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Revised critical work should incorporate the following elements as deemed appropriate by the advising faculty member:

• Writing. The student significantly improves upon structure and style.
• Research. The student expands engagement with secondary research.
• History. The student deepens the historical context.
• Theory. The student develops the theoretical context.
• Contribution to the discipline. The student provides an expanded sense of how the paper intervenes in its field.
• Other suggestions from the advising faculty member.

Revised creative work should incorporate the following as deemed appropriate by the advising faculty member:

• Style. The student revises syntax, diction and grammar for rhetorical effect; sentences should do what they mean.
• Structure. The student revises the form to create a sense of tightness and alignment with the other layers of craft, including sentence style, imagery, tension, etc.
• Elements of genre. The student revises scenes, dialogue, characterization, figurative language, imagery, etc., with an eye toward precision and detail.
• Tension. The student strengthens conflict through the modification of pacing; this aspect, too, aligns with other layers of craft, including structure, style, imagery, etc.
• Insight. The student develops overall themes of the piece in order to illuminate the human condition.
• Other suggestions from the advising faculty member.

The Portfolio must contain the following:

• A table of contents.
• A five- to six-page reflective introduction. In this introduction, the student should provide an account of his or her growth as a reader, writer and scholar since beginning the M.A. program. The student should describe his or her trajectory within the program, as well as the critical, creative or methodological skills gained along the way. It should describe the contents of the portfolio, explaining the revisions made and how they broadened the student’s knowledge of the subject matter or craft.
• The revised work.
• Original versions of the work submitted for class (not included in overall page count).
• A curriculum vitae or resume (in consultation with portfolio advisor, the student should tailor the document to a specific post-degree goal—for example, publication of creative work, professional writing, teaching, publishing or further graduate study).

Purely creative portfolios must contain the following additional materials:

• A two-page statement including a one-sentence biographical statement, a one-paragraph biographical statement and a statement of publication objectives for work included in the portfolio.
• A one-page sample cover letter suitable for active submission.

Students who complete a portfolio will submit revised projects from two previously completed graduate courses. They should ask the faculty members who taught those courses to serve as their co-advisors on the portfolio. If the same faculty member taught both courses in which the student completed the projects, the student will have only one portfolio advisor.

In consultation with their portfolio co-advisors, students should choose an additional English and Interdisciplinary Studies department faculty member to serve on their portfolio committee (or, when one faculty member oversees both project revisions, the student should choose two additional English and Interdisciplinary Studies department faculty members to serve on their committee). Because the student will be examined on coursework as well as questioned about the project during the oral exam, it is essential that the committee members not all be drawn from the same content area. Rather, the three committee members must represent at least two of the following three content areas: 1) British literature; 2) American literature and 3) rhetoric, writing or theory.

Upon securing the portfolio advisor(s), the student should begin working on the portfolio, submitting drafts and revising accordingly. When the portfolio is near completion, the student should take steps to schedule the oral exam. The student should schedule the oral exam well in advance to accommodate committee members’ schedules. The oral exam must be completed by the Graduate School’s capstone component deadline.

The student should submit hard copies of the portfolio to all committee members at least ten working days prior to the oral exam. Along with the project, the student must also provide committee members with hard copies of a detailed reading list based on coursework taken. To assist with the completion of the reading list, the student should save copies of syllabi from all courses taken.

Students who choose the portfolio option must register for a total of two credits of ENGL 788: Master’s Research Problems/Projects, one with each of their co-advisors. They should do so during the semester in which they are completing the portfolio. Students will be evaluated on the completion of their project revisions. In situations where one faculty member taught both courses in which the student completed the projects to be revised for the portfolio, the student should register for both research credits with that faculty member.

A student who chooses the thesis option must, in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator, identify a thesis advisor before the end of the second semester in the program. The student should work with a faculty member whose area of specialization relates to the thesis project or who is familiar with the subject matter of the thesis. To ensure this, students should choose a thesis topic that relates to an available faculty member’s area of interest and/or knowledge. A student who chooses a thesis topic outside of the area of interest and/or knowledge of any available faculty member may be required to change the thesis topic.

In consultation with the thesis advisor, the student should put together a thesis committee, which will consist of three English faculty members (including the thesis advisor), as well as a graduate faculty representative from outside the department (assigned by the Graduate School). Whenever possible, the two additional English and Interdisciplinary Studies department faculty committee members should have some knowledge of or familiarity with the subject matter of the student’s thesis; however, because the student will be examined on coursework as well as questioned about the thesis during the oral exam, it is essential that the committee members not all be drawn from the same content area. Rather, the three committee members must represent at least two of the following three content areas: 1) British literature; 2) American literature and 3) rhetoric, writing or theory.

As soon as the thesis committee is formed, the student must submit the Advisory Committee Request Form to the Graduate School so that they can assign a graduate faculty representative. This form can be found from the Graduate School.

Before beginning a thesis project, students must submit a thesis proposal to their committee. Students should adhere to the following guidelines while completing the thesis proposal:

• A student must not begin work on the thesis project until a thesis proposal has been approved by the thesis committee. All thesis projects must be written in one of the two formats approved by the English and Interdisciplinary Studies department: 1) the critical thesis or 2) the creative thesis.
• Before beginning the proposal, the student must secure an advisor for the thesis project. See “Choosing a Thesis Advisor” above. In consultation with the thesis advisor and well in advance of the proposal presentation, the student must organize the remainder of the thesis committee, which includes filing the necessary paperwork with the Graduate School and securing a graduate faculty representative. See “Forming the Thesis Committee” above.
• The student must develop the thesis proposal using the appropriate Thesis Proposal Form. The student should work closely with the thesis advisor to develop the proposal and revise it as needed. Once the thesis advisor believes the proposal is of a quality that will meet with approval, the student should schedule the thesis proposal presentation and provide hard copies of the proposal to the other committee members, including the graduate faculty representative. The proposal presentation is an hour-long meeting during which the student presents his or her proposal to the committee, answers the committee’s questions and receives the committee’s feedback. The committee should receive hard copies of the proposal at least ten working days prior to the scheduled proposal presentation.
• Though they may do so, the three additional committee members are not required to evaluate drafts of the proposal prior to its submission for the proposal presentation. All interactions between the student and the additional committee members must be conducted through and with the approval of the thesis advisor.
• Committee members must indicate their approval of the thesis proposal by signing the thesis proposal form where indicated. The committee may not sign until the student has completed the proposal as required and formally presented it to the committee in person.
• After the proposal has been approved by the committee members, the thesis advisor must submit a clean copy of the proposal with the signatures of the committee included to the English and Interdisciplinary Studies department Graduate Coordinator.
• The student should have completed the thesis proposal presentation by the beginning of the third semester in the program.
• A student may not present the thesis proposal and defend the thesis during the same semester.

Once the proposal has been approved by the committee, the student should begin working on the thesis, submitting drafts to the thesis advisor and revising accordingly. Once the student and thesis advisor agree that the thesis will be completed within the current semester, the student should apply for graduation. When the thesis advisor believes the thesis has reached the final stage of completion and is of a quality acceptable for the awarding of the M.A., the student should take steps to schedule the oral exam. The student must submit the form to schedule the oral exam to the Graduate School at least ten working days prior to the oral exam. The forms the student will need to apply for graduation and schedule the oral exam can be found from the Graduate Schools.

The student should submit hard copies of the thesis to all committee members at least ten working days prior to the oral exam. Along with the thesis, the student must also provide committee members with hard copies of a detailed reading list based on coursework taken (see “Reading List” guidelines below). To assist with the completion of the reading list, the student should save copies of syllabi from all courses taken.

Around the time of the oral exam, the student should electronically submit a copy of the thesis to the Graduate School for a format check. Once the thesis is accepted and the oral exam is passed, the student should make any changes recommended by the committee and the Graduate School before submitting the final copy, which must also be submitted to the Graduate School electronically. Throughout this process, the student must be mindful of the deadlines set by the Graduate School, including deadlines for the graduation application, the oral exam, the format check and the submission of the final copy of the thesis. These deadlines, along with guidelines for formatting and submitting the thesis, can be found on the Graduate Schools.

A student must register for English 798: Thesis with their thesis advisor each semester they are working on their thesis project. Before the start of the semester, the student must inform the Graduate Coordinator of their intention to register for English 798, identify their thesis advisor and specify the number of credits for which they would like to be registered. The Graduate Coordinator will put in a registration request to the Department Head. The Graduate Coordinator will then contact the thesis advisor to discuss where the student is in the program along with reasonable expectations for the work to be completed that semester and will send a separate reminder to both the advisor and the student to document a plan of work for the semester.

According to Graduate School policy, the student and their advisor must document a plan of work at the start of each semester during which the student is registered for English 798. The plan must clearly indicate the minimal amount of work the student must complete to receive a satisfactory grade, but may also articulate goals beyond this minimal amount of work. The minimal work required will be informed by the discussion held between the Graduate Coordinator and thesis advisor and will depend upon where the student is in the program and what should be considered acceptable progress for that student’s particular situation. The thesis advisor and student should document and agree to the plan of work in writing and submit it to the Graduate Coordinator by the end of the drop/add period. At the end of the semester, the thesis advisor should assess the student’s progress based on the agreed-upon plan of work, assigning either a grade of “S” (“Satisfactory”) or “U” (“Unsatisfactory”).

According to Graduate School policy, students receiving two consecutive “U” grades in English 798: Thesis are subject to dismissal from the program; decisions regarding dismissal are made by the department.

Graduate students who choose the written exam option should identify an exam advisor with the assistance of the Graduate Coordinator. With the exam advisor’s assistance, the student will then identify two more English and Interdisciplinary Studies department faculty members to sit on the exam committee. The exam committee will consist of three members, and at least one member must be drawn from each of the following two areas: 1) literature and 2) writing and rhetoric/composition/theory. Whenever possible, the committee members will be instructors with whom the student has completed coursework.

At the beginning of the semester of degree completion, the student should work with their exam advisor and additional committee members to schedule the written and oral exams. The student must apply for graduation before the Graduate School’s graduation application deadline for that semester.

The student and exam advisor should follow these guidelines in planning for and scheduling the written and oral exams:

• The oral exam should be held at least a week prior to the Graduate School’s capstone component completion deadline in order to give the student time to retake or revise any portion of the written exam he or she does not pass. (Note: the capstone component deadline is different from the oral exam deadline for thesis students).
• The student must submit a detailed reading list based on all of his or her coursework to the exam committee no later than eight weeks prior to their intended oral exam date. The committee members will use this reading list to prepare the exam questions. To assist with the development of these exam questions, the student should be prepared to submit syllabi from the courses listed to committee members upon request. For this reason, it is essential that students save the syllabi from all of the courses they take during their time in the program.
• The student’s exam advisor will collect the committee’s exam questions and provide them to the student six weeks prior to the date of the oral exam.
• The student will have four weeks to complete the written exam.
• The student must submit the completed written exam to the exam committee at least two weeks before the oral exam date.

During the oral exam, Option C students will respond to questions about and/or provide clarification on their written exam responses, as well as converse with the committee regarding the coursework included in their plan of study more generally.