Program

The graduate English program covers all areas of English and American literature (including world Anglophone literature) and also offers a concentration in women's and gender studies.

The program is flexible. Students may take courses on a full-time or a part-time basis. They may enter the program on a nonmatriculated basis and later, upon admission, count up to 12 earned credits toward the master's degree.

The literature program requires 30 credits for the degree. Students can meet this requirement by taking 10 3-credit courses, or they can take eight 3-credit courses and an additional 6 credits for a master's thesis. In addition, students must pass a foreign language exam and meet the following distribution requirements:

• completion of 26:350:503 Introduction to Graduate Literary Study (3)
• two courses in literature prior to 1800 (6)
• one course in American literature (3)

Finally, students must pass a comprehensive written exam, based on a core reading list, in order to obtain the degree. Upon approval by the director, students may take part of this exam on an individualized reading list.

Literature students who choose a concentration in women's and gender studies take this area's two core courses: History and Theory of Women's/Gender Studies and Feminist Research and Methods. In addition, they take two courses in the English master's degree program designated for this purpose and meet all other literature requirements.