The Master of Arts degree requires the completion of 32 points of course work, no more than 8 points of which may be transferred from other graduate schools. All students must take Problems and Methods in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, MEIS-GA 1687. Students must also either complete a master’s thesis that meets departmental standards or, with the approval of their adviser, submit two seminar papers, at least one of which contains substantial original research based on primary sources and both of which would, in the judgment of the student’s two master’s thesis/papers readers, have been developed and substantially reworked such that they are roughly equivalent in caliber to work that might reasonably be submitted for publication in a scholarly journal in the student’s field. The master’s thesis or the two papers must be discussed and approved in an oral defense that will include the two readers and the student. Requirements for the Master of Arts degree should be met within two years of matriculation at New York University.