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MALAS
Comprehensive Exam INSTRUCTIONS
Updated May 19, 2019
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.
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.
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
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 80 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 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. You’ll be informed that you need
three Faculty supervisors that are willing to
oversee one of each of the three areas of emphasis,
for a total of three 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 and authors the questions you will have on the
exam and evaluates your written responses. Note that
your area supervisors do not need to be tenured or
tenure-track Assistant, Associate, or Full
Professors at SDSU, but it is preferable that they
are and especially important that they are scholarly
experts in the area of emphasis you have designated
them to supervise. 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.
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 have 7 to 12 works for EACH AREA OF
EMPHASIS--note that, in the end, you are agreeing
to carefully prepare, read, and research anywhere
from 21 to 36 book 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.
Some of these 21 to 36 titles 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 director
will direct your supervisors 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!
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.
William A. Nericcio
Director/Graduate Advisor | MALAS
bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu
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MALAS
COMPREHENSIVE EXAM UPCOMING
DATES
Fall
2019
Exam
date: Friday, November 22,
2019, 8am-2pm
Note! The deadline to send the
MALAS Graduate Director
(bnericci@sdsu.edu)
your three area of emphasis booklists
along with the names of the
three Professors supervising
your three areas of
emphasis: September
11, 2019
Spring
2020
Exam
date: Friday, April 24, 2020,
8am-2pm
Note! The deadline to send the
MALAS Graduate Director
(bnericci@sdsu.edu)
your three area of emphasis booklists
along with the names of the
three Professors supervising
your three areas of
emphasis: February 5,
2020
Summer
2020
Exam
date: Friday, July 31, 2020,
8am-2pm
Note! The deadline to send the
MALAS Graduate Director
(bnericci@sdsu.edu)
your three area of emphasis booklists
along with the names of the
three Professors supervising
your three areas of
emphasis: June 10,
2020
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