The CUA Department of English offers the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English and American Literature. It also houses the graduate program in Rhetoric, which offers a certificate as described below. Persons intending to pursue any degree should consult the leaflet "Graduate Programs in English," available from the graduate adviser. The leaflet provides full and current information on the requirements for all degrees, which can only be highlighted here.
Applicants for admission should submit a sample of their academic writing, such as a term paper or thesis, in addition to the materials required by the School of Arts and Sciences. Students applying to the M.A. program may begin their studies either first or second semester, or even in Summer Sessions. Students who apply to the Ph.D. program are ordinarily admitted during second semester (spring) to begin studies the following fall.
Required Courses: Students in both the M.A. and Ph.D. programs must take Eng 721 and CLIT 702 (Modern Critical Movements), each during the first semester of their graduate study in which the course is offered, and Eng 625. With the approval of the department, graduate students in English may follow related courses offered by other departments as part of their work in the major field.
All students who intend to specialize in medieval English literature should consult the department's specialists in this area (Dr Wright and Dr Kopar) to plan their programs--if possible, before registration the first semester of their residence, and periodically throughout their studies.
For the M.A. degree, 30 credit hours of course work, including two research seminars, are required. By petition to the department, an M.A. thesis may substitute, in rare cases, for the research seminars. For the Ph.D. a total of 54 semester credit hours after the baccalaureate degree is required. Ph.D. students also must include among their courses two research seminars after the M.A. Students who receive two grades of C+ or below are subject to dismissal from the program. After completing their course work, both M.A. and Ph.D. students must pass a written comprehensive examination.
As the culmination of their academic training, doctoral students must produce a dissertation representing a substantial piece of original research.
The minimum language requirement for the master's degree is a reading knowledge of one foreign language. The minimum language requirement for the Ph.D. is a reading knowledge of two foreign languages.
The university is a member of the Folger Institute of Renaissance and 18th-Century Studies, and English department students may register for seminars given at the Folger Shakespeare Library as part of this cooperative program.
The Department of English offers a certificate of rhetoric granted upon completion of four courses, approved by the department, in the field. Notation that the certificate has been earned will appear on the student's transcript. Students may count rhetoric courses taken to gain the certificate in the total number required for the degree. A.A. students with an interest in rhetoric may take one part of the two-part master's comprehensive examination in that field; Ph.D. students may choose a topic in rhetoric for one part of the three-part doctoral comprehensive examination. For details, contact Dr. Stephen McKenna.
A number of tuition scholarships are available to students entering the department's programs. For more advanced students a number of graduate assistantships are available each year. These require six hours of teaching in the lower-division program and pay a stipend. Holders of assistantships also may receive tuition scholarships. Students in the interdepartmental program in comparative literature also are eligible for this aid.
Provided that their materials are received on time, all applicants will be considered for available scholarships and assistantships for which they qualify. For other university fellowships and scholarships, application should be made to the Office of Financial Aid. The deadline for financial aid applications is February 1. Because the number of departmental scholarships and assistantships is limited, applicants for those awards also are urged to meet this deadline.
The School of Library and Information Science and the Department of English in the School of Arts and Sciences offer a joint-degree program that enables students to have careers as editors in publishing, humanities librarians, or antuquarian booksellers. The program requires 54 semester hours, 30 hours in library science and 24 in English. Applicants for joint degrees must submit complete and separate applications to both degree-granting units of the university. Joint degees are conferred simultaneously after all requirements for both degrees have been met.
Click here to see a complete list of the English Department's Courses of Instruction.
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