All requirements for the degree must be completed within six years of the first term of enrollment in the program. Sample programs are given in section VII. below.
The MA will requires 27 coursework credits, or a minimum of nine courses, plus at least 3 hours for the thesis, totaling a minimum of 30 credit hours for the degree. For students continuing to the PhD program, a total of 54 coursework hours (a minimum of 18 courses) is required. Requirements are as follows:
1. Coursework. All students will be required to take a total of 27 coursework credits and must submit a completed design of the coursework program by the end of the first year. Courses are distributed as follows:
a. All students must take the following courses during the first year of enrollment:
Comp St 6390, Approaches to Comparative Cultural Studies I (3 credits, offered AU)
Comp St 6391, Approaches to Comparative Cultural Studies II (3 credits, offered SP)
b. All students must take a minimum of 15 coursework credits in Comparative Studies. (Cross-listed courses may count in any department cross-listing the course, regardless of where the student is enrolled. Students may petition the Graduate Studies Committee if additional credits in other departments are required.)
c. All students must include in their overall program at least one 7000-level and one 8000-level course (or two 8000-level courses).
d. A maximum of 3 credits taken in other departments at the 4000-level in the overall program may count toward the degree. All courses in Comparative Studies must be at or above the 5000-level to be counted toward the degree.
e. No more than 3 hours of non-graded (S/U or PA/NP) coursework (ordinarily taken as independent study) may count toward the M.A. degree.
2. Language. All students completing the M.A. in Comparative Studies must demonstrate competence in at least one foreign language. This requirement must be met in one of the following ways:
a. by receiving a minimum grade of “B” in a course that certifies ability to read with the use of a dictionary);
b. by passing a proficiency examination administered by the appropriate language department;
c. by petitioning the Graduate Studies Committee to consider other evidence of competence, for example, an undergraduate major or minor in a foreign language.
Courses taken to fulfill the language requirement cannot be counted toward the degree. However, foreign language courses taken at or above the 5000-level may be counted toward the degree and may also serve to satisfy the language requirement.
3. Thesis or Non-thesis Option. Currently, all students are required to submit a master’s thesis of 3 credit hours and complete 27 coursework hours to be awarded the M.A. degree. Students who are completing the M.A. only must complete the thesis to be awarded the degree. The Department is awaiting confirmation from the Graduate School of a proposal that will allow students who are continuing to the Ph.D. program (on the recommendation of the Graduate Studies Committee) to instead be awarded the M.A. degree upon successful completion of the doctoral Candidacy Examination without having completed a thesis. This option has not yet been approved, and M.A. students in the second year of study (in 2013-14) should plan accordingly.
4. Advisers. The Graduate Studies Chair or a designated member of the Graduate Studies Committee will serve as adviser for incoming students, but each student must choose at least one academic adviser from the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Comparative Studies by the end of the first year. A second academic adviser (to serve on the Master’s Examination Committee for students who are completing the M.A. thesis) may be chosen at a later date from graduate faculty in Comparative Studies or in any other academic unit represented in the student’s curriculum. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of Comparative Studies, one additional member of the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Comparative Studies will serve as a third member of the Master’s Examination Committee.
The Chair of the Master’s Examination Committee (the major adviser, who has primary responsibility for guiding students as they write the thesis) is ordinarily chosen from the regular Graduate Faculty or Associated Faculty of the Department of Comparative Studies. Faculty from other departments may serve as major advisers if they are first approved for graduate faculty status in Comparative Studies by the Graduate Studies Committee and the Graduate School. Other members of the Master’s Examination Committee need not be so approved.
See also Section VI of the Graduate School Handbook:
(http://www.gradsch.ohio-state.edu/Depo/PDF/Handbook.pdf).