MA in English
Overview
The English Department at California State University, Chico, offers the Master of Arts degree in English with patterns in creative writing, language and literacy, and literature. The program is committed to advancing knowledge and creativity by nurturing a community of students, scholars, teachers, and creative writers. We believe that broad reading in historical and contemporary literary, critical, and theoretical texts provides a foundation for more specialized study and research. To this end, we offer students in all patterns an introduction to graduate research in a range of critical, rhetorical, and creative modes, giving them the intellectual background to pursue a specialty. Through internships and seminars in pedagogy, our Teaching Associateship Program provides teacher training and helps our students develop their teaching philosophies and hone their professional skills.
Mission
The English Department at California State University, Chico, offers the Master of Arts degree in English with patterns in creative writing, language and literacy, and literature. The program is committed to advancing knowledge and creativity by nurturing a community of students, scholars, teachers, and creative writers. We believe that broad reading in historical and contemporary literary, critical, and theoretical texts provides a foundation for more specialized study and research. To this end, we offer students in all patterns an introduction to graduate research in a range of critical, rhetorical, and creative modes, giving them the intellectual background to pursue a specialty. Through internships and seminars in pedagogy, our Teaching Associateship Program provides teacher training and helps our students develop their teaching philosophies and hone their professional skills.
Goals & Objectives
The MA in English is a 30-unit program built on an 18-unit core and a 12-unit elective patterns. The patterns are designed to address the needs of a diverse student population, preparing those who plan to teach in high schools and community colleges, those who intend to pursue writing careers, and those who wish to enter MFA programs in creative writing or doctoral programs in English language and literature or in rhetoric and composition.
- Through course work and research projects, students will acquire extensive knowledge of their chosen pattern and field.
- Students will have advanced skills in reading, evaluating, and writing on various subjects in their field.
- With rigorous training and practice, students will be able to teach the courses in their chosen field at high schools and community colleges.
- Students will gain a broad knowledge of scholarly research, theoretical application, critical analysis, and academic or creative writing.
Learning Outcomes
- Student work demonstrates comprehensive knowledge in his or her area of concentration: Literature; Language and Literacy; Creative Writing; and/or Pedagogy.
- Student work demonstrates advanced skills in reading, evaluating, and writing critically on various subjects in the field of English language, literature, and the literary arts.
- Student work applies and demonstrates, appropriate to the student’s area of concentration, comprehensive knowledge in scholarly research and methods, theoretical application, critical analysis, academic writing, and/or creative writing.
- By means of rigorous training and practice, interested students should be able to independently design and teach college-level courses in writing and literature.