About the Program
Enrollment in a combined pathway allows highly qualified, current SUNY Buffalo State students to work on the Master of Arts in English while completing the bachelor’s degree in English. Up to 12 credits of designated master’s courses are incorporated into the bachelor’s degree program and will count toward both the bachelor’s degree and the master’s degree.
The program requires careful planning that should begin in the second year of the student’s undergraduate career at SUNY Buffalo State. The student and the primary adviser (or department chair) should consult in planning the undergraduate degree program so that all requirements are met during undergraduate study and the 12 credits of master’s courses from the MA Program in English are included in the degree plan. Students must meet graduate expectations for academic progress and grade point average in their master’s level courses to remain in the combined pathway.
About the English Department
208 Ketchum Hall
1300 Elmwood Ave
Buffalo, NY 14222
Phone: (716) 878-5417
Fax:
https://english.buffalostate.edu/
Admission Requirements
Admission into the combined pathway is highly selective. Applicants must have completed 24 credit hours in English, at least 18 of which must be in literature courses, with an overall GPA of 2.75 and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in all English classes. Matriculated undergraduate students may apply to the BA/MA pathway immediately before or in their third year (junior year) or as rising seniors. Students transferring to Buffalo State may apply to the program in their junior year. In order to remain in the program, students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher in all their English courses.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the B.A. and M.A. degrees in English, students will:
1. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the periods, genres, and major writers of British and American literature, and an awareness of the various critiques and revisions of this literature’s canon.
2. Demonstrate familiarity with major movements or writers of literatures in English outside British and American literature, and be able to place that literature within worldwide cultural and literary trends.
3. Describe and explain how the literature is affected by cultural and historical forces.
4. Analyze how ideas and attitudes about race, class, gender, nationhood, age, religion, and sexuality evolved through various periods of literary study.
5. Produce quality written work reflecting the conventions of the field, including current MLA format, marked by high standards of clarity, coherence, organization, and substantiation, and of various types including literary analysis/criticism, professional writing, research/scholarly writing, and informal/reflective writing.
6. Conduct both library and online research, by identifying and differentiating among various research methodologies.
7. Evaluate critical scholarship about literature, and integrate criticism into written and oral discussions of texts under study.
8. Write research papers that contribute new perspectives on current scholarly and methodological debates.
Program Requirements
B.A. English
Program Requirements
General Education 23 Requirements
33 credit hours 33
Required Courses (18 credit hours)
ENG 190 INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE 3
ENG 250 LITERARY MOVEMENTS 3
ENG 390 LITERARY CRITICISM AND THEORY 3
ENG 391 JUNIOR SEMINAR 3
ENG 490 SENIOR SEMINAR 3
Select one of the following Major Figure courses (3 credit hours) 3
ENG 313 MILTON
ENG 314 CHAUCER
ENG 315 SHAKESPEARE I
ENG 316 SHAKESPEARE II
ENG 322 REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS
Undergraduate electives (12 credit hours) 12
Select four undergraduate ENG literature courses by advisement. Courses that were not used to satisfy one of the above requirements can be used as an elective.
ENG courses on film, writing, and education cannot be used to fulfill the English B.A. elective requirement.
Required Graduate Courses (12 credit hours)
ENG 601 RESEARCH IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE * 3
Choose any 3 graduate elective courses (9 credit hours) 9
Selected by advisement. ENG 612, ENG 621, and ENG 623 may be taken up to three times with different topics each time.
ENG 612 SELECTED TOPICS IN BRITISH LITERATURE **
ENG 621 AMERICAN LITERATURE **
ENG 623 LITERATURE OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE **
ENG 638 STUDIES IN INDIVIDUAL WRITERS **
ENG 639 STUDIES IN LITERARY GENRES **
ENG 644 IDEOLOGY AND LITERATURE **
ENG 645 LITERATURE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE **
ENG 670 ADVANCED LINGUISTICS **
At least three courses (9 credit hours) from among the undergraduate and graduate elective courses must be pre-1900 literature courses.
Total Credit Hours 75
*Required M.A. course that will be used in B.A. and M.A. simultaneously (3 credit hours).
**Elective courses in the M.A. that will be used in B.A. and M.A. simultaneously (9 credit hours).