The English Department offers two M.A. programs designed for students with differing educational needs: the Master of Arts in English and the Master of Arts in English/712. The M.A. program in English serves those who wish to expand their understanding of literature or composition, those who wish to prepare themselves for teaching English on the secondary or two-year college level, and those who wish to proceed to the doctorate. Both the Master of Arts in English program and the Master of Arts in English/712 program serve students preparing for certification on the secondary level; students in both programs may choose concentrations in literature or in composition studies. All students are eligible to take all courses (with whatever prerequisites may be listed). Most courses are "studies in" particular themes, genres, historical periods, or critical approaches; topics may vary and are announced during the preceding semester, and students may elect the same course twice if the topic is different. All courses must be on the 700 level unless the program coordinator permits a 600-level course to be counted toward the number of courses in English required for the degree. Students wishing to count a 600-level course must submit work written in the course for evaluation by the English Department Graduate Committee. All work for the degree must be completed within four years of matriculation. Before their first registration, all students are required to plan complete programs with the program coordinator, who-prior to registration-must approve all courses. Students who have done their major work in English in non-English-speaking countries may be required to offer evidence of having completed additional undergraduate English courses taken in a North American college or university before admission to the graduate program; these may be taken at Lehman College. Such students will be required to attain a score of at least 600 on the TOEFL; candidates with scores of between 580 and 600 may be considered for admission provided they first attend a language institute or otherwise remedy their deficiencies. Additional information regarding all aspects of the M.A. programs in English may be obtained from the program coordinator. Master of Arts in English Admission Requirements 1. Possession of a bachelor's degree (or its equivalent) from an accredited college or university. 2. Demonstration of the potential to successfully pursue graduate study-that is, attainment of a minimum undergraduate Grade Point Average of 2.7 in the undergraduate record as a whole and 3.00 in English. 3. Study of a minimum of 18 credits in courses beyond the introductory level in major literatures in English. 4. Submission of three letters of recommendation, at least two of which must be from a person who can testify to the candidate's ability as a student of literature or composition (as appropriate). 5. Submission of a personal statement of some 500 words indicating as precisely as possible the applicant's preparation for master's work and career plans. Students are encouraged to supplement this statement with a sample of undergraduate writing. Degree Requirements After planning his or her program in advance with the program coordinator, the student must complete a minimum of 30 credits in English with an average of B or better. In the literature concentration, 24 credits must be in literature (including ENG 700 and 780). In the concentration in composition studies, 18 of the credits must be in the theory and practice of composition (including ENG 780, 784, and 785) and 69 in literature (including ENG 700). With permission from the program coordinator, a student may substitute 3 credits on the graduate level in other appropriate departments for 3 credits in literature. The requirements may be summarized as follows: A. Concentration in Literature
B. Concentration in Composition Studies
Foreign Language. The foreign language requirement emphasizes the relationship between the knowledge of foreign languages and the study of literature. As far as possible, students should choose a language relevant to their M.A. thesis and/or to their future professional plans. The requirement may be satisfied by 1) demonstrating the ability to translate lucidly, with a dictionary, a passage from a modern critical text; or by 2) earning a B or better in coursework within the past five years in a) an intensive language-for-reading course offered through the Language Reading Program at the CUNY Graduate School or b) an advanced undergraduate course in literature read in the foreign language. NOTE: The following languages are automatically accepted for meeting this requirement: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Kiswahili, Latin, Russian, Spanish, Urdu, and Yoruba. Students wishing to choose another language must apply to the Department's Graduate Committee for approval. Comprehensive Examination. Candidates must pass a written comprehensive examination. Thesis. The candidate must submit a satisfactory master's thesis prepared in conjunction with the course in Thesis Research (ENG 780). Two copies approved by the faculty director and the receipt for the binding fee are to be filed with the program coordinator. Relation to The City University Ph.D. Program 1. The first 30 graduate credits in English in the Literature Sequence of the M.A./Arts and Sciences at Lehman College may be counted toward the Ph.D. in English literature in the City University. The University doctoral program in English is described in the Bulletin of The Graduate School of The City University of New York. 2. Candidates who expect to proceed to the Ph.D. in the City University should apply for admission directly to the Ph.D. program instead of to Lehman College. Inquiries may be addressed to the Executive Officer of the Ph.D. Program, Department of English, City University of New York, 33 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036. Master of Arts in English 7-12* *A teacher education student in another field who wishes to take courses from this curriculum should first consult his or her adviser and the program coordinator to determine those courses that best suit the student's preparation and interests. Admission Requirements 1. Possession of a bachelor's degree (or its equivalent) from an accredited college or university. 2. Demonstration of the potential to successfully pursue graduate study-that is, attainment of a minimum undergraduate Grade Point Average of 2.7 in the undergraduate record as a whole and 3.00 in English. 3. Study of a minimum of 18 credits in courses beyond the introductory level in major literatures in English. 4. Submission of three letters of recommendation, at least two of which must be from a person who can testify to the candidate's ability as a student of literature or composition (as appropriate). 5. Submission of a personal statement of some 500 words indicating as precisely as possible the applicant's preparation for master's work and career plans. Students are encouraged to supplement this statement with a sample of undergraduate writing. Admission Requirements in Addition to the General Requirements 1. Completion of 3 credits in the structure or the history of the English language. 2. Completion of 12 credits in secondary education courses and college-supervised student teaching at both the middle-school and secondary-school level. 3. One year of college-level study of a foreign language. 4. Satisfaction of appropriate voice, speech, and health standards. Students who have done their major work in English in non-English-speaking countries may be required to offer evidence of having completed additional undergraduate English courses taken at North American colleges or universities before admission to the graduate program; these may be taken at Lehman College. Such students will be required to attain a score of at least 600 on the TOEFL; candidates with scores of between 580 and 600 may be considered for admission provided they first attend a language institute or otherwise remedy their deficiencies. Degree Requirements All students in the M.A. Program in English/712 are required to take ENG 700 and ENG 701 or 702 and to complete 6 credits in Secondary Education. In the literature concentration, 18 or 21 credits must be in literature as distinguished from courses in language, rhetoric, or composition. In the concentration in composition studies, 15 of the credits must be in the theory and practice of composition (including ENG 784 and 785), and 6 credits must be in literature. The requirements may be summarized as follows: A. Concentration in Literature
B. Concentration in composition studies
**A student who offers undergraduate equivalents of both ENG 701 and 702 for admission, provided they have been approved by the program coordinator, has satisfied this requirement and will complete an additional 3 credits in literature. Papers in Lieu of Thesis. In addition, every candidate in the literature concentration must file in the office of the program coordinator two substantial research papers written in two different Lehman College graduate literature courses under the direction of the student's graduate instructors and appropriately revised. Every candidate in the composition concentration must file an appropriately revised major research paper. Each of these papers must be officially approved for this purpose and signed by both the instructor and the program coordinator. Once approved by the supervising instructor, they must be filed with the program coordinator well before the expected date of graduation (April 15 for June graduation; June 1 for September graduation; or November 15 for January graduation); the papers receive final approval by the coordinator or a reader delegated by the coordinator for a second reading. Courses in English ENG 700: Introduction to Literary Research. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Introduction to methods of research, bibliography, and evaluation of various critical approaches. Pre- or corequisite for all graduate courses in literature, unless exempted by the graduate coordinator; to be taken at the start of graduate work. *ENG 701: History of the English Language. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Historical linguistics and the study of English, including analysis of selected texts from Old English through early modern English to illustrate the development of the English language. Attention will be paid to the phonology and grammar of the English language and their changes during the period, as well as the ways language is used for expressive ends in the selected literary examples. ENG 702: Structure of Modern English. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Grammatical theory and linguistic descriptions of modern English (such as traditional, descriptive, and transformational grammars), with an emphasis on the formal properties of grammar and the formal characterization of language. Samples of modern English to be studied will be drawn from literary works from the early modern English period to the present. *ENG 703: Studies in Old English Language and Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (No previous knowledge of Old English required. May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Intensive study of Old English combined with reading of Beowulf and selected Old English prose and poetry in the original language. *ENG 705: Studies in Chaucer. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Readings in The Canterbury Tales and other works. PREREQ: A course in the history of the language, Old English or Middle English, or an undergraduate course in Chaucer. *ENG 707: Studies in Medieval Language and Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Study of the linguistic structure and dialects of Middle English and development of the language in relation to Old English; study of selected texts of medieval literature in England from the beginnings to the close of the fifteenth century. ENG 712: Studies in English Renaissance Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) The Renaissance in England from the beginnings to the death of Queen Elizabeth. ENG 713: Studies in Shakespeare. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Detailed study of selected works, with specific consideration of a variety of critical techniques and approaches. ENG 722: Studies in Milton. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Study of the development of the poet, with attention paid to related prose works. ENG 724: Studies in Seventeenth-Century Literature Exclusive of Milton. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Study of such major figures in prose and poetry as Jonson, Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Herrick, Marvell, Vaughan, Traherne, Dryden, Bacon, Browne, Burton, Bunyan, Hobbes, and Locke. ENG 731: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Readings and analysis of major works by writers such as Swift, Defoe, Pope, Addison and Steele, Gay, Gray, Johnson, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, Wycherley, Vanbrugh, Farquhar, Sheridan, Con-greve, and Goldsmith; consideration of minor writers of the century, including the circle of Dr. Johnson; study of the growth of pre-Romanticism. ENG 740: Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Study of the major tendencies of the century in Britain, with some consideration of related Continental writers. Critical analysis of such writers as Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Byron, Lamb, DeQuincey, Arnold, Tennyson, Browning, Carlyle, Ruskin, George Eliot, Dickens, Morris, and Meredith. ENG 748: Studies in American Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Study of major writers in American literature from 1607 to the present. Topics may vary from semester to semester. ENG 755: Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Study of major writers in English and of related Continental writers from 1890 to the present. *ENG 760: Studies in Literatures of the Anglophone World. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in topic and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Critical analysis of texts by writers from such regions of the world as India, Africa, and the Caribbean. ENG 769: Studies in Drama. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Analysis of selected plays by Continental, British, or American writers. ENG 770: Studies in Poetry. Each 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Close analysis of theme and structure in selected poems. ENG 771: Studies in Prose Fiction. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Analysis of major tendencies and techniques in selected novels. ENG 773: Feminist Studies in Literature. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with change of topic and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Writing by and about women examined from major critical and theoretical perspectives. Topics will vary from semester to semester. PREREQ: ENG 700, 793, or permission of the instructor. ENG 776: Special Studies in Literature and Language. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. May be repeated once for credit with a change in topic and permission of the graduate coordinator. ENG 780: Thesis Research. 1 semester, 3 credits. (Required of all M.A. candidates in English. Tutorial hours to be arranged.) Preparation of the M.A. thesis under the guidance of a faculty director. PREREQ: ENG 700 and approval of the program coordinator. ENG 782: Independent Study or Guided Reading. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit with a change in subject matter and permission of the graduate coordinator.) Independent study under the guidance of a faculty director in an area other than that of the thesis. PREREQ: Permission of the graduate coordinator. ENG 783: Practicum in Teaching College Writing. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Group and individualized instruction and practice, under the guidance of a member of the Lehman College English faculty, of the teaching of first-year writing courses at different levels. Attention is given to designing curricula for composition, constructing writing assignments, conducting classroom discussion of writing, responding to students' writing, and conducting informal classroom research. PREREQ: Approval of the graduate coordinator. ENG 784: Readings in the Teaching of Writing. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Group and individualized instruction, under the guidance of a member of the Lehman College English faculty, of important theoretical and observational writings on the teaching of composition at different levels. Readings in rhetoric, linguistics, and psycholinguistics, and in the history and sociology of the teaching of writing. PREREQ: Approval of the depart-ment's Graduate Study Committee. ENG 785: Seminar in Writing: Practice and Theory. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. A course to help teachers from grade school through college learn to teach writing by engaging in writing themselves. The course will also involve theoretical discussion of writing strategies, problems, and assignments. Specific emphasis may vary according to the students' needs. ENG 787: Research in Composition Studies. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. This course reviews current research on writing and helps participants learn to design, conduct, evaluate, and write up the results of their own research projects. Attention will be given to issues faced during "qualitative" research and to questions faced during attempts to document the value of various practices in literacy instruction. Topics will vary from semester to semester. PREREQ: ENG 784 and 785. *ENG 788: Studies in the Composing Process. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. This course will review major studies of the composing process undertaken to date and will develop methods of analyzing it as students gain insight into the sources of their own writing. Students will be expected to produce a case study on the composing process by the end of the course. PREREQ: ENG 785 and/or permission of the instructor. ENG 790: Stylistics. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Practice in the stylistic analysis of a wide range of prose works, fiction and nonfiction, by writers in English. PREREQ: Permission of instructor. ENG 791: Creative Writing I. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Students will examine and practice forms of poetry, drama, and fiction in order to acquire a fundamental understanding of these forms. PREREQ: Permission of the instructor. *ENG 792: Creative Writing II. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Advanced study and practice of poetry, drama, or fiction. For students wishing to study one of these forms intensively. PREREQ: ENG 791 or permission of the instructor. *ENG 793: Studies in Literary Criticism. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Literary theory as explored by major critics: the nature of tragedy and comedy; questions of style and content; and the literary work in relation to artist, art, and audience. *ENG 794: Contemporary Literary Theory and Its Background. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Discussion of links among New Critical, reader-response, semiotic and structuralist, decon-structionist, psychoanalytic, neo-Marxist, and feminist approaches to literature; relationships between nineteenth- and earlier twentieth-century seminal thinkers and their followers. ENG 795: Current Rhetorical Theory and Its Antecedents. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Theorists, developments, and accomplishments in twentieth-century rhetoric, studied with attention to their classical, Renaissance, and nineteenth-century backgrounds. ENG 796: Writing for the Professions. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. The writing of different kinds of documents (reports, memoranda, proposals, evaluations, field studies, and so on) appropriate to different disciplines and professions. In the design of assignments, attention will be given to the interests of individual members of the class. New York City Writing Project The following courses are designed for the New York City Writing Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project, and are offered through the Institute for Literacy Studies. These courses in English are not intended to satisfy New York State teacher-education certification requirements. Summer session courses are generally offered on the Lehman campus; during the academic year, most New York City Writing Project courses are offered in schools. For more information, write or call Marcie Wolfe, Director, or Linette Moorman, New York City Writing Project, Institute for Literacy Studies, Lehman College, Bronx, NY 10468 (718-960-8758). ENG 682: Independent Study. 30 hours, plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit, on a different topic.) This course offers an opportunity for individualized study of theory and research in composition. PREREQ: One year of study in courses offered by the Writing Project, and permission of the instructor and of the graduate program coordinator in English. ENG 684: Seminar in Writing: Theory. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. Participants examine and evaluate current research on composing and on the teaching of writing. In addition to completing and responding to reading assignments, participants attend presentations by invited guests. They take ENG 685 concurrently when the two are offered in the summer session, but may take the two courses successively during the academic year. PREREQ: Permission of the instructor. COREQ: ENG 685 when offered in the summer session. ENG 685: Seminar in Writing: Practice. 4560 hours, 34 credits. Students write and discuss their writing with groups of fellow students, developing their powers of expression and gaining confidence in themselves as writers. Strategies in writing, problems faced by writers, and the demands of various kinds of assignments are explored. Kinds of writing emphasized and approaches to the discussion of writing vary with the needs and interests of students. PREREQ: Permission of the instructor. COREQ: ENG 684 when offered in the summer session. ENG 686: Special Studies in Language, Literature, and Writing. 30 hours plus confs., 3 credits. (May be repeated once for credit, with change in topic.) Study of research and theory about reading, writing, the spoken language, and literature. Specific topic announced in advance. PREREQ: ENG 684 or 685, or instructor's permission. ENG 688: Writing and Learning. 30 hours, plus confs., 3 credits. Through examination of different kinds of texts, through keeping notebooks and journals about their responses to those texts, and through discussion with classmates, students will explore a wide range of genres and emphases in discourse, and will consider how texts from varied disciplines may be read. Students will experience different approaches to the reading of the same text, will examine the differences in treatment of the same topic in different texts, and will examine how different texts depend for their effect on cross-references to other texts and to the culture of the world outside the text. PREREQ: ENG 684 or 685, or consent of the instructor. |