Program Overview

Bachelor of Arts in English

Overview

The Bachelor of Arts in English program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the English language, literature, and creative writing. The program aims to develop students' critical thinking, analytical, and communication skills, preparing them for a wide range of careers in fields such as education, publishing, writing, and more.

English Curriculum

The English curriculum is designed to promote understanding, analysis, and evaluation of a wide range of authors, characters, themes, plots, and styles in world and English literature. The program is specifically designed to imbue students with sensitivity to multiculturalism and to the profound power of language.

Upper-level requirements for research and criticism prepare students intentionally for graduate school and professional careers. Close reading of a wide diversity of authors and texts, as well as specific attention to issues of peace and social/environmental justice, provide flexibility to accommodate shifts in canonicity, theory, and pedagogical research while supporting individual exploration.

Careers for English Majors

With an undergraduate degree in English, students will develop strong literacy skills and become better writers and communicators, which are valuable skills in a variety of careers. In fact, communication and writing skills are critical foundations for careers in law, journalism, publishing, advertising, editing, education, government, and more.

Employment of salaried writers and editors is expected to increase as demand grows for web-based publications. Technical writing, blogging, and other writing for interactive media that provide readers with nearly real-time information will offer opportunities for writers.

Related Degrees

• Online Masters in Educational Technology
• Online Masters in Curriculum and Instruction
• Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education

Education and Qualifications

As English degree holders may apply their abilities to a broad range of careers, an equally broad range of courses should be taken as part of a degree-seeking program. Interpersonal communication and writing skills should be given particular consideration, as employers are looking for individuals that can conceptualize and deliver a wide range of messages to their constituents and clients.

Many careers open to English majors may require a master’s degree or other professional certification, such as teacher education training.

Careers in English

• Academic librarian
• Advertising copywriter
• Archivist
• Arts administrator
• Digital copywriter
• Editorial assistant
• Education consultant
• English as a foreign language teacher
• Information officer
• Learning mentor
• Lexicographer
• Magazine journalist
• Marketing executive
• Media researcher
• Newspaper journalist
• Primary school teacher
• Private tutor
• PPC specialist
• Proofreader
• Public relations officer
• Publishing copyeditor
• Records manager
• Secondary school teacher
• Social media manager
• Web content manager
• Writer

English Major Courses

Introductory Course

• Contemporary Literature | ENG 10223 (3 credit hours) Consists of analytical and reflective reading of contemporary (since 1945) American fiction, poetry, and drama. Attention to developing techniques for critical reading and writing. Basic course for literature majors and study in the humanities and liberal arts.

English Survey Courses (two required)

• Ancient to Medieval | ENG 26023 (3 credit hours) Engages in primary analysis and response to significant literature from antiquity through the Renaissance.
• Renaissance to Romantics | ENG 27023 (3 credit hours) The second of the three English Department survey courses, this class aspires to provide students with an introduction to some of the major literary works and ideological movements of the Western world during the 18th and 19th centuries.
• Victorians to Moderns | ENG 28023 (3 credit hours) Engages the student in primary analysis and response to significant literature from late nineteenth century Modernism through post-colonial and post-modern configurations.
• The Postmoderns | ENG 29023 (3 credit hours) Engages the student in primary analysis and response to significant literature from late nineteenth century Modernism through postcolonial and post-modern configurations.

Dedicated Writing Courses (one required)

• Advanced Expository Writing | ENG 31023 (3 credit hours) Refinement of expository writing skills through analysis of models and writing practice.
• Creative Writing | ENG 32723 (3 credit hours) Course development skills in writing drama, poetry, and fiction. Develops critical skills and encourages students to develop tools to refine expression.

Theme-Based Courses (three required)

• IDS: Reading Relationships | ENG 30223 (3 credit hours) This course unpacks the theme of human relationships -- romantic, filial, obsessive, and otherwise -- through the reading of such works as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine, and Andre Aciman's Call Me by Your Name, viewed through the lens of history and shifting cultural values.
• IDS: Image and Text | ENG 33023 (3 credit hours) Explores how image and text work together to make meaning in contexts such as illustrated literature, film, advertising, visual poetry, performance art, and graphic novels.
• IDS: Environmental Literature | ENG 33523 (3 credit hours) An examination of a variety of literary works from several genres, focusing on the portrayal of physical environments and the connections between these environments and human spheres of influence.
• IDS: Protest Literature | ENG 34023 (3 credit hours) A study of the literature of social protest, emphasizing the relationship between aesthetics and politics, or the political purposes of literature.
• IDS: Literature of Personal Discovery | ENG 49950 (3 credit hours) Questions of identity and self-definition, from agonizing to liberating, in the work of such writers as Dante, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Kate Chopin, Simone de Beauvoir, Ralph Ellison, and Anne Sexton.

English Seminar Courses

• Literary Criticism | ENG 40123 (3 credit hours) Identifies major trends in the history of critical thought from Plato to Derrida. Seeks to discover the position of literary criticism and to apply various critical theories. Library research and writing. Prerequisite: 30000-level English course.
• Seminar: American Literature | ENG 45023 (3 credit hours) Analyzes major American literature with emphasis on genre, period, or author, to gain understanding of the critical approaches necessary for a thorough investigation of literature.
• Seminar in British Literature | ENG 45123 (3 credit hours) Analyzes major British literature with emphasis on genre, period, or author, to gain understanding of the critical approaches necessary for a thorough investigation of literature.

English Capstone Course

• Integrative Seminar in Criticism | ENG 49201 (4 credit hours) Capstone course that guides student in development of an integrative project that demonstrates achievement of the learning outcomes in the English major. Course is organized around the major trends in critical thought and application of literary criticism theories within and across periods and genres.

University Accreditation

Ottawa University, as a whole, is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Specific degree programs within our institution have also been accredited by relevant bodies within the field:

• Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
• Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
• National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission (NASAC)
• Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP)
• National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA)

We are proudly recognized for our commitment to student excellence by the following designations:

• Colleges of Distinction
• GOLD Military Friendly School

Why Choose Ottawa?

Almost all courses in Ottawa University’s programs are available online and accredited by The Higher Learning Commission. We make it easy for you to transfer credits in order to help keep tuition costs down. We also offer courses in accelerated 8-week terms in order to reduce your time to completion. These are just a few of the reasons why we are proud to be the best, fastest, and most affordable option locally in the Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Phoenix areas, as well as serving students nationally through our online degrees.