MA in English
The department, which is internationally known for its innovative undergraduate curriculum in English and Textual
Studies (ETS), also has one of the most intellectually versatile graduate programs in the country. Recognizing the
complex discipline that "English" has become in the contemporary university and in today's society, our graduate program
is organized around critical studies of history, aesthetics, and politics. We have particular strengths in early modern
literature, Victorian culture, American studies, and film, but cover other areas as well, and our outstanding faculty
all share a strong interest in literary history and forms, critical theory, and cultural studies. The particular specializations
of our diverse faculty thus allow for both continuity and flexibility in the work that students can do while in the
program.
The MA degree, which requires 30 hours of coursework (typically, ten courses), is designed to encourage intellectual
discovery, giving students opportunities to question the boundaries of the discipline as well as to prepare for future
doctoral work by becoming versed in traditional fields of study. Students take an introduction to critical theory
in their first semester and a course concentrating on a mode of inquiry or reading practice in their second semester.
This required sequence is intended to help focus their other course work and to heighten its underlying theoretical
or methodical interconnections. To complete the degree, students submit and defend a dossier of three papers, initially
written for their courses and revised in light of the dossier's presentation as a culminating work.
Ph.D. in English
The Department's historical commitment to interdisciplinary study and to interpretive approaches founded in history,
politics, and theory informs a graduate curriculum emphasizing the close study of British and American literatures
and cultures within or across national boundaries. Faculty and graduate student research reflects the special
strengths of the department in early modern studies, U.S. literary studies, Victorian literature, and film and visual
culture.
The signature of the Syracuse Ph.D. program is close collaboration between individual students and their faculty
mentors in the context of a dynamic community of faculty and students whose scholarship is at the very center of the
Department's intellectual life. Small proseminars and advanced seminars, designed to develop both breadth and
depth of knowledge, offer students intensive intellectual engagement with members of the faculty. The Department's
extensive programming brings graduate students together with distinguished faculty in both English and Creative
Writing in a variety of formal and informal settings.
PhD Program Requirements and Schedule:
- Introduction to Critical Theory (ENG 631)
- Graduate pro-seminar breadth requirement (ENG 630):
ENG 630 courses are reserved for general introductions to a field or period and serve as helpful introductory
background to a variety of ENG 730 course. “A comprehensively defined field or period” means a field or
period tagged to primary hiring rubrics in the discipline of English and to customary exam fields. To fulfill the graduate
pro-seminar requirement, students will need to take at least one pro-seminar from each of the two divisions (British
and American Literature and Culture). To fulfill the graduate pro-seminar requirement, students will need to take at
least one pro-seminar from each of the two divisions (British and American Literature and Culture).
- During the first two years of coursework, students will be required to take at least three graduate pro-seminars
(630) and three graduate seminars (730), in addition to other electives that will comprise the minimum number of cumulative
hours.
- Ph.D., students may take up to two courses outside of the English Department. (Note: “Scheduled Courses” are
defined as classes taught by faculty that are offered with course descriptions in the Graduate Program brochure and
on our website. These courses are numbered 630 or 730 within the Department. However, courses offered outside the Department
will have different numbers.)
For a more detailed version of the requirements for the Ph. D. Program, Click Here.
Links to Documents and Forms (all in Adobe pdf format):
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