Bachelor of Arts in English

The programs offered by the Department of English prepare students to succeed in an increasingly diverse world by encouraging lifelong learning, critical thinking, and effective writing. The curriculum includes courses from across the fields of English studies: rhetoric, writing, linguistics, and literature.

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English prepares students for graduate study in fields such as English and linguistics or professional school in fields such as secondary English education and law, or for work in any career that involves writing and reasoning. Graduates of the program have gone on to further study and jobs in fields as diverse as secondary school teaching, professional and technical writing, journalism, consulting, and more.

Admission Requirements

• Complete the Admission Requirements for Baccalaureate Degrees.

Graduation Requirements

• Complete the General University Requirements for Baccalaureate Degrees.
• Complete the General Education Requirements for Baccalaureate Degrees.
• Complete the following major requirements:

A minimum of 120 credits is required for the degree, of which 39 credits must be upper-division. 

Honors in English

The Bachelor of Arts in English recognizes distinguished achievement by conferring programmatic honors in English. In order to receive honors in English, a student must:

• Be a declared English major;
• Satisfy all requirements for a BA in English;
• Meet the requirements for Graduation with Honors;
• Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.50 in all courses in the English major;
• Complete 6 credits of the following 400-level topics courses with a minimum grade of A:

  Course List

  Code	Title	Credits
  ENGL A429	Major Authors
  ENGL A440	Topics in Comparative Literature
  ENGL A490	Topics in English Studies
  ENGL A490A	Topics in Literature
  ENGL A490B	Language in Use
  ENGL A490C	Topics in Native Literatures

• Complete ENGL A499 with a pass grade on a P/F grading scale.

The honors thesis itself is shaped by these guidelines:

• A student wishing to take ENGL A499 should coordinate the process from the beginning with two faculty members (one considered primary, one secondary), one of whom must be a full-time tenure-track member of the Department of English.
• The secondary faculty member may be from another department with the approval of the primary faculty member. Both faculty members should be involved in the project from early in the process.
• The student is responsible for locating the two faculty members and securing their agreement to become involved in the project.
• The student should meet regularly (about once every couple of weeks) with the primary faculty member guiding the thesis to ensure that the project remains on track.
• The student may well benefit from concurrent enrollment in ENGL A414.
• The process should begin with a proposal of no more than 1,000 words (statement of purpose, preliminary controlling generalization and outline) along with an annotated bibliography of about 10 items. This proposal needs to be approved by both faculty members before the student may proceed to write the honors thesis itself.
• The anticipated length of the project is 7,500-10,000 words (exclusive of reference page[s]).
• The final paper needs to be submitted to the two faculty members by the end of the last week of instruction of the semester during which the student is enrolled in ENGL A499.
• The project should be undertaken in a student’s senior year.
• Successful completion of ENGL A499 (with success defined as a pass for the honors thesis) may be used to count for 3 credits toward the 7 credit requirement of the honors senior project.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the program, students will be able to:

• interpret texts in context with reasoned evidence drawn from English Studies’ research methods;
• construct texts that are responsive to audience, purpose, genre, and voice; and
• engage scholarly, professional, and public discourse in diverse communities.

Sample Plan

The academic plan below is one pathway through the degree/certificate. It includes all requirements, taking into account recommendations from program faculty. Each student’s plan may vary according to their initial course placement, intended course load, additional majors and/or minors, and their placement into required prerequisite courses. Any change in the plan below can have an unforeseen impact on the rest of the plan. Therefore, it is very important to meet with your academic advisor to verify your personal academic plan.

Please review the following terms, definitions, and resources associated with the sample academic plan below.

• Each course in the far left column links to a pop-up bubble with a course description, prerequisite requirements, and associations with university requirements. For example, if a course fulfills a general education requirement, you will see that in the pop-up bubble.
• GER: indicates a General Education Requirement. GERs that also count toward degree/certificate requirements appear as a specific course in the plan. For these courses, "GER" is not indicated explicitly in the table, but if you click on the course, you will see the course's GER status in the pop-up bubble.
• Program Elective: indicates a specific course selection determined by program faculty to fulfill a degree/certificate requirement. Students should seek assistance from their academic advisor.
• Elective: indicates an open selection of 100-400 level university courses to fulfill elective credits needed to meet the minimum total credits toward the degree/certificate.
• Upper Division Program Elective: indicates a specific 300-400 level course selection determined by the program faculty to fulfill a degree/certificate requirement. Students should seek assistance from their academic advisor.
• Upper Division Elective: indicates an open selection of 300-400 level courses to fulfill elective credits needed to meet the minimum total credits toward the degree/certificate. These courses must be upper division in order to meet General University Requirements for the particular degree/certificate type.