MA Exam & Portfolio Committee
2016-2017
Members
Dr. Katie Simon, Chair
Dr. Alex Blazer
Dr. Bruce Gentry
Links
MA Program Catalog Description
Deadlines
Comprehensive Exam
Inform the MA Coordinator, Dr. Jennifer Flaherty, in writing that you plan to take the Comprehensive Exam during the current semester by the end of the first week of the semester.
The Comprehensive Exam is given the week before finals.
Portfolio
Inform the MA Coordinator, Dr. Jennifer Flaherty, in writing that you plan to submit a portfolio during the current semester by the end of the first week of the semester.
Portfolios are due four weeks before the end of the semester.
Recommendations
The Committee recommends that students systematically and rigorously study for the exam by 1) compose a page of notes (characters, conflicts, themes) for each of the thirty selections, 2) compose a page of notes (key traits and exemplary works) for each literary period, and 3) prepare comparisons across multiple works and/or genres involving topics including but not limited to aesthetics and style, race and class, gender and sexuality, politics and religion.
The Committee recommends that each portfolio student works with an advisor while compiling and revising three scholarly research essays of 12-15 pages each into a portfolio of at least 35 pages.
Because the rhetorical situation of the portfolio is different from a term paper, the Committee recommends that the portfolio student reflects upon her development as a scholar (what she has learned, what issues and ideas she works with) and revise three papers' claims that engage an audience of scholars in diverse literary fields with no knowledge of the original courses' context and content.