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Requirements
Literary Studies Major
- At least 10 departmental units:
- English 190, 195,196,205; and 301 or 310.
- Five additional 200-level literature units, including:
- At least 3 250-level literary history units:
- One unit must be from 251, 252, or 253.
- One unit must be from 254, 256, or 257.
- At least 1 260-level theory, media, or rhetoric unit, from English 261, 262, 263, 264, or 266.
- At least 3 250-level literary history units:
- Complete one of the following capstone options:
- A capstone mode offered in sections of English 301 or 310, or in a capstone seminar that is limited to senior English majors. Each capstone mode shall integrate skills and knowledge acquired in departmental courses and challenge a student to perform at a level appropriate to an advanced English major.
- A Student Symposium presentation composed as part of a credit-bearing project sponsored and nominated by a member of the English department.
- An honors project in English (subject to departmental nomination and approval).
- Another capstone course offered at Beloit College and related to a student’s English major. Students completing this option must have prior approval from their departmental advisor or the department chair.
- Three supporting Students may fulfill this requirement by completing a minor in a program chosen in consultation with their advisor. They may also complete one of the tracks below:
- Language and literature focus: 2 units in a modern language and 1 literature unit in that language or in translation;
- International studies: a total of 3 units from courses that focus on international issues;
- Cultural studies: 3 units in cultural studies, from programs such as history, anthropology, sociology, theatre and dance, Greek, Latin, and ancient Mediterranean Studies, and art history.
- Digital and media studies: 3 units in media studies, digital studies, film or journalism, 1 of which must be an internship;
- Education: 3 units in youth studies and education, ideally with a teaching experience.
- Arts: 3 units in studio art and/or the performing arts.
- Self-designed: 3 courses with a specific focus chosen in consultation with an advisor and submitted to the department chair. Students wishing to complete a self-designed track must submit a written proposal within one semester of their declaration of an English major.
- Writing/communication requirement: Instruction in writing is an integral part of the department of English and its mission of liberal education. We teach students how to express, in prose and verse, the elusive emotion, the abstract concept, the imagined world. We teach students how to use language clearly and precisely so they can learn to think critically, argue persuasively, and craft stories and poems distinctively. In teaching students to write well, we are also teaching them to read well, so that literary and other texts come fully alive as subjects of study, models of reasoning, and sources of discovery. Thus, majors in the English department-and students in our classes-learn to communicate effectively in expository, analytical, and imaginative writing. They do so in part by becoming close readers of their own and others’ use of language, whether in literary studies or creative writing.
Majors should consult with their advisors about pursuing a course of literary study distinguished by historical breadth and by cultural and geographical diversity.
Majors who plan graduate work in literarystudiesshould elect more than the minimum requirements. In addition, such students should acquire a thorough reading knowledge of at least one foreign language.
Creative Writing Major
- At least 10 departmental units:
- English 190, 195, 196, and 205.
- Two advanced creative writing courses from 210, 215, 220, 223, or 226.
- Four additional English units, including:
- At least 1 creative writing course.
- At least 2 literary studies courses, one of which must be from the following pre- 20th century courses: English 251, 252, 253, 254, 256, 257.
- For creative writing majors, English 310 may count as an additional creative writing course; English 228 may count as a literary studies course.
- Complete one of the following capstone options:
- A capstone mode offered in sections of English 301 or 310, or in a capstone seminar that is limited to senior English majors. Each capstone mode shall integrate skills and knowledge acquired in departmental courses and challenge a student to perform at a level appropriate to an advanced English major.
- A Student Symposium presentation composed as part of a credit-bearing project sponsored and nominated by a member of the English department.
- An honors project in English (subject to departmental nomination and approval).
- Another capstone course offered at Beloit College and related to a student’s English major. Students completing this option must have prior approval from their departmental advisor or the department chair.
- Completion of one of the following:
- Public performance of the student’s writing;
- Printed booklet containing student’s writing; OR
- Other media.
- Three supporting courses: See literary studies major.
- Writing/communication requirement: See literary studies major.
Majors in creative writing who plan graduate study are strongly advised to select additional courses in literature in consultation with the major advisor. Such students should also acquire a thorough reading knowledge of at least one foreign language.
Notes for Majors
Students who complete requirements for any two English majors are recognized as double majors in English. Such students must complete normal major requirements for supporting courses. Double majors also are subject to the normal restriction of a maximum of 13 department course units for major credit, and a minimum of 18 course units outside the department for graduation credit.
Students intending to teach on the elementary or secondary level should confer as soon as possible with the department of education and youth studies and with the appropriate advisor in the department of English.
English Minor
- English 190, 195, 196.
- Two from 205, 251, 252, 253, 254, 256, 257, 258.
- One from 261, 262, 263, 264, 266, 271, 301, 310.
Students with a major in the English department may not elect this minor.