Program Description
Admission |
Coursework | Research
Requirement
Progress toward the Degree | Graduation
The Master of Arts program in American Studies is a
research degree designed to provide students with an advanced level of
knowledge about American culture and society; training in analysis, synthesis,
critical thinking, and primary research techniques; and experience thinking
effectively across disciplinary boundaries. Students work with faculty
advisor to create an individually tailored interdisciplinary program of
study centered around one of the Department’s thematic areas or
methodological specializations. The program offers students a considerable
degree of flexibility to craft a course of study based upon their own
interests. They can select courses from a number of departments, work
with faculty from the regular, core affiliate, or affiliate faculty, and
choose to write a thesis or a scholarly article. The M.A. degree program
attracts students who have just completed their bachelors' degrees as
well as mid-career professionals. Our students are interested in or already
pursuing careers in print or broadcast media; museums, archaeology, historic
preservation, or cultural resource management; public history; secondary
school teaching; and advocacy or policy work on social justice issues.
Many of our students also go on to Ph.D. programs at other universities.
The Master of Arts program in American Studies is a
terminal degree program. Students holding B.A. degrees who wish to obtain
a Ph.D. from the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland
should apply directly to the Ph.D. program.
Admission
Applicants to the M.A. program should have a broad liberal
arts background appropriate to the interdisciplinary study of American
culture and society at the graduate level. In addition to three letters
of recommendation and official transcripts of all undergraduate
work, applicants are asked to submit a statement of purpose and/or an
autobiographic statement, a writing sample, and results of the Graduate
Record Examination.
Coursework
Students in the M.A. program are required to complete
a minimum of 30 hours of course work in American Studies and related disciplines
and to demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research by submitting
an acceptable thesis or a scholarly article.
At least 21 hours of course work must be taken at the
600 level or above. No more than 9 credit hours of course work may be
taken at the 400-level. In consultation with a faculty advisor, students
develop individual programs of study within the following
guidelines.
1) Pro seminars: (6 hrs.)
AMST 601: Introductory Seminar in American Studies (3
hours)*
plus a second methodology or historiography
course in their area of concentration. The second pro seminar must be
taken outside of the department. Students usually choose from one of the
following:
- AMST 639A
or B: Decorative Arts in America Civilization (Students in material
culture or historical archaeology may substitute HISP 678: Fieldwork
in Historic Preservation, HISP 679: Measured Drawings for Historic Preservation,
ANTH 611: Management and
Cultural Process, ANTH689R: Method and Theory in Archaeology, URSP 605:
Planning History and Theory)
- ANTH
606: Methods of Cultural Analysis I
- CMLT
600: Introduction to Critical Theory
- COMM
711: Historical/Critical Methods in Communication Research
- ENGL 601:
Bibliography and Methods
- ENGL602:
Critical Theory and Literary Criticism
- GVPT 700:
Scope and Methods of Political Science
- HIST 600:
Historiography
- HIST602:
General Seminar: American History
- JOUR 600:
Research Methods in Mass Communication
- SOCY 621:
Contemporary Sociological Theory
- WMST 601:
Advanced Feminist Theory
- WMST 602:
Advanced Feminist Theory II
*Note: Students are expected to register for AMST
601 in their first semester of residence.
2) American Studies seminars: (9 hrs.)
9 semester hours chosen from special topic seminars
AMST 628 and AMST 629, or other AMST proseminars or research seminars
taught on campus by AMST regular department faculty. This includes AMST
602, 603, 630 (Popular Culture), and 650 (formerly
AMST 628Q), AMST 801 and 851 (formerly AMST 629L). Students may on rare
occasions and with their advisor's consent petition the Director of Graduate
Studies to use one course taught by an affiliate faculty member that is
cross-listed under AMST 628 or 629 in partial fulfillment of this requirement.
3) Area of Concentration: (9-15 hrs.)
9 semester hours (thesis option) or 15 semester hours
(scholarly article option). In consultation with their faculty advisor,
students develop an area of concentration. Some students elect to fulfill
this requirement by selecting courses in a particular discipline (e.g.
American history, American literature, Sociology, Government and Politics).
Others develop topical or thematic areas of concentration. (e.g. Popular
Culture, Women's Studies, Material Culture, Ethnography, or African American
Studies) that bring together appropriately chosen courses from two or
more disciplines. In either case, it is essential that the area of concentration
be defined clearly and coherently.
Research Requirement
The research requirement for the M.A. may be met by
electing the thesis or scholarly article option.
Thesis Option. Students who write a thesis
take 24 credit hours of course work (8 courses) and 6 credit hours of
AMST 799: Thesis Research toward the 30 hours required for the degree.
Students wishing to write a thesis are urged to identify a topic as early
as possible and to discuss it with appropriate faculty members. Preliminary
to undertaking their research, students prepare a brief formal thesis
proposal for presentation before their committee. The thesis committee
consists of three persons, at a minimum. The chair of the committee may
be a member of the regular, core affiliate, or affiliate faculties. The
other two members may be American Studies faculty or faculty from disciplines
appropriate to the thesis topic. Students may also select a committee
member from another institution, but this requires approval from the Office
of Graduate Studies and Research. Printed guidelines for the thesis proposal
are available in the department office. Further information concerning
style, requirements, and schedule deadlines can be found in the Graduate
School Catalog and Thesis Manual. Upon completion of the thesis, students
are given an oral examination by their committee.
Scholarly Article Option. Students who elect
the scholarly article option complete 30 hours of course work (10 courses)
and submit a scholarly article, based on independent research, in lieu
of a thesis. The article, normally 25 to 45 pages in length, may be a
revised seminar paper, but it must be written independently, in excess
of course requirements, and under the direction of two faculty readers.
Scholarly articles should be framed to address larger issues in the appropriate
bodies of scholarly literature and contain substantial bibliographies.
They should achieve publishable quality and should be written to conform
to the standards of a specified refereed scholarly journal. As soon as
a student begins working on the scholarly article, he or she should designate
the two
faculty readers and commence research and/or revision in consultation
with both readers. The scholarly article is usually submitted in the final
semester of the student's program.
Progress Toward the Degree
Students are expected to make steady progress on their
degree programs. The time needed, of course, will depend on whether the
student is able to study full-time or only part-time. To insure that students
proceed at a pace appropriate to their full-time or part-time status,
the faculty meets late each spring semester to conduct a review of all
students in the graduate program. Prior to that review, students submit
a brief statement describing their progress during that academic year,
a plan for the next year's work, and an up-to-date curriculum vitae. These
statements will play a role in the granting and renewing of Departmental
assistantships as well as in faculty decisions to support requests for
extensions of time limits for the degree.
Students must be continuously registered for at least
one credit of AMST 798: Non-Thesis Research or AMST 799: Master’s
Thesis Research while completing their scholarly article or thesis, respectively.
Before a completed thesis can be formally approved,
the candidate must successfully defend it in an oral examination before
the dissertation committee. Reading copies of the dissertation must be
distributed to members of the committee at least ten working days prior
to the oral examination and must conform to the University requirements
set forth in the Thesis Manual. (Students should purchase a copy of this
manual from the Media Express/Campus Reprographics, Reckord Armory.) Two
copies of the completed dissertation are submitted to the Office of Graduate
Studies and one to the American Studies Department for its records.
Procedures for Graduation
No later than the first week of their final semester,
students should consult with the Director of Graduate Studies about the
forms to be filed with the Office of Graduate Studies and Research in
order to receive their degrees. These forms are available online at <http://www.gems.umd.edu/forms/>
or in the Department Office from the secretary.
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