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Program Description
Degree Requirements
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Qualifying Paper
Individualized Program
Independent Study
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Faculty
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Master of Liberal Arts Program
811 Anderson Hall
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122
215-204-1644 (phone)
215-204-9611 (fax)
Jayne K. Drake
Director, MLA Program
mla@temple.edu
215-204-7743 (phone)
Michael Szekely
Assistant Director, MLA Program
mszekely@temple.edu
215-204-6704 (phone)
Stephanie Morawski
Coordinator
morawski@temple.edu
215-204-1644 (phone)
The MLA Qualifying Paper is the culminating research project toward fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Liberal Arts degree.
The MLA Qualifying Paper must demonstrate the ability to:
- write critically and analytically on a topic of the student's choice
- read, absorb, evaluate, and cite scholarly sources
- develop and establish the student's own perspective on the topic.
In keeping with the interdisciplinary orientation of the MLA Program, Qualifying Papers may also incorporate creative work, as well as work drawing upon other media.
While we strongly encourage that MLA Qualifying Papers entail entirely new research projects, some qualifying papers may develop out of a previously written paper required for the student's specialized subject area or for another graduate course. However, in the latter case, a Qualifying Paper based on a previously written paper must entail more than a simple expansion of the topic. In addition to the demonstration of scholarly research and analytical skills mentioned above, the Qualifying Paper must also demonstrate a substantial alteration of dimensions and content with respect to the previously written paper.
The MLA Qualifying Paper may be undertaken in conjunction with MLA 9995 Master's Project credits. The student will be registered by the department for MLA 9995 credits once the Qualifying Paper project proposal is approved. (NOTE: Qualifying Papers may no longer be undertaken in conjunction with MLA 9082 Independent Study credits.)
The MLA Program requires that students work closely with an MLA faculty member or other expert in the field whose approach to the subject is compatible with the selected Qualifying Paper topic and who is willing to serve as the principal faculty advisor of the Qualifying Paper project. Typically, a second reader is also assigned.
Students who are unsure about whom to select as a faculty advisor for their Qualifying Paper should consult with the MLA Assistant Director/Advisor.
The MLA Program strongly recommends that students planning to graduate at the end of any given semester submit an initial FULL draft of their Qualifying Paper to both the principal faculty advisor and the second reader ** BY WEEK 8 OF THAT SEMESTER **
Failure to submit the initial draft of the Qualifying Paper within this time frame may result in delaying your graduation. Faculty advisors and second readers need time to read and, where necessary, articulate concerns and suggest edits for revision.
MLA Qualifying Papers are evaluated by the faculty advisor and a second reader, both of whom will need to fill out and sign the MLA Qualifying Paper Evaluation Form and submit this form, along with comments, to the MLA Program. Once approved by both the faculty advisor and second reader, the student's qualifying paper is filed with the MLA Office. [NOTE: should there be a significant discrepancy between the faculty advisor and the second reader evaluations of the qualifying paper, a third reader will be assigned whose decision will determine the status of the qualifying paper.]
Should a Qualifying Paper be found to have been been plagiarized, the student will receive an "F" for the paper. The case will then be forwarded to the University Disciplinary Committee (UDC) for further action. For more information on plagiarism and academic honesty, please consult the "Student Resources" section of the website.
Technical requirements for the MLA Qualifying Paper (as of Fall 2010):
The title page must include the following information in this order:
[Click HERE for suggested title page template.]
Past Qualifying Papers have included such topics as:
"The Use of Celebrity Image within an Advertising Endorsement: Grant Hill Drinks Sprite"
"Toward Anarchic Poetics: Reading Poetry after Reiner Schürmann and Martin Heidegger"
"The Communist Party, Left-wing Sports Programs 1939-1947, Organizing and Recruitment, Decline, and Lessons for Today’s American Left"
“Nostalgia Crisis: A Visual Anthropology of Lehigh Valley Punk and Hardcore”
"Problematizing the Portrayal of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Monk"
"Peer-to-Peer Violence in Nursing: Why Has It Become Endemic and What Can We Do About It?"
“The Study of Five Fascinations Layered in Architectural History: Using Philadelphia as a Case Study”
“Truths and Consequences: A Study of the Angry Black Women Stereotype”
“Belief and the Mind: Exploring how racial bias and belief structures affect cognitive development in intelligence and human behavior”
“Women's Rights Today: Have We Achieved the ‘Perfect Equality’ Mill's Liberal Feminism, or Were His Ideas Destined to Fail?”
"Transcultural Geographies of Oppression and Resistance: The status of disability self-advocacy in the U.S and Colombia"
"The Philadelphia Nativist Riots of 1844: The Spatial and Racial problems that predicated the collapse of the Whig Party"
"Cognitive Science and Education: Building a Cautious Bridge"
"The Psychology of Creativity: Exploring the link between creativity and mental health in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia"
"Identity Politics in Santeria"
"The Virtual Art Museum: Goals, Problems, and Inspirations"
“Resiliency: The Story of Covenant House and the Youth They Serve”
"Diamonds in the Rough: The Cultivation of Black Children and Adolescents in Camden, NJ"
"Ernest Poole (1880-1950): The Apprenticeship of a Socialist Journalist 1902-1914"
"Black Vegetarianism: Food Minority Groups in a Racialized America"
"His Name or Mine: An Identity Crisis Rooted in Sexism"
"Nuclear No More: An Analysis of Changes to the American Family Since the 1950s"
"Tuberculosis: When American Biomedical Research is Not Enough"
“Photography as a Tool of Modern Man Through the Words of Walter Benjamin and the Images of Robert Frank”
"The comprehensive location of videogames on the university campus: Integrating students, faculty, university administration and the videogame industry for teaching, learning, research and recreation"
“Displaced Identities in the Caribbean: A comparative study of how the political and social histories of Haiti and Dominican Republic have shaped islander identity”
“Media and Culture: A curriculum for an upper level high school media studies class”
"More Than Meets the Ear: Taking Another Look at Hip Hop Lyrics"
“Women Surviving in a Man's World: An Exploration of Gender and Racial Equality"
“The Displacement of Immigrant Women in 20th Century America”
“The Big Rich in the Big Picture: The Impact of Conservative Advocacy Among Independent Texas Oilmen”
“Like Minded: The Afrocentric Methodology of the Constructive Participation and Contribution of Whites in the African American Civil Rights Movement”
"Madonna: The Unlikely Force behind the Empowerment of a Generation of Women"
“'A Pirate’s Life for Me': Pirates, Cowboys, Presidents, and the Reinvention of American Iconography”
"Critical Theory Today: History, the Appropriation of Art, and Critical Realism"
“Exploring Catholic Sexuality Using John Paul II’s Man and Women He Created Them – Theology of the Body”
“The Current State of the African American Family and Its Depiction in Hollywood Drama”
“The Civic Identity of a Metropolis: Examining the Cultural Assets of Philadelphia”
"The City and the Company: Public Utility and Philadelphia’s Private Railways, 1858-1907"
"The Neoliberal Neocolonization of Bolivia"
"The Facebook/MySpace Bug"
"Torture and U.S. Policy"
"Media Control and Democracy"
"Simone de Beauvoir: A Vulnerable Force"
"Gender Equality: Seeking a National Prioritization and Universal Awareness"
"Uncle Sam in The Kitchen: The American Diet as The New Frontier for Public Health Action"
"Alt(ernative) Consumption: Kat Von D, the New Female Identity, and Why Girls Desperately Need to Find a New Way to Offend"
“The MLA Program has jump-started a segment of my life that nothing else could have. Becoming a part of the MLA Program has offered the opportunities to immerse myself in an atmosphere of continued learning, exploring and also an excitement associated with classroom dynamics. Applying to the MLA Program has been one of the most important and satisfying decisions of my life. Thanks MLA!”
Brenda Washington,Temple University employee