Program Description

Study in the Department of English leads to an understanding of the nature of English and American literature and of the English language, its aesthetic and functional properties, its uses, and the methods by which impressions and ideas are articulated and communicated from one person to another.

The BA in English emphasizes study of the nature of the English language, the English and American literary traditions, creative writing, and critical approaches to literature. The program emphasizes both breadth and flexibility in preparation for a diversity of career opportunities.

The department also offers a minor in English literature, a minor in Linguistics, a minor in Children's Literature, and, in cooperation with the Performing Arts Department, an interdisciplinary Speech and Theater minor.

The Intensive English Language Center (IELC) offers a language immersion program into American English. The non-credit program offers daily instruction in reading/vocabulary, writing/grammar, and listening/speaking. TOEFL preparation is available. 

Requirements for the Major in English
(14 courses, 66 units)

1. Prerequisites: ENGL 101 or the equivalent
2. One course selected from ENGL 205, 207, 208, 290, 294, 295
3. ENGL 200 The English Major and Career Opportunities (1 unit - credit, no-credit)
4. ENGL 300 Approaches to Literature
5. ENGL 315 English Literature Survey I or 
   ENGL 316 English Literature Survey II
6. ENGL 383 American Literature Survey I or 
   ENGL 384 American Literature Survey II
7. ENGL 380 Major American Authors to the Civil War or
   ENGL 381 Major American Authors from The Civil War to 1900 or
   ENGL  382 Major American Authors from 1901 to the Present or
   ENGL 385 Literature of the American South or
   ENGL 386 Literature of the American West
8. ENGL 475 Genre Studies or 
   ENGL 476 Poetry or
   ENGL 478 Drama or
   ENGL 404 Creative Writing
9. ENGL 366 Studies in Race, Gender, Ethnicity
10. ENGL 325 Chaucer or
    ENGL 335 Shakespeare I or
    ENGL 336 Shakespeare II or
    ENGL 337 Milton
11. ENGL 320 Medieval English Literature: 450-1500 or
    ENGL 330 Renaissance English Literature: 1500-1660 or
    ENGL 340 Restoration and Eighteenth-Century English Literature: 1660-1785
12. ENGL 350 Romantic English Literature: 1785-1837 or
    ENGL 351 Victorian English Literature: 1837-1901 or
    ENGL 360 Modern English Literature: 1901-1945 or
    ENGL 361 Contemporary English Literature: 1945 to the Present
13. ENGL/LING 414 History of the Language or
    ENGL/LING 319 Structure of English or
    ENGL/LING 319(a) English Phonology and Morphology and 319(b) English Syntax or
    ENGL 391 Bible as Literature or
    ENGL 393 World Mythology or
    ENGL 396 Gothic Worlds
14. ENGL 490 Senior Seminar

Students must also complete one of the three options listed below:

1. A special minor consisting of at least 20 quarter units, approved by the student's advisor, 15 of which must be upper division, taken outside the major discipline.
2. A minor consisting of at least 20 quarter units.
3. An interdisciplinary concentration or minor in one of the specially developed areas.