English Graduate Program

Student Learning Outcomes

The M.A. in English is an intensive graduate program that facilitates the career advancement and intellectual development of teachers, future Ph.D.s, and lifelong learners in a community environment where students and faculty motivate and inspire one another. The degree emphasizes the study of literature, while embracing the diversity of English studies. Students are able to take courses in creative writing, composition and rhetoric, linguistics, and digital writing.  

• By completion of the M.A. in English, students will demonstrate knowledge of various forms of written texts (including fiction, poetry, drama, essay, and other literary genres); major periods in the history of English, American, and world literature in terms of cultural contexts, styles, dominant genres, language, and subject matter.  
• By completion of the M.A. in English, students will also exhibit the ability to apply various critical perspectives toward a variety of texts and to use standard reference tools, methods, and forms of documentation used in scholarly research.  
• By completion of the M.A. in English, students will be able to present orally the findings of research and critical analysis; write research papers and critical analyses on appropriate topics from language, composition, literature, or pedagogy; produce publishable level of critical, creative, and/or pedagogical materials; sustain a high standard of written expression in lengthy critical or creative works; and demonstrate synthesizing skills through a comprehensive final examination.  

The Student Learning Outcomes have been modified more specifically for the Continuous Improvement reports and appear as four student learning outcomes:  

• The student will synthesize texts, genres, nationalities, and major periods of literary history from their program of study in oral and written forms;  
• The student will demonstrate the ability to identify, assess, and critique scholarly work from a variety of critical perspectives and sources;  
• The student will demonstrate an ability to produce scholarly or original creative work in English Studies acceptable for presentation or publication in an appropriate scholarly venue. Student work will demonstrate use of appropriate research tools and mastery of documentation; and  
• The student will demonstrate the ability to speak in a specific, organized, concrete, professional, and coherent fashion about the works on his/her Oral Comprehensive Exam Reading List.