Marshall University
Department of English
Graduate Program
M.A. in English

The Department of English offers a course of graduate study leading to the degree of Master of Arts.  Marshall University operates on the semester system, and full or part-time schedules are possible.  Entering students should have an undergraduate major in English or a satisfactory concentration in language and literature.  Students may be provisionally admitted to the M.A. program in English without having taken the GRE exam, but to receive full admission, they must take the GRE during the first semester of enrollment in the program.

Graduate courses in English provide detailed consideration of authors, literary types, literary and cultural theory, composition and rhetoric, linguistics and creative writing.  Students are expected to acquire a broad acquaintance with the whole range of English and American literature and the English language; to acquire a basic knowledge of the terms and methods of literary theory; and to become thoroughly familiar with the forms of literature, critical standards, and materials and methods of research.  Currently, students may choose to specialize in literary study, creative writing, or other options as available through relevant courses, including linguistics and composition and rhetoric.  The department also offers two graduate certificate programs, one in Creative Writing and another in Medieval and Renaissance Studies.