Goals of the Major
Bachelor of Arts in English
Tracks: General Literature, Professional Writing, or Creative Writing
Objectives
Undergraduate English programs in the Department of English and Philosophy provide training for students wishing to pursue a liberal arts education in the study of language, literature, writing, and culture. Such training will provide students with:
- The ability to write in a variety of modes and genres suitable to the demands of the given rhetorical situation.
- The ability to formulate research problems and conduct effective research.
- The ability to read effectively and analyze critically literary texts and to understand the theoretical underpinnings of this process.
- An understanding of the significance of texts within their historical and cultural contexts.
- An understanding of language as a medium of common linguistic principles and the relationship of those linguistic principles to communication and expression.
Outcomes
- Undergraduate English students will demonstrate an ability to write in a variety of modes and genres suitable to the demands of the given rhetorical situation.
- Undergraduate English students will demonstrate an ability to formulate research problems, do effective research, and incorporate the results of their research into their own writing.
- Undergraduate English students will demonstrate an ability to read effectively and analyze critically literary texts and will understand the theoretical underpinnings of this process.
- Undergraduate English students will demonstrate an understanding of the significance of texts within their historical and cultural contexts.
- Undergraduate English students will demonstrate an understanding of language as a medium of common linguistic principles; they will understand the relationship of those linguistic principles to communication and expression.