English (ID), B.A.

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Requirements for the Interdepartmental (ID) Major:

Students wishing to declare an ID major should confer with both Department Chairs to explain how their intellectual interests or plan of study might integrate the two disciplines.

SUMMARY:

Classes of ‘22, ‘23, and ‘24

English I.D. Majors have an 8-course requirement, which includes one 100-level course and seven others, with at least one pre-1700 course (202-215), one Shakespeare course (200 or 201), four 200-level courses of choice, and one seminar of choice.

Class of 2025

ID majors will take one 100-level (100-189) and a “Confronting the Canon” (190-199), then choose between either a pre-1700 (202-215), or Shakespeare (200-201). Like full and double majors, ID majors must take a 200-level BIPOC lit course as one of their 200-level electives.

Class of 2025

English ID majors take eight courses, including the required courses below:

One Introductory Course

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: ID Majors must complete both 100-level courses no later than the winter term of their junior year.

One Shakespeare OR pre-1700 course (between 200-216))

EGL 200 - Shakespeare to 1600
EGL 201 - Shakespeare after 1600
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
*Given their subject matter, in 2021-22, either EGL 190 Beowulf and EGL 304 The Faerie Queene may be used to fulfill the pre-1700 requirement - but not more than one requirement (not both pre-17 and Confronting the Canon or pre-17 and Jr. seminar).

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 (all 200-levels are the same difficulty):

One 300-level Junior Seminar (topics vary each year):

EGL 300 - Jr. Seminar: Poetry Workshop
EGL 301 - Jr. Seminar: Fiction Workshop: Writing Activist Fiction
EGL 302 - Jr. Seminar: Literary Theory
EGL 304 - Jr. Seminar (Fall): The Faerie Queene
EGL 306 - Jr. Seminar (Spring): Collecting Ourselves: Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance
Interdepartmental majors must pay particular attention to the requirements of both departments and meet the CC requirement that all students complete a WS. Be attentive to whether the other part of the ID Major requires a thesis since English does not; English admits Honors thesis students by application (see below).

Classes of ‘22, ‘23, and ‘24

English ID majors take eight courses, including the required courses below:

One Introductory Course:

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 Shakespeare course:

One pre-1700 course:

*The pre-1700 and the Shakespeare requirements must be fulfilled with two separate courses. A second course in Shakespeare may count as an elective, but the department wishes to clarify that this practice should not substitute for taking a pre-1700 course.

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
*Given their subject matter, in 2021-22, either EGL 190 Beowulf and EGL 304 The Faerie Queene may be used to fulfill the pre-1700 requirement - but not more than one requirement (not both pre-17 and Intro or pre-17 and Jr. seminar).

Four intermediate courses of choice (all 200-levels are the same difficulty):

One 300-level Junior Seminar (topics vary each year):

Requirements for Honors in English (ID):

Students seeking interdepartmental honors in English have a 10-course requirement, the usual eight and the two-term thesis seminar. Be advised that Honors ID majors, like full Honors majors, must take the Literary Theory course EGL 302 in their Junior year and meet the other qualifications for honors.

In the two-term honors thesis 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 and Honors ID thesis writers take EGL 302 prior to applying to write a thesis, whether proposing a creative or an analytical thesis. Students proposing creative theses should 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 thesis students apply by submitting a two-to three-page thesis proposal with a writing sample in the appropriate genre for review by the department’s Honors thesis selection committee. Acceptance is competitive and not guaranteed.

Note: ID Honors thesis students enroll in IDM 498-499 (by application) yet participate in the Honors thesis workshop class, EGL 402-403.