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

Prerequisites 

1. ENGL 101 (Introduction to Literature: Texts and Contexts) or the equivalent

2. One course selected from ENGL 205, 207, 208, 272, 290, 294, 295

3. ENGL 200 (The English Major and Career Opportunities) (1 unit - credit, no-credit)

Core Curriculum 

4. ENGL 300 (Approaches to Literature)
5. ENGL 311 (Writing Literary Analysis)
6. Language: ENGL 319 (Structure of English) or ENGL 414 (History of the Language)
7. Major Writers: ENGL 325 (Chaucer) or ENGL 335 (Shakespeare I) or ENGL 336 (Shakespeare II) or ENGL 337 (Milton)
8. Literary Periods: (Choose two) 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)
9. Literary Periods: (Choose two courses from two of the three categories below, one of which must be ENGL 380, 381, or 382
   a. ENGL 350 (Romantic English Literature: 1785-1837) or ENGL 380 (Major American Authors to the Civil War)
   b. ENGL 351 (Victorian English Literature: 1837-1901) or ENGL 381 (Major American Authors from The Civil War to 1900)
   c. ENGL 360 (Modern English Literature: 1901-1945) or ENGL 361 (Contemporary English Literature: 1945 to the Present) or ENGL  382 (Major American Authors from 1901 to the Present)
10. ENGL 364 (Studies in Fiction: The African-American Experience) or ENGL 365 (Literature of Slavery) or ENGL 366 (Studies in Gender, Race, and Ethnicity) or ENGL 367 (Queer Literature) or ENGL 370 (Literature by Women of Color) or ENGL 372 (Studies in Chicano Literature) or ENGL 373 (Women in Literature and Film) or ENGL 374 (Gender in Literature and Film)

11.  ENGL 490 (Senior Seminar)

Areas of Specialization

12. (Choose 3 courses in one area of specialization, all of which must be different from the choices you made above)
    A. American Literature: ENGL 380 (Major American Authors to the Civil War); ENGL 381 (Major American Authors from The Civil War to 1900); ENGL  382 (Major American Authors from 1901 to the Present); ENGL 385 (Literature of the American South); ENGL 386 (Literature of the American West); *ENGL 375 (Studies in a Major Author or Group)
    B. British Literature: ENGL 320 (Medieval English Literature: 450-1500); ENGL 325 (Chaucer); ENGL 330 (Renaissance English Literature: 1500-1660); ENGL 337 (Milton); ENGL 340 (Restoration and Eighteenth-Century English Literature: 1660-1785); ENGL 350 (Romantic English Literature: 1785-1837); ENGL 351 (Victorian English Literature: 1837-1901); ENGL 360 (Modern English Literature: 1901-1945); ENGL 361 (Contemporary English Literature: 1945 to the Present); *ENGL 375 (Studies in a Major Author or Group)
    C. World Literature: ENGL 393 (World Mythology); ENGL 469 (Modern African Literature); HUM 395 (Comparative Literature: Mirror of Western Civilization); (HUM 479 (Literature and the Other Arts); *ENGL 375 (Studies in a Major Author or Group); ENGL 392 (International Folk Narrative); ENGL 395 (Writing Nature: Literature and the Environment); ENGL 397 (Selected Readings in Western and Non-Western World Literature I); ENGL 398 (Selected Readings in Western and Non-Western World Literature II)
    D. Children’s Literature: ENGL 470 (Studies in Nineteenth-Century Children’s Literature); ENGL 471 (Studies in Twentieth-Century Children’s Literature); ENGL 472 (The Young Adult Novel); ENGL 473 (Children’s Literature and International Myth, Folk Tale, and Film)
    E. Genre: ENGL 475 (Genre Studies);ENGL 476 (Poetry); ENGL 478 (Drama); ENGL 404 (Creative Writing); ENGL 391 (Bible as Literature); ENGL 396 (Gothic Worlds)
    F. Linguistics: a. REQUIRED: ENGL/LING 415 (General Linguistics)
    b. Choose the course you did not take for the core curriculum: ENGL/LING 319 (Structure of English) or ENGL/LING 414 (History of the Language)
    c. Chose one other course from the following: ENGL/LING 416 (Phonology); ENGL/LING 417 (Syntax); ENGL/LING 418 (Second Language Acquisition); ENGL/LING 420 (Sociolinguistics)
    G. Contract Specialization: Design your own specialization in conjunction with an English faculty member (Subject to approval of the department chair)

* ENGL 375: Course content changes to satisfy the area for which the course is taken

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.