The specialization in American and English literature requires 30 to 36 semester hours for completion of the Master of Arts degree. Students admitted without having fulfilled the foreign language requirement must also complete two years of college-level coursework (or its equivalent) in the same modern or classical foreign language, with at least a C average.
Program elements include the following:
REQUIRED COURSES (18 hours):
ENG 501: Modern Literary Studies, taken in the first available term.
ENG 502: Modern Literary Theory.
One course (either 400 or 500 level) selected from four of the following six periods:
NOTE: In total, no more than 9 credit hours from 400-level courses can count toward the American and English Literature MA specialization.
Medieval
Renaissance (1500-1660)
18th Century (1660-1800)
19th Century British
Colonial and/or 19th Century American
20th Century American and/or British
Renaissance (1500-1660)
18th Century (1660-1800)
19th Century British
Colonial and/or 19th Century American
20th Century American and/or British
ELECTIVES (12 to 18 hours):
Courses may be elected in literature, creative writing, composition, and/or linguistics. Elective hours may also include credit for ENG 598: Preparatory Reading/English and American Literature or ENG 599: Thesis. Students may, with the written approval of their advisor and of the Director of Graduate Studies, choose ONE elective from another SIUE Department; use the Graduate Student Request Form to obtain approval prior to registration in any such course.
EXIT REQUIREMENTS:
In consultation with the Graduate Literature Specialization advisor, students select one of three plans to complete the program requirements, as follows:
(1) Thesis plan (30 hours)
Enroll in ENG 599: Thesis and submit an acceptable thesis in any area of the field, including women's studies. In this plan, the candidate must pass a one-hour oral examination on the thesis and related topics.
(2) Three-paper plan (30 hours)
Enroll in ENG 598: Preparatory Reading/English and American Literature and prepare three 20-page papers based on a reading list established in consultation with the candidate's committee.
(3) Oral examination plan (36 hours)
Complete an additional 6 hours of course work at the 500-level within the discipline and prepare for an oral examination on a reading list developed on a field selected by the candidate from within one of the six periods designated in the "Required Courses" section above or two contiguous periods, a genre, major authors, or women's studies. The field (and the reading list) must be approved by the examining committee in consultation with the director of the graduate program in English.
Each of these options requires that students choose an examining committee comprised of three faculty members, to be chosen in consultation with the appropriate Graduate Literature Specialization advisor.
The above requirements are available as a printable checklist [PDF], or you may obtain a copy of the checklist from the information rack outside the office of the Director of Graduate Studies.
If you have any questions, please contact your graduate advisor. For students whose last names begin with A-L, the advisor is Prof. Jessica DeSpain; for the rest, advising is by Prof. Jeffrey Skoblow.
URL: http://www.siue.edu/ENGLISH/Grad/grad_lit.html
Published by: Department of English Language and Literature
Last Update: Last Update: by English Web Manager
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