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English, MA

Student Outcomes

Assessment of Student Outcomes

Outcome AA MA-Lit-Thesis Track

Students completing the thesis track in MA-English will produce academic writing about literature that of sufficient quality to be revised for publication.
Objective 1 Students completing an MA thesis will be able to write an extended paper of sufficient quality that it could reasonably be revised and submitted for publication.

Outcome B Writing-MA-Lit

Students in the M.A. English-Literature program will be able to produce essays that engage in sophisticated dialogue with existing literary criticism.
Objective 1 Students will be able to produce a seminar paper that engages with a range of literary scholarship appropriate to the topic of that paper.
Objective 2 Students will be able to produce a seminar paper that demonstrates comprehension of the literary scholarship that they include in their written work.

Outcome BB MA-Lit-Exam Track

Students completing the MA-English exam track will have deep research-based knowledge of at least two of the following:
Major Author
Literary-Historical Period
Literary Genre
Criticism and Theory
Objective 1 Students completing the MA-exam track will be able to write to extended responses that reflect deep research-based knowledge of their exam topics.

Outcome O MA-Lit-Discussion

Students in the MA-Literature program will demonstrate in discussion an in-depth understanding of historical and contemporary trends in literary criticism, theory and critical theory
Objective 1 Students will be able to give an in-class or online presentation that engages with a range of literary scholarship appropriate to the topic of that presentation.
Objective 2 Students will be able to give an in-class or online presentation that demonstrates comprehension of the literary scholarship that they include in that presentation.

Outcome P MA-Lit-Critical Analysis

Students in the MA-Literature program will demonstrate the ability to apply key concepts from the field of literary studies to analyze and critically assess literary texts across a variety of genres.
Objective 1 Students will be able to produce a seminar paper that engages in careful close reading of their chosen text(s).
Objective 2 Students will be able to produce a seminar paper that engages in sophisticated critical analysis of their chosen text(s).
Objective 3 Students will be able to produce a seminar paper that presents original arguments demonstrating a synthesis of knowledge connecting text and theory.

Outcome Q MA-Lit-Disciplinary Convention

Students in the MA-Literature program will demonstrate the ability to conform to scholarly conventions of the discipline and academic research.
Objective 1 Students will be able to use discipline-specific formatting for seminar papers, such as MLA or Chicago styles.
Objective 2 Students will be able to use disciplinary conventions of citation to integrate source material into their own writing.
Objective 3 Students will be able to write in a register that reflects scholarly conventions in academic writing about literature.