University Catalog 2024-2025

English (MA): Literature Concentration

Degree Requirements

Research Component Courses6
Literature, Methods, and the Profession 1
Master's Project in English 2
Distribution Requirement Courses12
Select one course from each of the following four areas listed under "Distribution Requirement Courses" listed below
Literature Elective Courses9
Select three literature courses approved in conjunction with the academic committee 3
Open Elective Courses6
Select two elective courses in English or complementary fields of study approved in conjunction with the academic committee 4
Global Perspective Requirement (Co-Requisite)
See "Global Perspective Requirement" for details below
Total Hours33
1

ENG 669 is required in the first semester

2

ENG 676 is required in the final semester

3

Students may elect to explore broadly or to focus their coursework in an area of special interest.

4

Electives may be chosen from English or from complementary fields of study. TAs may count ENG 624 as an elective.

Distribution Requirement Courses

Select one course from each of the following areas listed below:

British Literature before 1600

ENG 509Old English Literature3
ENG 510Middle English Literature3
ENG 52916th-Century Non-Dramatic English Literature3
ENG 53017th-Century English Literature3
ENG 551Chaucer3
ENG 558Studies In Shakespeare3
ENG 561Milton3
ENG 578English Drama To 16423
ENG 582Studies in Literature (when topic applies)3

British Literature after 1600

ENG 550British Romantic Period3
ENG 560British Victorian Period3
ENG 56218TH-Century English Literature3
ENG 56318TH-Century English Novel3
ENG 564Victorian Novel3
ENG 57020TH-Century British Prose3
ENG 57120TH-Century British Poetry3
ENG 572Modern British Drama3
ENG 579Restoration and 18th-Century Drama3
ENG 582Studies in Literature3

American Literature

ENG 531American Colonial Literature3
ENG 548African-American Literature3
ENG 555American Romantic Period3
ENG 565American Realism and Naturalism3
ENG 573Modern American Drama3
ENG 575Southern Writers3
ENG 57620TH-Century American Poetry3
ENG 57720th-Century American Prose3
ENG 580Literary Postmodernism3
ENG 582Studies in Literature3

Rhetoric, Linguistics, Composition, Film Studies, Criticism or Theory

ENG 505Writing Program Administration: Theory, Practice, and Research3
ENG 511Theory and Research In Composition3
ENG 513Empirical Research In Composition3
ENG 514History Of Rhetoric3
ENG 515Rhetoric Of Science and Technology3
ENG 516Rhetorical Criticism: Theory and Practice3
ENG 523Language Variation Research Seminar3
ENG 524Introduction to Linguistics3
ENG 525Variety In Language3
ENG 528Sociophonetics3
ENG 532Narrative Analysis3
ENG 533Bilingualism and Language Contact3
ENG 534Quantitative Analysis in Sociolinguistics3
ENG 536Research Methods in Phonology3
ENG 540History Of Literary Criticism3
ENG 541Literary and Cultural Theory3
ENG 554Contemporary Rhetorical Theory3
ENG 580Literary Postmodernism3
ENG 581Visual Rhetoric: Theory and Criticism3
ENG 582Studies in Literature3
ENG 583Studies In Rhetoric and Writing3
ENG 584Studies In Linguistics3
ENG 585Studies In Film3
ENG 586Studies In Theory3
ENG 591Studies in National Cinemas3
ENG 592Special Topics in Film Styles and Genres1-6

Global Perspective Requirement

The Global Perspectives requirement is intended to provide students with a greater understanding of language structure and a globalizing perspective on texts and culture. Student may fulfill this requirement in one of two ways:

  1. Demonstrate language proficiency (by meeting one of the following options):
    1. Taking a reading exam administered by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. The Foreign Language Department offers optional preparatory courses for students planning to take the reading exam: FLS 401 Spanish Graduate Reading, FLF 401 French Graduate Reading, FLG 401 German Graduate Reading.  
    2. Enrolling in and passing with a C- or better a 300-400 level course taught in the language (not translation).*
    3. Having an undergraduate major or minor in a foreign language within the past five years.*
    4. Speaking a language other than English as your first language.*
  2. Take a World Literature course or an approved alternative.  This course will typically count toward the degree as a literature or unrestricted elective, but there may be some instances in which the course can fulfill a core requirement.

If you’re considering doctoral work in literary study, we encourage you to consult with your advisor. In some cases, certifying language proficiency via reading exam may help satisfy a doctoral language requirement later on.

*

To document language proficiency via option B, C or D, contact the Graduate Services Coordinator.

Faculty

  • Christopher M. Anson
  • William Wilton Barnhardt
  • Barbara A. Bennett
  • Belle McQuaide Boggs
  • Kirsti Karra Cole
  • Eduardo C. Corral
  • Huiling Ding
  • Robin M. Dodsworth
  • Marsha Gabrielle Gordon
  • Jennifer Marie Hessler
  • Hans Dodds Kellner
  • Dorianne Louise Laux
  • Christopher Lindgren
  • Leila S. May
  • LaTanya Denise McQueen
  • Jeffrey Ingle Mielke
  • Jason Miller
  • John D. Morillo
  • James S. Mulholland
  • Miriam E. Orr
  • Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi
  • Jeffrey Leo Reaser
  • Laura Ruth Severin
  • Carter Sickels
  • Jason Swarts
  • Justin Tackett
  • Anu Thapa
  • Erik R. Thomas
  • John N. Wall Jr.
  • Walter A. Wolfram
  • Anne Baker
  • Agnes Bolonyai
  • Helen Jane Burgess
  • Christopher James Crosbie
  • Marc K. Dudley
  • Casie J. Fedukovich
  • Paul Camm Fyfe
  • Andrew Robert Johnston
  • Jennifer Anne Nolan
  • Stacey L. Pigg
  • David M. Rieder
  • Margaret Simon
  • Timothy Linwood Stinson
  • Douglas M. Walls
  • Rebecca Ann Walsh
  • Zachary Charles Beare
  • Ronisha Witlee Browdy
  • Sumita Chakraborty
  • Maya L. Kapoor
  • Michelle McMullin
  • Cadwell Turnbull
  • Josie Torres Barth
  • Brian Blackley
  • Anna Marie Gibson-Knowles
  • John J. Kessel
  • James Robert Knowles
  • Jill Collins McCorkle
  • Joseph H. Millar
  • John Paul Stadler
  • Barbara Joan Baines
  • John Balaban
  • James M. Grimwood
  • Antony Howard Harrison
  • Philip E. Blank Jr.
  • Michael P. Carter
  • David H. Covington
  • Robert S. Dicks
  • James W. Clark Jr.
  • Angela Mackie Davis-Gardner
  • Jack D. Durant
  • Joseph A. Gomez
  • Charlotte Gross
  • Linda T. Holley
  • Deborah Hooker
  • Marvin Hunt
  • Susan M. Katz
  • John J. Kessel
  • Margaret Fontaine King
  • Robert C. Kochersberger
  • Lucinda H. MacKethan
  • Walter E. Meyers
  • Carolyn Rae Miller
  • Catherine E. Moore
  • Devin A. Orgeron
  • Ann M. Penrose
  • Carmine A. Prioli
  • Dick J. Reavis
  • Sharon M. Setzer
  • Judy Jo Small
  • Lee Smith
  • Jean J. Smoot
  • Allen Frederick Stein
  • Jon F. Thompson
  • Mary Helen Thuente
  • Robert V. Young Jr.
  • Catherine A. Warren
  • Harry C. West