Program Overview

Major in English, Literature Concentration

The Major in English, Literature Concentration, is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of English-language literature, representing multiple genres, cultures, geographical areas, and historical periods. This program aims to equip students with the skills to analyze and interpret poems, fiction, plays, and works of popular culture, while gaining exposure to a vast range of historical and contemporary writing.

Program Description

Students in the Literature concentration learn how to analyze and interpret poems, fiction, plays, and works of popular culture, all while gaining exposure to a vast range of historical and contemporary writing. In the same semester, students might immerse themselves in iconic classics like Moby Dick or The Canterbury Tales , study popular genres like science fiction or horror, and become familiar with Native American literature.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

1. Analyze English-language literature representing multiple genres, cultures, geographical areas, and historical periods including the present.
2. Approach familiar authorial figures in new ways while also demonstrating knowledge of writers and thinkers whose work has not always been recognized.
3. Identify and evaluate appropriate research sources, incorporate these sources into academic writing, and formulate their own arguments based in part on those sources.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of literary and cultural theories that will manifest itself in the sophistication of their written work.
5. Integrate disciplinary methods of reading and analysis particular to the Literature concentration with interdisciplinary knowledge from fields including the following: environmental studies, ethnic studies, gender studies, political science, and film and media studies.
6. Engage with literature as a source of practical wisdom, personal insight, and aesthetic pleasure, as a vital perspective upon history and the diversity of human experience, and as a guide for making ethical choices in their daily lives.

Career Pathways

Students who major in English with a Literature concentration have pursued careers in publishing and editing, communications, marketing & public relations, nonprofit work, education, healthcare, and more. Literature concentration students have also gone on to graduate programs in literary and cultural studies, creative writing, law school, and more.

Program Requirements

• Effective Fall 2025: For graduation, an English major must attain a minimum grade point average of 2.000 in all Composition (CO) and English (E) courses.
• Students may enroll in either the standalone major or (at most) one of the concentrations under the Major in English.

Course Requirements

The program requires the following courses:

• CO 150: College Composition (GT-CO2)
• E 150: English Studies Symposium
• SPCM 200: Public Speaking
• Select one course from the following:
  • E 200: Inquiry-Based Teaching and Communicating (GT-AH2)
  • E 202: Language Use in Society (GT-AH2)
  • E 204: Creative Writing as Transformative Practice (GT-AH2)
  • E 206: Language for Activist Rhetoric and Writing (GT-AH2)
  • E 237: Introduction to Science Fiction (GT-AH2)
• Select one course from the following:
  • E 236: Short Fiction
  • E 238: Contemporary Global Fiction (GT-AH2)
  • E 240: Introduction to Poetry
  • E 242: Reading Shakespeare (GT-AH2)
  • E 245: World Drama (GT-AH2)
• Biological and Physical Sciences (3A)
• Electives

Semester-by-Semester Requirements

The program is structured as follows:

• Semester 1:
  • CO 150: College Composition (GT-CO2)
  • E 150: English Studies Symposium
  • 1B: Biological and Physical Sciences
  • Elective
• Semester 2:
  • SPCM 200: Public Speaking
  • Select one course from the following:
    • E 200: Inquiry-Based Teaching and Communicating (GT-AH2)
    • E 202: Language Use in Society (GT-AH2)
    • E 204: Creative Writing as Transformative Practice (GT-AH2)
    • E 206: Language for Activist Rhetoric and Writing (GT-AH2)
    • E 237: Introduction to Science Fiction (GT-AH2)
  • Select one course from the following:
    • E 236: Short Fiction
    • E 238: Contemporary Global Fiction (GT-AH2)
    • E 240: Introduction to Poetry
    • E 242: Reading Shakespeare (GT-AH2)
    • E 245: World Drama (GT-AH2)
  • Biological and Physical Sciences (3A)
  • Elective
• Semester 3:
  • Select one course from the following:
    • E 200: Inquiry-Based Teaching and Communicating (GT-AH2)
    • E 202: Language Use in Society (GT-AH2)
    • E 204: Creative Writing as Transformative Practice (GT-AH2)
    • E 206: Language for Activist Rhetoric and Writing (GT-AH2)
    • E 237: Introduction to Science Fiction (GT-AH2)
  • 1C: Historical Perspectives
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences (3C)
  • Elective
• Semester 4:
  • E 310: Researching and Writing Literary Criticism
  • Select two courses from the following:
    • E 270: Introduction to American Literature (GT-AH2)
    • E 276: British Literature--Medieval Period to 1800 (GT-AH2)
    • E 277: British Literature--After 1800 (GT-AH2)
  • Upper-Division English/Composition Electives
• Semester 5:
  • E 341: Literary Criticism and Theory
  • Select one course from the following:
    • CO 300: Writing Arguments (GT-CO3)
    • CO 301A: Writing in the Disciplines: Arts and Humanities (GT-CO3)
    • CO 301B: Writing in the Disciplines: Sciences (GT-CO3)
    • CO 301C: Writing in the Disciplines: Social Sciences (GT-CO3)
    • CO 301D: Writing in the Disciplines: Education (GT-CO3)
  • Upper-Division English/Composition Elective
  • Second Field Course
  • Elective
• Semester 6:
  • Upper-Division English Course
  • Second Field Course
  • Electives
• Semester 7:
  • Select one course from the following:
    • E 465: Topics in Literature and Language
    • E 466: Integrated English Studies Capstone
  • Upper-Division English/Composition Electives
  • Second Field Course
  • Elective
• Semester 8:
  • Upper-Division English/Composition Elective
  • Second Field Course
  • Electives

Total Program Credits

The total program credits required for graduation are 120 credits, with at least 42 credits being upper-division (300- to 400-level).