Program Requirements: 36 credits including a thesis.
1) English Graduate Courses: Minimum of 18 credits at the 700 level
Required courses include:
581* Foundations of Literary Criticism (3 credits)
704 Research Methods (3 credits)
795 English Thesis (3 credits)*to be taken during the first year of graduate studies
Elective 700-level courses include:
701 Seminar in Literature: Optional Content (3 credits)
702 Language in Society: Optional Content (3 credits)
703 Seminar in Criticism: Optional Content (3 credits) (see above note)
708 Contemporary American Poetry: Optional Content (3 credits)
709 Seminar in Creative Writing: Optional Content (3 credits)
710 Seminar in Cultural Studies: Optional Content (3 credits)
711 Seminar in American Ethnic Writers: Optional Content (3 credits)
712 Seminar in Women Writers: Optional Content (3 credits)
714 Seminar in Rhetoric and Writing: Optional Content (3 credits)
796 Independent Study (3 credits)
2) English Dual-Level Courses:
One dual-level course, 581 Foundations of Literary Criticism, is required. Aside from the required minimum 18 credits of 700-level courses, the rest of the 36 credits can be met by courses at the 500 or 600 level offered by the Department of English. See Graduate Course page
3) Graduate-Level Courses Outside English:
Up to 6 credits of 500-, 600-, or 700-level courses can be non-English courses, but do not have to be. Only three credits of non-English 700-level courses may count toward the 18-credit minimum of 700-level courses. The remaining three credits of allowed non-English credits, whether taken at the 500, 600, or 700 level, will be counted as 500/600 level credits
4) Optional content classes, with different subtitles and the signature of the department chair, may be taken twice.
5) Students may arrange their own programs within scheduling options to emphasize literature, rhetoric and composition, creative writing, or linguistics, but it will not be possible to work exclusively in any one of these areas.
Each degree candidate will write a thesis of approximately sixty to eighty pages; it will be a substantial work of original research or empirical study in areas such as literature, linguistics, rhetoric, or creative writing. See the Thesis Requirements page.
