The Department of Modern Languages offers a two-year M.A. degree program in German. Its main objective is to introduce graduate students to all important aspects of modern German culture. The faculty is committed to providing graduate students with a firm foundation in scholarship and an opportunity to acquire teaching experience. Our students have been accepted into some of the best Ph.D. programs in the country or pursued other professional careers, e.g. at the Deutsche Schule in Chicago or at SAP in Karlsruhe. Expertise of German faculty and affiliated members is wide-ranging and comprises, for example: Literary studies from the eighteenth century to the present, German philosophy, history of ideas, Holocaust studies and human rights, nationalism, gender studies, performance and folklore studies, and film studies. The German program encourages the pursuit of interdisciplinary interests and offers students ample opportunity to explore other intellectual disciplines.
Requirements for the M.A. in German studies include course work, a substantial research paper, and a written comprehensive examination. The M.A. in German studies is expected to be completed in two years.
Course work: A minimum of 30 semester hours in graduate courses (including minor, if any) must be earned. Of these, at least 24 must be taken for a letter grade and 21 from courses with German or FOL course numbers. All regularly enrolled German M.A. students, employed as teaching assistants in the German program, are required to sign up for at least six credit hours of German course work per semester. (Exceptions need the approval of the German program's graduate student adviser.)
Research paper: At the end of the last semester (by week 8) students are required to submit the final version of a substantial research paper (around 20 pages in length). This is an extended course paper directed by the major professor who offered the course. The paper can be written in English or German. It will be reviewed by at least two German faculty members, one being the major professor and at least one other German faculty member identified by the student. An oral defense may be scheduled. If any faculty member considers revisions necessary, they can be requested and shall be satisfied within a period of two weeks.
The comprehensive examination will be on six courses with German/FOL course numbers taken in the M.A. program at Florida State University. Questions will be specific in nature and are expected to elicit substantial critical responses of the essay type. The exams will be written in two periods of four hours each (normally on consecutive days). An oral examination, approximately one week after the written portion, is required when the student has failed one or more sections of the written examination.