English, B.S. at University of Wisconsin Madison

The English major teaches students to appreciate and use the English language and literature effectively for critical thinking, effective communication, citizenship, and career success. English majors build strong writing skills and engage in high-level critical and analytical thinking. They encounter enriching, enduring, experimental, and complex works of literature. And they grapple with perspectives far distant from their own, examining their deepest values. Instructors introduce students to a wide range of genres and cultural perspectives, and pay close attention to all aspects of student thinking and writing, from logic and evidence to originality and style. Fostering communication skills, stimulating creativity, developing cultural sensitivity, and sharpening analytical abilities, the English major prepares students for a broad range of careers.

English majors choose one of three tracks: the general major (which emphasizes literary and cultural studies), creative writing, or language and linguistics. All majors take a core curriculum that introduces them to a range of approaches to literature and language, including courses in literary and cultural history. Students who opt for the general major build on core courses with intermediate and advanced classes that focus on texts from across a range of periods and places, investigating literature and culture using multiple methods and approaches. Students pursuing the emphasis on creative writing take the core curriculum with a sequence of creative writing workshops. Students wishing to emphasize language and linguistics choose options in grammar, the history of the English language, phonology, and language acquisition.

Teaching Major

Those who wish to prepare for teaching careers at the secondary level should complete the undergraduate English major and then apply for a teaching certificate or graduate education program. For further information, students should make an appointment with the undergraduate advisor in English or the graduate advisor in curriculum and instruction.

1. (History of literature and language) To demonstrate knowledge of major forms, techniques, social conditions, values, and genres that have shaped the history of English literature and language.
2. (Critical thinking) To be able to discern and integrate divergent and contradictory perspectives, identify and question assumptions, and assess evidence and methods.
3. (Creativity) To generate original ideas and texts, experimenting and taking risks, solving problems, and answering questions in a range of genres and media.
4. (Critical writing) To write original, coherent, and compelling arguments that push beyond summary to analysis and independent and critical thinking in clear prose that meets expectations for grammatical correctness.
5. (Citizenship) To develop empathy by learning about the experiences of others, and to gain an understanding of how we participate in communities (including the classroom) and the public sphere.