MA in Digital Tools for Premodern Studies

In the Digital Humanities M.A. program, you will study the creation, transmission, preservation, and transformation of knowledge across time and culture from Antiquity to the Renaissance and the early modern period. Computerized techniques are particularly useful for this field of inquiry as they allow for processing large amounts of data across the barriers of time and space, but also language and medium.

As a graduate student in the Digital Tools for Premodern Studies master's program, you will gain a broad interdisciplinary perspective of the humanities while developing a research portfolio in hands-on classes and labs. By the end of your studies, you will have acquired familiarity with advanced research in the humanities and a range of computerized methods for data collection, formatting, analysis, annotation, and display.

Many graduates have gone on to attend PhD programs and pursue careers in academia, while others have gone on to work in the fields of publishing, media, and technology.

11 courses are required for the MA in Digital Tools for Premodern Studies as outlined below.

Students are required to complete a research project equivalent in scope to a master's thesis. This project will fulfill 3 class credits, one was usually taken in the fall of the second year of the program, and the other two in the spring. This project is conducted and evaluated from two perspectives which illustrate two complementary sets of skills, namely the production of good data and the appropriate and insightful analysis of that data. For this reason, the project may have a single deliverable similar in scope to a thesis, or two deliverables similar in scope to Qualifying Papers. This project may originate from coursework, and students are encouraged to start elaborating on their project during their first year, in any case no later than the summer before their second year. A thesis committee must be constituted and a defense scheduled.

Reading knowledge of Latin and Greek and one modern foreign language (usually German or French) is tested by examination. Latin or Greek may be replaced with another language, in which case the other language must be approved upon enrollment in the program.

A comprehensive written examination integrating coursework with knowledge of the reading lists in Greek and Latin literature or other approved language is required.

Course Requirements

• Two courses devoted to a common core:
  • COMP 5/CLS 160: Computational Methods for the Humanities
  • COMP 10: Computer Science for All
• Two courses selected from advanced offers in classical literature (Latin, Greek, Sanskirt, or another approved language)
• Four elective courses were selected from a preapproved list. Courses must be chosen from at least two different departments or programs and can be chosen according to students' particular academic and vocational interests and needs.
• Three courses will be devoted to a research project. Please see above.

Exams

• Two languages: Latin or Greek or another approved language
• Foreign language (German or French)
• Comprehensive exam