MA in English Literature Handbook

Admission Requirements

Applicants must meet the general requirements of the Graduate School, with the additional requirement that they have a 3.000 grade point average in their previous work in English courses. The coordinator of graduate studies in English will then evaluate the applicant's transcript, prescribing additional undergraduate hours for those who have fewer than 24 credit hours in English and American literature or in other work acceptable to the department of English. Courses in freshman composition, grammar, teaching methods, journalism, speech, etc., may not be included in the required 24 hours. Exceptions may be made for outstanding students who have majored in related fields.

In addition to Graduate School application materials, applicants to the English MA program should submit a 500 word statement of purpose explaining their goals or reasons for pursuing an MA in English as well as their skills, accomplishments, or experience that suggest they will be able to succeed in the program. The English department Master of Arts program accepts applications for admission on an ongoing basis.

Applicants who have earned degrees at institutions in countries in which English is not the native language of instruction must score at least 600 paper-based, or 100 Internet-based on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) Examination, or an overall band score of 7.5 on the IELTS before being admitted to the MA degree program in English.

Academic Advising

All MA candidates in English are advised by the Graduate Coordinator in English. The Coordinator and student establish a plan of study that takes into account the student's interests and future vocational plans. The Graduate Coordinator is available to advise students regarding their degree plans and to sign their registration materials. Graduate student registration materials should be approved only by the Graduate Coordinator or the Department Chairperson. Other kinds of counseling such as that related to more advanced study or career placement can be arranged by appointment with the Graduate Coordinator.

Students must complete 24 hours of credit at Wichita State within the English department. If the credit to be transferred comes from a program in which the student took a graduate degree, the time limits imposed by the Graduate School on other transfers of credit will not apply. Credit for transfer courses will not count toward the required number of courses at the 700 level or above unless the transfer hours are of appropriate level from Kansas Board of Regents institutions.

Plan of Study

In order to define a program of study for a graduate degree, students must submit the Plan of Study form leading to admission to candidacy for the degree no later than the semester following the completion of 12 semester hours of graduate credit or the semester prior to the semester of graduation, whichever comes first. After approval by the Graduate Coordinator, the Plan of Study is submitted to the Graduate School for approval. Students may make changes by filing a Plan of Study marked "Revised Plan," approved by the Graduate Coordinator and the Graduate School.

Lack of Progress Towards Degree

Occasionally students become inactive in the program for a wide variety of reasons. Although we recognize that any number of personal or professional causes might interrupt your studies temporarily, the Graduate School expects to see students making "satisfactory progress" toward completion of a Master's degree within six years. Course work older than 6 years but not 10 years from the time of graduation must be validated if the work was done at WSU. Students who have remained inactive for a significant period of time without remaining in contact with the Graduate Coordinator will be moved to non-degree B status. Students also may be dismissed from a graduate degree program if, in the opinion of the graduate faculty offering the program, they are unable to carry on advanced work or make satisfactory progress toward their degree. Students dismissed for this reason may be transferred to a nondegree category. Should the student wish to return to degree-seeking status at a later date he or she would have to reapply to the program.

Course Revalidation

The purpose of course revalidation is to certify that the student retains sufficient competency in the subject matter to achieve a grade of B or higher (B- is not accepted by the Graduate School) as the course is now taught to warrant crediting the course toward a graduate degree. Appropriate requirements for course revalidation might include producing an annotated bibliography on the topic of the original course paper and revising the original course paper to reflect the current state of scholarship, writing a new paper or papers on course subject matter not to exceed 5,000 words (20 pages), and/or taking a rigorous written exam to demonstrate broad competency on the course content as it would now be taught. If the revalidating professor knows the student well and has strong reason to be confident that the student has current competency in the subject matter (as, for example, in a case where the student has recently been working with the professor on a directly related, good quality thesis), requirements might be modified, substituting, for example, additional thesis research and/or an oral examination for other written assignments. The faculty member and the student should develop a written contract for the methods and standards for revalidation. This contract should be submitted to and approve by the Graduate Coordinator. Graduate courses should only be revalidated by graduate faculty with expertise in the course field.

Revalidation is a courtesy to students, not a duty. Faculty are never obligated to agree to assist a student with course revalidation even if no other faculty member is available. Students always have the option to request an exception to the course time limits from the Graduate School, to retake the class, or to take a new class to substitute for the expired one.

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The MA degree requires 30 credit hours of coursework, including the successful completion of either the Master's Thesis (up to 6 credit hours) or Master's Portfolio (3 credit hours). The Master's Thesis is intended for students interested in an intensive, independent research experience while the Master's Portfolio is intended for students interested in developing documents more reflective of the diverse work they have completed while enrolled in the degree program.

I. Core Courses (15 credits)

All students must complete the following core coursework (15 credits):

1). ENGL 700, Introduction to Graduate Study in English (3 credit hours)

2). 12 credit hours in period courses in literary seminars, of which 6 hours must be in literature before the 20th century and 3 hours must be in literature after the 20th century. Of the 12 credit hours, students must take at least one seminar in British and American literature each.

Our current catalog offers various literary seminars emphasizing key periods in British, American, and Anglophone literature. For our potential offerings, see course descriptions for ENGL 503, 504, 521, 522, 524, 526, 527, 532, 533, 703, 704, 705, 720, 721, 722, 724, 726, 728, 730, 733, and 814.

II. Capstone Projects and Electives (15 credits)

In addition to these core requirements, students must complete an additional 9-12 credit hours in electives and a 3-6 credit hour(s) capstone project, either the Master's Thesis (3-6 credits) or the Master's Portfolio (3 credits). The Master's Thesis is intended for students interested in an intensive, independent research experience while the Master's Portfolio is intended for students interested in developing documents more reflective of the diverse work they have completed while enrolled in the degree program. Electives must be chosen in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator and should reflect the student's professional and/or academic career path. Graduate Teaching Assistants are required to take Engl 780 and Engl 581. Engl 780 can apply to the degree plan as an elective; Engl 581 may not.

Option 1: The Master's Thesis Capstone Project

In addition to the above core requirements, Thesis Students select 9-12 credit hours in elective coursework chosen in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator and must complete 3-6 credit hours of the Master's Thesis (Engl 890); a maximum of 6 hours of Engl 890 can be applied toward the degree. If students opt to complete only 3 credit hours in thesis work, they will make up the additional 3 credit hours in an elective. See the section "Capstone Projects" for more details on the Master's Thesis.

Option 2: The Master's Portfolio Capstone Project

In addition to the above core requirements, Portfolio Students select 12 credit hours in elective coursework chosen in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator and must complete 3 credit hours of the Master's Portfolio (Engl 895); a maximum of 3 hours of Engl 895 can be applied toward the degree. See the section "Capstone Projects" for more details on the Master's Portfolio

III. Foreign Language Requirement

Master's degree candidates in English may fulfill the department's foreign language requirements in any one of the following ways:

1. By submitting a transcript showing the completion with a grade of C- or better of at least 15 hours of undergraduate work in a single foreign language or the equivalent as defined by Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
2. By completing the required 15 hours of undergraduate work in a single foreign language.
3. By taking a test administered by the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature in the elected foreign language, with a successful score determined by the English department.
4. By taking at WSU or submitting a transcript showing completion of 6 hours of Linguistics with a grade of C- or better.

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Master's Thesis

The Master's Thesis is intended to be a demonstration of the student's ability to formulate a problem in literary study, to pursue its solution through appropriate scholarly, critical, and analytical techniques, and to present the results in suitable written form. Although the essay need not be thought of as a publishable contribution to knowledge, it should develop a new interpretation, reinterpret available information, present a new approach to the given material, and/or refute or modify some interpretation(s) previously appearing in print. It must demonstrate the author's ability to assemble and evaluate pertinent materials from primary and secondary sources. In final form the essay must develop a central thesis. The writing must be clear, free from solecisms, and suited to the occasion. The Master's Thesis would normally extend to a length (exclusive of title page, preliminaries, bibliography, appendices, etc.) of 50 to 100 pages and is frequently divided into chapters. Work on a thesis may extend up to 6 credit hours; students who take only one semester or 3 credit hours to complete the thesis should have significant coursework in their area of emphasis. Students are encouraged to use semester breaks and summer as needed for research and academic enrichment, including work on a thesis. However, they should not expect that faculty will be available to guide or evaluate projects during those times. For a suggested timeline for a timely thesis completion, see here.

Preliminary Steps

The candidate may select an essay which he/she has written in an English course granting graduate credit and which he/she feels is worthy of further development, or he/she may select another topic altogether. With the Graduate Coordinator and/or a chosen thesis director (first reader), the candidate will discuss the possibilities of converting such a paper or another topic into a thesis. The Graduate Coordinator is available for consultation regarding the choice of an appropriate faculty director (first reader) for the project. Normally the student should choose a director from whom he/she has taken courses or who is otherwise familiar with the student's work. The student approaches the prospective director, and if that person agrees to serve, the student and the director determine a potential second reader drawn from the English department faculty and third reader drawn from another department of the university. The student approaches and obtains agreement from these two additional readers. Prior to enrollment in English 890 (thesis hours) but after obtaining agreement from a second reader, the candidate will submit to the Graduate Coordinator a prospectus—devised in cooperation with his/her director and second reader—which contains the following information: the name of the student, the director and the second reader, the tentative title, and a 3-5 page research statement explaining a) the research problem, including a clear delimitation of the subject and definitions of important terms; b) the hypothesis or main idea (may be under development at this stage); c) the relations between the project and published scholarship or criticism; and d) a sense of the importance of the project. A preliminary bibliography of primary and secondary sources, including recent and important scholarship must be attached.

After examining the proposal, the Graduate Coordinator will approve or disapprove the project. He/she may also offer specific suggestions about the future development of the essay.

The Director and the Second Reader

The candidate and his/her director will work together to fulfill the requirements for the essay. When the director feels that the essay has been adequately completed, the candidate will submit it to the second reader. Depending on candidate, director, and reader preference, the second reader may review the essay in parts (such as after completion of each chapter) or as a whole. The second reader is empowered to make suggestions which he/she thinks will improve the thesis in terms of any scholarly form, style, content, and/or organization. When the candidate has appropriately addressed the suggestions of the second reader, the essay is ready to be submitted to the third reader, who is also empowered to make suggestions which he/she thinks will improve the scholarly form, style, content, and/or organization of the thesis. Each reader individually may decide whether the defense needs to wait until suggestions are addressed, or whether the defense can go forward while revisions are being completed.

The Full Committee and the Oral Examination

When the director and the second reader accept a version of the essay, the student may apply for a date for his/her final oral examination (though completion of revisions may be required before the defense takes place). The final date to submit a request for an oral defense date is normally a month before the end of the semester. Final dates for completion of the oral examination are available from the Graduate Coordinator, and usually fall approximately two weeks before the end of the semester. No oral examinations will be given during summer session.

Upon receipt of the student's application for an examination date, the Coordinator will confirm a committee to be appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School. The committee consists of the student's Director, the second reader, and the third reader. The examination is open to all members of the faculty and to graduate students in English. The Graduate Coordinator will notify the Graduate School of the date, time, and location of the oral examination.

At least ten days before the scheduled date for the oral examination, the student must submit a typewritten copy of his/her thesis incorporating all revisions to date to each member of his/her committee. (See the Graduate School Bulletin for mechanical requirements). The copies of a thesis presented to the orals committee should be "printer ready," including free from errors. The thesis director will be responsible for the enforcement of this rule.

The candidate will be expected to defend the thesis and to demonstrate knowledge of the areas of learning related to the subject of the thesis. Such knowledge would include extensive acquaintance with appropriate primary and secondary sources such as works of the author(s) studied, biographical and historical detail, the topic's position in literary and intellectual history, and the criticism and scholarship on the topic.

If two members of the committee accept the thesis and approve the candidate's performance in the oral examination, he/she will be granted up to three hours of credit. A unanimous committee vote shall be required before a thesis can be awarded "distinction." Votes by members of an oral examination committee may be cast by secret ballot, if requested by any member of the committee.

Regulations Concerning Rejection of an Essay

If an essay is rejected, the candidate will be advised by his/her committee to carry out one or more of the following suggestions:

1. Do further research and re-write the essay (form and content unacceptable).
2. Re-write the essay (content is satisfactory, but not form).
3. Do further reading in areas related to his/her essay (paper is acceptable, but oral examination is weak).
4. Take additional course work in prescribed areas (he/she is not yet prepared to do the essay properly).

The candidate must wait at least ninety days before re-submitting the essay or retaking his/her oral examination.

A FINAL NOTE: It is the student's responsibility to be aware of and to comply with all deadlines, including the deadline to file for degree, which normally falls very early in the semester in which the degree is to be awarded.

Master's Portfolio

The Master's Portfolio is designed for students interested in developing documents more reflective of the diverse work they have completed while enrolled in our degree program. The portfolio should present the student's best work and be reflective of their course of study. The final portfolio must be ready for faculty review by December 1st for a fall enrollment or May 1^st for a spring enrollment.

Portfolio Contents

Each portfolio must include a title page, a "table of contents" page, and the following documents:

• Self-reflective statement: The self-reflective statement is a 2-3 page, double-spaced narration of the student's trajectory in the program and serves as an introduction to the contents of the portfolio. This statement should include an explanation of the critical practices, disciplinary knowledge, and professional skills the student has gained while in the degree program as evidenced in the material presented within the portfolio.

• Academic Essay: Often a revision of a seminar paper or other written essay produced in prior coursework, the academic essay should be reflective of the writing standards associated with our discipline; it should therefore also offer evidence of the student's familiarity with, and experience in, components of advanced scholarly research. The length of the academic essay will depend on each student's individualized project but must be ten pages (double-spaced) at minimum, including notes and citations. Students who opt to revise a longer academic essay (i.e. the "seminar paper"), typically 15-30 pages double-spaced, may submit a less robust individualized project. Students are encouraged to seek out additional guidance from the faculty mentor(s) if they so choose.

• Individualized Project: The individualized project should be representative of the student's professional and/or academic interests and should reflect work begun, or methodologies explored, in prior coursework. As with the academic essay, the individualized project may vary in content and substance; students thus are encouraged to think carefully about what sample work they select for inclusion, consulting with both the Graduate Coordinator and the faculty mentor(s) before submitting the "Portfolio Approval" form. A few examples of potential projects can be found here.

Portfolio Assessment: The "MA Portfolio Committee"

The "MA Portfolio Committee"—comprised of the graduate coordinator and two faculty mentors (designated as "primary" and "secondary" readers)—will formally review the portfolio, assigning a grade of S/U. The primary and secondary readers should represent faculty whose research areas most closely align with the portfolio's emphases; the primary reader serves as main mentor and can offer guidance regarding the portfolio's completion if the student so chooses. When suitable, the Graduate Coordinator can also serve as primary reader; in such circumstances the remaining faculty mentors both become "secondary readers." Students submit a Portfolio Approval form prior to registering for Portfolio hours which identifies which graduate English faculty will assess the portfolio's contents. The student must confirm with the designated faculty mentors their willingness to assess the portfolio. The assessment rubric is used to guide faculty in their review of the Portfolio but will be used primarily for collecting department assessment data.

Portfolio Timeline

1. Register for portfolio hours prior to the start of the fall or spring semester after an advising session with the graduate coordinator; Portfolio Approfal form is due during advising session. This approval form is a contractual agreement between student and the program regarding the final portfolio's structure; the form also identifies which graduate English faculty will assess the portfolio's contents. The student must confirm with the designated faculty mentors their willingness to assess the portfolio.
2. Meet with the Graduate Coordinator before or by the 20^th day of classes during the semester the student has enrolled in portfolio hours to discuss the portfolio's progress.
3. Complete portfolio due to the Graduate Coordinator by December 1st for a fall enrollment or May 1st for a spring enrollment; electronic submissions are preferred when possible.
4. The MA Portfolio Committee evaluates the portfolio, communicating S/U decision to the portfolio student and registrar by the end of the final grading period. In special circumstances a grade of "Incomplete" may be recommended for a marginal portfolio that requires minor revision for a satisfactory grade.

Directed Readings

English 850 is intended for the qualified student as an opportunity to do further work beyond the regular courses in the Department of English.

In order to undertake a Directed Reading, the student should first discuss with the Graduate Coordinator the suitability of the directed reading for the student's plan of study. If appropriate, the student then solicits the efforts of an instructor who is willing to direct the course. In consultation with that instructor, the student develops a syllabus that includes a statement of purpose, the method of evaluation, and a preliminary bibliography. The student submits the completed syllabus, signed by the proposed instructor, to the Graduate Coordinator for approval. The syllabus must be approved prior to the student's enrollment in English 850 (preferably during the semester preceding the one in which the student intends to enroll). Under most circumstances, no more than one directed reading would be approved as part of a student degree plan.

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