Curriculum

The English Curriculum is designed to provide students with both a broad knowledge of literary history and training in close, careful textual analysis. As they begin the major, students take three required courses: EN 200, a small seminar that serves to introduce students to literary genres and critical terms; and EN 201 and EN 202, larger courses, to be taken in sequence, which cover major movements in literary history. It is also common for freshmen and sophomores to take a section of EN 220 Introductory Topics in Literature, a literary seminar with special topics that develops critical reading and writing skills.

In addition, students take five more elective courses. Elective courses must be taken in at least three of the following areas: Medieval Literature, Early Modern Literature, Literature and Cultural Studies 1700-1900, and Literature and Cultural Studies 1900 to the present. In their junior year, students take EN 300, an introduction to literary theory that is a prerequisite for the capstone seminar and all directed studies. Students may take the capstone seminar in either their junior or senior year.

The practica courses are typically fulfilled in the senior year, when students may intern at a professional work place, work as a teaching apprentice with a faculty member teaching a GL course, or, if Education majors or minors, complete their student teaching requirement. The Department also encourages students to take English courses beyond the number required, so as to gain a full sense of their discipline.