English

In English Studies, multiple and interdisciplinary perspectives are used to examine and produce texts for audiences communicating in English: How do cultures shape language and how does language shape culture? How do intersections of cultures affect communication across borders? What forms can we create to connect and enter into dialogue with each other?

Children's Literature, Creative Writing, English Education, Linguistics, Literary and Cultural Studies, Rhetoric and Writing (including New Media Studies, Professional Writing and Rhetorics, Rhetoric and Composition, and Teaching Writing), and TESOL offer our community of students and researchers the means of examining how we teach, learn, and understand ourselves and others through the stories we tell and the ways in which we tell them.

University Admission Requirements

A student applying to a master's program must:

• have earned a four-year bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college or university that is accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting association, or do so within one academic year
• present unofficial transcripts from each college or university other than Illinois State at which graduate, undergraduate, or non-degree credit was earned. The unofficial transcript should be easily readable and clearly indicate degree(s) awarded, courses and course grades for each term. If accepted, official transcripts can be emailed from the university to GraduateAdmissions@IllinoisState.edu or mailed in a sealed envelope to: Illinois State University, Graduate School, 209 Hovey Hall, Campus Box 4040, Normal, IL 61790-4040.

International students can learn more about specific application requirements by visiting the Office of Admissions.

Additional Program Admission Requirements

To be considered for this program, you must meet the following requirements.

GPA

You must have a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for either the last 60 hours of your undergraduate coursework or any previous work in a Master's program.

Statement of Purpose

We use your statement of purpose to assess how well you understand our department’s mission as an English Studies department. We also use the statement to assess your commitment to the professionalization of your chosen form.

If you choose, you may cast some of this statement as an intellectual autobiography describing your reading, writing, and scholarly interest through your undergraduate studies, explaining how those experiences have led you to apply to our program.

Goals: Indicate how this degree will help you achieve your goals and how our department can help you meet your intellectual goals.

Scholarly and Career Interests: Discuss what areas of English studies you would like to study and why. Describe your goals following the completion of the degree.

Writing Sample

Upload a 6-10 page writing sample that demonstrates your analytic abilities and writing skills. Your sample can be longer if it best illustrates your abilities.

Your writing sample should reflect your best analytical writing skills in the subdiscipline for which you are applying. For example, if you are applying in children's literature, include an example of your scholarly ability to analyze children's literature.

Creative Writing Portfolio (Creative Writing Option Only)

If you are interested in the creative writing program, you’ll need to submit both an analytical paper and creative writing portfolio.

Your creative portfolio should include 15-20 pages of your best writing in the genre for which you hope to be admitted. Available genres include poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or mixed genre writing.

Your analytical sample and portfolio must be uploaded in a single document.

Area of Interest

Indicate the primary area of which you are applying. Options include:

• Children’s Literature
• Creative Writing
• English Education
• English Studies (Cross-disciplinary studies)
• Linguistics
• Literary and Cultural Studies
• Rhetoric and Writing (including New Media Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, and Teaching Writing)
• Technical Writing and Rhetorics
• TESOL

Our department strongly supports the English studies model. This means you take courses in a variety of areas including rhetoric, literature, linguistics, writing, pedagogy, and so on.

However, when applying, we ask you to identify the specialization or specializations that interest you. This helps ensure your admissions materials are evaluated within the context of the discipline(s) you wish to study at Illinois State.

Reference Contact Information

Submit names and email addresses of three references for letters of recommendation within the online application.

English Proficiency Scores (international students only)

International students are required to submit English Proficiency scores from TOEFL or IELTS. The minimum TOEFL score required for graduate admissions is 100 TOEFL ibt or 7.0 on IELTS. For International students interested in being awarded a teaching assistantship, a TOEFL iBT speaking score of 27 or higher, equivalent IELTS score, or the Test of Spoken English (TSE), is required.

Admission Dates and Deadlines

Graduate Assistantship Information

The University provides graduate assistantships as a means of financial support. They are intended as a way to facilitate a student's progress to degree while providing important professional development.

Eligibility

To be eligible for an assistantship a student must, generally,

• be admitted unconditionally as a degree-seeking student into a graduate academic program, or have a minimum of 120 undergraduate hours if in an integrated degree program
• be in good-standing
• be enrolled full-time (typically at least 9 credit hours during the fall or spring semesters, or at least 6 hours during the summer session).

Benefits

Graduate assistants receive

• monthly wages paid in the form of either a stipend or an hourly wage
• a waiver for 100% of tuition during a semester of appointment
• a waiver for up to 12 credit hours of tuition for the summer term immediately following a fall or spring appointment

Assistantships offered to Master's students are 10 hours/week assignments, generally teaching one class in the Writing Program, with some assistantships available in the English Language Institute. Master's students spend their first semester assisting a teacher. After their first semester, they teach one course each semester.

Assistantships for Master's students currently carry a stipend for 9 months and a full tuition waiver. Summer teaching and summer research are occasionally available. All students with a teaching assistantship have an office equipped with a computer and network access.

Cost & Funding

Sutherland Fellowships are awarded to a small number of Creative Writing students. Sutherland Fellows work a year in the Department's Publications Unit and spend a second year teaching creative writing.

See Student Accounts for information on tuition and fees. Funding for graduate students is available from several different sources. Students who have been admitted from contiguous states including Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin will receive in-state tuition.

Graduate Coordinator