Iberian and Latin American Studies
Degree requirements in Iberian and Latin American Literatures:
For the Masters Degree in Iberian and Latin American Literatures there are four requirements.
REQUIREMENT I:
30 credit hours (10 courses); 33 credit hours (11 courses) are required for Graduate Teaching Assistants.
Coursework
The completion of Required Courses as follows:
Required Courses:
- 1 Course (3 hours) in Introduction to Literary Criticism (LLRO 505) - 1 Course (3 hours) in Foreign Language Acquisition & Instruction and Practicum in Teaching (LLRO 63075/61076, 61077, or 61078), required of all Graduate Teaching Assistants.
- 1 Course (3 hours) in Comparative Romance literature; when appropriate, a course in a relevant field (Art, History, Philosophy, or allied field) may be substituted with the permission of the Spanish Graduate Coordinator.
Elective Courses:
- 8 courses (24 hours) in Iberian and Latin American Literatures and culture; two of these courses (6 hours) may be at the 400 or preferably the 400/500 level, and one in an allied field, a second literature (Romance, Comparative Literature, English, etc), or Spanish linguistics. The exact selection of courses will be determined in consultation with the student’s advisor, who will be assigned upon admission.
The graduate program in Iberian and Latin American Literatures offers the possibility of one Directed Reading Course (ROSP 597) (3 hours) for exceptional students who have passed the Oral Qualifying Exam to further develop their research abilities by writing a lengthier essay on a topic of their choice, which could originate from a paper written in one of the graduate seminars.
REQUIREMENT II:
Oral Qualifying Examination
In mid-February, first-year Masters candidates and senior applicants to the BA/MA program must pass an oral qualifying examination. The student will choose from a selection of three texts and will have one week to prepare an oral textual analysis that will be presented in Spanish before the graduate faculty. Based on the oral presentation and the student’s academic performance, the faculty will evaluate the candidate’s participation in the graduate program. For a candidate to the BA/MA program, the oral qualifying exam serves as the admission exam to the Masters Program in Iberian and Latin American Literatures.
REQUIREMENT III:
Second Foreign Language
Before taking the written examination described below, the student must demonstrate competency in a second foreign language by passing the Graduate Reading Examination. All students are urged to fulfill the departmental language requirement by studying a second Romance language; the study of Portuguese is particularly recommended.
REQUIREMENT IV:
Masters Examination
In the final semester of the MA program, students must demonstrate knowledge of the 8 areas listed below. This is typically done through successful completion of a final written examination for eight areas. The final written exam is 8 hours in length and will be administered by a proctor over two days. The fields are:
a. Medieval
b. Golden Age
c. 18th-19th-Century Peninsular
d. Contemporary Peninsular
e. Colonial Spanish America
f. 19th-Century Spanish America
g. “Modernismo” to the Avant Garde
h. Contemporary Spanish America
It is the responsibility of the Spanish Graduate Coordinator to oversee the examination process, gather questions from faculty members, etc. All members of the graduate faculty not on leave of absence are members of the Examining Committee and will read the entire exam and mark answers Pass/Fail. In addition, it is particularly recommended that the faculty member in charge of writing the questions for any of the 8 sections, comment briefly on the quality of the student’s answers. In case of disagreement, the Committee will meet to discuss the problem and reach a consensus.
A passing grade is the equivalent of a “B”. All grades are to be submitted by the Spanish Graduate Coordinator to the Director of Graduate Studies who will then inform the candidate.
If the student fails only one section of the examination, he or she will have the opportunity to answer both of the questions of the failed section by a take-home exam, during the same semester that he or she has taken the comprehensive exam. The student has a week to complete this take-home exam. It is highly advisable to demonstrate knowledge of secondary readings (The student must follow the established regulations of the MLA Handbook of Research Papers). The ideal length of each of the essays is from 3 to 5 double-spaced pages. This take-home exam will be read and graded by all the faculty members of the Masters program in Iberian and Latin American Literatures who have participated in the comprehensive exam. This exam will be graded as Pass/Fail. If the student fails this second exam, he or she fails the entire Masters exam and is not allowed to re-take it. If the student satisfactorily passes this exam, she or he will be able to graduate with her/his class. If the student fails two or more sections of the examination, he or she is considered to have failed the examination, and failure is to be recorded on the student’s official record. As long as the student is continuously registered, he or she is allowed to retake the examination once within the next academic year, but is obliged to retake only those sections of the examination which were deemed insufficient. A student may request postponement in conjunction with the Graduate School; however, a student must be continuously registered in order to maintain eligibility for taking the examination.
Requirements for the B.A.-M.A.
The B.A.-M.A. program requires the completion of an undergraduate first
major in Spanish consisting of at least 10 undergraduate courses at
or above level 20202, followed by a total of 8 graduate courses, two
of which must be taken during the senior year.
During the second semester of the senior year, the student must pass an oral qualifying examination. The candidate will choose from a selection of texts and must demonstrate comepetency in analyzing a literary text in Spanish.
In the fifth year of study, students who will be teaching must complete LLRO 63075 (Foreign Language Teaching Methodology) and the LLRO 61075 Practicum; these courses do not count as credit toward the degree. Students are also required to take LLRO 63050 (Introduction to Literary Criticism) and must demonstrate competency in a second foreign language.The B.A.-M.A. program in Iberian and Latin American Studies is concluded by a comprehensive written examination, eight hours in length and administered in four two-hour sessions over two days.
Students interested in the B.A.-M.A. Program must contact the Graduate Director no later than spring of their junior year. Those accepted to the Program will be invited to formally apply to the Graduate School in the Fall.
