Note to New English Majors
Welcome to the English Department as a newly declared English major or minor! Please browse through the web pages to familarize yourself and to think about your courses for next semester and your plan of study. If you have not chosen an advisor and have a particular faculty member in mind, please let us know. Please--do not assume that if one of your professors says that he or she will be your advisor that it is taken care of. You must notify Carol Renegar--either phone or e-mail or drop by the office. In the fall and spring prior to registration, we will be sending you an email announcement of the schedule of courses and descriptions as they are available, creative writing information, and to juniors information on applying to the Distinction Program.
The English Major
The English major is designed to convey to students a broad knowledge of English, American, and Anglophone literature, a sophisticated habit of critically engaging literary and cultural texts, a shared understanding of major problems, trends, and methods of literary and cultural analysis, and the ability to pose questions and organize knowledge in productive and original ways. While offering students clear direction on how to profit most from their study within the English department, the major also seeks to encourage students to assume an enduring habit of questioning and intellectual self-articulation. Each of the areas of requirement for completion of the major thus invites students, in consultation with their advisor, to devise a coherent, challenging, and intellectually distinctive plan of study.
Declaring a Major
Students may change their majors in the Registrar's Office in 103 Allen Building, but the original declaration of a major is made in the Pre-Major Advising Center after the student presents an approved long-range plan.
Requirements for students matriculating in the fall 2003 semester and thereafter:
Gateway Course (Students must select one of the following three courses and complete by or before the end of the junior year):
A. English 90AS. Readings in Genre Seminar
B. English 90B. Reading Historically
C. English 90BS. Reading Historically Seminar
**Each student must take at least nine additional courses at the 100 level or above.** Five of these courses must satisfy the following requirements:
A.) DIVERSIFIED STUDY
Students must select at least one course in each of the following areas. Courses must be chosen from more than one national literature. Courses that appear in more than one area of study may only count for one designated area.
DS1. Literary and Cultural Study pre-1500 (classes listed under multiple diversified study areas, will be determined by the Director of Undergraduate Studies).
DS1: English 123C, 141, 173.01 (Instructor E. Huber), 173S.01 (instructor D. Aers, this semester only), and 212S
2. Literary and Cultural Study 1500-1660 (classes listed under multiple diversified study areas, will be determined by the Director of Undergraduate Studies).
DS2: English 139BS.01, 139BS.02, 143, 173S.01 (Instructor D. Aers, this semester only), 271BS
3. Literary and Cultural Study 1660-1860 (classes listed under multiple diversified study areas, will be determined by the Director of Undergraduate Studies).
DS3: English 125, 136, 152, 164A, 245S, and 271CS
4. Literary and Cultural Study 1860 to the present (classes listed under multiple diversified study areas, will be determined by the Director of Undergraduate Studies).
DS4: English 150B, 155, 173.03 (Instructor P. Wald), 173S.03 (Instructor C. Kennedy), 179ES.01, 179ES.02, 179ES.05, 179ES.06, 181AS, 181BS, 271ES.01, 271ES.02, 271ES.04, 271ES.05.
The diversified study area of the following courses will be determined semester-by-semester as they are taught:
131, 131S, 142, 161, 170, 173S, 178, 179FS, 180, 194T, 195T, 271FS, 281, 288F, 289.
The following courses can be counted only as English elective credit:
102S, 105S, 108BS, 109S, 117BS, 117ES, 122, 173.04 Instructor (F. Lentricchia), 173S.05 ( Instructor M. Greer) , 173S.05 (Instructor C. Millian), 173S.07 (Instructor V. Finucci), 183S, 186B, 186C, 186C, 186E, 186F, and 202S..
Other cross-listed courses and study abroad courses will be determined by the director of undergraduate studies.
B.) CRITICISM, THEORY, METHODOLOGY
Students must select one course on criticism, theory, or methodology. The following courses satisfy this requirement:
English 101A (Introduction to Film); English 101B (Introduction to Cultural Studies): English 111 (Introduction to Linguistics), English 114 (Languages of the World), 115 (Gender and Language), English 119 (Change in Language), English 172AS (Special Topics in the History of Theory): 172BS (Special Topics in Contemporary Theory), 187 (Variety in Language). Additional English courses designated CTM will also satisfy this requirement. The department will publish a list of such courses from its schedule of current offerings each semester.
Recommendations: Students planning to enter graduate study in an English department should take additional courses from the early as well as later and modern periods. If eligible, they should also apply for the Distinction Program. Aspiring graduate students should consult both their advisor and the Chair of the department's Committee on Pre-graduate School Advising.
Here is complete list of English courses generally taught each academic year:
26S, 51/52, 63S, 90AS and 90BS (Gateway classes for the major), 100AS, 101A, 101B, 103S/104S, 105S/106S, 109S, 110A (DS1), 111 (CTM), 114 (CTM), 115 (CTM), 119S/119, 120 (DS4), 126B (DS3), 131S, 139AS (DS1), 139BS (DS2), 139CS (DS3), 139ES (DS4), 143/144 (DS2), 145 (DS2), 148, 149 (DS3), 151 (DS2), 152 (DS3), 153 (DS4), 154 (DS4), 155 (DS4), 161 Wm Faulkner (DS4), 164A (DS3), 164B, (DS4), 165 (DS4), 169C American Lit Special Topics IV (DS4), 171A (DS4), 172 (spring 2008 this will be 172A and 172B) (CTM), 179ES (DS4), 181AS, 181BS (DS4), 187 (CTM), 212S, 213S (DS1), 220S (DS2), 235S (DS3), 245S (DS3), 250S (DS3), 271ES (DS4),