English – Master of Arts

The Master of Arts in English is an online program.

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 is preferred, and is to have included 12 credits of upper division English and American literature.
4. Satisfactory GRE Score or alternative qualification. Students must meet one of the following requirements:
   1. A minimum score of 146 verbal section and 140 quantitative section of the GRE.
   2. Students who lack the GRE and/or an undergraduate English major or minor in English 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 3.5 or higher, with no grade lower than "B."
   3. Students who fail to maintain a 3.5 GPA or fail to take a major author course during their first 12 hours may gain unconditional admission by achieving a minimum score of 146 on the verbal section and 140 quantitative section of the GRE.

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. Satisfactory performance on the M.A. in English examination.
2. Assessment of final literature papers for graduating students.
3. Results of Major Author objective test.
4. Assessment of linguistics projects to analyze human language using linguistic techniques.

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 30 graduate credit hours. The 30 graduate credit hours in English are to include the following minimum requirements: three hours in a major author course, three hours in writing, three hours in linguistics, and 21 hours in literature, with at least three hours in British and three hours in American literature. Only three hours of ENG 676 - Directed Study may count toward the completion of the M.A. in English.

Program Requirements

Core Requirements

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

Literature Electives

Choose 15 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:		15

Total Credit Hours: 30