English
| Degree Offered: | M.A. |
| Director: | Rebecca Bach, Ph.D. |
| Phone: | (205) 934-4250 |
| Email: | rbach@uab.edu |
| Website: | www.uab.edu/cas/english/ |
Admission Requirements
For admission in good standing, applicants must meet the Graduate School's requirements for scholarship. The applicant should normally have finished the requirements for an undergraduate degree in English with at least a 3.0 GPA. A generally well-prepared applicant who is lacking in some part of the undergraduate preparation may be admitted with the provision that any deficiencies be removed by a time specified by the graduate program director.
Program Description
Students in the graduate program are required to take a total of 31 hours of coursework including one hour of EH 605 (“Introduction to Graduate Studies in English”) and at least nine hours of literature classes. In addition, Plan I students must take six hours of EH 699 (“Thesis Research”) and must complete and successfully defend a masters thesis. All students must take at least 15 hours of coursework at the 600-level, including no more than three hours of EH 698 or EH 699. More detailed coursework options are presented on the English Department website.
Additional Information
| Deadline for Entry Term(s): | Each semester |
| Deadline for All Application Materials to be in the Graduate School Office: | Six weeks before term begins |
| Number of Evaluation Forms Required: | Three |
For detailed information, contact Dr. Rebecca Bach, Graduate Program Director, Department of English, UH 5065, 1402 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1260.
Telephone 205-934-4250
E-mail rbach@uab.edu
Web https://www.uab.edu/cas/english/graduate
Master of Arts in English
Students in the graduate program are required to take a total of 31 hours of coursework including one hour of EH 605 (“Introduction to Graduate Studies in English”) and at least nine hours of literature classes. In addition, Plan I students must take six hours of EH 699 (“Thesis Research”) and must complete and successfully defend a masters thesis; Plan II students must take three hours of EH 697 (“30-Books Semester”) and must propose and then pass a “30-books” examination. All students must take at least 15 hours of coursework at the 600-level, including no more than three hours of EH 698 or EH 699. More detailed coursework options are presented on the English Department website.
Plan I - 31 hours with Thesis
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| EH 605 | Introduction to Graduate Studies in English | 1 |
| Select three Literature courses 1 | 9 | |
| Select any five English graduate courses. | 15 | |
| EH 699 | Thesis Research | 6 |
| Total Hours | 31 | |
Plan II - 31 hours with 30-Books Exam
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| EH 605 | Introduction to Graduate Studies in English | 1 |
| Select three Literature courses. 1 | 9 | |
| Select any six English graduate courses. | 18 | |
| EH 697 | 30-Books Semester | 3 |
| Total Hours | 31 | |
| 1 | Literature courses: EH 511, EH 512, EH 513, EH 514, EH 515, EH 516, EH 519, EH 520, EH 521, EH 522, EH 523, EH 524, EH 526, EH 527,EH 531 EH 543, EH 544, EH 546, EH 547, EH 548, EH 560, EH 561, EH 562, EH 563, EH 564, EH 565, EH 566, EH 567, EH 568, EH 569, EH 570, EH 571, EH 573, EH 574, EH 575, EH 576, EH 578, EH 580, EH 581, EH 582, EH 583, EH 585, EH 586, EH 587, EH 588, EH 589, EH 591, EH 677, EH 690, EH 693 |
Courses
EH 501. Tutoring Writing. 3 Hours.
Designed to improve writing skills through understanding theories of tutoring and to prepare future teachers for tutor training and writing center development.
EH 502. Writing in Popular Periodicals. 3 Hours.
An exploration of current theory regarding the production, distribution, and consumption of popular periodicals and practice contributing to these sources.
EH 503. Business Writing. 3 Hours.
Advanced writing concentration on letters, resumes, and professional reports.
EH 504. Technical Writing. 3 Hours.
Advanced writing concentrating on short informal and long formal reports.
EH 505. Poetry Writing Workshop. 3 Hours.
Advanced work in poetry through critique of student writing. This course may be taken twice for a maximum 6 semester hours of credit.
EH 507. Creative Nonfiction Writing Workshop. 3 Hours.
Advanced work in creative nonfiction through critique of student writing. This course may be taken twice for a maximum 6 semester hours of credit.
EH 509. Fiction Writing Workshop. 3 Hours.
Advanced work in prose fiction through critique of student writing. This course may be taken twice for a maximum 6 semester hours of credit.
EH 510. Fiction Writing Workshop. 3 Hours.
Advanced work in prose fiction through critique of student writing. May be taken twice for credit.
EH 512. Forms of Poetry. 3 Hours.
Songs, sonnets, elegies, odes, and dramatic monologues.
EH 515. Forms of Fiction. 3 Hours.
Intensive study of one or more aspects of fiction. Includes writing and critique in a workshop setting.
EH 519. Young Adult Literature. 3 Hours.
Close reading of young adult literature; its form and history, its assumptions about adolescent psychology, and its literary relationship to the traditional canon.
EH 522. African Literature. 3 Hours.
Selected novels, short stories, autobiographies, folk tales, drama, essays, films, songs from pre-colonial Africa to the present, including works by Emecheta, wa Thiong o, Head, Achebe, Ba, Armah, Laye, Salih, Soyinka, and Abrahams.
EH 523. African Women's Literature. 3 Hours.
Works by African women from pre-colonial Africa to present.
EH 524. African-American Special Topics. 3 Hours.
See Class Schedule for topic. May be repeated.
EH 526. Pre-1800 Literature: Special Topics. 3 Hours.
See Class Schedule for topic. May be repeated.
EH 527. Post-1800 Literature: Special Topics. 3 Hours.
See Class Schedule for topic. May be repeated.
EH 529. Creative Writing: Special Topics. 3 Hours.
See Class Schedule for topic. May be repeated.
EH 530. Professional Writing: Special Topics. 3 Hours.
See Class Schedule for topic. May be repeated.
EH 531. Special Topics in Film. 3 Hours.
In-depth study of a specialized topic in film. The course may focus on a particular national cinema (American, Italian, Japanese, etc.); one or moredirectors (Welles, Hitchock, Kubrick, etc.); a development in film history or genre(the studio system, the French New Wave, the musical, etc.); or issues in visual representation (film theory; adaptation; sexuality in film, etc.).
EH 533. Academic Writing. 3 Hours.
Introduction, for students in all disciplines, to the process of scholarly inquiry and the most common genres of academic writing, including critiques, bibliographies, proposals, conference presentations, and articles.
EH 536. Wkshop Writing for Young Ppl. 3 Hours.
Workshop in writing for young people through critique of student writing.
EH 541. Literary Theory and Criticism I: Ancients to 19 ce. 3 Hours.
Introduction to theories of art and literary production in the contexts of aesthetics and culture from Plato to the end of the nineteenth century.
EH 542. Literary Theory and Criticism II: 20th Cent-Present. 3 Hours.
Introductin to theories of art and literary production in the contexts of aesthetics and culture from Russian formalism to the present.
EH 544. Women's Literature and Theory. 3 Hours.
Literary works and theoretical perspectives of Angelou, Chopin, Hong, Kingston, Hurston, Walker, Woolf, Plath, and others.
EH 546. African-American Autobiography. 3 Hours.
Personal narrative by African Americans, including texts by Wheatley, Douglas, Jacobs, Wilson, Dubois, Johnson, Hurston, Hughes, Wright, Baldwin, Angelou, and Moody. 3 hours.
EH 547. African-American Dramatic Tradition. 3 Hours.
Development of African American Dramatic Tradition from the nineteenth century through the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Movement to Contemporary Postmodernism, including Brown, Hurston, Baraka, and Wilson. 3 hours.
EH 548. African-American Poetry Tradition. 3 Hours.
Development of African American Poetry from its early works to the present,including Wheatley, Dunbar, Hughes, Brooks, and Angelou. 3 hours.
EH 550. Advanced Grammar. 3 Hours.
Present-day English grammar.
EH 551. Generative Grammar. 3 Hours.
Advanced analysis of English grammar with emphasis on Chomskyan generative grammar.
EH 552. Grammar and Usage for English Teachers. 3 Hours.
Intensive review of structure of English; usage, punctuation, and style as these relate to grammar.
EH 553. Advanced History of the English Language. 3 Hours.
Advanced topics.
EH 554. The Biology of Language. 3 Hours.
Vocal tract and neuroanatomical specializations for language, language acquisition, genetic language disorders, language and other primates, and evolution of language.
EH 555. Digital Publishing. 3 Hours.
Introduces students to new technologies for digital communication and the ways in which these technologies influence how people read, write, interact with, and share information.
EH 556. Visual Rhetoric. 3 Hours.
The nature of public communication is changing. Although words will never die, images have become a fast and effective medium for persuasion, and any writer who is interested in public communication must now have skills in both the analysis and production of visual rhetoric. Visual Rhetoric offers intensive studies in the rhetorical characteristics of image communication, especially as it intersects with verbal communication. Students in this course will learn strategies for incorporating persuasive images into verbal texts, thus enhancing the overall impact of any document.
EH 557. Writing and Medicine. 3 Hours.
Intensive examination of public discourse focusing on health, illness, and medical practice and production of texts as health consumers and health practitioners.
EH 558. Science Writing. 3 Hours.
Instruction in the research methods and writing genres characteristic of science writing. Emphasis on understanding scientific language and composing documents about science in multiple formats and for multiple audiences.
EH 559. Discourse Analysis. 3 Hours.
Intensive studies in public discourse, with particular emphasis on the social politics of linguistic choices.
EH 561. American Literature 1620-1820. 3 Hours.
Representative American writing from colonial period to Washington Irving.
EH 562. American Literature 1820-1870. 3 Hours.
Representative writers such as Alcott, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, Fuller, Fern, Harper, Thoreau, Jacobs, Whitman, Stowe, and Dickinson.
EH 563. American Literature 1870-1914. 3 Hours.
Realism and naturalism: Twain, James, Howell, Crane, Jewett, Wharton, Dre iser, Norris, and Chopin, among others.
EH 564. American Literature 1914-1945. 3 Hours.
Selected fiction, poetry, and drama of major American writers such as Eliot, Faulkner, Hemingway, Hurston, o Neill, and Wright.
EH 566. The Slave Narrative and Its Literary Expressions. 3 Hours.
Genre of slave narrative, its critical theories, and its nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary expressions. Includes Equiano, Jacobs, Wilson, Douglass, DuBois, Wright, Angelou, and Morrison.
EH 567. Black Women Writers. 3 Hours.
Evolution of Afrocentric feminist consciousness through early and contemporary writings.
EH 568. The Harlem Renaissance. 3 Hours.
Black writers during Harlem Renaissance movement. Includes Johnson, Toomer, Murray, Larsen, McKay, Thurman, Reed, and Morrison.
EH 569. Medieval Culture: Literature and Society. 3 Hours.
Exploration through art, literature, and history of dominant themes of Middle Ages, from Germans to Dante and Chaucer.
EH 570. Arthurian Legend. 3 Hours.
King Arthur and his knights in literature from sixth-century history and formulation of legend in Middle Ages to its use in twentieth century.
EH 571. Beowulf in Context. 3 Hours.
An interdisciplinary course in Anglo-Saxon art and culture bearing upon Beowulf, close study of the Norse analogues of the Old English epic. 3 hours.
EH 572. Introduction to Old English. 3 Hours.
An introduction to the language and literature of early medieval England (pre-1100), culminating in analyses of The Dream of the Rood and The Battle of Maldon in the original alliterative verse.
EH 574. English Renaissance Drama(Excluding Shakespeare). 3 Hours.
Plays by Marlowe, Kyd, Jonson, Tourneur, Webster, Middleton, and Ford.
EH 575. English Renaissance Poetry and Prose. 3 Hours.
Topics vary. Broad survey of period or close analysis of genre, theme, or author.
EH 576. Shakespeare. 3 Hours.
King Lear, Othello, and three other plays. Required for English majors.
EH 578. Milton. 3 Hours.
Selected prose and poetry, including Paradise Lost. 3 hours.
EH 581. The Eighteenth Century: Literature and Culture. 3 Hours.
Interdisciplinary exploration of texts that focuses on social, economic, and political backgrounds. Topics and authors vary.
EH 582. The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation. 3 Hours.
Formal and philosophical implications of selected texts. Authors and topics vary.
EH 583. British Romanticism. 3 Hours.
Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Hazlitt, Lamb, and DeQuincy.
EH 585. British Victorian Poetry. 3 Hours.
Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, and others.
EH 588. British Novel: The Modern Age. 3 Hours.
Conrad, Lawrence, Joyce, Woolf, Ford, and others. 3 hours.
EH 589. James Joyce. 3 Hours.
Study of James Joyce s fiction through Ulysses.
EH 591. Major Writers. 3 Hours.
See class schedule for topic. May be repeated.
EH 592. Special Topics. 3 Hours.
See class schedule for topic. May be repeated for total of 9 hours.
EH 593. Special Topics in Linguistics. 3 Hours.
See course schedule for topic.
Prerequisites: EH 250 [Min Grade: C] or EH 251 [Min Grade: C]
EH 597. Individual Studies(Non-Thesis Option). 1-3 Hour.
Non-Thesis Research. See Graduate Director for procedure to apply for this course.
EH 599. Film Thesis. 3 Hours.
Thesis on an independently designed topic within film history or film aesthetics, allowing the completion of the interdisciplinary film minor.
Prerequisites: EH 210 [Min Grade: C]
EH 600. Seminar: Engineering Communication. 3 Hours.
Strengthens engineering students understanding of and application of effective communication practices in the workplace. Subjects covered included techniques of audience analysis; production of problem/solution formats; analysis and creation of reports, journal articles, and proposals; and presentation of ideas in written and oral formats.
EH 601. Seminar: Classical Rhetorical Theory. 3 Hours.
Review of Rhetoric from Classical period through Renaissance with emphasis on the works of Plato and Aristotle.
EH 602. Seminar: Modern Rhetorical Theory. 3 Hours.
Advanced studies in twentieth-century theories of rhetoric; themes include Marxism, feminism, philosophy, semantics, and ideology.
EH 604. Research Methods in Composition and Rhetoric. 3 Hours.
Examination of traditional and current methods of research in composition and rhetoric with practice designing and implementing research tied to students interests.
EH 605. Introduction to Graduate Studies in English. 1 Hour.
An introduction to the UAB Graduate Program in English and to the discipline of English. Topics covered will include the discussion of the role of graduate students and graduate assistants, effective use of the university libraries, responsible conduct of research, genres of scholarly publication, conferences and professional societies, the academic job market, etc.
EH 615. Graduate Poetry Writing Workshop. 3 Hours.
Extensive work in poetry resulting in a manuscript of publishable quality.
EH 617. Graduate Creative Nonfiction Writing Workshop. 3 Hours.
Extensive work in creative nonfiction resulting in a manuscript of publishable quality.
EH 619. Graduate Fiction Writing Workshop. 3 Hours.
Extensive work in fiction resulting in a manuscript of publishable quality.
EH 644. Practicum in Teaching Lit.. 3 Hours.
This course focues on the methods and pedagogical philosophy of teaching English and American literature at the early post-secondary level. Required admission to the MA program in English or registration as a non-degree graduate student.
EH 646. Seminar: Practicum in Teaching Writing. 3 Hours.
Theory and practice of teaching writing at the postsecondary level.
EH 647. Practicum in Tutoring Seminar. 1 Hour.
English grammar review and effective tutoring strategies. Prerequisites: students must have been awarded an assistsantship and be scheduled to tutor in the Writing Center. 1 hour.
EH 655. Seminar: History of the English Language. 3 Hours.
EH 677. Seminar: Shakespeare:The Body Gender and Sexuality. 3 Hours.
Investigates languages of the body, sexuality, and gender in seven plays, as well as historical materials and current criticism and theories of the body.
EH 690. Major Writers Seminar. 3 Hours.
See class schedule for announcement of subjects. May be repeated for total of 9 hours credit if focus is on different subjects.
EH 691. Special Topics Seminar in Rhetoric and Composition. 3 Hours.
See class schedule for announcement of subjects. May be repeated for total of 9 hours credit if focus is on different subjects.
EH 693. Special Topics Seminar. 3,6 Hours.
See class schedule for announcement of subjects. May be repeated for total of 9 hours credit if focus is on different subjects.
EH 697. 30-Books Semester. 3 Hours.
The English Graduate Program, Plan II, requires that students prepare a reading list of 30 books, spend a semester reading & studying those books, and then sitting for both written and oral exams. The principal objective of EH 697 is to allow students time to work with their individual mentors to complete this exercise.
EH 698. Directed Studies Seminar. 1-6 Hour.
See departmental description of the M.A. program for special restrictions on this course. Prerequisite: Permission of Associate Chair. 1-3 hours.
EH 699. Thesis Research. 1-6 Hour.
Prerequisites: GAC M
Faculty
| Bach, Rebecca Ann, Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies, 1994, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (Pennsylvania), Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama, Animal Studies |
| Bacha, Jeffrey, Associate Professor of English and Director of Internships, 2012, B.A. (University of Michigan-Flint), M.A. (Georgia State University), Ph.D. (Purdue), Rhetoric and Composition, Professional and Technical Communication |
| Basilico, David Anthony, Associate Professor of English; Director, Linguistics and Honors, 1993, B.A. (Brown), Ph.D. (Arizona), Linguistic Theory, Syntax and Semantics, Cognitive Science |
| Bellis, Peter, Professor of English Emeritus, 2007, B.A. (Amherst), M.A. (Texas-Austin), M.A., Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins), American Literature |
| Braziel, James, Associate Professor of English, 2010, B.A. (Georgia), M.F.A (Bowling Green State), Creative Writing, Fiction |
| Chapman, Alison, Professor of English, 2000, B.A. (Davidson), M.A., Ph.D. (Pennsylvania), Milton, Renaissance Poetry and Prose |
| Clements, Jill Hamilton, Associate Professor of English, 2016, B.A. (Truman State), M.A. (Western Michigan), Ph.D (Illinois), Medieval Literature and Culture, History of the English Language |
| Collins, Robert, Professor of English Emeritus, 1980, AB (Xavier University), MA, PhD (Ohio State), Creative Writing, Poetry |
| Dunbar, Jessie, Associate Professor of English, 2013, B.A. (Clark Atlanta University), M.A. (Georgia), Ph.D. (Emory), Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century African American Literature and Black Diaspora Studies |
| Grimes, L. Kyle, Professor of English, 1990, B.A. (Dartmouth), M.A., Ph.D. (Illinois), Romantic Literature |
| Hutchings, William (Bill), Professor of English Emeritus, 1981, A.B. (Transylvania), M.A., Ph.D. (Kentucky), Modern British Fiction, Modern Drama, World Literature |
| Jessee, Margaret Jay, Associate Professor of English and Director of Undergraduate Studies and Literature, 2013, B.A., M.A. (Tennessee), Ph.D. (Arizona), Gender Studies, Women's Literature, American Literature, Theory |
| Madden-Lunsford, Kerry, Professor of English, 2009, B.A., M.F.A. (Tennessee), Creative Writing, Fiction, Writing for Young People |
| Mersmann, James, Associate Professor of English. Emeritus, 1973, B.A. (Missouri-Kansas City), M.A., Ph.D. (Kansas) |
| Mina, Lilian, Associate Professor of English, Director Freshman Writing, 2022, B.A., M.A. (Cairo), PhD (Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania), Digital Writing, Writing Program Administration, Multilingual Composition |
| Minnix, Christopher, Associate Professor of English, 2012, B.S. (Grace College), M.A. (Radford), Ph.D. (Tennessee), Rhetorical Theory, Transnational Rhetoric, Compositions Studies |
| Quinlan, Kieran, Professor of English Emeritus, 1986, B.A., M.A. (Oxford), M.A., Ph.D. (Vanderbilt), American Literature, Literature of the American South |
| Ryan, Cynthia, Associate Professor of English and Director Professional Writing, 1998, B.S., M.A. (Illinois State), Ph.D. (Purdue), Composition, Professional Writing, Public Discourse, Medical Rhetoric |
| Siegel, Daniel, Associate Professor of English, 2002, B.A. (Chicago), M.A., Ph.D. (Virginia), Nineteenth-Century British Literature and Culture, The Novel, Cinema |
| Temple, Gale M., Associate Professor of English, 2001, B.S. (Michigan), M.A., Ph.D. (Loyola-Chicago), Early American Literature and Culture |
| Vines, Adam, Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing, 2006, B.A., M.A. (UAB), M.F.A. (Florida), Creative Writing, Poetry, Twentieth and Twentieth-First Century Poetry |
| Wells, Jaclyn, Associate Professor of English, 2013, B.A. (Knox), M.A. (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Ph.D. (Purdue), Rhetoric and Composition, Writing Program Administration |