Program type:
Major
Format:
On Campus
Est. time to complete:
2-3 years
Credit Hours:
30-36 hours
Elevate your understanding and appreciation of the written word.
The UNT English graduate program is designed for students who wish to build a professional career as creative writers, educators or academics. With distinguished scholars in every major period of American and British literature and nationally renowned writers in every genre, the English Department supports a broad range of graduate research and creative work.
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Department of English
940-565-2050
gradenglishstudies@unt.edu
RequirementsAdditional RequirementsTuition & AidHow to apply

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Why Earn an English Master's?

The M.A. program in English gives you the opportunity to undertake advanced study in the field of your choosing through either the writing of a thesis or the completion of 36 hours of coursework. The foundational courses for the M.A. degree overlap with those of the Ph.D., giving you the flexibility to move directly from the master's program to the doctoral program as your career plans develop.

The program offers training in the writing of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Each master's student in divides coursework evenly between workshop and literature classes, leading to the writing of an original thesis submitted in fulfillment of the degree plan.You'll have the opportunity to work closely with the creative writing and literature faculties and to explore ways in which knowledge of literary traditions develops craft. 

Our students appreciate the advantages offered by a dynamic department that is growing in size, strengthening its faculty, building its resources, and raising its national and international profile. They also enjoy being part of a warm and supportive community of fellow writers and scholars.

Marketable Skills
  • Construct persuasive, evidence-based arguments
  • Communicate findings clearly and concisely
  • Understand historical and cultural perspectives
  • Evaluate critically sources and narratives
  • Prepare oral and written presentations

English Master's Highlights

Students have opportunities to pursue editorial positions with the department's national literary journal, American Literary Review, and with the local student-run journal, North Texas Review.
While at UNT, our students have published their work in nationally and internationally recognized journals and magazines, including The New Yorker, Shakespeare and SEL: Studies in English Literature.
You'll work closely with award-winning faculty members who have diverse backgrounds and interests and whose works have been published in the flagship journals in their fields and subfields (PMLA, College English and Speculum), as well as leading literary journals, including The Paris Review, Best American Poetry and Best American Spiritual Writing.
You'll have opportunities to attend and participate in a variety of speakers' series such as the American Studies Colloquium, the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Studies Group, the Medieval and Renaissance Colloquium and the Visiting Writers Series
The Graduate Students in English Association organizes an annual conference that attracts presenters from around the country.
Each year the department sponsors a Visiting Writer Series that brings distinguished writers to campus to give readings and meet with students in Q&A sessions.

What Can You Do With an English Master's?

Because it develops your writing and communication skills, an M.A. in English prepares you for a range of careers.Our students become authors, editors, freelance writers, technical writers, lawyers, and English teachers—and cheese mongers (see video below).

Students pursue the degree in order to become better writers, able to create prose and poetry that draw on a full range of the craft. On a more practical level, MFA students become better writers, which prepares them for a variety of careers: an array of jobs in technical and digital fields, marketing, public relations, journalism, arts administration, and editing.

English Master's Courses You Could Take

Creative Writing: Prose Fiction (3 hrs)
Study of the principles of prose fiction as exemplified in published and unpublished works. Emphasis on writing for specific subgenres and methods of preparation and submission of work. Workshop format is employed.
Seminar in British Literature and Culture, 1660–1780 (3 hrs)
In-depth study of a single writer, a group of writers, a literary genre or a literary fashion of the period, and a general consideration of the social, intellectual and cultural contexts of the literary work.
Form and Theory: Poetry (3 hrs)
Rhetorical criticism of poetry to show how poems achieve identification with the audience; emphasis on student mastery of critical analysis.
Seminar in American Literature and Culture, 1865 to the Present (3 hrs)
In-depth study of a single writer, a group of writers, a literary genre or a literary fashion of the period, and general consideration of the associated social, cultural, literary and intellectual history.
Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction (3 hrs)
Workshop devoted to the writing, reading and analysis of creative nonfiction. Emphasis shifts each semester and may encompass the personal essay, memoir, nature writing, travel writing and the nonfiction short story.
Scholarly and Critical Writing (3 hrs)
Examination of the writing strategies entailed in preparing successful seminar papers, conference presentations and scholarly articles.

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