English and Film Studies [Graduate]

Department of English and Film Studies
3-5 Humanities Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E5
E-mail: efs@ualberta.ca

General Information

The Department of English and Film Studies offers graduate work leading to the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in English language, literature and culture.

The Department is large and various, and offers courses in all areas of the literature and culture of the English-speaking world, from Old English to contemporary writing. It is particularly strong in the areas of Renaissance, nineteenth-century, Canadian, and postcolonial literature, in cultural studies and queer studies, in women’s writing, and in creative writing.

The University’s libraries contain a 6,000,000 volume equivalent, with holdings in English, Canadian, American, and postcolonial literature totalling more than 200,000 volumes. Special collections in English literature include early editions of Bunyan and Milton; facsimiles of the Dove Cottage Wordsworth papers; first and rare editions of Austen, Scott, Thackeray, Dickens (including serial parts); Emily Dickinson manuscript facsimiles; exceptionally large holdings in Lawrence, Yeats, and Joyce; and manuscripts and archives in the literature of Canada, including the manuscripts of the poetry of Dorothy Livesay from 1919-1974. Microfilm holdings include a rare complete run of both Early English Books series, and an important collection of over 28,000 nineteenth-century British and American playscripts.

Entrance Requirements

The normal requirements for admission to the MA program include an undergraduate degree in English or its equivalent in number of courses (★60), coverage (at least ★3 in each of the major historical periods [Old and Middle English, Early Modern, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth Century, and Twentieth Century literature and culture] and in Canadian, American, Aboriginal, and postcolonial literature and culture, as well as some grounding in literary and cultural theory), high academic standing (a minimum 3.3 GPA in courses in English), and proof of English language proficiency, where applicable (see English Language Requirement ). Applications, complete with supporting documentation, must be submitted to the English and Film Studies Department by January 7.

Financial Assistance

Please see the Department’s website for details.

Graduate Program Requirements

Graduate Courses

Graduate courses can be found in Course Listings , under the subject heading English (ENGL).