When you choose English as your major at the U of M, youll study literature and other forms of verbal expression, literary history and criticism, critical theory, linguistics, and creative writing. While studying English you can explore a wide range of discourses including poetry, drama, fiction, film, popular culture, and electronic media. You will examine the cultural, social, political, and economic contexts that condition a variety of texts.
This major includes an extensive amount of writing as you learn to express yourself effectively, both orally and in writing. Youll gain practical insight into the words you speak, read, and write.
The English department supports an engaged, civic-oriented curriculum and teaches the critical skills of reading and writing in the context of community involvement and real public spheres by incorporating community and service-learning components into literature classes.
The College of Liberal Arts Advantage: More Than a Major
When you study English at the University of Minnesota, you gain the added advantage of a College of Liberal Arts education. At CLA, the liberal arts mean you get more than just a degree in one major or another; it means you will be exposed to different areas of study, to different ways of thinking and learning. In fact, the liberal arts teach you how to learn—how to ask the right questions, how to problem solve, and how to innovate. The liberal arts highlight the complexities of our world, because here at CLA you will study not just, say, politics or art but also where politics and art intersect, where science and ethics intersect, where economics and the environment intersect.