Prerequisites & General Requirements for the English Major
Prerequisites
English 101 and 102, or the equivalents, are prerequisites to all English courses at the 200, 300, and 400 levels.
A two-course package in sophomore literature is a prerequisite to the major. The packages are English 201-202 (British Literature), 221-222 (Literature of the Western World), any two of 231-232-233 (American Literature), or any two of 251-252-253 (Introduction to Poetry, Drama, and Fiction).
Certain upper-division courses have prerequisites; these are stated in the descriptions of the individual courses.
General Requirements for the Major
The major consists of 30 hours at the 300 or 400 level. English majors concentrate in one of the following areas: Literature, Creative Writing, Rhetoric and Writing, and Technical Communications. Within each concentration students take courses that fit into specific categories; these categories are listed with the descriptions of individual concentrations In fulfilling the requirements of specific concentrations, students should keep in mind that courses may count in more than one category. For example, English 301 (British Culture to 1660) may count as both a pre-1800 literature course and as a cultural studies categories.
Petitioning Courses for Requirements in the Major
The English Department offers a number of special topics courses:
- 398 (Junior-Senior Honors Seminar)
- 482 (Major Authors)
- 483 (Special Topics in Literature)
- 484 (Special Topics in Writing)
- 486 (Special Topics in Criticism)
- 489 (Special Topics in Film)
- 499 (Senior Seminar).
When the topics are appropriate, these courses may be petitioned to fulfill specific requirements within concentrations. For example a special topics course on Arthurian Legend and Medieval Literature may be petitioned to count as a pre-1800 course, while a major authors course on William Butler Yeats and James Joyce may be petitioned to count as a course in twentieth-century literature for the literature concentration. Students should see their advisors with questions about specific courses and for help in writing and filing petitions.