Upon completion of their Master's project or thesis, all students will undergo an exit assessment that will determine their proficiency in relation to the program’s learning goals. This assessment is completed using the students’ work for their HUM 510 Methods and Materials of Humanities Research class as well as their Master’s Project (HUM 597) or Master’s Thesis (HUM 598 and 599). This assessment is completed by the Program Director, with the assistance from the student’s project/thesis committee; it does not require the student to complete more work at all. At the conclusion of their project/thesis sequence, students should be able to demonstrate competencies regarding both the critical thought that hallmarks Humanities graduate work and the appropriate level and understanding of writing that accompanies graduate work in the Humanities fields. The assessment is designed to ensure that Wilson M.A. Humanities students Can demonstrate that they are skillful interpreters of textual, visual, and/or cultural creation; Are familiar with the processes of research and writing that hallmark graduate-level study in a Humanities field; Are capable synthesizers of ideas of critical resources relevant to their field and understand the nature of research appropriate to the field. In their Methods and Materials of Humanities Research course, students will begin to learn the fundamentals of these processes for graduate students in Humanities fields. The final assessment will check the rate and nature of growth in students’ ability to harness these essential skills by comparing students’ first product in the program—the seminar paper created in HUM 510—to the last: the Master’s project/thesis. In the assessment, students’ first program product is compared to their last. Each product is assessed individually. The 510 paper is assessed by the Program Director using the course rubric; the M.A. project/thesis is assessed by the thesis committee using the project/thesis assessment form. Both of these forms are based on the program’s assessable learning goals (listed below). At the end of a student’s time in the program, their product and the assessments they generate are compared to determine the rate and means of student growth from the beginning to the conclusion of the program. M.A. Humanities Learning Goals for Assessment For assessment related to skillful interpretation, students should demonstrate their ability to: *Complete an analysis of the subject matter closely. *Use literary/historical/cultural evidence. *Situate the subject area in its socio-historical context. For assessment related to the process of research and writing, students should demonstrate their ability to: *Compare and contrast themes across works related to the subject area. *Use research to enter scholarly dialogue. *Construct and support a viable and defendable argument. *Discover and utilize level-appropriate resources. *Highlight an awareness of audience and a requisite level/style of writing. For assessment related to the synthesis of ideas, students should demonstrate their ability to: *Apply theoretical constructs relevant to the subject area to aid in understanding and highlighting the subject area. *Understand the nature and arguments of the critical works being used. *Use these arguments to bolster their own thesis and foster a greater understanding of the subject area.