DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
The English Master of Arts Program prepares students for doctoral work, improves the professional competence of public school teachers, readies promising scholars for college teaching, advances the skills of creative and professional writers, and generally trains students whose careers require advanced verbal and analytical abilities.*
Admission Requirements
Students seeking admission to the graduate program in English must meet the following requirements:
1. Submit a graduate application form with application fee to the Graduate Studies Office.
2. Submit official transcripts of all college-level work, including a transcript that shows conferral of the undergraduate degree. The student must have completed at least twelve hours of upper-division English courses with a 3.0 GPA or better. (Students with credentials from foreign universities must have their transcripts reviewed by a transcript evaluation service.)
3. Submit scores for the GRE General Test. (The subject test in English is not required.)
4. Submit three letters of recommendation that discuss the applicant’s potential for success in an English graduate program.
5. Submit a scholarly/critical writing sample of a minimum ten pages; students wishing to pursue a creative writing emphasis may submit a creative portfolio as a supplement to the scholarly/critical writing sample.
6. The English MA Program welcomes qualified international applicants; however, an individual who does not hold American citizenship must be accepted under regular admission status, without qualifications. A student whose first language is not English must submit a score report showing the necessary score as outlined in the Admission section of this catalog.
A holistic review of each student’s application file is completed on a competitive basis.
Degree Requirements
To earn the MA in English, a student completes thirty-six hours of graduate credit, distributed according to degree plan requirements outlined below.
Students must take at least one course from each of five blocks, described below; included among the total classes must be at least one course each in British and American literatures.
All students are required to take Methods of Research and Bibliography (ENG 697) at the first opportunity.
Thesis students complete a two-semester thesis sequence (ENG 698 and ENG 699).
All English MA students must satisfy the following requirements before filing an official degree plan and being admitted to degree candidacy:
1. complete ENG 697 (Methods of Research and Bibliography), earning at least a B (the student should complete ENG 697 during the first semester of graduate work, if possible, but in any event must complete the course by the end of the second long-term semester for which she or he is enrolled);
2. complete the language requirement (Block I course);
3. complete six additional hours of coursework; and
4. maintain a B or better average for the twelve hours completed.
After meeting these requirements, the student submits a Declaration of Major form, thereby officially establishing a degree plan.
All MA students must pass the English program’s written comprehensive examination (offered in October, February, and June of each year) and an oral defense of a designated portion of their graduate work; the oral defense covers either the areas chosen for the written examination or, in the case of thesis students, the thesis. Students must be enrolled in the University for the terms in which the written comprehensive and oral examinations are administered.
A student may take ENG 539 (Directed Study of Selected Topics in Literature and Language) twice, with pre-approval by the Department Chair. A student may take one 400-level English course for graduate credit, with pre-approval by the Department Chair and Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. See the Graduate English Handbook for guidelines and restrictions.
English Course Blocks
The English graduate curriculum is organized into five blocks, each comprising courses with shared topics or historical kinship; the student takes at least one class from each block.
BLOCK I: English Language and Linguistics; Early and Middle English Literature
BLOCK II: Literary Criticism and Theory; Rhetoric and Composition; Pedagogy; Creative Writing; Technical and Professional Writing
BLOCK III: The Classical Tradition; Renaissance and Seventeenth-Century British Literature; Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Literature; American Literature before 1800
BLOCK IV: Nineteenth-Century British Literature
BLOCK V: Twentieth-Century Literature in English
Some classes among the English course listings below may be distributed into various blocks, depending upon the choice of topics and a professor’s emphasis during a given term. These include ENG 569 (Blocks III, IV, and V), ENG 570 (Blocks IV and V), ENG 574 (Blocks IV and V), and ENG 588 (Blocks IV and V).
Degree Plans
A graduate student in English may pursue either of two degree programs: Master of Arts Plan I or Master of Arts Plan II. Plan I may be thesis or non-thesis; Plan II is non-thesis only.
MA Plan I
Master of Arts, Plan I (Thesis or Non-Thesis). This degree plan is designed for prospective junior and senior college teachers; for students who plan to continue their studies at a doctoral level; and for teachers of high school English who wish to increase scope, depth, and expertise in their teaching specialties. There is no minor under Plan I.
Under this plan, non-thesis students take thirty-six hours of coursework; thesis students take thirty course hours and six thesis hours (ENG 698 and ENG 699). Students may pursue a creative writing emphasis, which requires an internship with the Texas Review Press, two creative writing workshops, and a creative thesis.
Curriculum Requirements for Plan I (with Thesis Option)
Methods of Research and Bibliography (ENG 697) 3 SCH
Block I (ENG 577, ENG 583, ENG 589) 3 SCH
Block II (ENG 531, ENG 532, ENG 533, ENG 567, ENG 568,
ENG 584, ENG 590) 3 SCH
Block III (ENG 572, ENG 575, ENG 576, ENG 578)
3 SCH
Block IV (ENG 579, ENG 580, ENG 585, ENG 586) 3 SCH
Block V (ENG 571, ENG 581, ENG 587) 3 SCH
Electives 12 SCH
Thesis I (ENG 698)
3 SCH
Thesis II (ENG 699) 3 SCH
Total 36 SCH
Non-thesis students working under Plan I substitute two elective courses for ENG 698 and ENG 699.
MA Plan II
Master of Arts, Plan II (Non-Thesis Only). Designed for teachers who wish preparation in two teaching fields, this degree plan requires twenty-four semester hours of English and twelve hours in a second field. The minor field must logically support the major and must be chosen from departments offering graduate-level courses, such as History, Political Science, or, in the case of public school teachers, Education.
Curriculum Requirements for Plan II
Methods of Research and Bibliography (ENG 697) 3 SCH
Block I (ENG 577; ENG 583; ENG 589) 3 SCH
Electives (Selections must come from at least
three different blocks) 18 SCH
Courses in the minor 12 SCH
Total 36 SCH
* For further information about the MA in English, see the English graduate program web pages: https://www.shsu.edu/~eng_www/graduate/