English, M.S.

M.S. in English with Literature Option

M.S. in English with Option Concentration in English Education with Licensure

Also required for licensure:

Passing scores for Virginia on the Core Praxis Math, VCLA, and Praxis II tests prior to being admitted to the blocking semester supporting courses.  SAT scores of 1100 or higher, with scores of at least 530 on both the critical reading and mathematics section may be submitted in lieu of passing Praxis Core scores.  Students must also meet qualifications for acceptance and retention in the Secondary Education Licensure Program in English.

M.S. in English with Option in English Education without Licensure

Masters Final Exam: Goals of a Comprehensive Exam

A Radford University graduate student seeking an M.A. or M.S. in English will complete the Comprehensive Exam in accordance with the following criteria. The exam must:

1. provide an opportunity for the candidates to demonstrate through a written argument a significant level of scholarly or critically literate knowledge gained through classwork and independent scholarship, and
2. provide an opportunity for candidates to demonstrate knowledge sufficient to be successful in year one of a PhD program, or to teach a college-level literature or composition class, or the subject area of high school English, or to be proficient as a professional writer or editor.

Process and Breadth

1. Format and administration
   The English Graduate Comprehensive Exam is a 48-hour open-book test. It will be given on a single weekend each semester, with the date to be announced at the beginning of the preceding semester. A student who has an unresolvable conflict that weekend may petition the Graduate Program Coordinator for a change of date.
    
2. Subject Matter
   The student’s committee will devise a comprehensive examination consisting of a single question.  The purpose of this examination will be to give students the opportunity to synthesize and to make connections from the student’s program of study.
    
3. Committee composition and function
   The composition of the committee will be reported by the student to the Graduate Program Coordinator by the end of the third week of the semester in which the comprehensive examination is to be taken. Based on his or her major interest, each student will ask a professor to serve as chair of the comprehensive examination committee; the remaining members of the committee will be selected jointly by the student and the committee chair.

   The role of the committee will be to read the student’s written examination and evaluate it as satisfactory, marginal, or unsatisfactory.

   Satisfactory: If the written examination is satisfactory, there will be no oral examination.

   Marginal: If the written examination is marginal, the committee will ask the student to readdress the question(s) in an oral examination. At this time the committee will make a final decision as to whether the comprehensive exam is satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

   Unsatisfactory: If the written examination is unsatisfactory, there will be no oral examination. According to the policies of the Graduate College, the student will have one opportunity to retake the comprehensive exam.