English majors are required to complete a 45-unit program consisting of 24 units of core requirements and 21 units in an area of concentration, including a 3-unit Culminating Experience capstone course. The four concentrations offered by the English Department are Literature, Linguistics, English Education, and Professional Writing and Rhetoric.
A maximum of six units of lower-division coursework may be accepted for credit in the English major upon permission of an advisor. Advanced Placement (A.P.) credit in composition cannot be used to fulfill the six-unit lower-division requirement in the major.
Completion of ENG 480GW with a grade of C or higher fulfills the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR) for all English majors.
The Culminating Experience capstone course must be completed during either the final semester or one of the semesters of the student's final (senior) year, depending on the English major concentration. For more information, please refer to the relevant major concentration section in this Bulletin.
The BA in English with a concentration in Literature offers students a historically grounded study of British, American, and "post-colonial" Anglophone literatures. Our core curriculum includes a series of two upper-division survey courses (Literature in English I and II) intended to provide students with a knowledge foundation of literary movements, figures, and forms within a transatlantic context. Literature majors also take one course in linguistics, an upper-division Shakespeare course, at least one course in literary theory or criticism, and at least one course in Anglophone literature produced outside of Britain or America.
The Literature program offers a wide range of courses centered on specific authors (Austen, Chaucer, Woolf), historical periods ("Age of Victorians," "American Literature 1914-1960"), genres ("Detective Fiction," "Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction," "Lyric Forms"), and other special topics ("18th c. Women Writers," "Devils and Angels"), allowing students to pursue their individual interests and pleasures in fulfilling their elective units. No matter what the subject, all courses within the major foster students' close reading, writing, and analytical skills. Literature majors can expect to hone their aptitude for writing, research, oral communication, and analytical thinking. This practical skill set prepares our majors for many career opportunities, including teaching, writing and publishing, law, information science, business and marketing, and more.