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MALAS
Comprehensive Exam INSTRUCTIONS
Updated April 28, 2020
In Fall 2011, the MALAS Program instituted another
culminating option for graduation: the MALAS Comprehensive
Exam. It is your choice to either choose
the MALAS Comprehensive Exam or to complete a Thesis
or Project, and there are pros and cons for each
choice.
There are TWO specific courses on the online catalog
that pertain to the Comprehensive Exam option. The
first, MALAS 795, is the most important as
graduate students who elect to pursue the MALAS
Comprehensive Exam option must have MALAS 795 on their
Program of Study in order to take the exam and to
graduate--note that MALAS graduate students
typically sign up for MALAS 795 in the semester
they intend to take the exam. The second, MALAS
799C only comes into play if a MALAS graduate
student fails the comprehensive exam:
IMPORTANT
MALAS 795. Studies in Liberal
Arts and Sciences (3) Cr/NC
Prerequisite:
Graduate standing. Individual preparation for
comprehensive examination for students taking
the Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences under
Plan B.
VERY RARE
MALAS 799C. Comprehensive
Examination Extension (0) Cr/NC
Prerequisite:
Completion or concurrent enrollment in degree
program courses. Registration required of
students whose only requirement is completion
of the comprehensive examination for the
master’s degree. Registration in 799C limited
to two semesters.
The MALAS Comprehensive Exam is offered in the Fall
and Spring semesters, and is available, also, in the
summer for qualified graduate students.
What is the difference between the Exam
and the Thesis?
The MALAS Thesis or Project needs to be published
via standard SDSU MA publishing guidelines found
here
online. The MA thesis is an in-depth research
document focused on a topic of your choosing; people
who are extremely worried about publishing deadlines
or writing an exceptionally long, challenging paper
may wish to shy away from this option. Note: the
average length of a MALAS Master's Thesis is
anywhere from 55 to 70 pages including
bibliography, footnotes, etc.
This is where the MALAS Comprehensive Exam comes in.
To put it simply, at the end of the semester of your
choosing (at which time you enroll in the
above-mentioned MALAS 795 class), you take an exam
based on three areas of emphasis of your
choosing (which is great for eclectic MALAS
students). These areas can be independent of each
other or interrelated.
The MALAS Comprehensive Exam uses a Distinction/Pass/Fail
standard and is administered all on the same day
over six hours; each exam is an hour and fifty
minutes long, with a break between each question.
Here are the specifics of how the Comprehensive Exam
works:
You (the MALAS student) meet with the director
(usually) in your third semester of coursework to
discuss your choice between the Comprehensive Exam,
the Thesis or the Project. Ideally, at this point,
you will know the three areas that you want to focus
on for your Comprehensive Exam.
At this meeting you will be reminded that you need
three Faculty members willing to oversee one of each
of your three areas of emphasis, for a total of
three Area of Emphasis advisors. The Area of
Emphasis advisor is the one who authorizes your
final list of selected texts for one of your three
test subject areas, authors the questions you will
have on the exam, and evaluates your written
responses. Note that your area supervisors can be
Lecturers*, though it is preferred that two out of
the three are Assistant, Associate, or Full
Professors at SDSU--it is especially important that
they are scholarly experts in the area of emphasis
you have designated them to supervise.
Once you have your subject area supervisors, you
will come up with a reading list of 7-12 books,
critical articles, anthologies, movies, etc, that
your professor/area supervisor agrees constitutes a
Masters-level bibiliography for the selected area.
nota bene:
you must develop reading lists with 8 to 12 works
for EACH AREA OF EMPHASIS--note that, in the end,
you are agreeing to carefully prepare, read, and
research anywhere from 24 to 36 books, critical
essays, creative works (film / documentaries), so
be sure you have enough time in the semester you
elect to complete the exam to do all your
preparation.
Inspired by memorable classes, some MALAS graduate
students opt to form their area of emphases using a
past MALAS seminar as a foundation. That is
fine, but note that while some of these 24 to 36
works may be drawn from your graduate work in MALAS
seminars, but it is
also important for you to supplement what you have
experienced in seminars with your own selection of
books, critical essays, and creative works. In NO
CASE should more than two works for a given
reading list mirror works from a seminar syllabus
you have taken for credit as a graduate
student--the idea behind the exam is to show your
growth as a researcher and independent
scholar, not just to repeat what you have already
studied and written about before the exam.
Over the course of the semester, you will be
expected to carefully read and research the agreed
upon items from your three areas of emphasis--it is
up to you and your supervising professor for each
subject area whether you meet to discuss your
progress on the reading list during the term.
About two weeks before the exam, it is recommended
you break contact with your supervising professor in
your three selected areas of emphasis--at that
point, the MALAS director will directly communicate
with your supervising scholars.
The MALAS director will direct your Area of Emphasis
advisors to come up with 2-3 questions for the
Comprehensive Exam based on your approved reading
lists (although you will respond to only ONE of
these provided choices per area of emphasis).
NOTE: you do
NOT get to know what the questions are beforehand.
The Comprehensive Exam is not an easier choice than
the Thesis and, in general, it does not have less
value than the thesis if you are considering going
on for a Ph.D. You must demonstrate mastery of the
material to the point of being able to pull specific
examples from as many of the works as you can to
support your case without having them in front of
you as reference. The best part of selecting the
MALAS Comprehensive Exam over the thesis or the
project? It is over in one day, and the task of
chasing down your three thesis committee member
professors (sometimes an onerous chore) to agree on
your final thesis draft is not part of things-to-do
list!
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* Lecturers
at SDSU are welcome to serve as area of emphasis
supervisors but please let the MALAS Director know
about this via email as soon as possible as
special graduate division forms need to be
utilized in some cases.
Sample Case Histories:
Example #1: Richard Grant Muir
Richard Grant Muir had been taking courses on Social
Justice through MALAS and the Women’s Studies
Department. After discussing his areas of expertise
with Dr. Nericcio, Richard decides on the following
areas to be tested on:
1. Cultural Studies
2. Gender Studies
3. Sexuality Studies
This is an actual case history, and appears here
with Mr. Muir's permission. The MALAS Comprehensive
Exam was a better choice for Mr. Muir than the
Thesis because, as he was completing the MALAS
program in only one year, said circumstances did not
give him enough time to write a Thesis--so he opted
for the Exam.
Example #2: Janille "La Xochi" Sánchez
Janille started the MALAS program to pursue a wide
variety of study options; she had completed her Dual
B.A. in Music Education and Biology at her previous
university, and she wanted a way of focusing on each
in her Master’s Program. Janille decided on the
following areas of focus for her Exam:
1. Academic benefits of Music
Programs in inner city middle schools
2. Auditory stimuli and the effect
on brain functions
3. Matching Musical Instruments to
kids of varying personality types
While some of the areas could easily have some
overlap, this option enabled her to focus on the
areas of her academics that she was the most
passionate about. Indeed, the fact that the
questions were so different made writing the Exams
easier, as she was not confusing sources!
Example #3: Jerome Tran
Jerome had spent his undergraduate degree getting a
general education in Liberal Arts, with a Minor in
German. The MALAS program seemed like a fantastic
choice, as it enabled him to pick from many
different classes and fields of study that peaked
his interest. Because of his varying interests in
many different things, Jerome felt that the Exam
option enabled him to be as diverse as he could,
while still showing off his knowledge skills. After
deliberating with the MALAS Director/Graduate
Advisor, he decided on the following areas:
1. How Transcendentalism impacted
immigrants in the 1800’s
2. The Surreal art movement of
South Korea in the 1990’s
3. Evolution of the Germanic
language in propaganda from World War I through
World War II.
Really, none of these questions had overlap, but
that is exactly what Jerome wanted! The Exam truly
enabled him to be able to highlight specific areas
of competency, while also illuminating his being a
relative Jack of all Trades.
Five
actual past MALAS Comprehensive Exams
appear below as reference; do NOT feel the need to
directly mirror the examples provided--every MALAS
graduate student is different and so expect the
comprehensive exams to vary widely.
1.
MALAS Graduate Students whose graduate
emphases included Communications
and Mass Media, Film Rhetoric, and
the Urban Environment
2.
MALAS Graduate Students whose graduate
emphases focused upon Neurobiology/Psychopaths,
Sex & Gender Studies, The Insane
in 21st Century Film and Television
3.
MALAS Graduate Students whose graduate
emphases featured works in the area of
Feminist
Art, Theories/Practices of Museum
Curation, and Chicana Sexualities
4.
MALAS Graduate Students whose three
area of emphases focused on Title
IX Public Policy, Contemporary Film,
Literature & Art, and Cities,
Economies, Futures.
5.
MALAS Graduate Students whose graduate
emphases looked at Neoliberlism
in Theory and Practice, African
American Culture, and Multicultural
Trends in Education
William A. Nericcio
Director/Graduate Advisor | MALAS
bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu
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