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Requirements

for the Terminal Master of Arts in English

To earn the terminal Master of Arts in English (as distinct from the master's in passing, for which Ph.D. students are eligible), students must complete the following requirements.

Course Requirement
Seven courses in the Department of English and American Literature; at least three courses must be 200-level seminars and one course will be the Master's Thesis (ENG 300a). ENG 200a (Methods of Literary Study) is optional but recommended.

Residence Requirement
Students may enroll on a full or part-time basis. Students must complete the M.A. program within four years; the Department strongly encourages M.A. students to complete the program within two years.

Language Requirement
A reading knowledge of a major foreign language (normally modern European, classical Greek, or Latin) must be demonstrated by passing a written translation examination. The completion of the language requirement at another university does not exempt the student from the Brandeis requirement.

Symposium Requirement
M.A. students will present a paper at the First Year Symposium in the spring term.

Thesis Requirement
This project must be 25 to 35 pages long, and must be deposited electronically to the Robert D. Farber University Archives. Papers written for course work, papers presented at conferences, and papers written specifically for the M.A. degree are all acceptable. Each paper will be evaluated by a reader for whom the paper was not originally written. The paper must satisfy the reader's standard for excellence in M.A. degree level work.