Graduate Coordinator
The Graduate Coordinator (currently Dr. Debora Schwartz) for the English Department heads the Graduate Committee, assembles the M.A. exam, and plans graduate courses. At the beginning of your studies, you should visit the Graduate Coordinator during office hours to plan your program of study and to fill out your Formal Study Plan. After you have completed 12 units, you and the Graduate Coordinator should meet again to fill out the Advancement to Candidacy form. As you proceed through the program, you should check in periodically with the Graduate Coordinator to discuss your progress toward completion of the program and to get prior approval for any deviations you might need to make (e.g., substitutions for required classes). The Graduate Coordinator (who is also the Graduate Advisor) is there to help you with any problems you may have as an English graduate student.

Graduate Area Advisors
The Graduate Coordinator has a list of English faculty who are especially knowledgeable in certain areas that may be of interest to you, such as community college teaching, Ph.D. programs, teaching composition, teaching literature, Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), linguistics, technical writing, creative writing, tutoring, instructorships, and apprenticeships/mentorships. You should feel free to drop in on these Graduate Area Advisors during their office hours to discuss subjects of interest to you and your future.

Graduate Student Representatives
Another important source of information and assistance are your Graduate Student Representatives who are selected each year to serve on the Graduate Committee and to function as intermediaries between graduate students and the committee. The Graduate Student Representatives want to know your concerns and will welcome your suggestions about the program.

M.A. in English Website and E-mail
All announcements for students in the M.A. program will be made through the website (http://cla.calpoly.edu/engl/englma) and e-mail. Cal Poly provides all students with an internet account (http://my.calpoly.edu). You should check this website and your e-mail regularly for program requirements and announcements concerning class scheduling, workshops, conferences, grants, and employment opportunities.

Library
As a graduate student, you may borrow books for one quarter, provided that you present a valid graduate student ID card.

Students Admitted Without an English Major or Minor
If the Admissions office informed you that you are admitted as a conditionally classified student, you will need to take some undergraduate English classes prior to (or concurrent with) graduate classes. If you are a conditionally classified student, you need to enroll in the following courses unless you have already taken their equivalent elsewhere:

ENGL 302	Advanced Composition
ENGL 326	Literary Theory from Plato to Present
One of the following 300-level American literature courses:
	ENGL 340, 341, or 342
One of the following 400-level American literature courses:
	ENGL 449, or 459 with a strong American content
One of the following 300-level British literature courses:
	ENGL 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, or 335
One of the following 400-level British literature courses:
	ENGL 430, 431, 432, 439, or 459 with a strong British literature content

Please contact the Graduate Coordinator with questions concerning conditionally classified admittance.

Degree Requirements
To earn your Master of Arts in English, you must fulfill the following requirements:

1. Complete 48 units of graduate work according to the program outlined below (see English M.A. Curriculum) and written up in your Formal Study Plan that you fill out with the Graduate Coordinator at the beginning of your studies
   
   
2. Fulfill the Writing Proficiency Exam
   
   
3. Maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or better
   
   
4. After completion of 12 units of graduate work of 3.0 or better, see the Graduate Coordinator to fill out the Advancement to Candidacy form
   
   
5. Complete five quarters of a foreign language ( e.g., through Spanish 122) or pass the translation exam
   
   
6. Pass the MA comprehensive exam
   
   

Course Load
Graduate students normally enroll in two English courses each quarter, which is considered “full-time” status. However, some students who have time-consuming jobs or family responsibilities will choose to take only one course per quarter, while other students find that they can manage two or three English courses in addition to a class taken Credit/No Credit (e.g., foreign language).

Educational Leave
You may discontinue taking classes for three consecutive quarters and still return to the program without any fee or paperwork (e.g., you could choose not to take classes in Winter, Spring and Summer and start up again in the Fall with no problem). However, if you take more than three consecutive quarters off, you will need to re-apply to the program through Admissions. This is basically a formality, but it does involve filing an abbreviated application and paying the admissions fee again.

Grade Point Calculation for M.A. Degree
The base for calculating your GPA includes all courses on your Formal Study Plan taken after you have been admitted to the M.A. program. If you are taking a course which is not part of your Formal Study Plan (the 48 units that count toward your M.A. degree), you may take it Credit/No Credit so that it will not affect your GPA. (Foreign language courses taken to fulfill the foreign language requirement may also be taken Credit/No Credit.) If you are a conditionally classified student taking prerequisite undergraduate classes, you must take these courses for a grade. All courses listed on your Formal Study Plan must be taken for a grade except when only a Credit/No Credit option exists.

Incompletes
To avoid receiving Incompletes in classes, finish the work by the due date. If you do receive an Incomplete, finish the work as soon as possible. Some professors do not give you the option of receiving an Incomplete. Incompletes change to F’s after one year, and F’s impossible to remove from your record. If an F pulls your GPA below 3.0 and you cannot raise it before graduation time, you will not graduate.

Unofficial Withdrawals
After enrolling through POWER, you must check your student record at MustangInfo to make sure that it is accurate. Do not assume that, just because you never attended a class the professor will drop you; you should drop yourself through POWER. If officially enrolled but not dropped, you will be assigned a U (Unofficial Withdrawal). This U is figured into your GPA as an F, and a U is very difficult to remove from your record.

Graduation with Distinction
Those students who attain a GPA of 3.75 or higher and who pass the M.A. exam with a “High Pass” may be recommended by the Graduate Committee as “Graduating with Distinction.” This honor will appear on the student’s transcript.

Academic Probation
Graduate students are placed on academic probation for failure to maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 in all courses listed on the Formal Study Plan. The Graduate Coordinator will send you a contract with a grace period allowing you to bring your GPA back to 3.0. Remember that you must have at least a 3.0 GPA to receive your M.A. degree.

Writing Proficiency Examination
During your first or second quarter in the graduate program, you should pass the Graduation Writing Requirement by signing up in the Writing Skills Center to take the Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE), which fulfills the requirement. Further information can be obtained from the Writing Skills Center in Building 10, Room 130.

Coursework
Certain courses are required of everyone (36 units), while others are specific to a particular emphasis area (12 units). Plan your program carefully, in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator, so that you will be able to fit in all the requirements during your projected graduate career.

Required Courses

Units = 36

ENGL 501	Techniques of Literary Research (4 units)
ENGL 502’s	Two Seminars in Critical Analysis, Historical (4) and Contemporary (4)
ENGL 503	Graduate Introduction to Linguistics (4)
ENGL 505	Seminar in Composition Theory (4)
ENGL 511’s	Two Seminars in American Literary Periods (4) (4)
ENGL 512’s	Two Seminars in British Literary Periods (4) (4)

Emphasis Areas	Units = 12
Each emphasis area consists of three courses:

Literature Emphasis:

Three literature courses at the 400 and 500 level.

Linguistics/TESL Emphasis:

ENGL 495	Topics in Applied Language Study
ENGL 497	Theories of Language Learning and Teaching
ENGL 498	Approaches to Teaching English as a Second Language/Dialect
(These courses double-count toward the English M.A. degree and the TESL Certificate Program.)

Creative Writing Emphasis (three of the following):

ENGL 487, 488 or 489	Poetry or Fiction Writing; (may be taken and counted twice)
ENGL 590	Independent Study; one-on-one with a poet or fiction writer in residence.

Technical Communication Emphasis:

ENGL 411	Writing Interactive Documents
ENGL 518	Technical Communication Theory
Four units from the following:

ENGL 408	Internship
ENGL 418	Technical Communication Practicum
ENGL 485 or 496	Cooperative Education Experience

(These courses double-count toward the English M.A. degree and toward the Technical Communication Certificate Program.)

Composition Emphasis:
Courses to be determined with Graduate Advisor. See Composition.

Total Units Required:

48

Description of Graduate Seminars
Graduate (500 level) classes are defined as seminars, which means that you will be asked to take a more active role in class preparation and participation than you may have been used to in your undergraduate courses. Reading typically consists of primary and secondary sources (literary criticism) because it is important for you to familiarize yourself not just with the literature, but also with the discussion about its meaning that has gone on within the community of critics over the years since the work was first published. Although professors are aware that for some of you this will be the first time that you have had the opportunity to read certain literary works, you should expect to be assigned literary criticism along with the literature. Think of this criticism as an opportunity to read what others have had to say about the literature; if you approach literary criticism with an open mind, you will find that critics, like the professor, can help you understand and appreciate more the literature you read.

Graduate seminars place a premium on knowledgeable and enthusiastic classroom discussion, so it is important to come to class prepared to talk about the literature and criticism. Although you can expect some professorial lecture to fill in the background, clarify difficult issues, and set the stage for discussion, you should think of a graduate seminar as a place for you to ask questions of other students as well as the professor and to receive input from others in developing your own ideas about literature.

Graduate seminars are workshops in which all the participants collaborate on furthering knowledge. As part of classroom participation, you may be asked to lead a discussion, give an oral presentation, or read aloud a short paper or a summary of a longer one, in order to practice communicating your ideas to others and to receive their positive comments and constructive criticism.

Your graduate seminar may include midterm exams, a final exam, or other in-class writing to help you prepare for the comprehensive M.A. exam, which you take at the end of your coursework. For most graduate seminars you can expect to write a lengthy seminar paper at the end of the quarter.

Suggested Guidelines for Graduate Seminars
The following guidelines are not rules but suggestions for faculty and students on what to expect in a graduate seminar. An attempt will be made to do the following:

1. Keep the total cost of the textbooks for any one class below $100;
   
   
2. Include as many works as possible from the M.A. exam reading list (in most cases, at least 75% overlap);
   
   
3. Give attention to both primary and secondary sources, recognizing that some students are coming to certain works of literature for the first time and therefore need some basic instruction, but also acknowledging the importance of literary criticism to the understanding and appreciation of literature at the graduate level;
   
   
4. Include lectures that provide students with professorial guidance, but limit these lectures to those that give background and context for classroom discussion (typically, lectures would not exceed 25% of the course);
   
   
5. Encourage vigorous and informed student discussion in a collaborative learning environment (normally, discussion would constitute at least 35% of the course);
   
   
6. Provide an opportunity for students to give oral presentations or to read summaries of their work aloud, and to ensure that there is student and professional feedback (normally, oral presentations and summaries would constitute no more than 30% of the course);
   
   
7. Schedule in-class writing to assist in preparing for the M.A. exam;
   
   
8. Assign several shorter essays (5-8 pages) or a lengthy seminar paper (20 pages) that will be graded both in terms of style (including grammar) and content (such criteria as originality of argument, persuasiveness of assertions, and demonstrated understanding of the critical history on a work);
   
   
9. Ensure that the workload in any one class is not overly burdensome on students and is roughly comparable to that of other English graduate classes in the program;
   
   
10. Make all course assignments and grading criteria clear in writing at the beginning of the course. Faculty who wish to allow graduate students to revise or do more work in order to bring up their course grade should assign an Incomplete. Graduate students who receive a D or F do not receive any credit for the course, even though the low grade does get factored into their GPA; if the course is retaken, the new grade simply is entered along with the other grades, including the earlier low grade. Graduate students must maintain a B average in order to receive their M.A. degree; no exceptions are ever made to this rule.
    
    

Foreign Language Requirement
You must demonstrate a reading knowledge of a foreign language by meeting one of the following requirements:

1. Take five quarters of a foreign language (e.g., through Spanish 122)
   
   or
   
   
2. Pass a translation exam at Cal Poly (with a dictionary)
   

Foreign language classes may be taken Credit/No Credit. Sample translation exams are available in the English Department office. If you choose to take the exam, you should fill out a Request to Take the Translation Exam and submit it to the English Graduate Coordinator early in the quarter you plan to be tested. The Modern Languages and Literatures Department tests our students as a professional courtesy, and the professors do the work as an overload, so the test should be arranged at their convenience.

Formal Study Plan
At the beginning of your studies, you should meet with the Graduate Coordinator to fill out a Formal Study Plan, which outlines the classes you expect to take in order to meet the requirements for the M.A. degree. This plan may be amended. You may deviate as long as you remain within the basic curriculum (see English M.A. Curriculum). However, any deviation from the basic curriculum should be discussed in advance with the Graduate Coordinator, whose approval you must obtain. When in doubt, contact the Graduate Coordinator.

Advancement to Candidacy
Advancement to Candidacy is a formality recognizing that you have demonstrated your ability to successfully pursue graduate work. Before you advance to candidacy, you must have completed the following requirements:

1. Filled out your Formal Study Plan with the Graduate Coordinator
   
   
2. Completed the Graduation Writing Requirement
   
   
3. Completed 12 units of coursework toward the MA degree with a GPA of 3.0 or better
   

See the Graduate Coordinator when it comes time for you to fill out an Advancement to Candidacy form.

Request for Graduation Evaluation
The Request for Graduation Evaluation must be submitted to the Records Office at least one quarter before taking the M.A. Exam. This form ensures that all degree requirements have been or will be met. Processing of the Request for Graduation Evaluation is necessary in order to take the M.A. Exam and to participate in the graduation ceremony.

Request to Take the M.A. Exam
Your Request to Take the M.A. Exam can only be made AFTER you have submitted your Formal Study Plan, Advancement to Candidacy Form, and Request for Graduation Evaluation. A copy of Remaining Requirements sent to you from the Records Office must be attached to this Request to Take the M.A. Exam. If there are discrepancies between your Formal Study Plan and the courses you have actually taken, you are required to submit an Amendment of the Formal Study Plan. Finally, if you had to postpone your graduation date due to having to retake sections of the exam, this change in graduation date must be indicated to the Records Office. Failure to follow these guidelines will prohibit you from taking the M.A. Exam and being able to graduate. Contact the Graduate Coordinator for assistance.

Instructorships (sometimes called “teaching assistantships”)
Graduate instructorships are teaching positions open to graduate students. Each Spring, applicants are selected for inclusion in the pool of graduate instructors for the following academic year. The position will be advertised by the middle of March. Your application should include the following:

1. A Cal Poly faculty application
   
   
2. A current transcript
   
   
3. Three letters of recommendation
   
   
4. Curriculum vitae
   
   
5. A cover letter stating your interest in the position and abilities
   

Before being assigned to a class, you need to have completed the following teaching prerequisites:

1. ENGL 399 (Tutor Training) and concurrent work in the Writing Lab
   
   
2. ENGL 505 (Seminar in Composition Theory)
   
   
3. 12 units of coursework toward the M.A. degree with a 3.0 GPA or better
   

(ENGL 399 is usually offered in Fall, Winter and Spring; ENGL 505 is offered in Spring. 505 is graded and counts toward the M.A. degree. 399 is Credit/No Credit. 505 is a 4-unit class, while 399 is 2 units. You may enroll in 505 through POWER. To enroll in 399, contact the Head of the Writing Skills Office.)

Following the completion of these requirements, the Director of Writing Programs evaluates your work in your courses and in the Writing Lab. At this point, you may be assigned a class for the quarter you have requested, or you may be asked to observe and work with another composition instructor for the next quarter and to continue working in the Writing Lab until you are eligible for a teaching assignment. You are expected to enroll in ENGL 506 (Seminar in Composition Pedagogy) during the Fall quarter in which you do your first teaching. If you do not plan to start teaching until Winter or Spring, you should still enroll in ENGL 506 when it is offered in the Fall. (506 is 4 units Credit/No Credit and does count toward the M.A. degree. You may enroll in 506 through POWER.)

If you have previous teaching experience which you think might affect your application or if you want more information regarding qualifications, salary, or scheduling of classes, please contact the Director of Writing Programs.

Qualified students may have the opportunity to be graduate instructors for three quarters if there is enough undergraduate student demand for writing classes. You will be offered a fourth quarter as a graduate instructor only after other students who have not yet taught for three quarters have been assigned courses. You do not have to be enrolled in classes during the quarter in which you are a graduate instructor. You may choose to teach courses as a graduate instructor after you have finished all your coursework. However, once you pass the M.A. Exam, you are no longer eligible to be a graduate instructor.

GPA Required of Graduate Instructors
Graduate students whose GPA's fall below 3.0 will normally be denied graduate instructorships until they bring their GPA back up to 3.0.

Evaluations of Graduate Instructors
The Director of Writing Programs, the Head of the Writing Skills Office, and other designated professors will visit your class to evaluate your teaching at least once during your first quarter of teaching and during your third quarter. Copies of evaluators’ written evaluations will be sent to you, and you may submit written responses if you choose. Before each quarter’s teaching assignments are made, the Director of Writing Programs will review your application for a teaching position, the evaluations of your teaching, and your responses in order to rank you in relation to the other applicants for teaching assignments.

Graduate Instructors with Incompletes
Graduate students with more than two Incomplete grades (I’s) on their records will normally be denied graduate instructorships until the work in those classes is completed and those Incompletes are changed to a grade.

Apprenticeship Program
The apprenticeship program (ENGL 515, also called the mentorship program) allows graduate students to gain experience in the teaching of literature or linguistics at the university level and thus enhance their potential on the job market. You will work with your chosen mentor in planning a course, giving occasional lectures, leading discussions, and helping to design exams. To be eligible to become an apprentice (to enroll in ENGL 515), you need to have a 3.0 GPA and to have completed 8 units of graduate work. For more information on the apprenticeship program, contact the Graduate Coordinator. (For bureaucratic purposes, ENGL 515 is always listed in the Class Schedule under the Graduate Coordinator’s name. ENGL 515 is 2 units, Credit/No Credit, and repeatable. It does not count toward the 48 units of your M.A. degree.)

The quarter before you plan to take the exam, be sure to fill out your Formal Study Plan and Advancement to Candidacy forms with the Graduate Coordinator if you have not already done so. Once these forms have been completed, go to the Evaluations Office to have your records evaluated. You will be sent a Summary of Remaining Master’s Degree Requirements which will list any discrepancies between your Formal Study Plan and the courses you actually have taken. If there are discrepancies, take this summary to the Graduate Coordinator and fill out an Amendment to the Formal Study Plan.

You must demonstrate that all your degree requirements will be met by the end of the quarter in which you take the exam. The dates and location of the M.A. exam and of any exam workshops will be announced by the end of the second week of the quarter.

Content of the Exam
Part I of the exam (first day) contains three sections on literature, each timed for 75 minutes. One of the sections will focus exclusively on American literature, one on British literature, and the third will contain questions pertaining to literary criticism, special themes, or relationships between British and American literature.

Part II of the exam (second day) will cover linguistics, composition, and your emphasis area, again timed for 75 minutes each. The emphasis area you choose for your exam (composition, linguistics, or literature) does not have to be the same emphasis area in which you did your coursework.

Sample questions illustrating range of breadth and specificity are as follows:

1. British literature: Write a well-constructed essay in which you delineate the central differences between the Victorian and the modern novel, drawing your examples from British literature. In the course of your answer, spend some time explaining how these differences require and reflect a change in the relationship between writer and reader.
   
   
2. American literature: Is Edgar Allan Poe a Romantic poet? Is he an American Transcendentalist? Write an essay in which you attempt to define the relation of Poe’s work to that of two or three other authors writing in approximately the same time period, for example, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Longfellow, Whitman. Discuss both the similarities and differences between Poe’s work and the other authors' works.
   
   
3. Composition: Let’s say for the sake of argument that there are four primary dimensions to teaching and assessing student writing: the formalistic approach, the referential approach, the expressive approach, and the rhetorical approach. First, define these terms as you understand them from your reading. Then show which of these you see as primary in writing class and what the relationship of the others to that primary approach should be.
   
   

Grading of the Exam
The names of students taking the exam remain anonymous. When evaluating the exam responses, graduate faculty do not know the identity of the student. Results of the M.A. exam are released only to the graduate faculty and to the individual student, not to other students. The Graduate Coordinator proctors the exam.

At least two professors, working separately, will read and grade your exam. Each of the six sections of the exam is graded High Pass, Pass, or Fail. You must pass five sections in order to pass the exam. If your exam does not pass, readers will provide a written explanation of its weak points, with suggestions for improvement.

Challenging and Retaking the Exam
Students may petition the Graduate Coordinator to challenge their results on the M.A. exam. However, because an established procedure already exists for grading the exam, only petitions that conclusively detail reasons for reassessment will be forwarded by the Graduate Coordinator to the Graduate Committee.

Students taking the exam for the first time must pass at least five sections (out of a total of six) to satisfy the comprehensive exam requirement. Those who have failed all or any sections of the M.A. exam will be allowed to retake the exam; however, they must pass all of the remaining sections. Students may take the M.A. exam a total of three times. This includes taking the exam for the first time and two retakes. A student may petition to take the exam after failing for the third time; however, such petitions will only be approved by the Graduate Committee due to extraordinary circumstances.

Students are strongly encouraged to meet with the Graduate Coordinator to develop a plan for passing the M.A. exam. This plan should include taking coursework, writing responses to sample essay questions, and working with the appropriate professors. The Graduate faculty aims to assist the student in preparing for the M.A. exam, but ultimately the responsibility for passing the exam rests with the student.

Graduate study presupposes a good deal of independent thinking on your part as a candidate for the Master’s degree. You are responsible for all the works on this reading list. Though professors of graduate classes are encouraged to use the reading list as a guideline for text selection in their courses, you should be able to deal effectively with the texts on this list whether or not they have been specifically “taught.” As you read, keep in mind the following: though M.A. questions will vary in format, satisfactory answers must include strong supporting evidence, particular references to authors’ main themes, styles, meaningfully specific details. You should also prepare to answer questions dealing with literary trends and transformations in genres and styles over the years, and you should be able to demonstrate a general understanding of the historical and cultural context that produced the literary works you discuss.

NOTE: For anthology selections, the Norton anthology is recommended, though other major collections (e.g., Oxford, Macmillan, Heath) are acceptable.