.
S.91-20
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Vice-President Academic
MEMORANDUM
To: ?
Senate ?
From: ?
J
.
Munro, Chair
Senate Committee on
Academic Planning
Subject: Department of English:
?
Date ?
March 12, 1991
Change to M.A. Option
F:
Action undertaken by the Senate Committee on Academic Planning and the Senate
Graduate Studies Committee, gives rise to the following motion:
MOTION: "that Senate approve and recommend approval to the
Board of Governors, as set forth in S.91- 20
?
, the
replacement of the extended essay option for a M.A.
degree in the Department of English."
0
SCAP 91-8
r
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
?
MEMORANDUM
?
To: Alison Watt, Secretary
?
From: B.P. Clayman
Senate Committee on Academic
?
Dean of Graduate Studies
Planning
Subject: Graduate Calendar Change- Date:
November 27, 1990
Department of English
. ?
fQfIdL4*-0J
The attached
change to the extended essay option for
a M.A. degree in the
Department of English was approved by the Senate Graduate Studies
Committee, at its Meeting on November 26, 1990, and is now being
forwarded to the Senate Committee on Academic Planning for approval.
B.P. Clayman
Dean of Graduate Studies
mm/
attach
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
?
is
OFFICE OF THE DEAN
?
FACULTY OF ARTS
?
MEMORANDUM
To: ?
Marian McGinn
?
From:
Sheila Roberts
Secretary, Senate Graduate
?
Secretary, Faculty of Arts
Studies Committee
?
Graduate Studies Committee
Subject Changes to MA Options
?
Date: ?
October 23, 1990
English Department
The Faculty of Arts Graduate Studies Committee, at its meeting of 17 October
1990, approved the attached changes to the MA options in the English
Department.
Would you please place this item on the agenda of the next meeting of the
Senate Graduate Studies Committee.
Sheila Roberts
Administrative Assistant
Faculty of Arts
/ca
Attachment
PC B. Clayman, Dean of Graduate Studies
?
K. Mezei, English Department
::
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I
OC12
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GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN ENGLISH
Currently the MA programme offers two options to students:
1.
thesis option which consists of four courses, thesis,
oral defence
2.
extended essays option which consists of six courses,
two extended essays, oral defence
The Graduate Programme Committee proposes to revise the Masters
programme in the following way:
We would continue to offer the thesis -option as it exists without change.
However, instead of the extended essays option, we propose a course and
field examination option. This option would take the form of six courses plus
the field examination, followed by an oral defence. This option would give
the prospective Ph.D. student a greater breadth of preparation than given by
the thesis option.
The field examination, under the rubric of English 998 (the current course
number for the Extended Essays), would be undertaken when all the course
work is completed. It would normally take place within the semester
following the completion of course work. Three assigned examination
questions would be set by professors from three of the six courses taken by
the student. The student may choose either to:
a)
sit three - two hour exams within a week, representing
the three chosen courses
b)
take the questions home and complete them within seven
days
If the latter option is chosen the written examination should be no more
•
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than 30 pages (10 pages per question) and should include a bibliography and
citations.
Page 2
Graduate Programme - proposed MA Options changes. continued
In consultation with the Graduate Committee, a student would nominate
three courses for the field examination. The three selected courses should
cover a range of historical periods and genres tie - not all three areas in the
modern novel). Either the professor who taught the course, or a professor in
the field would set a question. The assigned questions should be of a type
that allows the student to demonstrate a broad knowledge of the subject
matter of the course
(ic -
the student should not simply reproduce his/her
research paper for the course in question). The examination questions would
then be approved by the Graduate Committee.
This exam would be marked by the three professors. Then a one-hour oral
exam, based upon the written exam and chaired by the Graduate Chair, will
be scheduled within two weeks. A student who fails either the written or
oral exam, may, at the discretion of the Graduate Committee, be given a
second chance. Written and oral exams will be graded Pass/Fail.
RATIONALE:
The Graduate Programme Committee feels that our programme
needs a real and equal alternative to the thesis option with its
emphasis on specialized research. We are responding to the
current attitude to the M.A thesis in Graduate Studies across North
America and reflecting the practice of other Graduate Programmes in
English. The current extended essay option does not present a
sufficiently different alternative to the thesis option.
2. ?
From
1985
to 1989, 33 theses and seven extended essays were
completed. Relatively few students choose the extended essays
option; only three students are currently doing it. It is unwieldy,
generally takes the student as long as a thesis to complete, and creates
problems of supervision. It is also difficult to compose a suitable
supervisory committee, and most serious of all, to find an appropriate
external examiner for two often very divergent essay topics. The
amount of work and supervision required can equal that of the thesis,
yet the end result is not a thesis.
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3.
The combined written and oral examination would enable students to
demonstrate formally their ability to articulate, synthesize, and
discuss literary texts across a range of periods and genres.
4.
We have a growing constituency of secondary school and community
college teachers whose needs and interests would be best served by
the breadth and flexibility of this option.
5.
All our graduate courses are oriented towards the production of a
research paper. The students thoroughly survey the critical and
bibliographical material in the field, develop an original perspective,
which they then prove through their readings of criticism, theory and
primary texts. The expectation in all courses is a publishable research
paper.
6.
All
graduate students are eligible for Graduate Fellowships. They may
. ?
be granted a fellowship while writing a thesis or while choosing to
take more than one course a semester.
7.
With agreater number of students requiring courses, we could
increase course offerings: this would, of course, benefit
all the students
in the programme and help us respond to the continual demand for
more, and more varied, courses.
8.
This change would bring us into line with other Canadian universities
who offer a similar course option culminating in an examination.
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