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Bachelor of Arts in English
Major / Minor / Resources for Students / Faculty / Detailed Course Descriptions
The English Major (View Major Requirements)
The English major offers students an opportunity to develop and enhance reading, writing, creative, and critical abilities which prepare majors for entry into the areas of work, graduate school, and professional school.
The program offers a varied and comprehensive curriculum in literature, rhetoric, composition, language study, film, poetry, critical theory, and creative writing. This curriculum structure requires students to enroll in courses that teach them how to analyze and interpret, determine the best outcome, and convey thoughts and feelings clearly and effectively in speech and writing.
Students graduating in English from USC Upstate should be able to demonstrate the following:
- A knowledge of literary periods, movements, genres, and authors that is informed by literary criticism, theory, and linguistic analysis: demonstrating an ability to situate and interpret texts in their historical and cultural contexts and utilizing appropriate literary and linguistic theory in discussing the assigned texts.
- The ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate a variety of texts: recognizing the underlying structures inherent in the assigned texts and making connections between various works of literature.
- The ability to communicate in a clear and concise manner for a variety of audiences: writing with clarity and precision concerning the assigned texts and demonstrating an awareness of various audiences for written work.
- The ability to incorporate, engage, and utilize well-planned and executed research: critically engaging the ideas of other scholars and incorporating research in writing about the assigned texts.
Students who complete the English Senior Seminar will demonstrate their achievement of the four above goals through a Senior Seminar Portfolio (See Senior Seminar Portfolio Checklist for details). Students are strongly encouraged to maintain ongoing electronic and paper portfolios of work in the English major throughout their undergraduate careers. The Senior Seminar Portfolio will include the following:
- a copy of an essay from one of the core courses in major (SEGL 279, 280, 289, 290, 300 [formerly 295], or 301);
- a copy of the Senior Seminar Capstone Paper;
- a three- to five-page self-assessment essay in which the student explains how the research paper was created and what the student learned about the research process;
- a creative writing project, internship project, or written project from a course outside the major.
- Senior Seminar Exit Survey
NOTE: As part of the University's comprehensive curriculum revision in 2007, the English curriculum has been revised for the 2007-2008 Academic Catalog. Students should be sure to use the Major in English Student Worksheet from the catalog under which they enrolled at the University.
The English Minor
A minor in English is also offered, requiring students to complete 18 hours of courses, with at least 12 hours of upper level English courses. Please select the Minor in English Student Worksheet from the academic catalog of your particular year.
Resources for Students Pursuing Degrees in English