SUNY Potsdam

Advisor
Upon admission into the program, students should plan to meet with the Director of Graduate Studies in the English and Communication department for advising.

Courses
The courses in the MA program are taught from a variety of disciplinary perspectives: literary history and theory, rhetoric, speech communication, linguistics, and composition studies. What unites these courses is the notion that all texts and utterances exist as part of discursive systems. Students’ experience is also united by taking four core courses that develop the critical skills necessary to complete a Master’s thesis.

Course Requirements
A minimum of 33 credit hours with an overall grade point average of 3.0 or higher is required for the granting of the Master of Arts in English and Communication. The 33 credit hours are divided as follows:

Required Courses          12 Credits
GECD 601 Introduction to Research Methods (3)
GECD 602 Introduction to Discourse Studies (3)
GECD 603 Semiotics (3)
GECD 604 Professional Writing (3)

English and Communication Electives          15 Credits
Students will select, with prior advisor approval, five graduate English and Communication courses, at lease nine hours must be completed at the 600 level. Six hours may be taken at the 500 level in any courses with LITR, COMP, or COMM designators.

No more than six credit hours of transfer credit may be used to satisfy the Master of Arts degree requirements.  No Winterim or three-week summer course can count toward the graduate course requirements.

At least 27 of the 33 credit hours must be taken at the 600 level.

Thesis          6 Credits
GECD 690 Thesis Credits (6)

Total required credit hours:  33

The Master’s Thesis
Each candidate must show evidence of his or her ability to research a discursive problem and write the findings clearly and correctly. To meet this requirement, the student prepares a Master’s thesis (50-100 pages), which should demonstrate the student’s ability to interpret closely and critically, on a subject agreeable to the student and the advisor of his or her Master’s thesis.

Master’s Committee
The Master’s Committee consists of an advisor and two readers. At least two members of the committee must be active members of the department, including the advisor.