Course Planning
As a department, we are committed to offering a wide variety of courses reflecting a number of periods and approaches to textual study. In order to do so, we change our course offerings regularly. Talk with your advisor about the courses you think you might like to take over the next year or so.
In addition, pay attention to the prerequisites in the course descriptions. If you do not have them, it is unlikely you will get into a heavily enrolled course. Read through the English chapter of the course catalog to familiarize yourself with the kinds of prerequisites upper-level courses require and plan your coursework accordingly.
The English department offers introductory literature courses, courses in creative writing, and intermediate and advanced literature courses in all genres. We offer two introductory courses designed for first-year students and sophomores: First-Year Seminar 110, a writing-intensive seminar, and English 199, an introduction to the study of literature.
We encourage our majors to explore the creative process by taking writing courses. We also encourage them to link the study of literature in English with the study of history, art, and other literatures. Courses in classical and modern languages and literatures, art history, philosophy, religion, and history complement and supplement courses in English.
For first-years
Courses open to first-year students include all sections of First-Year Seminar 110 and ENGL-199, an Introduction to the Study of Literature.
Examples of First-Year Seminars currently taught or that have been taught in the past by English Department faculty:
Lives & Afterlives of Antigone, Nigel Alderman
Cyberpunks in the Digital Age, Kate Singer
Slang: Community/Power/Language, Mark Shea
U.S. Multiethnic Literatures, Iyko Day
Self-Portraiture, Suparna Roychoudhury
Awakenings: American Women's Fiction, 1900-Now, Elizabeth Young