The English Master of Arts Thesis Option consists of the following:

Thirty (30) credits of coursework, including ENG 599 (Master’s Thesis Research)

M.A. Thesis Proposal

• Near the completion of M.A. coursework, the student, with the consultation of the Director of Graduate Studies, should seek out an English faculty member to serve as the major professor for the thesis phase of the M.A. program. With the advice of the major professor, the student composes a proposal for the thesis. This document should have the form and content of the doctoral dissertation prospectus https://web.uri.edu/graduate-school/forms/, and should be approximately 10, but under no circumstances longer than 15, pages. Once the Graduate School has approved the Thesis Proposal, the student may begin substantive work on the thesis itself.

M.A. Thesis

• An M.A. thesis should be an original work of scholarship articulating an argument over 17,000 to 20,000 words, including notes but not including the list of works cited. The student should plan to use the middle summer and the third semester of the program as time devoted to primary research and writing, with the aim of producing an advanced draft of the entire thesis by the beginning of the fourth semester of the program. In consultation with the major professor, the student should compose a committee during the third semester consisting of the major professor, one other English faculty member, and one faculty member from outside the English department. During the third and fourth semesters, the student enrolls in ENG 599 (Master’s Thesis Research) with the committee chair. Under the guidance of the chair of this committee, the faculty members will work with the student to develop, evaluate, and approve the thesis.

M.A. Oral Defense

• Once the thesis has been approved in its final form by every member of the committee, and this fact has been transmitted to the Graduate School, the student may schedule an oral defense, a 90-minute meeting of the student and the thesis committee. In anticipation of the defense, the committee chair, in consultation with the student, will recruit a fourth member to the committee, from outside English, to serve as chair of the defense. Once requested alterations to the thesis have been submitted and approved by the committee, results of the oral defense shall be reported promptly to the student and to the Dean of the Graduate School.