The English Major

The English major consists of 36 hours of course work: a common core of 24 hours, plus an additional 12 hours of electives. Students may take up to 6 hours of electives in relevant course work outside of English, with advisor approval. At least 18 hours of the required 36 must be 100-level courses. Asterisked numbers indicate topic courses that can fulfill a requirement when the topic is appropriate to that requirement. An English course may be used only once to fulfill a particular major requirement. (Hence, ENG 54, for instance, may fulfill either Genres or Historicity, but not both.) Transfer students majoring in English must take at least 18 hours of English at Drake. Students with AP will be credited with 3 hours of lower-level elective toward the major.

The Common Core (24 hours)

The Core (6 hours total)
Majors will develop a critical understanding and adeptness at the acts of reading and writing and a familiarity with the forms of attention given to texts and the cultural place of English studies)
ENG 60: Literary Study
ENG 61: Writing Seminar

Genres of Representation (3 hours total)
There are different forms of written and visual representation. The critic Rosalie Colie called this the "resources of kind": the traditions, conventions, and techniques of form that shape both the creation of text and its reception.
Choose one: 30, 50*, 54, 70, 90, 91, 92, 93, 99*, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 120*, 122, 126, 128, 130, 133, 135, 156, 174*, 197*

Historicity (6 hours total):
Who and what we are have been influenced by our pasts. Texts exist both in time and through time; that is, when we read an "old" text like Hamlet we engage it in the present, in the here and now of our reading, but, because it is an "old" text, it also exists through time - it has a history as a text, as a performance, as a cultural artifact, all of which bear upon the reading in the here and now. Hence, to assure that you have some familiarity with literary and social history, with the conversations about texts that have been going on (or not going on, in some cases) for years you will take at least two courses whose primary focus falls before the year 1900.
Choose two: 42, 44, 54, 56, 58, 99*, 124, 128*, 130*, 131*, 142, 143, 145, 147, 150, 152, 174*, 175*, 182*, 197*

Culture & Identity (3 hours):
The "canon" of literature has been constructed based on notions of national and/or cultural identity. Other literary canons have been constructed based on traditions that have been excluded from the dominant canons; these canons are also based on specific notions of identity, such as women's literature or queer literature. Students will take at least one course that emphasizes this relationship between culture and identity.
Choose one: 20, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 77, 86, 88, 99*, 124*, 148, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 174*, 178, 188, 195

Critical Practice & Theory (3 hours):
While most of your English course work focuses on specific writers, topics, or areas, some courses are designed to provide a meaningful opportunity to examine the "metadiscourse" about literary study. Here you will be encouraged to reflect on your own status as a reader and writer, and to examine the varied attempts to determine what literature is or ought to be, with special concern to the critical methods that derive from those attempts,
Choose One: 160, 171, 173

Capstone Seminar (3 hours total):
All students will have the occasion during their senior year to conduct "advanced" study in a seminar setting that formally provides you with an opportunity to reflect on your development and direction. Students must have completed their critical practice and theory requirement, plus at least two courses at the 100-level.
Choose one: courses numbered 175-197, excluding 196

Electives (12 hours)
Students are encouraged to select courses from our curriculum that best suit their interests, concentrating their selections in specific areas. Some possible emphases include writing, literary study, popular culture, film & media, language study. Students are also encouraged to combine their English majors with a second major or interdisciplinary concentration. A total of six hours taken outside the Department can be counted toward the major, with advisor approval.

Program of study for minor: Minimum of 18 credit hours in English, including ENG 60 and ENG 61, and at least six credit hours in courses numbered above 100. An English faculty advisor is required.

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