English

Students who graduate with an M.A. in British and American Literature or American Studies should be able not only to identify important issues raised by a given text but to state them with increasing cogency and sophistication, in clear, well-focused language.

Students should demonstrate a deepening comprehension of fundamental ideas about literary genres, themes, styles, historical periods, and cultural contexts for literature written in English.

Students should demonstrate a developing ability to undertake independent research, including the critical assessment of information and ideas from a variety of sources and media.

Students should demonstrate an understanding of major theoretical perspectives and the intellectual agility to integrate concepts and approaches from other disciplines when relevant.

Students should be able to communicate the results of critical inquiry in clear, rhetorically effective language, with an awareness of competing perspective.

Students should show increasing versatility in adapting communication to various audiences and contexts and in making use of different disciplinary conventions.

Students should develop a specific scholarly focus and increased expertise in a historical period, literary genre, or critical method.

Students should show a developing awareness of the relation of their specific focus to literary study more generally, including its place among other disciplines and a global perspective on the Anglo-American tradition. (Proficiency in a foreign language should enhance their knowledge of literature in a non-English culture. A master's-level degree at the University of Utah requires at least a reading knowledge of a second language.)