About the Program
US News & World Report ranks Purdue’s English Department among the top 50 graduate programs in the nation. Since 2018, over 70% of our PhDs have found academic jobs. Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) have opportunities to teach introductory composition in our renowned ICaP program, as well as professional writing, film studies, literature courses, and more. In addition, research fellowships and other assistantships-such as working for the Purdue OWL, on-campus writing lab-offer alternative, valuable academic opportunities. The Department’s prestigious academic journal, MFS Modern Fiction Studies, recently introduced its own one-year teaching assistantship, awarded to a graduate student who demonstrates “outstanding potential in 20th and/or 21st century literary studies.” The Literature, Theory, Cultural Studies (LTC) program offers both MA and PhD degrees, and all admitted students receive full funding as TAs, RAs, or research fellows. Flexible plans of study allow coverage in conventional literary-historical areas as well as exposure to newly emerging critical and theoretical fields. LTC is a nimble, forward-looking program that values the archival alongside the digital; readings both close and far (or symptomatic and surface); and makes room for the new methods that keep alive our love of literature and its study. LTC is home to the largest number of faculty in the English department, offers an unmatched diversity of course offerings, and perhaps there is no better testament to our historical and methodological breadth than the fact that we are proud to host the top-ranked but otherwise highly different journals MFS Modern Fiction Studies and Arthuriana. Within LTC program, students specialize in any of four main areas, while acquiring breadth in all of them: - Medieval and Early Modern Studies
- Transatlantic and Early Atlantic Studies (17th - 19th centuries)
- 20th and 21st Century Literary Studies
- Theory and Cultural Studies
Program Website Program Requirements - Thesis and Non-thesis
30 Credits RequiredRequired Courses (15 credits)
Breadth Areas (12 credits)
Choose one course in each area. Medieval and Early Modern Courses (3 credits)
In addition to Old and Middle English studies, courses in Middle Welsh, Old Irish, Old Norse, Old Saxon, Medieval Latin, and Old French have been offered recently on campus, many of these courses taught by faculty members in English. Transatlantic and Early Atlantic Courses (3 credits)
Faculty and students in the transatlantic area are engaged in research and teaching that encompass colonial America beginning in the early 17th-century, 18th-century British and American literature, and long 19th-century literatures. We consider the British as well as the Black Atlantic; New England and New Spain; London and Surinam. Faculty and students also have ties to interdisciplinary programs such as American Studies, Women’s Studies, African American Studies, and Comparative Literature. Indeed, students are encouraged to broaden their knowledge of the nineteenth century by taking courses in these areas or in other departments (particularly Languages and Cultures, History, Art History, and Philosophy). 20th and 21st Century Literary Courses (3 credits)
Faculty has expertise in such well-known writers as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, William Carlos Williams, Toni Morrison, José Martí, Sherman Alexie, Ishmael Reed, and Octavia Butler but are also well-versed in more contemporary writers, including Colson Whitehead, Zadie Smith, and Jess Walter. Faculty approaches to the period include the study of race, disability, feminism, the environment, print culture, and gender and sexuality. Faculty’s diversity of thought is signaled by their affiliation with one or more of Purdue’s interdisciplinary programs, such as Comparative Literature, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, African American Studies, American Studies, Film Studies, and Jewish Studies. Students typically choose one of the following concentrations: - Transatlantic Modernism
- Post-1945 Literature
- Postcolonial Literature and Theory
Theory and Cultural Courses (3 credits)
Launched in 1998, Theory and Cultural Studies (TCS) is a unique track that offers students a chance to organize their coursework, examinations, and dissertation research in unusual ways, drawing upon several strengths of the department: literary and critical theory, cultural studies and its pedagogies, postcolonial studies, feminist and queer theory, visual culture, and the social-epistemic paradigm of rhetorical analysis. TCS is broad-ranging and flexible, encouraging study in multiple approaches to the field of English. The concentration brings together scholars working in important overlapping areas of inquiry: textual analysis inflected by feminist and poststructural critique; cultural analysis oriented by an understanding of global socio-economic systems; historical analysis attentive to the work of institutions and ideologies; and teaching practices conditioned by an emphasis on the process of textual production and the goal of what Jim Berlin called “critical citizenship.” Seminar (3 credits)
Choose one. May overlap with breadth and electives. Electives (12-15 credits)
An MA student who has met core, distribution, and program requirements may complete the overall course-hour minimum with any of the 500/600-level graduate courses offered or cross-listed by the department. Thesis Research (0-3 credits)
The MA thesis, developed and written under the supervision of the student’s entire Advisory Committee, should be similar in kind and quality to a doctoral dissertation, but narrower in range and scope. The usual recommendation is for a minimum 60-80 page (18,000-24,000 word) manuscript, but exceptions are allowed when approved by the Advisory Committee. The thesis is not required if students choose to pursue a non-thesis MA. Instead, students will take an MA Exam (described below), with remaining credits to be fulfilled by electives. LTC Exam Requirements
For MA students in LTC not writing a thesis, this examination serves as the capstone of this stage of graduate study. The exam, covering the spectrum of literary and cultural studies, allows students to demonstrate an ability to synthesize materials, to draw parallels between or among texts, and to read closely for specific details. Examination questions or topics for exploration draw on a variety of ways to read texts (plot, genre, gender, character, relation to critical issues). The first part of the examination will last 4 hours, with one-half hour for studying the questions and organizing answers, 3 hours for writing, and one-half hour for proofreading and editing the answers. Students write for 3 hours, usually on 3 questions chosen from a list of 5 or 6 options. The questions may deal with any of the books on the list, or any combination of those books. The second part of the examination consists of the explication of a passage of prose or poetry, with 15 minutes for study and organization, 1 hour for writing, and 15 minutes for proofreading. Students write on 1 of 3 short passages, printed in full. Titles will not be announced in advance. The instructions will read: “Write a careful literary analysis of one of the following pieces. Your essay should interpret the passage and support that interpretation with evidence drawn from the text.” No notes, texts, or reference works other than a standard college dictionary may be consulted during the exam. Concentrations
Departmental concentrations: - English Language and Linguistics
- Literature, Theory, Cultural Studies
- Literary Studies
- Rhetoric and Composition
- Teaching English as a Second Language
Interdisciplinary concentrations: GPA Requirements
The department requires each student to complete a minimum of 6 hours per semester and 12 hours per academic year with grades of B-minus or better. Moreover, the OGSPS requires that a student holding a half-time teaching assistantship register for a minimum of 6 credits per semester. Students working one-quarter time should adjust their registrations accordingly. Also note that some fellowships administered by the OGSPS require a minimum enrollment of 8 credit hours per semester. Graduate Programs Disclaimer
- The student is ultimately responsible for knowing and completing all degree requirements. Students should consult with their advisor/department for more information.
- Not all graduate programs may be actively recruiting students and course modality availability may vary.
- Please refer to the Explore Graduate Programs website for a list of currently available graduate programs.
- Transfer credit policy: Credits earned for graduate study at other universities (both domestic and international) may be applied toward an advanced degree. Only credit hours associated with graduate courses for which grades of B- or better were obtained will be eligible for transfer. Any additional conditions under which credit transfers may be made are determined by the various departments.
- Comparative information about Purdue University and other U.S. educational institutions is also available through the College Navigator tool, provided by the National Center for Education Statistics, and through the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
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