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Graduate Student Guide

English Department
Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis
________________________________________________________

Welcome to the M.A. program in English at IUPUI. This guide should prove invaluable in helping you understand the work required of you as a graduate student in our program. We invite you to browse our website (http://english.iupui.edu/), which offers considerable information on our faculty, our programs, and upcoming events. The following materials concern the history and nature of the program, admissions procedures, program requirements, and our graduate faculty.

THE UNIVERSITY, CAMPUS, SCHOOLS, & DEPARTMENT

Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) is the urban campus of Indiana's two major state universities. Two of the schools that make up IUPUI (the School of Science and the School of Engineering and Technology) are affiliated with Purdue University; the others - including the School of Liberal Arts, of which the English Department is a part - are affiliated with Indiana University (IU).

IUPUI is one of IU's two core campuses (the other being the residential campus at Bloomington). IUPUI English Department faculty have IU appointments, and students in the IUPUI English Department receive IU degrees (on-line at http://english.iupui.edu/). A student admitted to the IUPUI English Department graduate program is simultaneously enrolled in the IU Graduate School. You should become familiar with the Bulletin of the Graduate School, for all of its regulations and requirements apply to you as an IU graduate student. The Bulletin is available from the office of Associate Dean and Director of the Graduate School Office, Sherry Queener, Union Building (UN) 518, 620 Union Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5167. You can also access the Bulletin online:

• http://www.iupui.edu/~resgrad/grad/
• Click on the Campus Bulletin link
• Click on "IU School of Liberal Arts" and then click on "English" under "Degrees and Programs". Information about the graduate program in English can be found towards the bottom of the page.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Until you have your own Program Committee Chair, the Director of Graduate Studies will serve as your academic advisor. At present, the Director of Graduate Studies is Dr. Frederick J. DiCamilla (fdicamil@iupui.edu; 317-274-4804). Graduate Secretary (english@iupui.edu: 317-274-2258) is the Administrative Assistant for the English Department's Graduate Program. Correspondence should be sent to her atteniton at the following address: IUPUI, English Department, CA 502L, 425 University Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46202.

THE PROGRAM

The English Department has been offering graduate courses since IUPUI's establishment in 1969. It received approval in 1994 to award the Master of Arts in English. The Graduate English Program has been designed to prepare students for careers in the analysis and production of texts. To this end, our program covers issues and skills in reading and writing - in the richest sense of these words - in order to prepare students to address these issues and to teach these skills. The program has also been designed to serve students who undertake graduate study as much to enrich their lives as to prepare themselves for a career. Because of IUPUI's urban, non-residential setting, its graduate English program strives, in its curriculum and scheduling, to meet the special needs of part-time, non-residential students.

The M.A. program at IUPUI reflects the national discussions that have over the last decade redefined English as a discipline. Prior to 1990, many M.A. programs operated as "feeders" for Ph.D. programs in literature; hence, they emphasized literary periods and literary history in general. Like other free-standing M.A. programs in the 2000s, IUPUI's program offers a more balanced curriculum, with courses in literature; in linguistics (how the English language works); and in composition studies and creative writing (how people write). Our program emphasizes the application of English studies to a wide range of contemporary situations and problems.

The interests of our multidisciplinary faculty are expressed partially through the variety of campus institutions in which they participate, including the Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication, the University Writing Center, the Office of Campus Writing, the Rufus Reiberg Series (which brings poets and fiction writers to campus), and the Peirce Edition Project. Some students may be able to participate directly in these institutions, through internships or research assistantships. All students benefit from the varied faculty work that enriches the graduate curriculum.

Our program assumes that students are interested in shaping their own courses of study. Some may want to capitalize on extant structures by, for example, taking the classes required for the certificates in TESOL (Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages) or Textual Editing as part of their M.A. coursework. For others, independent studies and independent writing projects may provide the flexibility to follow individual interests.

ADMISSIONS

Applicants should have a Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university. Ordinarily, applicants are expected to have been English majors, but admission will also be considered for those who otherwise demonstrate the competency necessary for successful graduate work in English.

In addition to undergraduate records, letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, and a writing sample (or samples), applicants' scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL - taken by international students) are considered in the admission process. Note: Only the general test from the GRE is required.
Occasionally, the English Department Graduate Studies Committee grants special student status to some students who do not meet all requirements for admission. Such students are admitted provisionally and are expected to make up any deficiencies within a specified period of time.

Applicants should submit the following:

• the application form
• an official transcript from your undergraduate institution showing a Bachelor's Degree
• three letters of recommendation from people knowledgeable about your academic record and intellectual capacities
• personal statement (also known as a Statement of Purpose)
• GRE scores for the general test
• TOEFL scores (for those whose native language is not English)
• financial documents (international students only)

Since the schedule of the program is based on Fall admission, applicants should complete the GRE by December of the year prior to admission. You can access more information about the GRE by visiting www.gre.org, writing to Graduate Record Examinations, Educational Testing Service, P.O. Box 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000, or by calling 609-771-7670. Information about TOEFL can be obtained from the International Affairs Office, 902 W. New York, ES2126, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5167, or by phone at 317-274-7294.

Application forms are available from the English department, Cavanaugh Hall Room 502L, IUPUI, 425 University Boulevard, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5140, or by calling 317-274-2258. Completed forms and other materials should be sent to the Director of Graduate Studies in the English department. Applications are welcome at any time, but if you plan to apply for financial aid and/or a University Fellowship, please note the deadlines below:

International students should keep in mind that the application process can be lengthy; therefore, the sooner you apply to our program and establish contact with the Office of International Affairs, the better.

Applicants who wish to begin coursework before their admission to the Graduate School may do so through the Graduate Continuing Non-Degree (GCND) program. Application forms for the GCND program are available from the English department. (Ordinarily no more than 12 GCND credits may be counted toward the degree.) For more information about the GCND Program, contact the Program Coordinator, Judy Zent (jzent@iupui.edu or 317-274-1577), or visit the GCND website: http://www.iupui.edu/~resgrad/grad/non/gnd-opening.htm.

FINANCIAL AID

Various sources of financial aid are available to graduate students at IUPUI. For information, contact the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, 103 Cavanaugh Hall (274-4162).

Incoming students with the best qualifications will be nominated by the Graduate Director for University Fellowships, which offer full-time students one year of financial support. All the graduate programs on the IUPUI campus compete for these fellowships, and programs are allowed no more than four fellows per year. In addition to this campus-wide financial aid, the English department offers a limited number of research assistantships, for which students apply in the spring before the assistantship year. (Details of deadlines and application requirements will be announced earlier in spring semester, usually by listserv.)

Very occasionally departmental support is in the form of associate (part-time) faculty positions, teaching one or two sections of lower-level writing and literature courses each semester. Such positions are assigned by the committees that coordinate these courses, in consultation with the Graduate Studies Committee. Graduate students who receive associate faculty appointments are paid the same stipends as other associate faculty members and are required to participate in the same orientation and training programs. In addition, they may be required to complete certain graduate courses before or during their appointments.

IUPUI sponsors Grants-in-Aid of Research for students working on their theses. These grants are intended to cover expenses incurred in the research required for the theses, including travel to libraries and archives holding materials not otherwise available. Applicants must prepare a proposal that describes the thesis topic and research methods and justifies the expenses. Supporting statements from the thesis director and one other person who is knowledgeable about the proposed topic are also required.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

The M.A. in English requires 36 credit hours, including:

• 8 hours of core courses
• 24 hours of "area" courses, may include up to 8 hours of internship
• 4 hours of thesis work

No more than 8 credit hours may be transferred from another institution. Degree requirements (including transfer credits) must be completed within five consecutive years of beginning the program.

NOTE: Although degree candidates may in extraordinary cases request that an older course be revalidated, the process is cumbersome and the outcome uncertain. The decision is made not simply by the English department but by the IU Graduate School. Candidates must not look upon revalidation as a generally tenable option. The Director and the Graduate Committee do not accept plans to revalidate more than three courses; nor will they recommend that more than three courses, total, be revalidated for a single student's program.

CORE COURSES

At the beginning of your graduate career, you will take three core courses that provide an introduction to major areas in the discipline of English:

Language: G500, Introduction to the English Language, 4 credits

Literature: L506, Issues and Motives of Literary Studies, 4 credits

Writing: W500, Teaching Composition: Issues and Approaches, 4 credits

NOTE: The writing core course is currently being revised. The new course will be a theoretical introduction to the issues involved in various kinds of writing; we hope that by Fall 2004 the new course will be listed with its new number. As soon as the new course is available, it will immediately replace "Teaching Composition: Issues and Approaches" as the writing core course.

YOUR AREA OF CONCENTRATION & PROGRAM COMMITTEE

The three core courses - in language, literature, and writing - are intended to give you a broad understanding of the analysis and production of texts, as well as the teaching of such analysis and production. By the end of your second semester of studies (if you are a full-time student) or by the end of your third semester (if you are a part-time student), you should declare to the Director of Graduate Studies your area of concentration in language, literature, or writing. A language concentration includes such areas as discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and English as a second language (ESL); a literature concentration includes literary criticism, film criticism, and the investigation of how we read literary texts; and a writing concentration, the theories of text production and composition in the classroom as well as workplace or technical writing.

After you have declared your area of concentration, you should ask a member of the graduate faculty of the English Department to serve as your Program Committee chair. This person should be the graduate faculty member in the English Department who is best qualified to direct a thesis on your topic; the Director of Graduate Studies can advise you in choosing this person. For your convenience, a list of graduate faculty is included in this guide. You and your Program Committee chair should then ask two other faculty members to serve as members of your Program Committee; they should also be members of the graduate faculty of the English Department, though occasional exceptions may be made. After the Director of Graduate Studies has approved your Program Committee, its chair will serve as your academic advisor and as your thesis director. If, after choosing your program committee, you change the focus of your thesis, you may change the composition of your program committee. Consult with the Director of Graduate Studies, explain the reason(s) for the change to your original program chair and committee, and file a new Program Committee appointment form with the signatures of your new committee. A copy of this form is included in this guide.

After you have completed 15 credit hours, you will meet formally with your Program Committee to review your progress. If you wish to take an internship, this would be a good time to make preliminary arrangements; you should also begin consulting about your thesis project.

COURSES OF YOUR CHOICE

After completing your core courses, you will choose the remaining 12-16 hours of courses, with the help of your Program Committee Chair. These courses should generally be chosen within your area of concentration and with an eye toward your eventual thesis topic.

With the approval of your Program Committee and the Director of Graduate Studies, your courses may include L695, Individual Readings in English, or W609, Directed Writing Projects. These courses are taken as tutorials with individual graduate faculty members. To register for these courses, the student must present a completed L695 or W609 form to the graduate secretary, who then creates and opens a section of the course for that student. L695 and W609 forms may be found in the back of this guide.

GRADUATE COURSE OFFERINGS

The English department has committed to offering at least two core courses and at least two other graduate courses each Fall and Spring semester; these four courses will include at least one course each in language, literature, and writing. This commitment will allow students to fulfill their core course requirements during their first year of study.

The department has also committed to offering at least one core course and at least one other graduate course each summer. A list of upcoming courses is generally available around the beginning of the preceding semester. L590, L695, L699, and W609 are offered each semester.

INTERNSHIPS

You may earn 4 or 8 credit hours of internship experience by enrolling either once or twice in English L590, Internship in English. (8 credit hours will be given only in special circumstances) The internship must be a supervised experience in the uses of language in a workplace, such as a company, a governmental agency, a nonprofit organization, or an educational institution (IUPUI or another). Your internship experience should be integrally related to your M.A. course work and/or your thesis topic. Each 4-credit internship will normally require 150 hours in the workplace (for example, 10 hours a week for a 15-week semester). You may do an internship in your current workplace, but the work you do for your internship cannot be a part of your regular job.

Internships may be paid or unpaid; if paid, they may be supported by either university funding or external funding.

To locate an internship, you may do any of the following:

1. Seek advice from your Program Committee, the Director of Graduate Studies, or other faculty members.
2. Register with the Professional Practice Program (2010 Business/SPEA) and review their files of available internships.
3. Develop your own proposed internship, within your present workplace or others you know about.

To enroll for internship credit, you must have the approval of your Program Committee and the Director of Graduate Studies. An internship agreement form is included in this guide. In your internship you must conduct research and use its results, as well as your theoretical knowledge, to solve a problem or complete a task. As your internship proceeds, you should communicate regularly with your Program Committee chair.

At the end of your internship, you must submit a portfolio of workplace writing and a report on your experience to your Program Committee chair, who will then recommend a grade for the internship.

YOUR THESIS

The final requirement for the M.A. is the master's thesis. The master's thesis is the capstone experience of your career as an MA student. It provides you the opportunity to explore in great depth an avenue of research you have uncovered during your studies, and should reflect your ability to perform original, post-graduate research or creatiave work. With your thesis, you are no longer merely responding to others' research; rather, you are actively engaging in the scholarly and/or professional conversations occurring in your chosen field. Many of our students have presented thesis chapters at academic or professional conferences, published parts of their theses, or continued to pursue their thesis research in Ph.D. programs.

Generally, a master's thesis will run between 60-100 pages, inlcuding notes and appendices. Consult with your committee about expectations for your particular field of study and project. The thesis is not merely an extended seminar parper, nor is it an exhaustive study of a broad subject. Rather, it is a substantive contribution of original research to a particular field. Successful MA graduates have compared the work involved in writing a thesis to that of three seminars. The difference between a seminar and your thesis, however, is that you will be doing much of this work independently, and building upon earlier research.

GETTING STARTED

When you have completed 15 hours of coursework in the program, you are required to find among our faculty your program chair and two committee members. These individuals will supervise the design and writing of your thesis by helping you focus your ideas and providing useful guidance. But of course, the actual conception, writing, and research of your thesis are ultimately up to you.

With the assistance of your Program Committee- and if appropriate, the Director of Graduate Studies-you will first narrow your general area of interest to a specific thesis topic; in this stage, you may want to do preliminary research on two or more possible topics before you make a final decision.

As you design your topic, keep these factors in mind:

• You must choose a topic that grows out of and reflects the rest of your work in the M.A. program. Your thesis is your opportunity to demonstrate the skills and knowledge that you have acquired in the M.A. Program by engaging in an extended research project; it is what you are working toward in the rest of the program. Your thesis advisor should be the faculty member best qualified to direct your thesis.

You must choose a topic that a member of the English Department's graduate faculty is qualified to direct. No graduate program can offer its student unlimited choice of courses and thesis topics; part of the commitmnet you make when you enter a program is to recognize the parameters of what it can offer (see also the section entitled "Your Area of Concentration and Your Program Committee"). If you have paid attention to the factor mentioned above, however, this issue should not normally arise.

WRITING YOUR PROPOSAL

Once you have chosen a specific topic and have done sufficient research to determine that it will allow you to make an original contribution to the scholarly and/or professional dialogue in the field, you will submit to the English Department Graduate Studies Committee a Thesis Proposal.

The Thesis Proposal consists of a cover form, to be signed by you and all the members of your Program Committee, a narrative description of the thesis project, a timetable for completion, and an annotated bibliography. A more detailed description of the Thesis Proposal and two proposal cover forms are included in this guide. After your thesis is approved, you may register for thesis hours.

WRITING YOUR THESIS

When your Thesis Proposal is approved, you will be ready to write your thesis. Registering for thesis hours provides you the time and support to complete your project. Your Program Committee is now your thesis committee; your Program Committee Chair is now your thesis director. It is your responsibility to negotiate a writing schedule with your committee. Keep them abreast of your progress, and follow it. Stay in close contact with your committee. Keep them abreast of your progress, and let them know if problems arise. Give your committee sufficient time to address your questions and/or read your drafts. It is generally a good idea to check in with your thesis director at least once every month, even (and especially) if you have nothing to report. If you make significant changes to your project as it is outlined in your thesis proposal, you must inform your committee. If the committee deems your changes drift too far from your original proposal, you may be required to write a new thesis proposal.

Remember that course credits expire after 5 years; your thesis must be completed within that span of time.

COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING YOUR THESIS

As you come close to completing your thesis, you and your thesis director should discuss when you plan to submit your final manuscript to your thesis committee and in what month you plan to graduate. Be sure that the Director of Graduate Studies and every member of your committee is aware of your plans. The Director is required to submit a Recommendation for Advanced Degree Form, as well as an Application for Advanced Degree Form, to the graduate school sixty days before the day you wish to graduate.

As you work on your thesis, be sure to follow the instructions in "A Guide to the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations" and memo on "Thesis Format Check and Deposit," both available from the Graduate Secretary. You should also be aware of the graduate school deadlines for completion of degree requirements and submission of the bound copies of the thesis. You are required to submit one bound copy of your thesis to the English Department, in addition to the copy required by the graduate school. It is conventional, but not required, to give your thesis director a bound copy as well.

Once every member of your committee has read and approved your thesis, you are ready to apply for your degree and turn in your thesis to the Graduate Office. IU has strict rules about the appropriate formatting of all MA theses which you are required to follow. For more information about these guidelines, please contact the Graduate Office (278-2490, Union Building, Room 518).

Most students find the submission of their theses surprisingly time consuming. For example, you are required to make an appointment to meet with an official at the graduate school who will carefully check the formate of your thesis. If you have formatted your thesis incorrectly, you will need to fix the problem and resubmit your thesis.

After preparing the text of your thesis according to graduate school specifications, you will turn in one bound copy to the graduate school, and one to the English Department. It is customary, but not required, to give your thesis director a bound copy as well.

It is very important that deadlines for submitting the thesis to the candidate's committee and to the graduate school be met. The English Department requires students to submit their manuscripts for final approval by their committees by the 15th day of the month preceding the month in which the thesis is submitted for the format check. So, for example, a student wishing to graduate in May must turn in a complete draft to her or his thesis committee by March 15th, and then submit the manuscript of the approved thesis to the graduate school by April 10th for the format check. Upon successful completion of the format check, students have until May 10th to get the thesis bound and turned in to the graduate school. Student must make appointments with the graduate school for the format check and for handing in their bound thesis to the graduate office. Again, students are strongly encouraged to turn in their work well before these deadlines. Once you have fulfilled all requirements for the MA, you will be awarded your degree and will receive your diploma. Interested students are encouraged to take part in commencement exercises in the spring.

MODEL #1: THESIS PROPOSAL IN LITERARY STUDIES

1. A narrative description of the project including:

" a brief statement of the topic for the thesis
" a statement of the project's originality
" a narrative outlining the project's methodology and/or the major issues involved in the projected argument/product

2. A contextual survey of the relevant professional literature, both in narrative form and in an expanded annotated bibliography (i.e. the bibliography entries should in most cases be at least 200 words long and written in complete sentences; they should not only summarize the writer's main points but also explain the relevance of the source to the student's thesis).

3. A proposed timeline for completing the stages of the project, with proper attention to when theses must be filed for particular graduation dates.

The narrative contextual survey should identify the major currents in the development and current state of professional thought on the proposal's main issues with direct references to entries in the annotated bibliography. Because the contextual description supports the claim of originality, this context is necessary no matter what the project.

Examples of contexts in various fields: A thesis that offers literary criticism of a Faulkner novel, for example, would acknowledge the professional context of relevant criticism of twentieth-century American fiction, Southern literature, Faulkner and the particular novel. A proposal for linguistic research on gender and language in business settings would indicate relevant research on business language use and on male/female interaction. A proposal for an original film, video project, or chapbook would indicate the historical and contemporary state of the genre(s) and other relevant issues specific to the project-American films' portrayals of women artists and black women would be relevant, for example, to a documentary on Mari Evans.

NOTE: There is no "sufficient number" of sources for the annotated bibliography. The proposer must simply make certain not to miss landmark books and articles by using the bibliographic reference tools appropriate to the field, beginning but not ending with the MLA bibliography series. If the number of sources is overwhelming, the proposer may need to narrow the topic.

MODEL #2: THESIS PROPOSAL IN TESOL/LINGUISTICS

1. Overview of issue or "territory": Presents the topic of the thesis as well as the "research territory," that is, the field of research or scholarship that the proposal places itself in. within the discipline or the disciplines that the proposal identifies with. It is possible to distinguish another type of type of "territory" as well, namely a real-world territory, i.e. how the proposed study is situated in the world outside the research field.

2. Literature review: Provides a contextual survey of the relevant professional literature in narrative form. Like the annotated bibliography, the literature review does not simply compile a number of sources generally within the same field. Instead, the literature review focuses on the sources directly related to your chosen topic, those that have helped the writer to identify the research questions posed in III.

3. Statement of problem or gap: Indicates a gap in knowledge or a problem in the territory. This component motivates the study, since the implication is that the gap needs to be filled or the problem solved, and later components indicate how the study will fulfill these needs. Establishing the gap is related to showing the claim of originality.

4. Goal: States the aim, or general objective, of the study. It explains at a general level what the project intends to do, or what its chief contribution will be. It is typically linked to the gap component as filling the gap slot.

5. Methods: Explains how the goal will be achieved. For empirical research, it describes the methods, procedures, plans of action, and tasks that are to lead to the goal.

6. Implications: Presents the anticipated results, findings, and outcomes of the study as well as discusses their potential usefulness and value to the world outside or the domain of research itself.

7. Outline of Thesis Chapters: Presents your chapter titles.

8. Proposed Time: Gives a timeline for completing the stages of the project, with proper attention to official filing dates, etc.

9. Annotated Bibliography

GRADUATE FACULTY OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

 PROPOSAL FOR W609: DIRECTED WRITING PROJECTS

PROPOSAL FOR L695: INDIVIDUAL READING

M.A. CHECKLIST

PROGRAM COMMITTEE APPOINTMENT FORM

L590 - INTERNSHIP AGREEMENT FORM

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