About the Program
The Master of Arts in English program is designed to provide flexibility in meeting individual student interests while ensuring a broad understanding of the significant areas within the professional study of English. The program builds upon students’ undergraduate work in English by offering the opportunity to study several different areas of concentration in depth. It serves as an excellent preparatory program for doctoral-level study in English as well as for careers that require skills such as close reading, textual analysis, critical thinking, and effective written communication.
About the English Department
208 Ketchum Hall
1300 Elmwood Ave
Buffalo, NY 14222
Phone: (716) 878-5417
Fax:
https://english.buffalostate.edu/
Admission Requirements
1. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (4.0 scale) in English and 2.75 overall.
2. 36 credit hours in English, at least 27 of which must be in English literature, exclusive of basic college writing.
3. Students must demonstrate competency in written English by submitting a writing sample of their best academic work. Students for whom English is an alternate language are required to submit evidence of passing TOEFL scores, as required by the SUNY system for international students.
In addition, all applicants should review the Admission to a Graduate Program section in this catalog.
Learning Outcomes
Students will:
1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the periods, genres, and major writers of British and American literature, and an awareness of the various critiques and revisions of this literature’s canon.
2. Demonstrate familiarity with major movements or writers of literatures in English outside British and American literature, and be able to place that literature within worldwide cultural and literary trends.
3. Describe and explain how the literature is affected by cultural and historical forces.
4. Analyze how ideas and attitudes about race, class, gender, nationhood, age, religion, and sexuality evolved through various periods of literary study.
5. Produce quality written work reflecting the conventions of the field, including current MLA format, marked by high standards of clarity, coherence, organization and substantiation, and of various types including literary analysis/criticism, professional writing, research/scholarly writing, and informal/reflective writing.
6. Conduct both library and online research, by identifying and differentiating among various research methodologies.
7. Evaluate critical scholarship about literature, and integrate criticism into written and oral discussions of texts under study.
8. Write research papers that contribute new perspectives on current scholarly and methodological debates.
Program Requirements
Required Courses (18 credit hours) *1
ENG 601 RESEARCH IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE 3
Select one from the following: 3
ENG 644 IDEOLOGY AND LITERATURE
ENG 645 LITERATURE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
ENG 652 LITERARY CRITICISM
At least 3 credit hours in British Literature 3
At least 3 credit hours in American Literature 3
At least 3 credit hours in non-American, non-British literature 3
At least 3 credit hours in linguistics or genre study (ENG 639 or ENG 670) 3
Comprehensive Examination (0 credit hours)
Comprehensive examination required for all students, 0 credit hours, to be taken after the completion of at least 24 credit hours. 0
Elective Courses (12 credit hours) *1
In English or other academic areas, selected under advisement. Students are not required to produce a Master's Thesis or Master's Project, but if they choose either option, they must apply for permission from the department the term prior to beginning thesis or project work and be approved to undertake these options. 12
Total Credit Hours 30
*1 Selected under advisement.
Language Requirement
Prior to the completion of 18 credit hours, students must demonstrate competence in one foreign language, as well as in written and oral English. This requirement may be fulfilled by submitting high school transcripts reflecting two years of a foreign language with a grade of B or higher, or by submitting college transcripts reflecting two semesters of a foreign language with a grade of B or higher.