English – Master of Arts

Admission Requirements

  1. General admission to graduate study.
  2. Completion of an undergraduate major or minor in English.
  3. A minimum 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 circumvent taking 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 student 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 "Cs" will be accepted for credit toward the degree. No st u dent 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. program 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 634Chaucer

3

ENG 635Topics in Shakespeare

3

ENG 636Major American Author

3

ENG 637Major British Author

3

ENG 638Milton

3

Total Credit Hours:3

Writing - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 612Theories of Teaching Writing

3

ENG 683Advanced Poetry Writing

3

ENG 684Advanced Fiction Writing

3

ENG 690Technical Writing

3

Total Credit Hours:3

Linguistics - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 601Semantics

3

ENG 604Linguistics: Grammar

3

ENG 680English Syntax

3

ENG 685Psycholinguistics

3

ENG 697Sociolinguistics

3

Total Credit Hours:3

American Literature - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 619American Renaissance

3

ENG 620American Poetry

3

ENG 622American Novels

3

ENG 624American Literature in Perspective

3

ENG 636Major American Author

3

ENG 639African-American Literature

3

ENG 661Studies in American Literary Periods

3

ENG 663American Fiction

3

Total Credit Hours:3

British Literature - Choose three hours from list below:

ENG 630Topics in British Literature

3

ENG 632The British Novel

3

ENG 633Old English Literature

3

ENG 634Chaucer

3

ENG 635Topics in Shakespeare

3

ENG 637Major British Author

3

ENG 638Milton

3

ENG 645Renaissance Literature

3

ENG 647Restoration and Eighteenth Century British Literature

3

ENG 648Romantic Period

3

ENG 650Victorian Period

3

ENG 652Twentieth Century British Literature

3

Total Credit Hours:3

Additional Literature - Choose six hours from list below:

ENG 619American Renaissance

3

ENG 620American Poetry

3

ENG 622American Novels

3

ENG 624American Literature in Perspective

3

ENG 628Literary Theory

3

ENG 630Topics in British Literature

3

ENG 632The British Novel

3

ENG 633Old English Literature

3

ENG 634Chaucer

3

ENG 635Topics in Shakespeare

3

ENG 636Major American Author

3

ENG 637Major British Author

3

ENG 638Milton

3

ENG 645Renaissance Literature

3

ENG 647Restoration and Eighteenth Century British Literature

3

ENG 648Romantic Period

3

ENG 650Victorian Period

3

ENG 652Twentieth Century British Literature

3

ENG 653Modern Drama

3

ENG 655Early Dramatic Literature

3

ENG 661Studies in American Literary Periods

3

ENG 663American Fiction

3

ENG 666Contemporary Literature

3

ENG 670Film 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 699Thesis

6

Total Credit Hours:6

Non-thesis

Six hours from any department

6

Total Credit Hours:6

Total Credit Hours: 33