The Master of Arts in English at Trinity College is designed to provide an MA to a diverse set of graduate students, ranging from full-time teachers and professional employees living within the three state area of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island to recent college and university graduates contemplating a Ph.D. in English.  This program offers courses in four semesters a year -- the fall and spring semesters and two summer terms.  All courses are taught in the evening.  The program offers continuing and returning graduate students the option of two concentrated tracks:

1.  Literary Studies:

This concentration is for diverse students interested in deepening their understanding of literature as a written medium and in comprehending how literature reflects and interacts with the various cultures that produce it.  The requirement for this track is the successful completion of ten credits:  8 courses, including English 801, and a two-credit thesis.  Of the 8 required courses, at least one course must concentrate in English literature and one in American literature and at least one course must place emphasis on cultural contexts.   Courses will be so designated in their descriptions.  The remaining four courses are electives.  Students may choose electives from all courses offered in the English program, whether designed for Literary Studies or Writing, Rhetoric, or Media Arts. Students are encouraged, however, to think about the way in which course selections impact the focus of their overall studies, and especially how they ultimately reinforce and provide background for the choice of a thesis topic. The topic should be chosen and a thesis proposal drafted in the semester before a student begins work on the thesis.    Students will take the non-credit bearing thesis colloquium in the fall term of their thesis year.  Each course taken in the program will help to develop skills required for writing the thesis.

2.  Writing, Rhetoric, and Media Arts:

This concentration is designed for students interested in the arts of writing, rhetoric, and the visual media, including film and the mixed modes of the Internet.  It provides courses that explore various forms of language, logic, persuasion, and communication. The track focuses on the rhetorical strategies that writing and media arts draw upon to construct and contest ideas and values. For this track students must complete ten credits:  8 courses, including English 801 and 802, and a two-credit thesis or final project.  Of the 6 elective courses, students will choose at least two courses specifically designated for the Writing, Rhetoric, and Media Arts track.  The remaining four electives may be taken from any of the English program offerings.  For students interested in developing their own abilities as writers, we will offer periodic workshop courses in various genres of writing. Two writing workshops may be counted toward the 8 course requirements.

TRACKS AT A GLANCE:  HERE ARE THE REQUIREMENTS SET OUT ABOVE