Students who pursue the thesis option are expected to have developed a broad familiarity with literature in their undergraduate studies. Students must demonstrate that their undergraduate and graduate studies have included one course in a major author and at least one upper-division course in four of the following six areas. The program of study for the degree may include courses in addition to requirements for the thesis option if if the student's background in literature is deficient. This approval should be secured before the end of the second semester of course work or before the student completes 18 hours of graduate-level course work. In that exam, students are expected both to defend their thesis and to answer questions regarding their course work.
Students electing the non-thesis option take a written and oral examination.
Students should form their examining committee by the end of their third semester of course work. The committee consists of at least two members of the graduate English faculty and one member of the graduate faculty from outside the department. The written examination is a take-home examination prepared by the two English faculty members of the student's examining committee to encourage students to synthesize course work and related material covered in the graduate program. The examination is administered by the Director of Graduate Studies and read by the two English faculty members of the student's committee. Students normally pick up the examination from the departmental secretary at noon on a specified Thursday and return it by noon the following Monday.