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Bachelor of Arts in English

In core classes, majors will develop a critical understanding of 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.

The English major requires 36 credits: 12-15 at the lower division and 21-24 at the upper division. The English major allows for three electives, two of which must be 100-level courses. Students may complete a major and a minor within the English Department: English majors can also be Creative Writing and Writing minors, and Creative Writing and Writing Studies majors can also be English minors. Courses cannot “double count” for both a major and a minor within the department. Transfer students majoring in English must take at least 18 credits in English at Drake. Students with advanced placement (A.P.) in English will be credited one lower-level elective toward the major.

English majors will be required to take four lower-division courses: a “Common Core.” These courses focus on historical and topical areas deemed essential to the responsible study of English and are meant to foster a shared sense of disciplinary identity by encouraging department-wide dialogue, discussion, and debate about issues of significance to students and scholars of English.

Drake University’s English major exposes you to literary and cultural representations across genres and media, including literature, linguistics, film, drama, comics, and digital forms. Centering around discussion, classes explore five distinct areas: Topics and Genres, History and Tradition, Culture and Identity, Theory and Criticism, and Rhetoric and Media Studies. You’ll begin studying the first three of these in lower-level core classes, while upper-level courses provide an opportunity to contemplate these themes in greater depth.

English majors learn to read and write critically, analytically, and creatively from award-winning writers, researchers, critics, and editors who have received regional, national, and international recognition. Through their guidance, you’ll examine centuries of works in historical and cultural contexts and start to understand how language can drive change of new media and machine-learning, and more. The program culminates in the junior/senior level class “The Work of Writing.”