Hows and Whys: Guidelines
for the M.A. in Japanese Literature
MA students in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature must adhere to (1) the University of Washington's Graduate School regulations, (2) the Department of Asian Languages and Literature policies and procedures, and (3) all program specific regulations.
The information below is meant only as a reference. Final authority in all cases remains with the official regulations.
General Aims
The goal of graduate study is to train students to make original contributions to scholarship in their field. Therefore, the graduate student needs to build a solid awareness of the publications in the field of specialization, the major questions that are being (and could be) researched, as well as the methodology for answering such questions. In addition, the student should have a solid grasp of the broader academic context in which the field of specialization is situated (i.e. "the big picture").
The following explains the rationale behind the each of the general requirements for Ph.D. students in the department, and outlines the procedure students should follow to satisfy them. It also contains, in bold, the specific rules of the Japanese literature program over and above those of the department. Finally, notes in blue are explanations, examples, and additional commentary.
Admissions
In addition to the general department admissions requirements,
an undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 in the junior and senior years is a prerequisite for admission to the program in Japanese.
Admission to the M.A. program with specialization in Japanese language and literature requires that a student have strong undergraduate preparation in one of the following: Japanese language and literature, another foreign language and literature, Asian Regional Studies, Comparative Literature, Linguistics, English, Philosophy, or History. He or she will, in addition, be expected to have completed four years of modern Japanese and one year of classical Japanese. Students lacking such preparation may be admitted to the M.A. program provisionally, and will be required to make up the deficiencies during their first year of residence.
How to Proceed
The following explains the rationale behind the each of
the general requirements for M.A. students in the department,
and outlines the procedure students should follow to satisfy
them.
1. Meeting with the Advisor
Each new student is assigned an interim advisor, that
is, a graduate faculty member with whom the student can
discuss the course of his/her study in the initial stages.
Upon arrival, the student should meet as soon as possible
with the assigned interim advisor to chart a plan of course
work and the student should meet quarterly with the advisor
to keep him/her apprised of his/her progress. It is the
student's task to take the initiative for these meetings,
and the advisor's to file a formal progress report
once a year. Once the student has determined the area of
specialization and the faculty member he/she would like
to work with, he/she should discuss this with the interim
advisor and appoint a permanent advisor.
2. Filing a Program of Study
Practically, the graduate student should start by carefully
planning a program of study that will contribute to achieving
the skills mentioned above. Each of the department's
programs has its own required graduate courses. The student
should carefully plan when to take which courses, keeping
in mind that many courses are not offered every year, and
that some courses will not be offered when faculty are
on leave. Ideally, students should take at least one course
with every faculty member in their program, so as to familiarize
themselves with the full range of scholarship and expertise
available to them.
The student should submit a feasible proposal of study
to the advisor, which, after approval, will be filed by
the department secretary no later than the third quarter
of graduate study. The plan of study should be viewed as
a guideline rather than a straitjacket; specifics of
the plan are likely to change as the student proceeds,
but the general course of study should be clear.
There is a minimum course requirement of 45 credits, and
the student must take classes and examinations relating
to both the linguistic and literature aspects of the language
of specialization. Classes in other disciplines might also
be advisable (e.g., religion or anthropology), depending
on the student's chosen field of specialization.
Please note that a graduate student is required to maintain
a minimum 3.0 GPA.
The student's file will contain a checklist of the
required courses in his/her program and the student will
be responsible for checking off each requirement as the
courses are completed. When all courses are taken, the
student will present the completed list to the Program
Coordinator and ask him/her or his/her designated representative
to sign off the box "course work completed" on
the checklist. If there are any irregularities (such as
course substitutions), an explanation will be placed in
the file along with the signature.
Program Description. The Japanese literature program offers work in the history and criticism of Japanese literature from the earliest period to the modern age. Students normally concentrate on fiction, poetry, and drama, supplementing their reading and analysis of original works with readings in secondary critical and historical sources. For example, a student interested in Japanese aesthetic concepts might wish to devote a major portion of study to the history of criticism, while students with other specific interests might wish to pursue a linguistic, philosophical, biographical or comparative literature approach. In any case, the student and adviser plan a course of study that concentrates on the language and literature training offered by this department, and may also include course work in other departments when this is deemed necessary to develop the academic resources of the student for his or her research in Japanese literature.
Course Work and Credits
The M.A. program requires a minimum of 45 credits above the 300 level which are to be earned through a combination of course work and research. At least 18 credits of course work must be completed in numerically graded courses at the 400, 500 level, and 18 credits at the 500 level and above. The following courses normally constitute a minimal level of training: Japanese 321-2-3 (Japanese Literature I,II, III: no graduate credit), Japanese 421-2-3 (Fourth-year Japanese), Japanese 431-2-3 (Readings in Modern Japanese Literature), Japanese 471-2-3 (Introduction to, and Readings in Classical Japanese Literature). Students whose undergraduate training has provided them with a background comparable to this may enter more advanced courses. Students who lack such preparation may require a program considerably in excess of the minimum 45 credits.
Students may present research in either of two ways: (1) by submitting a thesis and taking at least 36 course credits and 9 thesis credits, or (2) by submitting two research papers that have been written either independently or for courses or seminars, in which case all 45 minimum credits will be in course credits.
3. Filing a Language Plan and Fulfilling the Language
Requirement
In addition to the language of specialization, the MA
student needs to pass a second language requirement.
In consultation with the advisor, the student selects
a language relevant to his/her program of study and files
a plan for achieving the necessary level of competence
in this language. In the language plan, the student should
outline the reasons for choosing this second language and
a time schedule detailing how the student intends to prepare
to fulfill this requirement. The requirement may be satisfied
by taking a reading exam in the Department or by taking
classes up to a certain level of proficiency. The language
plan is to be approved by the advisor and added to the
student's file no later than the third quarter of
graduate study.
The additional language may be another Asian language or a European language, but may not be the student’s native language, and must be relevant to the student’s program of study.
4. Taking the MA General Examination
When the language exams have been taken and passed, and
the required course work is completed, the student should
prepare for the General Examination, which is a written
test, consisting of two two-hour exams to be taken in the
same week. The purpose of this test is to demonstrate the
student's general competence, that is, the aforementioned "broad
picture" view. At the latest during the quarter prior
to the exam date, the student should meet with the advisor
to discuss exam preparation. In preparation for this meeting,
the student should compile a list of classes taken and
readings completed, so as to give the advisor a good idea
of what the student already knows and what needs more work.
On the basis of this information, an effective strategy
for exam preparation can be devised.
The student will take one examination in pre-modern (pre-Meiji) literature, and the other in modern literature. These are intended to examine the student's general mastery of the respective areas. The student will meet with his or her academic adviser at least one quarter prior to the quarter in which the examination is taken, in order to discuss the student's preparation for the examination. In connection with this, the student will usually be asked to compile a list of courses taken and readings during the program of study.
5. Writing a thesis or two research papers
Officially, it is only after passing the General Examination
that the student will proceed to work on a thesis, but
it is advisable for the student to start thinking about
a topic of specialization and start working on it as soon
as is practical. Alternatively, if the advisor approves,
students can submit two in-depth research papers in lieu
of one thesis.
The MA thesis should make an original contribution to
existing research in a given field and present it in a
coherent form with the conventional scholarly apparatus.
In this department, demonstrating the ability to work with
primary sources in the language of specialization is a
requirement of the thesis.
In practical terms this means that the graduate student
will go through a study process to familiarize him- or
herself with the publications in the field of specialization,
the major questions that are being (and could be) researched,
and the methodological approaches to answering such questions.
The end product of this process, the thesis itself, demonstrates
the mastery of these materials and approaches. The MA thesis
differs from the PhD thesis in that it is narrower in scope,
and it typically is comparable to a lengthy article rather
than a book.
As soon as the General Examination is passed, the student
should make a time schedule to organize the writing of
the thesis. The student should meet regularly with the
advisor to discuss progress and submit chapters of the
thesis for comment. A final draft should be submitted to
the other member of the examination committee as soon as
possible, no later than three weeks before the last day
of the quarter in which the student seeks to graduate.
6. Graduating
Once the thesis is nearing completion, the student should
apply for the Master's degree at the Graduate School
office. Note that this has to be done within the first
two weeks of the quarter in which the degree is expected
to be conferred. The final revised version of the thesis
has to be submitted to the Graduate School on the last
day of that quarter.
