English, B.A.

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

Requirements beginning with the Class of 2025

Full and double majors must take a “Confronting the Canon” course (EGL 190-199) as one of their two 100- level courses, and must take a 200-level BIPOC lit course as one of their 200-level electives.

Two Introductory Courses chosen from the following:

One course between 100-189:

EGL 100 - The Study of Literature: Poetry
EGL 101 - The Study of Literature: Fiction
EGL 102 - The Study of Literature: Drama
EGL 110 - The Poetic Process
EGL 150 - Film Form, and Analysis
Note: These courses emphasize close reading of primary texts and help students acquire the vocabulary to speak and write clearly and intelligently about literature. The texts are chosen by the instructor of each section.

Detailed descriptions of the various sections are available the week before pre-enrollment each term on the English Department website.

One Confronting the Canon course (between 190-199)

EGL 190 - Confronting Canon: Beowulf
Note: Majors must complete both 100-level courses no later than the winter term of their junior year

Seven Intermediate Courses:

At least one Introductory Course is a prerequisite to courses at the Intermediate level (see exception for students who received a 5 on their AP exam in either English language or literature). In this group, majors must complete the following required courses:

One course on Shakespeare (200 or 201):

One course on literature from a period before 1700 (202-215):

EGL 202 - Amazons, Saints and Scholars: Women’s Writing in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
EGL 203 - The Age of Heroes
EGL 204 - Plague, Revolt, Religion, and Nation: The Fourteenth Century
EGL 205 - The Road to Canterbury
EGL 210 - British Literature: Seventeenth-Century Literature
EGL 211 - Milton
EGL 212 - The Restoration
EGL 213 - American Literature in Historical Context: Beginnings to 1800
Note: The pre-1700 and the Shakespeare requirements must be fulfilled with two separate courses. A second Shakespeare course may count as an elective, but this practice does not substitute for a pre-1700 course.

One course on eighteenth to nineteenth-century literature (216-236):

One course focused predominantly on literature by authors who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) from the following:

Three more intermediate courses of choice (any course between 200-299):

In addition to the courses listed above, these include the following:

Three Advanced Courses:

Advanced courses, or Junior and Senior Seminars, are writing intensive and research oriented. Majors must complete three advanced courses, including one Junior and one Senior Seminar, and a third seminar of choice. Students must take at least two Intermediate Courses before enrolling in a Junior Seminar. Students must take at least four Intermediate Courses and both Introductory Courses before enrolling in a Senior Seminar. Students are strongly advised to take Junior Seminar before enrolling in a Senior Seminar.

Junior Seminars (topics change each year, 300-)

Senior Seminars (topics change each year, 400-401; 404-):

Requirements for the Major (for Classes of ‘22, ‘23, and ‘24)

Twelve courses, including two introductory-level courses (100s); seven intermediate courses (200-level) including at least one course on Shakespeare (200 or 201), one pre-1700 course (202-215) and one pre-1900 course (216-236); and three seminars in total: one or two junior seminars (300-level) and one or two senior seminar (400-level).

Students seeking Honors in the Department of English have a 14-course requirement, the additional two beyond the requirements for the English major being the two-term Honors thesis seminar, EGL 402-3, a two-term thesis writing workshop available by application and invitation, to be written during Fall-Winter of their senior year.

No English major is required to write a thesis but all are still eligible for college honors based on GPA.

All English majors, including students who write a thesis, must take one senior seminar (WS Common Curriculum requirement).

Two Introductory Courses chosen from the following:

EGL 100 - The Study of Literature: Poetry
EGL 101 - The Study of Literature: Fiction
EGL 110 - The Poetic Process
EGL 102 - The Study of Literature: Drama
EGL 150 - Film Form, and Analysis
EGL 190 - Confronting Canon: Beowulf
Note: These courses emphasize close reading of primary texts and help students acquire the vocabulary to speak and write clearly and intelligently about literature. The texts are chosen by the instructor of each section.

Detailed descriptions of the various sections are available the week before pre-enrollment each term and on the English Department website.

Majors must complete their second Introductory Course no later than the winter term of their junior year.

Seven Intermediate Courses:

One course on Shakespeare (200 or 201):

One course on literature from a period before 1700 (202-216):

EGL 202 - Amazons, Saints and Scholars: Women’s Writing in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
EGL 203 - The Age of Heroes
EGL 204 - Plague, Revolt, Religion, and Nation: The Fourteenth Century
EGL 205 - The Road to Canterbury
EGL 210 - British Literature: Seventeenth-Century Literature
EGL 211 - Milton
EGL 212 - The Restoration
EGL 213 - American Literature in Historical Context: Beginnings to 1800
The pre-1700 and the Shakespeare requirements must be fulfilled with two separate courses. A second Shakespeare course may count as an elective, but this practice does not substitute for a pre-1700 course.

One course on eighteenth to nineteenth-century literature (216-236):

Four more intermediate courses of choice (any between 200-299):

Three Advanced Courses:

Junior Seminars (topics change each year, 300-)

Senior Seminars (topics change each year, 400-401; 404-):

Requirements for English Honors: Thesis (402-3):

Fourteen courses are required for honors, which includes the usual twelve plus a two-term honors thesis seminar, EGL 402 and EGL 403.* The two-term thesis does not replace the required senior seminar. Other qualifications to be eligible to apply to write an honors thesis include a 3.3 GPA both cumulatively and in the English major; the Literary Theory seminar; an accepted proposal (submitted during fourth week of Spring Term, students’ junior year). See the English Department website for a more complete description.

In this seminar, students are expected to learn research methods, discuss their subjects and approaches to them, and share ideas and writing, as they work toward completing their individual theses under the direction of the seminar instructor. Prospective Honors thesis writers are required to take the Literary Theory Seminar EGL 302 in Winter of their Junior year, prior to applying to write a thesis, whether proposing a creative or an analytical thesis. Students proposing creative theses are strongly encouraged to have already participated in a creative writing workshop in the proposed genre. Interested students should discuss possible thesis subjects with their advisor and other departmental members in order to develop an appropriate thesis topic. Prospective Honors students submit a two-to three-page thesis proposal and writing sample for review by the department’s Honors selection committee.

*Note: Double major Honors thesis students whose thesis combines both fields of study register for IDM 487-488 (with signatures from a director in each department) yet participate in the Honors thesis workshop class, EGL402-403.