Advice for Graduating Master's Candidates

Eric Kuha | April 2007

There are five basic things that need to be done in order to graduate with a Master's degree at BSU. In order to make sure you have completed everything you need to graduate, look at each of these items separately.

Course Work

Refer to the Graduate Catalogue for specific information regarding course work that needs to be completed. It's slightly different for the MA and the MS degrees.

Foreign Language

You're going to need to show that you can read a second language by either taking two full years of college-level course work in a language other than English or by completing a standardized second-year examination.

If your native language is not English, you can petition the Graduate Studies Office to use that language in order to fullfill this requirement.

Application for Graduation

File an Application for Graduation with the Dean of Graduate Studies during the first week of the semester in which you plan to graduate. This form can be obtained at the Graduate office. The application provides a form for nominating members of the Oral Examination Committee.

Written Comprehensive Examination

Here is where you are given the opportunity to show off what you've learned. You'll be asked to demonstrate your knowledge in a wide range of areas. You'll have to choose three areas in which you will be examined.

The exam is taken in three parts.
All parts will be taken in one semester. This can be a summer semester if faculty are available.
Usually this is done during your last semester of course work or shortly after.
You can take it while you're working on your thesis, but according to the Graduate Studies Requirements, the oral defense of the thesis cannot be scheduled until the written comprehensive examination has been passed.
Make arrangements for your comprehensive exam early in the academic year to make sure that faculty will be available.
It's your responsibility to arrange the comprehensive exam. Work closely with your advisors in selecting areas of examination and faculty examiners.

Coverage

You will be required to select three areas of study from the following list

British Literature
American Literature
World Literature
Literature by Genre
Literature by Period
Linguistics/English Language
Literary Criticism
Composition/Rhetoric and Pedagogy

For each area, choose a graduate faculty member with expertise in that area to act as an examiner. Select three faculty. Selected faculty will work with you to develop the exam question or questions for that area, and to set the date, time, and procedures for that section of the exam. Common procedures include open-book timed writing (3-4 hours), or a take-home paper.

The three faculty members representing the three areas selected by the student will form the Comprehensive Reading Committee.

Each section of the exam will be read and evaluated by the faculty member who wrote the question. Completed exams will be held by one member of the Reading Committee until all three sections are taken before being passed on for review by the full Reading Committee. When all the exams are completed, the Reading Committee will meet to determine your overall score.

Each exam must pass the entire Reading Committee by consensus. All three sections of the exam must receive a pass.

The student receives a score of

Pass with honors
Pass
No pass

A letter stating your performance on the comprehensive exam will be sent.

If a you don't pass an area of the exam, the Reading Committee will determine what steps you will need to take in order to pass the exam.

Thesis

This is something that you should be seriously thinking about toward the end of your first year. The thesis is worth six-credits and is required of all students graduating with a Master's Degree.

At least three months before you plan to graduate, submit a prospectus of your proposed thesis to the Chairperson of the English Department Graduate Committee. Include a short bibliography and the name of a proposed thesis advisor (who must be a member of the graduate faculty).

Each member of your committee must see your thesis as it progresses, throughout its generation. Committee members need to be given enough time to read it in order to suggest changes and revisions that will almost definitely need to be made. The primary work and discussion of the thesis should be done with the thesis advisor.

Theses must follow the current MLA Style Sheet.

Creative Thesis Option

If you're going to write a creative thesis, your proposal should describe a coherent literary work as well as a critical discussion of your work in relation to contemporary form and theory of poetry or fiction. Include a sample of your past creative work in your prospectus.

The Oral Defense and the Oral Defense Committee

Oral examinations are open to the university community and are announced on the Faculty/Staff Listserv each week. At the discretion of the committee chair, visitors may ask you questions regarding the topic. However, evaluation of your oral examination by your committee is closed to the public.

You're going to select your oral defense committee based on Graduate Studies Requirements, as follows:

Your oral examination committee must consist of your advisor and at least two additional members of the graduate faculty. The advisor will serve as chair of the committee. You are encouraged to have a member from outside the program/department to serve on the committee. A member of the graduate faculty-at-large will be appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies to serve as a procedural observer and a non-voting participant in the oral examination.

Please consult the Graduate Studies Requirements (PDF) for complete information on the selection of the committee members.

You, in consultation with your committee, will arrange the date, time, and place of the oral examination.