田纳西大学

Tennessee’s MA program is offered in two concentrations: Literature, Criticism, and Textual Studies and Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics. They both provide excellent training and a flexible curriculum. Students may specialize in anything from medieval literature to critical theory or may pursue a more general curriculum. We look for strong, thoughtful candidates who will enrich our intellectual community in a variety of ways and who will benefit from the breadth of our resources.

We have an excellent financial support, a nationally and internationally recognized faculty, and world-class research library. Travel funds for research and presentations at scholarly conferences help our students enter the profession and begin to establish themselves in their respective fields within the discipline.

The Graduate Students in English organization, field-specific reading groups, and other activities draw students together as an intellectual and social community with shared passions and aspirations. Our MA graduates go on to excellent PhD programs in English, as well as to careers in editing, publishing, technical writing, and the non-profit and private sectors.

Concentrations (Required) and Options Available

Literature, Criticism, and Textual Studies: Thesis, Course only with comprehensive exams
Rhetoric, Writing and Linguistics: Thesis

Admissions Standards/Procedures

The Department of English does not accept students in non-degree or provisional status.
A student who wishes to enter the department must apply in degree-seeking status for his/her application to receive consideration for admission to any graduate program in English.

Literature, Criticism, and Textual Studies, Thesis

In keeping with its long tradition of teaching and research excellence, the English department at UT takes part in cutting-edge conversations in literary studies through challenging coursework and scholarship.

This largest of the graduate concentration areas brings a passion for literatures, their cultural contexts, their textual history, and their critical legacies to the classroom. New opportunities for interdisciplinary work make this an exciting and rigorous program of study. The British and American literary traditions, medieval studies, ethnic literatures, post-colonial and international literatures, critical theory, textual studies, folklore, film, prosody, poetics, and work in other fields support student research in a variety of genres.

The department also sponsors a regular schedule of visiting lecturers, reading groups, and workshops that bring graduate students and faculty members together in discussion and study.

Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics, Thesis

At the MA level, the concentration in RWL is designed to foster innovative and imaginative as well as rigorous scholarship and teaching. To that end, the core curriculum invites students to work across a broad range of RWL areas, including the history of rhetoric, theories of rhetoric and writing, critical theory, composition research and pedagogy, literacy studies, technical communication, applied linguistics, and second-language acquisition.

RWL students are also encouraged to explore multidisciplinary perspectives. Through coursework and directed research, students can make connections with other areas in English studies, including literary periods and genres, ethnic and national literatures (especially African American, American, and British literatures), feminist criticism, and literary theory. Further, RWL students can pursue cross-disciplinary interests that carry them into fields such as education, legal studies, political science, drama and performance studies, philosophy, history, and sociology.