The English major teaches students to appreciate and use the English language and literature effectively for critical thinking, effective communication, citizenship, and career success. Students in the major build strong writing skills and engage in high-level critical and analytical thinking. They encounter enriching, enduring, experimental, and complex works of literature. And they grapple with perspectives far distant from their own, examining their deepest values. Instructors introduce students to a wide range of genres and cultural perspectives, and pay close attention to all aspects of student thinking and writing, from logic and evidence to originality and style. Fostering communication skills, stimulating creativity, developing cultural sensitivity, and sharpening analytical abilities, the English major prepares students for a broad range of careers.
The English major has the choice of three tracks: the general major (which emphasizes literary and cultural studies), and the named options of Creative Writing or Language and Linguistics. All students take a core curriculum that introduces them to a range of approaches to literature and language, including courses in literary and cultural history. Students who opt for the general major build on core courses with intermediate and advanced classes that focus on texts from across a range of periods and places, investigating literature and culture using multiple methods and approaches. Students pursuing the Creative Writing option take the core curriculum with a sequence of creative-writing workshops. Students wishing to emphasize Language and Linguistics choose courses in grammar, the history of the English language, phonology, and language acquisition.
Teaching Major
Those who wish to prepare for teaching careers at the secondary level should complete the undergraduate English major and then apply for a teaching certificate or graduate education program. For further information, students should make an appointment with the undergraduate advisor in English or the graduate advisor in curriculum and instruction.