Students take three core classes, which cover the history of English and American literatures;?courses in English writing;?linguistics and?teaching English;?historical literature;?genre studies, cultural studies and literary theory;?critical theory and reading;?and a senior seminar. Students are also encouraged to pursue a well-balanced liberal arts education, which can include various?minors.?

English graduates will:

• Demonstrate specialized knowledge/skills in three area of study: historical; writing and language; and genre studies, cultural studies and literary theory.

• Demonstrate knowledge of research tools and methods in the field of English studies.

• Demonstrate reading skills that emphasize careful analytical and critical thought.

• Demonstrate the ability to produce literary and non-literary texts with attention to academic conventions regarding format, documentation, style, etc.

• Demonstrate the ability to read and understand a variety of critical theories and apply these to the study of literature.

• Demonstrate the ability to write, with a special emphasis on interpretive and evaluative writing about texts in a variety of critical formats.

• Demonstrate the ability to complete a long written project with the application of appropriate critical approaches, the mastery of basic literary research methods and the awareness of rhetorical context and discourse functions.