- Additional Requirements
- Admission to the English Major
- English Education Major
- English Major
- English Minor
- Learning Goals
- Why Study English
- Writing Minor
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Additional Requirements for All Majors
English 395 and 396 Course by Special Arrangement Option (4 s.h.)
Students may also satisfy the three required semester hours of ENGL 395 (senior seminar) by pursuing an independent senior project under the direction of a faculty member. Students must submit a mentor-approved proposal for the project before the beginning of the first semester of their senior year. The proposal must indicate the focus of the project, the student’s theoretical and / or methodological approach to be used in the essay, and a preliminary bibliography documenting that the student has already built a solid foundation for the project. The proposal must also indicate how the project will satisfy the criteria of Undergraduate Research Levels Four and Five (see below). By the end of the semester in which they complete ENGL 395, students who pursue this option must produce a documented senior thesis (18-25 pages) that satisfies the research criteria. Students are then still required to complete ENGL 396 in the following semester.
Portfolio Requirement
In order for the Department to measure its effectiveness in reaching the learning objectives set for our majors, the portfolio (webfolio) is required, to be completed in the semester the student enrolls for ENGL 396. However, the requirement is conceived of as more than just an assessment tool. Carefully compiled and revised, this collection of a student’s best work can also be useful in job searches and applications for graduate study.
Internships
For majors not anticipating secondary school teaching as a career or graduate school, the Department highly recommends ENGL 365 (internship of 1-3 s.h.). These opportunities can significantly enable student decisions about employment and career paths.
Undergraduate Research Levels
Scholarly research is vital to the success of undergraduates during their academic careers. The ability to conduct such research effectively also enables those students to transition to graduate study or professional environments more quickly and with greater reward. The English Department therefore finds it useful to conceive of scholarly research as a process through which the adept student moves, acquiring different levels of sophistication along the way. Courses are designed to encourage and test that skill at different stages of development.
Level One: Students must demonstrate the ability to comprehend and apply a single, critical source on a topic.
Level Two: Students must demonstrate the ability to comprehend two or more critical sources that express controversy and / or disagreement on a topic.
Level Three: Students must demonstrate the ability to use primary sources or critical sources from other disciplines to formulate a new position on a topic.
Level Four: Students must demonstrate the ability to formulate the basis of critical controversy and / or disagreement in the sources of a topic, and to apply that disagreement in the exploration of a topic.
Level Five: Students must demonstrate the ability to engage in independent research / study and to formulate new topics of inquiry.
Students are expected to attain competency at each level and be able to demonstrate that competency with the work collected in their English major portfolio.