Master of Arts in English

An English master’s degree designed to meet your goals

Expand your English knowledge based on your academic interests and broaden your career horizons when you complete an English master’s degree at East Carolina University.

Are you passionate about multicultural literature, linguistics, or rhetoric? Do you want to advance your editing and publishing skills or teaching abilities? Whatever your interest or goal, ECU’s Master of Arts in English program has a specialized degree for you.

An English master’s degree based on your interests and timeline

ECU’s comprehensive master of English program lets you choose the generalist MA in English or one of these three concentrations:

• Creative Writing (campus)
• Multicultural and Transnational Literatures (MTL; online)
• Technical and Professional Communication (TPC; online)

Program Curriculum Details

For further specialization, our English Studies concentration offers pathways for Linguistics, Literature, Rhetoric and Composition, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), MTL, and TPC. You may also customize your English master’s degree based on your various interests by choosing any combination of approved ECU English Studies courses.

Our MTL and TPC concentrations allow you to complete your master of English online. Classes for the other concentrations are held on our picturesque Greenville campus amid the city’s thriving food and arts scene.

No matter your concentration, you can complete your master of English degree in two years. You may also extend your studies for your convenience when you maintain an active, part-time schedule.

Why you should complete your master of English degree at ECU

Whether you complete your master of English online or on campus, East Carolina University is committed to providing a complete college experience. Grow personally and professionally with these benefits of completing your Master of Arts in English at ECU:

Real-world experience

Take advantage of the English department’s robust internship program for hands-on experience that’s aligned with your master of English concentration and skill set to boost your resume.

Portfolio development

Graduate with a powerful portfolio made up of projects you’ve completed as part of your master of English degree coursework to showcase to potential employers.

Networking and community

Meet and network with undergrad and master of English students in the ECU English Club, which offers sponsored events for career training and support, a service-based project, and community.

Support of a large, diverse faculty

Get a high-quality education for your specific concentration—no matter if you’re completing your master of English online or in person—from diverse English faculty who are recognized experts in their respective fields.

Career guidance

Be prepared for your career search with the help of ECU’s master of English faculty mentors and advisors. Current and aspiring English teachers who serve as ECU graduate teaching assistants will also benefit from regular training opportunities.

Courses you will take in the master of English program

Depending on your chosen concentration, you’ll complete your master of English online or on ECU’s Greenville campus. Your path will also determine your coursework, which may include:

• In-depth research methods courses
• Teaching composition
• Advanced writing classes
• Studies of various types of literature

You’ll build knowledge in theoretical concepts and sharpen vital skills as you learn tools and strategies you can apply immediately in your current job. You’ll also have the choice of a thesis or non-thesis option. No matter your master of English concentration, ECU helps meet your individual needs.

Hear from our master of English students

“I am grateful to my ECU professors. Without their guidance and direction, I never would have achieved such an opportunity.”

—John Goodie, English, MA ’21
Accepted as a doctoral candidate in Advanced English Studies: Languages and Cultures in Contact, University of Salamanca, Spain

What can you do with your Master of Arts in English?

As a graduate of ECU’s master of English program, you’ll be academically and professionally prepared to achieve a number of goals.

Fulfill these goals with ECU’s Master of Arts in English

By expanding your knowledge and enhancing your communication and critical thinking skills, our English master’s degree can qualify you to:

• Increase your earning potential in your current job
• Earn a promotion to school administrator or public relations manager, as examples
• Begin your career as a post-secondary instructor or instructional designer, among others
• Continue your studies in pursuit of a career as a lawyer or professor

Many graduates enter our Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication programs after completing their master of English degree. You may also stay to earn graduate certificates for additional specialization.

Where are English master’s graduates working?

A Master of Arts in English is in high demand, based on this data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• Jobs for instructional coordinators, who generally begin their careers with a master’s degree, will see above-average growth—at 10%—by the year 2030.
• Secondary teaching positions are expected to grow 8% by 2030. Though most jobs require a bachelor’s degree, 54% of secondary teachers hold an advanced degree, raising the bar for applicants.

Get started on your English master’s degree

Take the next step toward earning your master of English degree. We have the resources to help you get started.

Programs related to ECU’s master of English program

• Teaching English in the Two-Year College (TETYC) Graduate Certificate
• Multicultural and Transnational Literatures Graduate Certificate
• Technical and Professional Communication Graduate Certificate
• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages  Graduate Certificate
• Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication

Accreditation for the master of English program at ECU

When you choose ECU for your English master’s degree, you’re assured a quality education as demonstrated by our accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). This guarantee combines with our affordability and large, diverse English faculty to deliver you exceptional educational value.

Curriculum Information

The Master of Arts in English is a 33-semester-hour program that offers both a thesis and non-thesis option.

The program offers a number of available concentrations: Creative Writing, English Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Rhetoric and Composition, TESOL, Multicultural and Transnational Literatures (MTL), and Technical and Professional Communication (TPC). The MTL and TPC concentrations allow the degree to be completed entirely online.

Coursework and Other Degree Requirements

A research methods course, selected from the following (3 s.h.)

• ENGL 7005: Research Methods in Literary and Cultural Studies
• ENGL 7600: Research Methods in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication
• ENGL 7702: Research Methods in Empirical Inquiry

Electives (9 s.h.)
English courses outside the concentration or from another department. Note: If you wish to receive a graduate teaching assistantship, you must complete ENGL 6625 Teaching Composition: Theory and Practice, which is only taught in Fall semesters.

Thesis or Non-Thesis Option (6 s.h.)
You will complete either a thesis that demonstrates your ability to gather, arrange, and interpret material that bears on a particular problem or a Comprehensive Assessment Project (CAP) with additional coursework in English.

Check out the specific details on these options that are listed under particular concentration areas below.

Area of Concentration (15 s.h.)
Choose one concentration area from those listed below.

Creative Writing

Area Coordinator: Professor Amber Thomas

Description
The Master’s Degree in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing is an advanced degree with a specialty in the writing of original poetry, fiction, scripts and plays, or creative nonfiction. Because ours is a studio writing program, primary emphasis is on the writing experience. The program is designed according to guidelines established by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Abiding by AWP’s principles, instruction in the Creative Writing concentration is only offered face-to-face.

Coursework and Other Requirements
Graduate Catalog >

Students may take a maximum of 12 hours of workshop classes (ENGL 6840, 6850, 6868, 6898) for credit towards their degree and are required to take a minimum of 3 hours of CW electives (ENGL 6865, 6870, 6880). The 15 semester hours in Creative Writing includes no more than 12 s.h. of workshops and a complement of CW electives to equal 15 s.h.

For questions regarding coursework and requirements, please contact the area coordinator.

Select up to four workshops* (maximum of 12 s.h.)

*Any one workshop may be taken for credit up to three times.

Select at least one CW elective (minimum of 3 s.h.)

• ENGL 6865: Creative Writing
• ENGL 6870: Literature: The Writer’s Perspective
• ENGL 6880: Directed Readings in Creative Writing

Thesis or Comprehensive Assessment Requirement (6 s.h.)

1. Thesis Option: a collection of original poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or drama. Produced according to Graduate School criteria. (6 s.h.)
2. Comprehensive Assessment Requirement (CAP) Option: A comprehensive assessment project and additional coursework in English. (6 s.h.)

Multicultural and Transnational Literatures*

Area Advisor:  Dr. Kirstin Squint
Area Coordinator:  Dr. Andrea Kitta

MA in MTLFF >

The concentration in Multicultural and Transnational Literatures is an advanced degree focusing on U.S. ethnic and world literatures from local, regional, national, transnational, and global perspectives. In our program, the approach to understanding and appreciating literatures is interdisciplinary, involving the study of historical, political, artistic, geographic, and environmental contexts, as well as literary aesthetics and interpretation. Methodologies are drawn from literary studies, cultural studies, colonial/postcolonial/diasporic studies, and discourse analysis, among others.

This concentration provides excellent preparation for the pursuit of the doctoral degree and a wide range of professions, including secondary and higher education, law, public policy, international service, business, or any profession that would benefit from an understanding of multicultural and global peoples, arts, traditions, histories, interactions, and issues as represented and interpreted through literature and criticism.

The Master’s degree is available as both a campus program (requiring attendance in face-to-face classes on the ECU campus and offering the possibility of research and teaching assistantships), and as a Distance Education (DE) degree offered fully online. (Priority for registration in DE classes is given to students who are officially admitted as DE students.)

On admission to the program, you will be advised initially by Dr. Kirstin Squint (squintk19@ecu.edu); as your research interests begin to focus, you will choose or be assigned an advisor in your area of interest.

Coursework and Other Requirements

Graduate Catalog >

For questions regarding coursework and other requirements, please contactDr. Kirstin Squint (squintk19@ecu.edu).

Select five courses from the following (15 s.h.)

The Concentration has two threads: Multicultural (usually understood to refer to U.S. ethnic literatures); and Transnational (world literatures from regional, national, international, diasporic, colonial/postcolonial, and global perspectives).

ENGL 6340 and ENGL 6360 provide cross-cultural comparative introductions to these two threads, and it is recommended that you take these two courses early in your studies.

ENGL 7350 Seminar in Multicultural and Transnational Literatures pulls the two threads together, again in cross-cultural comparative contexts, and is recommended as a capstone to your course of study.

It is strongly recommended that you take either ENGL 7070 Literary Theory or ENGL 7080 Cultural Studies Theory and Method. The study of theory provides conceptual foundations for the way readers approach texts and for the connection between texts and cultures; and it provides a philosophical basis for the way we approach and conceive of our work as scholars.

Other English courses that mesh especially well with the concentration include:

• ENGL 6220: Topics in American Literature Before 1865
• ENGL 7630: Cultural Rhetoric and Writing

Electives may also include any course in the English program of particular interest or usefulness to you, or courses in other departments such as History, Psychology, Education, Political Science, Foreign Language and Literatures (except FORL 6000) that are especially suited to your research or professional interests, as approved by your MTL advisor and the Graduate Director.

There are two ways to meet the comprehensive assessment requirement: 1) the Thesis, or 2) the Comprehensive Assessment Project.

The Thesis requires 6 s.h. of ENGL 7000 Thesis. The Thesis involves:

• A Prospectus Meeting with a committee of three faculty members from the Dept. of English, at which the student presents and receives feedback and suggestions on a Prospectus (3 -5 double-spaced pages) and Working Bibliography. The student selects a Thesis Director who will assist the student in choosing the rest of the committee. A fourth committee member may be invited from the English Dept., from another ECU Dept., or from another institution, who offers expertise beyond what the other members may be able to provide. The Prospectus Meeting will be held no later than the third week of classes during the semester in which the student plans to complete the thesis, and may be conducted by conference call for DE students.
• The Thesis (approximately 50-75 pages, excluding prefatory materials, references, and appendices), prepared in accordance with the requirements and directions for electronic submission provided on the English Department webpage. Any formatting issue not covered here should follow current MLA style. The final draft of the thesis should be submitted to the Committee three weeks prior to the Defense date.
• An Oral Defense meeting with the Thesis Committee (1 – 1 ½ hours), which may be conducted by conference call or videoconference for DE students.

The Comprehensive Assessment Project involves:

• An additional 6 s.h. of coursework (to replace thesis hours). These can be any appropriate courses in ENGL or another Department, as long as all other requirements for the MA have been met. (Note: No more than 6 s.h. total taken outside the English Department can count towards the MA). CAPs should be formatted according to MLA style.
• A Planning Meeting, with a committee of three English faculty chosen according to procedures outlined for the Thesis Committee, to be held no later than the third week of classes during the semester in which the student plans to complete the Project. At this meeting, the student presents a Project Outline (2-3 pp.) and a Working Bibliography of sources. The Planning Meeting may be conducted by email and/or conference call for DE students.
• The Project itself (18-25 pp.) and a Framing Essay (5-6 pp.) relating the project to the Bibliography as well as explaining the theoretical framework of the project (to be submitted to the committee no less than two weeks before the Defense is scheduled).
• An Oral Defense (1-1 ½ hrs.), at which the student presents the Project and its theoretical framework to the committee and answers questions posed by the committee related to the problem the project addresses, the methodology used, the utility of the project/application in curriculum or other work environments, and the relationship of the project to the student’s graduate coursework. The Defense may be conducted by conference call or videoconference for DE students.

Distance Education students are invited (but not required) to come to campus for the Prospectus/Planning Meeting and/or Defense of the Thesis or CAP (or at any stage of their program) for a more personal exchange with faculty.

Important Note: You should put your committee together and have significant work done on your prospectus or CAP plan the semester before the one in which you intend to complete and defend your Thesis or CAP. It is also a very good idea to schedule the Prospectus or Planning Meeting itself the previous semester as well; although it is not required, this plan allows a much more reasonable period of time for completion of your project.

Technical & Professional Communication*

Graduate Catalog >

Concentration >

Area Advisor: Dr. Brent Henze (tpc@ecu.edu)
Area Coordinator: Dr. Erin Clark

Description
East Carolina University’s online graduate programs in Technical and Professional Communication provide advanced preparation for students seeking careers in technical and professional communication and a variety of related fields requiring communication expertise. You will develop proficiency in technical editing and publishing; communication media and technologies; research design and methodology; teaching and training; communication in specific professional contexts such as healthcare, science, and government; professional writing genres; and many other areas.

Students from a variety of academic backgrounds develop the knowledge and skills to thrive as communicators in industry, academe, and the public sector. Our programs offer practicing communication professionals the opportunity to step back from their everyday tasks to reconsider the technological and conceptual changes that influence their work. Our graduates become public relations specialists, fund-raising and educational outreach professionals, program directors and communication specialists, teachers and trainers, writers in government, and technical communicators in high-tech industries.

Course Work and Other Requirements

For questions regarding coursework and other requirements, please contact the area advisor, Dr. Brent Henze (tpc@ecu.edu).

Required course (3 s.h.)

• ENGL 6702: Research Methods in Technical and Professional Communication

Select four courses from the following (12 s.h.)

• ENGL 6700: Information Design and Production
• ENGL 6715: Foundations of Technical and Professional Communication
• ENGL 6721: Technical Editing
• ENGL 6725: Directed Readings in Technical and Professional Writing
• ENGL 6740: Internship in Technical and Professional Communication
• ENGL 6741: Internship in Technical and Professional Communication
• ENGL 7705: Ethical Issues in Professional Communication
• ENGL 7712: Grant and Proposal Writing
• ENGL 7721: Managing Editing and Publication Processes
• ENGL 7735: Cultural Issues in Technical Communication
• ENGL 7745: Teaching Professional Communication
• ENGL 7746: Training in Professional Communication
• ENGL 7750: Writing Public Science
• ENGL 7755: Health and Medical Rhetorics
• ENGL 7765: Technical and Professional Communication*
• ENGL 7766: Special Studies Seminars in Communication and Emerging Technologies**
• ENGL 7770: New Media and Digital Literacies
• ENGL 7775: User Experience (UX) Design
• ENGL 7780: Theory of Professional Communication
• ENGL 7790: Public Interest Writing

*ENGL 7765 may be completed for a maximum of 9 s.h. with different topics.
**ENGL 7766 may be completed for a maximum of 6 s.h. with different topics.

Thesis or Comprehensive Assessment Project Requirement (6 s.h.)

A thesis, demonstrating the student’s ability to gather, arrange, and interpret material which bears on a particular problem (6 s.h.), or a Comprehensive Assessment Project (CAP) with additional coursework in English (6 s.h.).

Note: Up to 9 hours of non-degree courses may be counted toward the MA in English automatically; 6 additional hours may be counted (for a total of 15 hours) for students officially in the Certificate in Professional Communication with approval. Transfer courses will be considered in accordance with the ECU Graduate School transfer credit policy.