MA Degree Requirements and Timeline
The Graduate Program in English offers a Master of Arts degree in English with three concentrations: one in English Education with and without Illinois teaching licensure, one in English Studies, and one in Creative Writing. See our People page for more information about faculty specializations.
A Master’s in English from UIC prepares you for a number of careers and vocations within and beyond the academy. Graduates of our MA in English have gone on to PhD programs at Brown University, the University of California Irvine, and the University of California San Diego, among others, and law school at the University of Colorado at Boulder. They work in publishing and at nonprofits. They teach at high schools and community colleges all over Illinois and the nation. They craft freelance writing careers in New York City.
Applications for the MA are accepted once a year for the fall semester. The deadline to apply is February 15.
Use the tabs below to read about course requirements and the Master's Project.
Timeline to Degree, etc
When Do I...?
| Take ENGL 500 - Master's Proseminar? | Fall Year 1 |
|---|---|
| Take seminar courses? | Y1 & Y2 |
| Write my thesis and sign up for ENGL 597? | Usually Fall and Spring Y2 |
| Find a thesis director? | Spring Y1 |
| Need to Apply to Graduate with the Graduate College? | By Friday of the third week of the semester in which you intend to graduate |
| Need to have my thesis finished and in my Director's hands? | By Week 8 of the semester in which you intend to graduate |
| Submit my signed MA Certificate of Approval Form to the DGS Office? | By the final Friday of the term (before finals week) in which you intend to graduate |
| Qualify for the granting of the MA degree? | After 32 course hours and all course requirements have been completed AND your thesis has been formally approved by both readers |
| Need Graduate College approval for a Leave of Absence? | When you will be gone for more than three consecutive terms |
| Need to petition the Graduate College for an extension of time to degree? | After four consecutive years in the program |
Master's Project
Please note: The English Department does not require MA students to defend the thesis in front of a committee; thus, Graduate College deadlines about Master’s Thesis submission deadlines do not apply to our MA students.
Each student in the Master’s Program must submit an MA Qualifying Paper (also known as the MA Project). The following guidelines are intended to serve as a general outline of procedures to be followed as students prepare their papers; more specific questions will arise which should be discussed with the thesis director.
Timeline
You should begin searching for a Director for the project any time in the academic year before you write the thesis. For instance, if you are writing a thesis in the spring of the second year, you should narrow down a list of possible Directors for the project in the spring of the first year.
At the start of the semester in which you plan on submitting the MA project, you must file for graduation with the Graduate College.
Registration/Paperwork
You must enroll in English 597 to write your paper, but you should begin planning and discussing your project earlier. Prior to registration in ENGL 597, you should obtain written (email) permission from your Director to enroll and then you should complete the appropriate online form, including a 100-150-word summary of your project. If the required amount of credits for the Master’s Degree has been met (32), you may choose to register for zero hours of ENGL 597. NB: Zero hours requires registration; it is not the same as not registering for ENGL 597.
The Director and Reader
The MA Qualifying Paper has a Director and a second reader. The Director is a professor, usually in the English department, for whom the student has completed work related to the thesis, or with whom the student has worked previously in some capacity. The second reader should be a professor in the English department or in any other department in the university. The thesis Director and the reader review drafts of the paper and complete a Master’s Project: Certificate of Approval Form once they are satisfied that the paper has been completed in a satisfactory manner.
Content and Style
The Critical Qualifying Paper should be 25-35 pages in length, following the directions for format and annotation set forth in the MLA Style Manual, The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition), or the APA Style Manual, as the Director of the paper determines. For the purposes of archiving, papers should not be stapled or bound, rather using a folder, metal binder clip or paper clip.
NOTE: Students are not required to follow the UIC Thesis Manual, which offers the requirements for a doctoral dissertation, not an MA Qualifying Paper.
The paper should represent work done at the graduate level. It may be a revised version of one written for a 400 or 500-level course or may have originated in an independent study.
The Critical Qualifying Paper should demonstrate:
- Thorough knowledge of the text(s) selected for analysis.
- Ability to draw sound and theoretically-informed conclusions from critical analysis and scholarly research.
- Knowledge of relevant critical and theoretical works, if applicable.
- Knowledge and use of relevant scholarly tools where appropriate (including manuscript sources, standard editions, letters, biographies, and bibliographies).
- Good writing and scholarly form appropriate to the subject matter.
The Creative Qualifying Paper:
- Students in the Program for Writers submit a substantial collection of the student’s work, such as a volume of poems, a novella, a portion of a novel, or a collection of stories. A miscellaneous volume, containing, for example, poems, critical essays, and short stories, is also acceptable and the nature of the project will dictate the length of the manuscript (prose manuscripts usually run 50-75 pages; poetry manuscripts usually run 25-50).
Forms & Submission of Project
If you are planning to graduate in a given semester, you must submit a PDF of your project and a hard copy of the signed MA Certificate of Approval form to the Office of Graduate Studies at least one week before the end of finals week in that semester.
To submit the project PDF: send the completed, approved project as a PDF attachment (not in the body of the email) to our Master’s Upload Box folder. The file should be named LAST NAME,FIRST NAME.pdf. So a student named Susan Taylor would submit a project named TAYLOR,SUSAN.pdf.
The program code for MA students in the English Department is: 20FS0311MA.
Grading
Students are given a grade of “S” or “satisfactory” after having completed English 597. If the project is not complete, they are given a grade of “DFR” or “deferred” the student must complete work to receive the satisfactory grade and their degree.
Graduation
Students who are on track with their project and intend to graduate need to file online with the Graduate College.
Course Requirements for the MA
| English Studies (ENG) | Creative Writing (CW) | English Education (MA only) | English Education w/license (MA with IL secondary ELA teaching license) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Total Credit Hours | 32 | 32 | 32 | 53 |
| Minimum Credit Hours in English | 24 | 24 | 24 | 40 |
| Minimum Credit Hours at 500-level (non-research) | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| Proseminar (Fall Year 1) | 4 hrs - ENGL 500 | 4 hrs - ENGL 500 | 4 hrs - ENGL 500 | 4 hrs - ENGL 500 |
| Course Requirements | 24 hrs of ENGL courses ( can include 400 level) | 12 hours of workshops in genre and 12 hours of seminars | 8 hrs - ENGL 557 plus one of the following: 507, 517, 527, 537, 547, OR 567 | 4 hrs - ENGL 557 or one of the following: 507, 517, 527, 537, 547, OR 567 |
| Teaching methods or education courses (ED only) | N/A | N/A | 8 hrs - Methods Course Requirements: Two classes from ENGL 481, 482, 486, 489, 555 | 28 hrs - English Methods Courses: ENGL 486, 489, 481 AND Education Methods Courses: ED 402 or 403; ED 421 or 445; ED 425; SPED 410 |
| Other required courses or electives | N/A | 12-16 hrs - Workshop Requirement: ENGL 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 575, 576 | 8 hrs - Elective Requirements: At least two courses | 8 hrs - Elective Requirements: At least two courses, which may include Education courses (like ED 402 or 403, and ED 421 or 425) that are required for licensure |
| Student Teaching Requirement (ED w/license only) | N/A | N/A | N/A | 12 hrs - ENGL 498, 499 |
| Research Project | 0-4 hrs - ENGL 597 | 0-4 hrs - ENGL 597 | 0-4 hrs - ENGL 597 | 0-4 hrs - ENGL 597 |
note, etc
“Zero Hours” for ENGL 597
Registering for zero hours of ENGL 597 is not the same as not registering for the course. Students must register for ENGL 597 in order to graduate.
Independent Study
Students may sign up to work independently with one of our faculty. No more than four hours of credit taken in ENGL 596 may be counted toward the 32-hour degree requirement, but you may enroll in more than 4 hours of independent study if you wish. You can find the Independent Study form on our Forms page.
Self-Audit
You may perform a self-audit using the MA Progress to Degree Checklist found on the Forms page. If you have questions or want to double-check your self-audit, contact the Graduate Studies Program Coordinator to schedule a meeting.