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Students must receive a grade of C or higher in all courses being counted toward major requirements.
At the center of the English major are six core courses, three dedicated to reading and three dedicated to writing, designed to support you as you develop high-level skills as a scholar, writer, and artist. These courses will equip you with the critical strategies you need to become a savvier reader of texts and of the world around you, teach you to speak the language of the field, and help you identify and meet the needs of a wide variety of readers. In these courses you will encounter—and create—novels and podcasts, films and sonnets, literary criticism and political rhetoric, picture books and autobiographies. You’ll also meet a wide range of department faculty, with specialties in rhetoric and composition, literary and cultural studies, creative writing, and linguistics, who will help you find your niche in the wide world of English studies so you can choose the elective courses that are right for you.
Reading:
ENG 177 Reading Closely (3 credits)
ENG 277 Reading Critically (3 credits)
ENG 377 Reading Contextually (3 credits)
Writing:
ENG 190 Writing Approaches & Techniques (3 credits)
ENG 290 Writing Process and Craft (3 credits)
ENG 390 Advanced Writing Seminar (3 credits)
Let’s face it: we’ve all heard the myth that English majors don’t get jobs. Let this be the first lesson we teach you: according to the 2018 American Community Survey, humanities graduates are employed at similar rates as graduates in STEM fields. And graduates holding bachelor’s degrees in the humanities earn salaries comparable to a number of other majors, including business management and public policy, according to the NHA (Career Success). In these two courses, ENG 299 and ENG 487, taken in your sophomore and senior years, we’ll help you learn how to articulate the skills you have developed, pinpoint those you wish to improve, pen job market documents that get you interviews, and find internship and work opportunities that are right for you.
After graduating from Eastern, I had a greater appreciation for how versatile the English major is. From working as a project assistant, sales department intern at a publishing company, and now as a data solutions specialist with the University of New Haven, I've always had the chance to utilize and develop the skills that I graduated with.Kyle Hottin
Beyond the 21 credits you’ll earn completing the core courses and the employability courses, you’ll select 6 more courses to complete your degree. If your core courses have helped you discover a passion for a single area of English studies, you can focus your electives on rhetoric and composition, literary and cultural studies, or creative writing. Or if you prefer variety and want to diversify your skills, you can take a little bit of everything!
Whether you want to become a middle or high school English teacher or plan to pair your English studies with a major or graduate work in Elementary or Early Childhood Education, we’ve developed a sequence of courses designed to equip you for a classroom of your own. Many of these courses, which are designed to complement your coursework in Education, have reading lists that mirror the texts you’ll be called on to teach, feature assessments aligned with your certification exams, and are taught by professors who can empathize personally with the challenges of becoming a PK-12 teacher.
For future early childhood and elementary educators, we highly recommend the following courses: ENG 223 (Survey of American Literature, ENG 328 (Children’s Literature), and ENG 338 (Linguistic Analysis).
To earn certification at Eastern, future secondary English teachers must take ENG 329 (Young Adult Literature in a Multicultural World), ENG 340 (History and Development of the English Language), and ENG 341 (Modern American Grammar). We also highly recommend ENG 214 or ENG 215 (British Literature to/from 1798) and ENG 223 (Survey of American Literature), as these courses are aligned with both your certification exams and the secondary English curriculum.
As an English student, I learned effective communication (oral and written) and leadership skills. I was pushed far outside my comfort zone, and I am so thankful for the professors that held me to such high standards. I learned what I am capable of, and became a better teacher because of those experiences.Ashley Wright (Schmitt)
Whether you want to write the next, great American novel, pen a series of poems exploring a particular theme, compose video essays, or write your memoir, the English department offers a range of courses designed to help you develop your voice, knowledge of craft, and ability to read a range of works from a writer’s or creator’s perspective. In addition to working closely with Eastern’s published English faculty, students will have access to noteworthy visiting writers. Other opportunities include pre-professional coursework and internships in editing and publishing, as well as a global field course to study creative writing abroad.
For students wanting to focus on creative writing for their electives, we recommend the following courses:
Three Courses Chosen from the following:
One Professional Experience Course from the following:
During your Eastern education, you might realize there is a project you want to complete, something more than you can achieve in a final class project. If you do, an independent capstone experience might be right for you. Maybe there’s a novella or a poetry chapbook you’re ready to write, but you want the support of Eastern’s creative writing community to do it. Maybe there are questions about a text or a genre that you know you can answer, a contribution you know you can make to the scholarly community, but you need a professor’s guidance to master the conventions of the scholarly article. Working one-on-one with a faculty member, you can complete this passion project, earning English honors in the process. You can work toward publishing your work and presenting it, on and off campus. We particularly recommend this option for students considering graduate school, as a capstone project makes a great writing sample.