Hattiesburg
The Department of Language and Literature provides a strong academic curriculum and excellent instruction enriched with Christian values for students of all backgrounds to achieve their highest potential in scholarship. The Master of Arts(M.A.) in English extends the under-graduate curriculum and offers expanded study in language, literature, composition theory and practice, literary theory and criticism, literary history, cultural studies, and readings in diverse texts. Students in the program are expected to write with a high degree of accuracy, effectiveness, and fluency. The program will give emphasis to bibliographical study and research techniques at an advanced level. Students will be given the opportunity to read critically and appreciatively in the best of the world’s literatures.
Master’s level study in English, including required competence in a foreign language, prepares students for a variety of possible careers, including doctoral level study/research and college level teaching. In addition to graduate study and community college teaching, graduate study in English can lead to careers in publishing, professional writing, library work, and government service, as well as study and work in law and the ministry. Students may choose between thesis and non-thesis options in the planned curriculum, depending on interest in research, focus, and possibilities for further study.
Curriculum
A minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate work in English is required for the M.A. degree. The degree offers thesis(24 hours of course work plus 6 hours of thesis) and nonthesis ( 30 hours of course work) options, giving students increased flexibility and research opportunities. A required course for all students in the M.A. program focuses on bibliography and research methods with special attention to reference tools and practical application. Bibliographic inquiry, textual questions, data retrieval, and study in literary theory are included. The course serves as an introduction to the program and to graduate 232 study in English. A second required course for all students includes study in the history of the English language. Other courses may be selected from the graduate course list which will are generally offered on a two-year rotation schedule. In the last trimester of enrollment, candidates for the M.A. in English who elect the non-thesis option must take written comprehensive examinations based on course work; students who elect the thesis option must take an oral exam which will include a defense of the thesis.
