English – Master of Arts
The Master of Arts in English is an online program.
Admission Requirements
Conditional
- General admission to graduate study (for criteria, refer to Admission to Graduate Study).
- Strongly recommended are:
- Completion of an undergraduate major or minor in English or equivalent;
- Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on all undergraduate English courses above the freshman level;
- 12 credits of upper division English and American literature
*Students who meet the requirement for admission to graduate study will be conditionally admitted.
Unconditional
There are two ways for students to attain unconditional admission, which students will need to graduate with an MA in English:
- Students achieve an MSU GPA of 3.5 or higher during their first 12 credit hours, with no grade lower than "B"
OR
- Students who fail to maintain a GPA of 3.5 may gain unconditional admission by achieving a minimum score of 146 on the verbal section and 140 on the quantitative section of the GRE.
Program Competencies
All students are expected to demonstrate:
- Mastery of research methods.
- Mastery of major periods in British and American literature.
- Command of literary terminology.
- Ability to write about literary texts at a sophisticated level from a definable critical approach.
- Command of linguistic techniques.
- Mastery of the conventions of the critical essay.
Assessment
- Assessment of performance on the M.A. in English exit examination using a rubric.
- Assessment of final literature papers for graduating students using various rubrics.
- Assessment of linguistics projects to analyze human language using a rubric.
Requirements for the Degree
- Satisfy general degree requirements.
- 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.
- Satisfactory performance on the M.A. in English exit examination. (No student may take the exam more than twice.)
- 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 English electives, 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:
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:
American Literature - Choose three hours from list below:
British Literature - Choose three hours from list below:
English Electives
Choose 9 hours from list below:
General Electives
Choose two 600-level electives (ENG or non-ENG) subject to the advisor's approval.
| Electives | 6 |
Total Credit Hours: | 6 |
Total Credit Hours: 30