Program Requirements
Program Requirements
The M.A. in Comparative Literature is a two-year program requiring students to complete four full courses and an M.A. thesis. Students are expected to do most of their course work in the first year and write the thesis in the second year.

At least two different literatures must be represented in the student's choice of courses. Course work includes the following:

(a) The required half courses CL 9501 (Fundamentals of Comparative Literature I) and CL 9502 (Fundamentals of Comparative Literature II) (both in first year)

(b) The required half-course CL 9503 (Thesis Project and Professional Writing) (pass/fail) (in first year)

(c) The required half course CL 9510 (M.A. Thesis Seminar) (pass/fail) (in second year)

(d) 1.5 additional graduate courses in Comparative Literature

(e) 1.0 courses from among the following: additional graduate courses in Comparative Literature; graduate courses in other programs; an undergraduate language course (any level). (An undergraduate language course counts as 0.5 credit within the graduate program.)

All course selections must be approved by the Graduate Chair.

Language Requirements

Knowledge of at least one language other than English at a level sufficient to do graduate-level work in that language is required for admission to the program. Reading knowledge of a second non-English language must be demonstrated in order to graduate successfully from the program.

Students who need to acquire reading knowledge of a second foreign language while in the program may do so by taking or auditing an undergraduate language course.  Successful completion of the course will fulfill the language requirement. Otherwise, the student must pass a test of reading knowledge in the language before graduating from the program.

The aim of the language requirements is threefold: to maintain rigour in comparative work by requiring sufficient knowledge of at least one foreign language to allow for advanced study of literary and critical works in the original; to qualify students for admission to a Ph.D. program in comparative literature or their major literature; and to develop facility in other languages to the extent that they can be used in research.

Theses and Thesis Supervision

In the second year of the program, students write a Master's-length (circa 100 pp.) thesis on a subject that involves comparative work in at least two languages. A Supervisor and Second Reader for the thesis are chosen from the Comparative Literature faculty in consultation with the Graduate Chair.