Requirements

English majors must take 10 English courses beyond EN 11-12. Of these 10 courses, five must be designated as core courses and five must be designated as field electives.

Core Literature Courses:

The purpose of the core requirement is to expose the student to the relationship between the experience of literature and the contexts of history, genre, theory, and societal position, and to provide all majors with a shared but flexible pattern of study. In order to fulfill the core requirement, each major must take at least one course from each of the following five areas.

Area I: pre-1800 literature
Area II: nineteenth-century literature
Area III: twentieth-century literature
Area IV: the ways in which genre affects the production and reception of literature
Area V: the ways in which theoretical and/or societal positions affect the production and reception of literature.

If a course is listed as fulfilling more than one of these core requirements, the student may use it to fulfill either but not both of those requirements.

List of literature courses and areas

Field Electives:

The purpose of the field elective requirement is to enable the student to pursue a directed program of study that is responsive to his or her own interests and needs. To fulfill the field elective requirement, each major must develop, in consultation with a departmental advisor, a program of study in a clearly defined field. A field may be defined by the parameters of a historical period, a geographical area, a genre, a theoretical approach, a societal position, a professional career path, or by any other parameters that will produce a field capable of sustaining a focused inquiry.

The electives also may include a) individual writing or literature courses that meet the student's needs and interests; or b) courses in a formal writing sequence (Creative Writing, Journalism, or Professional Writing).

The English Minor:

The traditional English minor is based on five English courses beyond English 11-12. At least two of the five courses must be literature (EN) courses; the English literature course taken as part of the core may be used for this purpose.

Students also can complete specialized writing minors.