Master of Arts in English (English and Film Studies)

Program Requirements

The MA program may be taken as either a course-based or a thesis-based degree.

Course-based MA

Students must complete a minimum of 24 units in coursework, consisting of 21 units in required courses, a proseminar, and a portfolio equivalent to 3 units.

Required courses (21 units):

Seven 3-unit graduate-level courses.
Up to 2 courses can be taken in another department with permission from the Associate Chair, Graduate Studies.
Students without an Honors BA in English may require more courses, depending upon the number of English courses that have been taken as an undergraduate.

Seminar requirement

Proseminar A (Please contact the department for more information)

Portfolio (3 units)

ENGL 900 – Directed Research Project. The capping exercise for the course-based MA is either an Academic Portfolio or a Creative Portfolio.

Thesis-based MA

Students must complete a minimum of 18 units in coursework, a proseminar, and a thesis.

Required courses

Six 3-unit graduate-level courses.
Up to 2 courses can be taken in another department with permission from the Associate Chair, Graduate Studies.
Students without an Honors BA in English may require more courses, depending upon the number of English courses that have been taken as an undergraduate.

Seminar requirement

Proseminar A (Please contact the department for more information)

Thesis

Registration in 900-level THES. Completion and oral defense of a thesis is required. Students must submit a Thesis Proposal in their first year.

Residence Requirement

For full-time MA students, both thesis-based and course-based, the minimum period of residence is two four-month terms of full-time attendance at the University of Alberta for candidates with an Honors degree in English (or its equivalent); for candidates without an Honors BA in English the residence requirement may be somewhat longer. The terms do not have to be consecutive.

Length of Program

The time required to complete the MA will vary according to the previous training of the applicant and the nature of the research undertaken; however, a minimum of 12 months is normally required. Thesis-based MA degrees typically take longer than 12 months.

The maximum time to complete the course-based MA program as set by the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies is six years. The maximum time to complete the thesis-based MA program as set by the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies is four years.