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MA Comprehensive Exam

Culminating Activities for Students Using Old (pre-Spring 2012) MA Requirements

Students who started their MA program in English prior to the Spring 2012 term and have been continuously enrolled may choose to use the old MA culminating activities to complete their degree requirements.

For more information on the old MA culminating activities, click here.

Resources

Adobe Acrobat Logo MA Culminating Activities booklet

Adobe Acrobat Logo Completing the 2-Unit Thesis/Project

University Library: Thesis and Project Guidelines

Office of Graduate Studies and Research

English MA Comprehensive Exam

The MA Comprehensive Exam in English can be taken in any one of the following exam areas:

American Literature

Beginnings to 1860
1860-1914
1914 to present

British Literature

Medieval
Renaissance
Restoration and Eighteenth Century
Nineteenth Century
Twentieth Century

World Literature in Translation

Classical
Middle Ages-1600
1600-1800
1800-1900
1900-1945
1945-Present

Postcolonial and Anglophone Literatures (1947 to present)

Composition, Rhetoric, and Language

At least two quarters before they sit for the Comprehensive Exam, students must select their examination area and inform the Graduate Studies Committee of their choice.

Students will write two three-hour exams: one exam on a historical period selected from the list above and one exam on a specific text from the same historical period selected in advance by the Graduate Studies Committee in consultation with faculty members specializing in the period.

Students opting to take the Comprehensive Exam in the Rhetoric, Composition and Language area will write two three-hour exams: one exam derived from readings on the Rhetoric and Composition list and one exam derived from readings on the Language and Literacy list.

Students are allowed three attempts to pass each part of the Comprehensive Exam. NOTE: Once a Comprehensive Exam is attempted, students cannot make a program change to another culminating activity.

A passing exam will demonstrate a student’s ability to convey a deep understanding of a particular period or area and to develop sophisticated textual analyses.

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Last Update: 04/12/2013