MA Program Learning Outcomes

Master of Arts in English Mission Statement 

The written word grounds the Master of Arts in English and Comparative Literature. Its students learn to analyze literature and to write on literary topics at an advanced level. Students complete a rigorous program of courses that introduce them to cutting-edge research while training them to understand a range of theoretical and literary-historical frameworks for understanding literature. Before students earn a Master of Arts in English, they pass a two-part comprehensive exam. They also may choose to write a thesis. Students have the option to engage in graduate study in rhetoric and to train as college-level writing teachers. The program also offers students pathways to prepare for doctoral work.

MA in English Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)

1. Students will demonstrate a familiarity with literary history, literary theory, and rhetoric, including an awareness of the structures of power and systems of inequality that shape the historical, sociocultural, ideological, and institutional contexts of literature and literary studies.
2. Students will demonstrate high-level proficiency in literary research and in the synthesis of research.
3. Students will demonstrate critical and analytical skills in close reading, comprehension, interpretation, and evaluation of diverse literatures and authors across a variety of genres.
4. Students will demonstrate a command of written academic English, including the abilities to a) organize and present material in a cogent fashion, b) formulate and defend original arguments, c) employ effectively the language of their discipline and d) write under time constraints.

MA Assessment Schedule