MA Degree Requirements
Coursework
For the degree of Master of Arts, students must complete 27 credits of course work (or 9 seminars), which includes two core courses: History of Criticism, and a seminar in the scholarship of pedagogy. The remaining credits are earned through electives. In their final term, MA students are asked to designate three of their elective courses as comprising a Teaching and Research Field.
Master’s Research Paper
MA students must successfully complete a Master’s Research Paper in the context of one of their elective courses. The following constitute the procedures and minimal criteria for the Master’s Research Paper:
- The Master’s Research Paper should be of professional article length, defined by the MLA as 6,000-8,000 words.
- Students must engage in primary research beyond course readings and/or what is ordinarily required for a term paper, and the Master’s Research Paper must reflect that research. In addition, students must use professionally accepted bibliographic conventions.
- The Master’s Research Paper must be prepared in the context of a particular graduate seminar. Students must consult an instructor, and receive the instructor’s approval, no later than the end of Add/Drop if they wish to write their Master’s Research Paper for that instructor’s seminar. The instructor of the seminar will be solely responsible for evaluating the paper.
- In addition to the specific requirements a seminar instructor may establish for Master’s Research Papers undertaken in his or her seminar, the primary criteria for evaluating the Master’s Research Paper include coherent textual analysis, historical contextualization (where appropriate), and the incorporation of primary research into a cogent scholarly argument.
- The Master’s Research Paper must be completed no later than the last day of the spring term of a student’s second year, or fourth term in residence. In order for the Master’s Research Paper to count toward earning the MA, a student must receive a grade of “B” or better on the paper and as a final grade for the course in which the paper was completed.
Language Requirement
MA students must demonstrate proficiency in one foreign language. Normally this requirement is fulfilled through advanced readings courses or examinations administered by the foreign language departments at the University of Pittsburgh.
Certificate Programs
Students interested in emphasizing film studies can enroll in the Film Studies Master’s Certificate Program, and those interested in emphasizing composition, literacy, and pedagogy studies can work toward the Certificate in Composition Studies. Those interested in Children’s literature should consult the Children’s Literature Graduate Research Program.