English (M.A.)

Admission Requirements

  1. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (4.0 scale) in English and 2.75 overall.
  2. 36 credit hours in English, at least 27 of which must be in English literature, exclusive of basic college writing.
  3. Students must demonstrate competency in written English by submitting a writing sample of their best academic work. Students for whom English is an alternate language are required to submit evidence of passing TOEFL scores, as required by the SUNY system for international students.

In addition, all applicants should review the Admission to a Graduate Program section in this catalog.

Program Requirements

Required Courses (18 credit hours) 1
ENG 601RESEARCH IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE3
Select one from the following:3
ENG 644
IDEOLOGY AND LITERATURE
ENG 645
LITERATURE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
ENG 652
LITERARY CRITICISM
At least 3 credit hours in British Literature3
At least 3 credit hours in American Literature3
At least 3 credit hours in non-American, non-British literature3
At least 3 credit hours in linguistics or genre study (ENG 639 or ENG 670)3
Comprehensive Examination (0 credit hours)
Comprehensive examination required for all students, 0 credit hours, to be taken after the completion of at least 24 credit hours.0
Elective Courses (12 credit hours) 1
In English or other academic areas, selected under advisement. Students are not required to produce a Master's Thesis or Master's Project, but if they choose either option, they must apply for permission from the department the term prior to beginning thesis or project work and be approved to undertake these options. 12
Total Credit Hours30
1

Selected under advisement.

Language Requirement

Prior to the completion of 18 credit hours, students must demonstrate competence in one foreign language, as well as in written and oral English. This requirement may be fulfilled by submitting high school transcripts reflecting two years of a foreign language with a grade of B or higher, or by submitting college transcripts reflecting two semesters of a foreign language with a grade of B or higher.

Students will:

  1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the periods, genres, and major writers of British and American literature, and an awareness of the various critiques and revisions of this literature’s canon.
  2. Demonstrate familiarity with major movements or writers of literatures in English outside British and American literature, and be able to place that literature within worldwide cultural and literary trends.
  3. Describe and explain how the literature is affected by cultural and historical forces.
  4. Analyze how ideas and attitudes about race, class, gender, nationhood, age, religion, and sexuality evolved through various periods of literary study.
  5. Produce quality written work reflecting the conventions of the field, including current MLA format, marked by high standards of clarity, coherence, organization and substantiation, and of various types including literary analysis/criticism, professional writing, research/scholarly writing, and informal/reflective writing.
  6. Conduct both library and online research, by identifying and differentiating among various research methodologies.
  7. Evaluate critical scholarship about literature, and integrate criticism into written and oral discussions of texts under study.
  8. Write research papers that contribute new perspectives on current scholarly and methodological debates.