EH_BA - English

About this Program

• College: Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Degree: Bachelor of Arts
• Specializations: Models of Study
• Credits for Degree: 120
• More Info

To graduate with this major, students must complete all university, college, and major requirements.

Courses offered by the department introduce students to a world of experiences that cannot be exhausted in the brief span of a college education; new authors, new works, new media, and new tools for understanding continually enlarge and transform the world. With the help of faculty advisors, undergraduate majors in English select from courses in various forms, periods, and approaches. In addition, students may develop special expertise in one of several models; for example, communication and creative writing, theory of media, literary study, or cultural studies.

English Major Coursework | 30+ Credits

10 English Department Courses at the 3000-level or higher

• Each course must be at least 3 or more credits

Of 3000-level courses with an ENC prefix, only the following apply to the English major:

The student is responsible for consulting an advisor and preparing a plan of study.

Course Details

Because English majors will not be tracked for a specific set of courses but must meet the ten-course requirement described above, there are no particular English courses that majors must take on a semester-by-semester basis.

The only prerequisite for most 3000/4000-level English courses is earning six credits of lower-division English course credit by coursework or placement. The courses that may have additional prerequisites are 3000/4000-level creative-writing (CRW) workshops, 4000-level film and video production workshops (ENG 4136 and ENG 4146), 3000/4000-level advanced writing (ENC) courses, department seminars (ENG 4953), honors seminars (ENG 4936), and the department’s internship course (ENG 4940). Refer to the catalog's course descriptions to view the prerequisites for these courses.

As students consider which 3000/4000-level courses to take, they should not be concerned about differences between the two levels. The higher-level courses are not more difficult, except in the rare cases where the 4000-level course has 3000-level prerequisites. Students can gauge a course's level of difficulty by reviewing the department's detailed course descriptions.

The majority of the department's upper-division courses are variable or rotating topics courses, many of which can be repeated for credit given a change in topic. The only way to discover what the actual course topics will be in a specific semester is to consult the department's course descriptions, which explain topics and approaches, and generally give some idea of the texts and assignments. These descriptions are usually posted at the department website three to four weeks before advance registration so that students have ample time to consult them before registering.

Specializations | Models of Study

The department offers optional models of study to help students create coherent patterns of focus and breadth in their coursework. Models of study range from traditional courses of study such as British and American Literature, through film and media studies, creative writing and studies in theory, to cultural studies, postcolonial studies, writing studies, and studies in feminisms, genders and sexualities.

Models of study do not have tracking status. Students will never be monitored, electronically or otherwise, for completion of models of study. The models identify to English majors the faculty's enthusiastic recommendations about coursework distributions for various interests they might want to pursue. Department advisors also can recommend which models of study seem most appropriate for particular post-undergraduate career and educational goals.

• African American/African Diaspora Studies
• American Literature
• British Literature
• Children's Literature
• Creative Writing
• Cultural Studies
• Drama/Theatre
• Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities
• Film and Media Studies
• Postcolonial Studies
• Studies in Theory
• Writing Studies

Because the models of study do not have tracking status, students do not need to declare their intention to follow models of study with the department. Models of study structure the coursework, but students do not have to take specific courses to complete degree requirements for the major, and they can modify or combine models of study. While the department understands that students may be disappointed if they are unable to take specific courses relevant to their models of study, the demand for seats in courses is very high and the department is not able to accommodate all course requests.