Bachelor of Arts in English

The programs offered by the Department of English prepare students to succeed in an increasingly diverse world by encouraging lifelong learning, critical thinking, and effective writing. The curriculum includes courses from across the fields of English studies: rhetoric, writing, linguistics, and literature.

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English prepares students for graduate study in fields such as English and linguistics or professional school in fields such as secondary English education and law, or for work in any career that involves writing and reasoning. Graduates of the program have gone on to further study and jobs in fields as diverse as secondary school teaching, grant writing for nonprofits, journalism, consulting, and more.

Complete the Admission Requirements for Baccalaureate Degrees.

• Complete the General University Requirements for Baccalaureate Degrees.
• Complete the General Education Requirements for Baccalaureate Degrees.
• Complete the following major requirements:

A minimum of 120 credits is required for the degree, of which 42 credits must be upper-division. 

The Department of English recognizes exceptional undergraduate students by awarding them departmental honors in English. To graduate with departmental honors, the student must be a declared English major, satisfy all requirements for a BA in English and fulfill the following:

1. Meet the requirements for Graduation with Honors.
2. Maintain a GPA of 3.50 in all courses in the English major.
3. Complete 6 credits of the following 400-level topics courses with a minimum grade of A:

   Course List

   Code	Title	Credits
   ENGL A429	Major Authors
   ENGL A440	Topics in Comparative Literature
   ENGL A490	Topics in English Studies
   ENGL A490C	Topics in Native Literatures

4. Complete ENGL A499 with a pass grade on a P/F grading scale.

The honors thesis itself is shaped by these guidelines:

• A student wishing to take ENGL A499 should coordinate the process from the beginning with two faculty members (one considered primary, one secondary), one of whom must be a full-time tenure-track member of the Department of English.
• The secondary faculty member may be from another department with the approval of the primary faculty member. Both faculty members should be involved in the project from early in the process.
• The student is responsible for locating the two faculty members and securing their agreement to become involved in the project.
• The student should meet regularly (about once every couple of weeks) with the primary faculty member guiding the thesis to ensure that the project remains on track.
• The student may well benefit from concurrent enrollment in ENGL A414.
• The process should begin with a proposal of no more than 1,000 words (statement of purpose, preliminary controlling generalization and outline) along with an annotated bibliography of about 10 items. This proposal needs to be approved by both faculty members before the student may proceed to write the honors thesis itself.
• The anticipated length of the project is 7,500-10,000 words (exclusive of reference page[s]).
• The final paper needs to be submitted to the two faculty members by the end of the last week of instruction of the semester during which the student is enrolled in ENGL A499.
• The project should be undertaken in a student’s senior year.
• Successful completion of ENGL A499 (with success defined as a pass for the honors thesis) may be used to count for 3 credits toward the 7 credit requirement of the honors senior project.