M.A. Concentration in English

Program Requirements

The degree requires a minimum of nine (9) courses, which are divided into two (2) core courses (which includes a capstone course), and seven (7) English elective courses.  Both 800-dual-level and 900-level English graduate courses require additional readings, including works of literacy criticism, and extensive independent research.  As part of the capstone course experience, students are required to pass an oral defense of their master’s thesis for a panel of three (3) faculty members which includes the thesis faculty advisor, the Chair of the English Department, and one other member of the faculty chosen either by the master’s candidate or by the Coordinator of this graduate program.

Core Courses (2)

• ENGL 901 Introduction to Graduate Study in English
• ENGL 985 Master’s Thesis in English (Capstone Course)

Concentration Courses (7)

Students choose seven (7) concentration courses from below. At least two (2) must be at the 900-graduate-level English courses

• ENGL 908 Composition Theory and Pedagogy
• ENGL 920 Contemporary African-American Fiction
• ENGL 924 Contemporary African Literature
• ENGL 929 Salman Rushdie and the Postcolonial Novel
• ENGL 930 Workshop in Children’s Literature
• ENGL 936 Transatlantic Modernism
• ENGL 939 T.S. Eliot and Marianne Moore
• ENGL 942 Children’s Literature: Critical Approaches
• ENGL 946 Young Adult Literature: Critical Approaches
• ENGL 962 Harlem Renaissance Poetry
• ENGL 990 Independent Study in English

      DUAL-LEVEL ELECTIVES (Offered in conjunction with the corresponding undergraduate course)

• ENGL 800 Studies in Genre
• ENGL 804 English Renaissance Literature
• ENGL 809 The Nineteenth-Century European Novel
• ENGL 813 Medieval and Renaissance Drama
• ENGL 814 British Romanticism
• ENGL 817 Rise and Establishment of the English Novel
• ENGL 818 The Nineteenth Century British Novel
• ENGL 822 Studies in British Literature through 1680
• ENGL 826 The Novel and the World
• ENGL 829 The Victorian Period
• ENGL 832 Whitman, Dickinson and Frost
• ENGL 837 Studies in Shakespeare
• ENGL 838 Modern and Contemporary British and Irish Poetry
• ENGL 841 Contemporary Irish Literature
• ENGL 842 Studies in British Literature after 1680
• ENGL 843 Russian Literature in Translation
• ENGL 846 Modern Drama
• ENGL 847 Studies in American Literature
• ENGL 849 Modern American Poetry
• ENGL 852 The Twentieth-Century Novel
• ENGL 853 Contemporary African American Poetry
• ENGL 854 British Fiction since 1945
• ENGL 860 Critical Writing
• ENGL 862 American Romanticism
• ENGL 864 Postcolonial Literature
• ENGL 870 Current Trends in Children's Literature
• ENGL 873 Chaucer
• ENGL 874 American Realism and Naturalism
• ENGL 875 History of Children's Literature
• ENGL 876 Modern American Fiction
• ENGL 879 Studies in World Literature through 1900
• ENGL 883 Contemporary American Fiction
• ENGL 884 Contemporary American Poetry
• ENGL 890 The English Language
• ENGL 896 Seminar in Literature
• ENGL 897 Studies in African American Literature
• ENGL 898 Studies in World Literature after 1900

Having achieved goals and objectives listed above, students will be able to gain an enhanced professional and scholarly identity through a mastery of disciplinary knowledge. Their expertise will allow them to:

1. Articulate one’s own critical and theoretical orientations within historical and contemporary scholarship;

2. Critique the aesthetic effects of specific literary forms with attention to the interplay between content and form;

3. Identify how theoretical and disciplinary issues differ between two or more specialized areas of literary study;

4. Critique the complexity of human experience informed by the representation of gender, sexuality, class, race, religion or ethnicity in literary texts;

5. Manage a large-scale independent thesis project from conception to defense;

6. Prepare for a range of professional pursuits or further graduate study.

Admission Requirements

For candidates who have completed a bachelor’s degree with a major in English:

1. The applicant must complete the online application form and submit the $50.00 deposit.
2. The applicant must have earned a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university;
3. An overall undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.70 on a 4.00 scale in a degree program acceptable to the admissions committee;
4. Must have a GPA of 3.00 or higher in the undergraduate major;
5. A 500-800 word statement of purpose;
6. Three letters of recommendation—at least two must be from English faculty members from Framingham State or the student’s previous institution.
7. A writing sample in one of the following formats: an undergraduate  literature essay; a sample of professional prose; an essay written in response to a writing prompt provided by the English Department admissions committee

For current Framingham State University students with a major in English:

1. The applicant must complete the online application form.
2. The applicant must have earned a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university;
3. An overall undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.70 on a 4.00 scale in a degree program acceptable to the admissions committee;
4. Must have a GPA of 3.00 or higher in the major;
5. A 500-800 word statement of purpose;
6. Three letters of recommendation—at least two must be from English faculty members from Framingham State or the student’s previous institution;
7. An undergraduate literature essay submitted as a writing sample

^{Effective as of the 2023-2024 Graduate Catalog}