry	3
ENG 622	American Novels	3
ENG 624	American Literature in Perspective	3
ENG 636	Major American Author	3
ENG 639	African-American Literature	3
ENG 661	Studies in American Literary Periods	3
ENG 663	American Fiction	3
Total Credit Hours:		3

British Literature - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 630	Topics in British Literature	3
ENG 632	The British Novel	3
ENG 633	Old English Literature	3
ENG 634	Chaucer	3
ENG 635	Topics in Shakespeare	3
ENG 637	Major British Author	3
ENG 638	Milton	3
ENG 645	Renaissance Literature	3
ENG 647	Restoration and Eighteenth Century British Literature	3
ENG 648	Romantic Period	3
ENG 650	Victorian Period	3
ENG 652	Twentieth Century British Literature	3
Total Credit Hours:		3

Additional Literature - Choose six hours from list below:

ENG 619	American Renaissance	3
ENG 620	American Poetry	3
ENG 622	American Novels	3
ENG 624	American Literature in Perspective	3
ENG 628	Literary Theory	3
ENG 630	Topics in British Literature	3
ENG 632	The British Novel	3
ENG 633	Old English Literature	3
ENG 634	Chaucer	3
ENG 635	Topics in Shakespeare	3
ENG 636	Major American Author	3
ENG 637	Major British Author	3
ENG 638	Milton	3
ENG 645	Renaissance Literature	3
ENG 647	Restoration and Eighteenth Century British Literature	3
ENG 648	Romantic Period	3
ENG 650	Victorian Period	3
ENG 652	Twentieth Century British Literature	3
ENG 653	Modern Drama	3
ENG 655	Early Dramatic Literature	3
ENG 661	Studies in American Literary Periods	3
ENG 663	American Fiction	3
ENG 666	Contemporary Literature	3
ENG 670	Film and Literature	3
Total Credit Hours:		6

Electives

	Six hours from ENG	6
Total Credit Hours:		6

Complete one of the following groups:

Thesis

ENG 699	Thesis	6
Total Credit Hours:		6

Non-thesis

	Six hours from any department	6
Total Credit Hours:		6

Total Credit Hours: 33