Example Signature Page
Example Title Page

The M.A. portfolio consists of two substantial pieces of work initiated in or completed for graduate courses here at UTD. Students can meet this major writing requirement for the degree by choosing one of the following options:

(1) Two research papers, each between twenty and thirty pages in length, in a format and of a quality that might meet publication requirements in an appropriate professional journal.

(2) A creative project (such as a performance, a series of paintings, a translation, a collection of poems or short stories) of a quality that might allow performance, exhibition, or publication as well as a scholarly essay of twenty to thirty pages addressing the creative work. (See the program's Statement on Creative Projects for M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees in Arts & Humanities.)

When it established this requirement (in lieu of the earlier master's thesis) in 1995, the faculty assumed that most students would need to revise papers or projects originating in courses for later inclusion in portfolios. Using their professors' constructive criticisms and suggestions, students should aim for genuine professional quality. While the finished work need not be submitted officially for publication or for public exhibition or performance, the potential for such presentation is the principal criterion for success with the portfolio.

Deadlines for proposals, defenses, and final submissions

Graduate Courses & Portfolio Projects

The faculty recommends that students in the M.A. program choose their courses carefully to include seminars and studios/ensembles that require or encourage longer research papers and/or creative projects--ones that would presumably offer possibilities for revision and inclusion in portfolios. Most course descriptions issued for pre-registration each semester indicate whether instructors expect or accept such papers or projects. Students wishing to undertake the creative portfolio must have successfully completed at least two studios, ensembles, or workshops related to the proposed medium.

To determine if papers or creative projects are of potential portfolio quality, students should seek the guidance of their advisers and other faculty members. The professors in whose classes the initial work is generated normally go on to become members of the master's committee that officially oversees the portfolio, so their assessments should be most helpful from the outset.

While there is no official course designated in the catalog for completion of the portfolio, students must be registered in at least one course during the semester they defend a portfolio or graduate. And if they rely on considerable faculty advice and critical reading of revisions for the portfolio, they are expected to enroll in independent study courses (in the HUAS-HUHI-HUSL 8305 series) for that purpose.

The Master's Committee & the Portfolio Proposal

A master's committee consists normally of three regular (i.e., tenured or tenure-track) members of the Arts & Humanities faculty, no more than two of whom may be from the same section (HUAS, HUHI, or HUSL) of the graduate program. Students may, in consultation with the committee, designate one faculty member as chair or the two faculty members in whose courses the papers originated as co-chairs.

The Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) and the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies must approve the membership of the master's committee, before a student may proceed to write and defend a portfolio. To gain approval, the student submits a Proposal for a Master's Portfolio, download the proposal form as a Word document here or as a PDF or pick one up in the A & H office.

The three faculty members must sign the form, both to indicate that they agree to serve on the committee and to confirm the viability of the papers or projects.

The proposal is turned in to the associate dean but may go forward to the GSC only if the student has finished course work and met the foreign-language requirement or is in the process of completing courses and the proficiency examination simultaneously with completion of the portfolio.

On the form the student should describe each paper or project in a brief but substantive typed statement of about 100 words. This formulation should indicate the purpose and argument of the work concisely, in terms that enable the GSC to grasp its intellectual or artistic intent and also to judge the appropriateness of the proposed faculty committee to the research or creative work for the portfolio. Should the intellectual relationship of the committee members to the proposed papers not be immediately clear, students are encouraged to attach an explanatory memorandum to the proposal.

The GSC then confirms or alters the committee membership as seems appropriate to the work being undertaken.

Defense of the Portfolio

When all three members of the committee agree that the papers or project are substantively ready for defense, the student supplies each professor with a clean copy of the complete portfolio in proper format. Another copy of this penultimate draft should be delivered to the Arts & Humanities graduate desk, where it is open for faculty inspection at least three working days before its defense.
The chair or co-chairs of the master's committee authorize the graduate secretary to arrange for a public defense, the date and location of which is then announced to all Arts & Humanities faculty and graduate students by e-mail.

The chair or co-chairs preside over the defense, an hour's session that begins with a ten-minute student presentation on the general goals and themes of the portfolio papers or projects. While the discussion then focuses primarily on the student's research or creative work, questions may address related aspects of the general field or creative medium. Unless the master's committee decides otherwise, public participation in the questioning is limited to Arts & Humanities faculty members.

After the formal defense, the master's committee will meet on camera to vote on granting the master's degree and on recommending the student's admission into the doctoral program. The results of its vote are reported to the university's dean of graduate research through the associate dean for graduate studies in the humanities.

A committee vote to accept the portfolio (either as it stands or with specified revisions) and to recommend award of the master's degree must be unanimous. If a majority votes in favor of acceptance, however, the associate dean (in consultation with appropriate faculty members) will review the portfolio and reach a final decision on either awarding the degree or returning the work for revision.

If the portfolio is rejected, the student will have an opportunity to revise and resubmit it. The committee or the associate dean will provide written comments on its weaknesses and recommendations for its improvement. The student will then have one semester to complete revisions and resubmit the work. Should the portfolio be rejected a second time, the student will be terminated from the program without a master's degree.

The committee must also vote a recommendation concerning continuation of the student into the Ph.D. program. A majority vote is sufficient for a positive or negative recommendation.

Approved portfolios are then deposited in the Arts & Humanities office, but they do not become part of the McDermott Library collection.

Format of the Final Portfolio

Citations of primary sources and secondary works in the papers as well as the bibliographies (or lists of "Works Cited and Consulted") should conform to the recommendations in standard style manuals, either the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers or Kate L. Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Studying the practice of a major academic journal in the field may also be helpful. Parenthetical citation, rather than footnotes or endnotes, should be used whenever possible.

Once a student and the supervisory committee have decided upon the style of research presentation and the mechanics of form, accuracy and consistency are crucial matters, not only required but also checked by the program.

Students with creative projects in the visual arts should submit xerox copies (of good quality, in black and white or in color, as appropriate) of the work exhibited to the portfolio committee.

The format of the portfolio submitted to the Arts & Humanities office must conform generally with the university's standards for theses and dissertations. Good quality bond paper (100% cotton content, 16- to 20-pound weight), the standard 81Ä2 by 11-inch sheet size, conventional margins and type styles (with 10 to 12 characters per inch for the text itself), and recommended typing and spacing practices are usual in all academic work and are required for the portfolio.

Students submit the final copy to the A & H office in velo binding, with a clear front and blue vinyl back cover (available at most copy centers). Inside the signature page for the supervising committee comes first; then a standard title page precedes each paper or writing project. Appended are examples of the signature and title pages. The two papers are separated by a single blank sheet and are paginated individually (at the bottom and center of each page after the first).

Students are urged to consult Ms. Sherry Clarkson (sclarkso@utdallas.edu) at the A & H graduate desk about any questions or problems concerning the format and to bring the penultimate draft for her review before preparing the final version for submission.