Capstone Experience

All M.A. students must successfully complete a capstone experience, either in the form of a Portfolio, a Thesis, or a Project. Please contact the Director of Graduate Studies in English, Dr. Meghan Barnes [mbarne56 @ charlotte.edu], if you have any questions about the capstone experience. You can find a brief overview of each option below. For more specific information, current students should visit the English MA Canvas site.

Click on one of the options below for more information:

M.A. THESIS

The M.A. thesis is an option for students in all concentrations. Though writing a scholarly or creative thesis is not required for the M.A. in English, many students find that it is a rewarding experience.

For students electing the thesis option, students write their theses at the end of their program and not before completing 24 hours of coursework. Six hours of the 36 hours required in the program will be thesis credits; students, in consultation with their thesis advisers, may take 6 credits of ENGL 6996 in their final semester, or 3 credits of ENGL 6995 and 3 credits of ENGL 6996 in their final two semesters. Students unable to complete their thesis in their final semester may continue working on it in subsequent semesters, but they must stay enrolled in the program; they should contact the Director of Graduate Studies to discuss their options. Students should make a decision about whether or not to take the thesis option by the time they reach the half-way point in their coursework.

Current students interested in completing either a creative or scholarly thesis should visit the English MA Program Canvas site for the following: required forms, deadlines, specific directions for the proposal and thesis, and sample prospectuses.

Creative Thesis

Students in the creative writing concentration must complete a creative thesis or creative project; students in the children’s literature concentration who wish to write a thesis may opt for a creative or scholarly thesis. It is strongly recommended that students electing to write a creative thesis (defined as a collection of poems, a collection of short stories, a novella, or part of a novel) take coursework in creative writing.

The creative thesis may include material produced in earlier classes, but that material must be substantially revised and the thesis must also include a substantial amount of new work.

Scholarly Thesis

Students in the following concentrations have the option to complete a scholarly thesis as their capstone: applied linguistics, children’s literature, composition and rhetoric, English education, ESP, and technical and professional writing. Students intending to write a scholarly, research-based thesis should explore possible topics with the faculty members most knowledgeable in those topics and should do preliminary reading (typically through a directed reading with the thesis director) to gain some sense of the literature relating to the topics.

M.A. PROJECT

The M.A. project is an alternative to the thesis in applied linguistics, composition/rhetoric, creative writing, English education, ESP, and technical/professional writing concentrations. (Students in the certificate program in technical/professional writing may also complete an M.A. project in lieu of an internship.) An M.A. Project typically consists of 30-40 pages and is often the result of a significant revision of work already completed in an M.A. or directed reading course.

Registration for Project Hours

Projects are completed at the end of the M.A. program—in the last semester, and not before 24 hours of coursework have been completed. As students near the time they intend to complete a project, they should consult with the Director of Graduate Studies in English about selecting a member of the graduate faculty to direct the project. The student will then work with the project/portfolio director to develop a prospectus (usually 1-3 pages) that must be approved by the project director and submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies in English (before the beginning of the semester when the student takes project hours). The student then enrolls in 3 credit hours of the M.A. Project course with their director.

Current students interested in completing a project should visit the English MA Canvas site for required forms, deadlines, specific directions for the project, and sample prospectuses.

Please reach out to the Director of Graduate Studies with any questions and to receive access to the Canvas site.

M.A. PORTFOLIO

All students in the children’s literature concentration must successfully complete an M. A. portfolio or successfully complete a thesis. All students in the literature concentration must successfully complete an M. A. portfolio; students in the literature concentration may opt to do a thesis in addition to the portfolio.  

Students fulfill the portfolio requirement in their final semester; if they plan to graduate in the summer, they will complete the portfolio in the spring. The Director of Graduate Studies will set the deadline for the portfolio at the beginning of each semester. Additional guidance and deadlines can be found on the English MA Canvas site.