Department of English Language and Literature : Master of Arts: Literature Concentration

Degree Requirements

The M.A. Degree (literature concentration) requires 33 hours of course work. Graduate students who are accepted into the program as Teaching Assistants are further required to take ENGL 6010: Seminar in English Instruction: Composition, an additional 3 credit course, for a total of 36 hours.

All students working towards the Master of Arts (literature concentration) degree must satisfy these requirements:  

Please note that ENGL 5100: History of the English Language has a prerequisite course, ENGL 5150: Linguistic Principles.

• Students who have taken ENGL 4150 at UT will automatically be waived from this prerequisite.
• Students who have taken an equivalent to 4150/5 at another institution may petition the instructor of ENGL 5100 to waive them from the prerequisite. Evidence of course equivalency must be provided.
  

Students who have completed any of the courses required for the degree or their equivalents at the graduate level before admission to the Graduate School may petition the Director of Graduate Studies in English for substitutions.

Of the remaining 18 hours course work for the degree, students may take a maximum of two courses in other departments in the humanities or social sciences as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. Students may count up to two creative writing courses and up to one independent study course toward this degree.

Foreign Language Requirement

The foreign language requirement can be satisfied in one of three ways:

• Pass an examination administered by the Department of Foreign Languages. Information can be found on their web pages here.
• Achieve a grade of C or better in an upper-division or graduate literature course offered by the Department of Foreign Languages (excluding courses where texts are read in English translation). If you are considering this option, please note that upper division undergraduate courses will satisfy the requirement but will not count toward your total credit hours.  Also, assistantships will not pay for undergraduate courses.
  
• Achieve a grade of B or better in both of the following courses: ENGL 5110 Old English and ENGL 5120 Middle English. (Please be advised:  these two courses are offered EVERY OTHER year, so plan carefully if you intend to use this option to satisfy the language requirement.)
• International students with a native language other than English will be considered to have satisfied the requirement.

Additional Requirements

• Candidates beginning their first term of study in Fall 2008 or later must pass a written Poetry Analysis Exam and submit an MA Portfolio (see links to right for additional information).
• Candidates who entered the program prior to Fall 2008 may elect to do the new requirements OR to complete the old requirements, which consist of the following:
  
• Candidates must pass a written examination based on 33 texts (see Old M.A. Written Exam link to the right).
• Candidates must submit a graduate level course paper applying scholarly techniques to a literary topic of their choice (see Old MA Paper link to the right). 
   

Incomplete and Progress Grades

Graduate students with more than one Incomplete or Progress grade at the beginning of any semester may be required to take one course fewer than normal that semester. The Director of Graduate Studies may refuse to approve registration for a student who still has more than two Incomplete or Progress grades for work not completed in the stipulated time. Unless an extension has been granted, an Incomplete automatically becomes an "F" one semester after that in which the course is taken. Courses taken in Spring and Summer terms change at the end of the immediately-following Fall Semester.

Application for the Degree

The application must be filed with the Graduate College by the date set by that office. See the Graduate College web site or the official university calendar distributed throughout the year. Students must be enrolled for a minimum of one credit hour in the term during which they intend to graduate. (This type of enrollment can be achieved through ENGL 6960 Master's Research.)