Program Requirements

The Master of Arts in English with a concentration in Rhetoric & Composition is a non-thesis 32 credit-hour program.

ENG 511 Theory and Research in Composition: This course covers major research and theoretical perspectives on the teaching of writing as well as various research methods. It is required for students appointed as Teaching Assistants in the First-Year Writing Program, as well as all students in the rhetoric and composition concentration, whether they are Teaching Assistants or not.
ENG 514 History of Rhetoric or ENG 516 Rhetorical Criticism: Theory and Practice or ENG 554 Contemporary Rhetorical Theory: These courses cover major issues and concepts in rhetoric from Greek antiquity to contemporary poststructuralism, and applications from public speeches to popular culture to teaching. All are cross-listed in the Department of Communication.
2 additional rhetoric and composition courses: Students can select from such courses as Empirical Research in Composition, Rhetoric of Science and Technology, Visual Rhetoric, Online Information Design and Evaluation; special offerings such as Computers and Composition, Emerging Genres, Writing across the Curriculum, and Writing Program Administration; and the three rhetoric courses listed just above.
1 linguistics course: Linguistics courses provide analytical perspectives on language structure and language change that are important to understanding educational and public uses of language.

2 courses in American, British, or World literature, film studies, or literary theory

ENG 669: Bibliography & Methods, 2 credit hours (fall only; ideally taken in the first semester)
ENG 676: Master’s Project in English, 3 credit hours (taken in the last semester): The master’s "capstone" project should be on a topic that draws from scholarship in the area of rhetoric and composition or that is of clear relevance to the field. It should be conceived to address a specific audience and designed for a specific situation; thus, it could be composed as an article targeting a specific journal or conference; a curriculum plan or teaching materials for a particular instructional agenda; an online resource fulfilling a well defined need; etc. The master’s project should be developed in consultation with faculty in rhetoric and composition and must be approved by the advisor for the concentration.

2 electives selected in consultation with the concentration advisor. These courses may be from rhetoric and composition, linguistics, literature, or other areas within the English Department, or, when appropriate to meet particular goals, from the Department of Communication, Foreign Languages, History, Psychology, the College of Education, or other fields.

MA in English