English Major/Minor Requirements

The English Department at Lawrence offers two majors, English: Creative Writing and English: Literature.

English: Creative Writing fosters opportunities for students to simultaneously study literature and participate in its artistic production. Students in the major learn, in both creative writing and literature courses, to interrogate the complexities of language, culture, aesthetics, identities, communities, and themselves. Students take creative writing classes in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry (with options to also work in scriptwriting and playwrighting) at every level of the major, have numerous opportunities to interact with nationally and internationally renowned writers, and to interact closely with their peers and professors. The major is capped off by an intimate Senior Experience seminar, in which they produce a lengthy work of poetry or creative prose and present it during a public reading.

English: Literature provides students opportunities to develop their skill at critical reading, writing, and analysis—skills that can be applied not only to "literary" texts but also to the texts and images produced by the cultures that surround us. Literature courses include analysis of British, American, African American, multi-ethnic, and postcolonial cultures.

The Lawrence University English department offers two majors, English: Creative Writing and English: Literature. 

Students in English: Creative Writing learn to interrogate through literary study, and reflect through literary production, the complexities of language, culture, aesthetics, identities, communities, and themselves. Students will be required to do substantial work in both poetry and prose (with options to also work in scriptwriting and playwrighting) while also studying literature through numerous critical and historical lenses. At the conclusion of the English major, students on the Creative Writing Track will complete the Senior Experience by producing a lengthy work of poetry or creative prose accompanied by a critical introduction and a public presentation of their work. 

Students in English: Literature develop skills of critical reading, writing, and analysis—skills that can be applied not only to "literary" texts but also to the texts and images produced by the cultures that surround us. Our mission is to impart the passion and skills necessary for our students to become effective communicators across a diverse and multicultural world. We engage our students in deep explorations of texts, ideas, writers, cultures, histories, and audiences and provide extensive opportunities for writing, interpreting, and creating. Literature courses include analysis of British, American, African-American, multiethnic, and postcolonial cultures, which students are encouraged to examine in interdisciplinary contexts in pursuit of a broad-based liberal-arts education.  

The English: Creative Writing major requires the following:

1. Two introductory courses at the 100 or 200-level:
   1. ENG 110: Literature and War
   2. ENG 111: Literature and Music
   3. ENG 112: Literature and Truth
   4. ENG 114: Literature, Psychology, and Memory
   5. ENG 115: Literature and Adolescence
   6. ENG 150: Reading Literature
   7. ENG 151: Reading Fiction
   8. ENG 152: Reading Poetry
   9. ENG 155: Domesticating Literature: The London House Museum
   10. ENG 156: Black Britons
   11. ENG 210: The Business of Literature
   12. ENG 230: British Writers
   13. ENG 240: British Writers II
   14. ENG 250: American Writers
   15. ENG 260: African American Writers
   16. ENG 280: Postcolonial Writers
        
2. ENG 180: Introduction to Creative Writing
    
3. Two 300-level creative writing courses, one in prose (fiction or nonfiction) and one in poetry (ENG 351 may count as either prose or fiction):
   1. ENG 350: Creative Writing: Nonfiction
   2. ENG 351: Creative Writing: Hybrid Poetry-Nonfiction
   3. ENG 360: Creative Writing: Fiction
   4. ENG 370: Creative Writing: Poetry
       
4. Two 500-level creative writing courses in any genre. (Students may also petition for THAR 427: Playwrighting to count in place of one of these courses.):
   1. ENG 550: Advanced Creative Writing: Nonfiction
   2. ENG 560: Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction
   3. ENG 562: Novel Writing
   4. ENG 565: Advanced Creative Writing: Poetry
   5. ENG 568: Poetry as Practice
       
5. Two advanced literature courses focusing on periods before 1800:
   1. ENG 401: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 410: Newtonian Lit: Chronicles of a Clockwork Universe
   3. ENG 420: Studies in Medieval Literature
   4. ENG 425: Shakespeare (or ENG 170: Shakespeare in London, but not both)
   5. ENG 430: Renaissance Literature
   6. ENG 435: Renaissance Drama
   7. ENG 440: Milton and the 17th Century
   8. ENG 441: John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets
   9. ENG 443: New England Puritan Poetry
   10. ENG 445: Restoration and 18th-Century Comedy
   11. ENG 446: Gender and Enlightenment
   12. ENG 447: Eighteenth-Century Terrors
   13. ENG 448: Enlightenment Selves
   14. ENG 450: Eighteenth-Century Literature - no longer offered
   15. ENG 451: The Revolutionary Eighteenth Century
   16. ENG 452: Samuel Richardson's Clarissa
   17. ENG 470: Early American Writing - no longer offered
   18. ENG 527: History of the Book
        
6. One advanced literature course focusing on the nineteenth century:
   1. ENG 402: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 455: Romanticism
   3. ENG 460: The Victorian Age
   4. ENG 465: The English Novel
   5. ENG 474: American Poets of the Nineteenth Century
   6. ENG 476: Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers
   7. ENG 477: Dickinson
   8. ENG 478: Nineteenth-Century African-American Writers
       
7. One advanced literature course focusing on the twentieth or twenty-first centuries:
   1. ENG 403: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 480: Modernist British Fiction
   3. ENG 481: Joyce's Ulysses
   4. ENG 483: American Autobiography
   5. ENG 485: Modernist Poetry - no longer offered
   6. ENG 490: Modern Drama
   7. ENG 495: Modernist American Fiction - no longer offered
   8. ENG 498: Representing War in American Writing - no longer offered
   9. ENG 500: Contemporary American Fiction
   10. ENG 501: The Graphic Novel
   11. ENG 502: Contemporary Jewish-American Literature
   12. ENG 503: Contemporary American Poetry
   13. ENG 504: Multiethnic American Literature
   14. ENG 506: Contemporary African-American Women Poets
   15. ENG 510: Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
   16. ENG 515: Gender and Modernist British/American Literature
   17. ENG 516: Literature and Human Rights
   18. ENG 517: Topics in Human Rights
   19. ENG 518: Narratives of Inequality
   20. ENG 521: Narratives of International News
   21. ENG 522: Literature and the Environment
        
8. In completing the above requirements, students must take at least one course from each of the following literary and cultural traditions:
   1. British: ENG 156, 170 (London Centre), 230, 240, 281, 410, 420, 425, 430, 435, 440, 441, 445, 446, 447, 448, 450, 451, 452, 455, 460, 465, 480, 481, 515, 527
   2. American: ENG 250, 260, 443, 470, 474, 476, 477, 478, 483, 485, 495, 498, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 506, 510, 522
   3. African American: ENG 260, 478, 504, 506, 510; OR postcolonial: ENG 156, 280, 517, 518, 521. A course in African-American literature may satisfy either category b or c but not both.
       
9. ENG 601: Senior Seminar in Creative Writing
    

The English: Literature major requires the following:

1. Three Introductory courses at the 100 or 200-level:
   1. ENG 110: Literature and War
   2. ENG 111: Literature and Music
   3. ENG 112: Literature and Truth
   4. ENG 114: Literature, Psychology, and Memory
   5. ENG 115: Literature and Adolescence
   6. ENG 150: Reading Literature
   7. ENG 151: Reading Fiction
   8. ENG 152: Reading Poetry
   9. ENG 156: Black Britons
   10. ENG 210: The Business of Literature
   11. ENG 180: Introduction to Creative Writing
   12. ENG 230: British Writers
   13. ENG 240: British Writers II
   14. ENG 250: American Writers
   15. ENG 260: African American Writers
   16. ENG 280: Postcolonial Writers
        
2. Two advanced courses focusing on periods before 1800:
   1. ENG 401: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 410: Newtonian Lit: Chronicles of a Clockwork Universe
   3. ENG 420: Studies in Medieval Literature
   4. ENG 425: Shakespeare (or ENG 170: Shakespeare in London, but not both)
   5. ENG 430: Renaissance Literature
   6. ENG 435: Renaissance Drama
   7. ENG 440: Milton and the 17th Century
   8. ENG 441: John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets
   9. ENG 443: New England Puritan Poetry
   10. ENG 445: Restoration and 18th-Century Comedy
   11. ENG 446: Gender and Enlightenment
   12. ENG 447: Eighteenth-Century Terrors
   13. ENG 448: Enlightenment Selves
   14. ENG 450: Eighteenth-Century Literature
   15. ENG 451: The Revolutionary Eighteenth Century
   16. ENG 452: Samuel Richardson's Clarissa
   17. ENG 470: Early American Writing
   18. ENG 527: History of the Book
        
3. One advanced course focusing on the nineteenth century:
   1. ENG 402: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 455: Romanticism
   3. ENG 460: The Victorian Age
   4. ENG 465: The English Novel
   5. ENG 474: American Poets of the Nineteenth Century
   6. ENG 476: Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers
   7. ENG 477: Dickinson
   8. ENG 478: Nineteenth-Century African-American Writers
       
4. One advanced course focusing on the twentieth or twentieth-first centuries:
   1. ENG 403: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 480: Modernist British Fiction
   3. ENG 481: Joyce's Ulysses
   4. ENG 483: American Autobiography
   5. ENG 485: Modernist Poetry - no longer offered
   6. ENG 490: Modern Drama
   7. ENG 495: Modernist American Fiction - no longer offered
   8. ENG 498: Representing War in American Writing - no longer offered
   9. ENG 500: Contemporary American Fiction
   10. ENG 501: The Graphic Novel
   11. ENG 502: Contemporary Jewish-American Literature
   12. ENG 503: Contemporary American Poetry
   13. ENG 504: Multiethnic American Literature
   14. ENG 506: Contemporary African-American Women Poets
   15. ENG 510: Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
   16. ENG 515: Gender and Modernist British/American Literature
   17. ENG 516: Literature and Human Rights
   18. ENG 517: Topics in Human Rights
   19. ENG 518: Narratives of Inequality
   20. ENG 521: Narratives of International News
   21. ENG 522: Literature and the Environment
        
5. In completing requirements 2, 3 & 4, one class must be English 401, 402, or 403: Topics in Literary Criticism
    
6. Two additional courses in English
    
7. One course, separate from requirements 1-6, focusing on writers of color (ENG 156, 260, 280, 478, 504, 506, 510, 517, 518, 521).
    
8. At least one of the courses in 6-7 must be an advanced course (400 or 500-level)
    
9. Senior Experience (ENG 600, honors project in English, or student teaching in English)

Students in the English: Creative Writing major must take:

ENG 601: Senior Seminar in Creative Writing: A seminar involving analysis of theoretical, critical, literary, and practical (i.e., craft-related) readings at an advanced level in conjunction with students' writing of an original, substantial creative work, in either poetry or prose. Students working in different genres will have the opportunity to read one another’s work and discuss, as a group, both the challenges and possibilities associated with composing lengthy creative projects. Each section of the seminar will focus on a theme that can accommodate variety in students' individual research projects

Students in the English: Literature major may fulfill Senior Experience through one of several options:

1. ENG 600: Senior Seminar in English: a seminar involving analysis of theoretical, historical, critical, and literary readings at an advanced level in conjunction with students' research and writing of an original, substantial paper (taken during the senior year or, in some cases, during spring term of the junior year);
2. An advanced course in creative writing with additional work determined by the instructor (taken during the junior or senior year); students should plan ahead so that they complete the necessary prerequisite for the advanced course in creative writing;
3. Student teaching in English, along with a paper co-directed by the student's academic advisor in English and a faculty member in the education department; or
4. An honors project in English (or adequate progress toward completing an honors project as approved by departmental petition); Students pursuing double majors or double degrees are encouraged to consult with faculty from the English department and the other major department prior to taking ENG 600 if they wish to undertake a research topic that draws upon both of their majors. Students pursuing double majors or double degrees also have the option of doing an honors project that is interdisciplinary in nature, as long as one of the directors of the project is a professor in the English department.

1. Two courses from the introductory and intermediate group:
   1. ENG 110: Literature and War
   2. ENG 111: Literature and Music
   3. ENG 112: Literature and Truth
   4. ENG 114: Literature, Psychology, and Memory
   5. ENG 115: Literature and Adolescence
   6. ENG 150: Reading Literature
   7. ENG 151: Reading Fiction
   8. ENG 152: Reading Poetry
   9. ENG 155: Domesticating Literature: The London House Museums
   10. ENG 156: Black Britons
   11. ENG 210: The Business of Literature
   12. ENG 230: British Writers I
   13. ENG 240: British Writers II
   14. ENG 250: American Writers
   15. ENG 260: African American Writers
   16. ENG 280: Postcolonial Writers
   17. ENG 281: History of the Book in London
2. One course focusing on periods before 1800:
   1. ENG 401: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 410: Newtonian Lit: Chronicles of a Clockwork Universe
   3. ENG 420: Studies in Medieval Literature
   4. ENG 425: Shakespeare (or ENG 170: Shakespeare in London, but not both)
   5. ENG 430: Renaissance Literature
   6. ENG 435: Renaissance Drama - no longer offered
   7. ENG 440: Milton and the 17th Century
   8. ENG 441: John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets
   9. ENG 443: New England Puritan Poetry
   10. ENG 445: Restoration and 18th-Century Comedy
   11. ENG 446: Gender and Enlightenment
   12. ENG 447: Eighteenth-Century Terrors
   13. ENG 448: Enlightenment Selves
   14. ENG 450: Eighteenth-Century Literature - no longer offered
   15. ENG 451: The Revolutionary Eighteenth Century
   16. ENG 452: Samuel Richardson's Clarissa
   17. ENG 470: Early American Writing - no longer offered
   18. ENG 527: History of the Book
3. One course focusing on the nineteenth century:
   1. ENG 402: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 455: Romanticism
   3. ENG 460: The Victorian Age
   4. ENG 465: The English Novel
   5. ENG 474: American Poets of the Nineteenth Century
   6. ENG 476: Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers
   7. ENG 477: Dickinson
   8. ENG 478: Nineteenth-Century African-American Writers
4. One course focusing on the twentieth or twenty-first centuries:
   1. ENG 403: Topics in Literary Criticism
   2. ENG 480: Modernist British Fiction
   3. ENG 481: Joyce's Ulysses
   4. ENG 483: American Autobiography
   5. ENG 485: Modernist Poetry - no longer offered
   6. ENG 490: Modern Drama
   7. ENG 495: Modernist American Fiction - no longer offered
   8. ENG 498: Representing War in American Writing - no longer offered
   9. ENG 500: Contemporary American Fiction
   10. ENG 501: The Graphic Novel
   11. ENG 502: Contemporary Jewish-American Literature
   12. ENG 503: Contemporary American Poetry
   13. ENG 504: Multiethnic American Literature
   14. ENG 506: Contemporary African-American Women Poets
   15. ENG 510: Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
   16. ENG 515: Gender and Modernist British/American Literature
   17. ENG 516: Literature and Human Rights
   18. ENG 517: Topics in Human Rights
   19. ENG 518: Narratives of Inequality
   20. ENG 521: Narratives of International News
   21. ENG 522: Literature and the Environment
5. One additional course in English

1. Three courses in literary studies at any level in the English department (for English majors completing the creative writing minor, these can be courses from the major).
2. Three courses in creative writing at any level, including work in at least two different literary genres. Courses in creative writing include:
   1. ENG 350: Creative Writing: Non-Fiction
   2. ENG 351: Creative Writing: Hybrid Poetry-Non Fiction
   3. ENG 360: Creative Writing: Fiction
   4. ENG 370: Creative Writing: Poetry
   5. ENG 550: Advanced Creative Writing: Nonfiction
   6. ENG 560: Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction
   7. ENG 562: Advanced Creative Writing: Novel Writing
   8. ENG 565: Advanced Creative Writing: Poetry
   9. ENG 568: Poetry as Practice
   10. THAR 427: Playwriting
   11. ENG 601: Senior Seminar in Creative Writing

Students who complete the English major in creative writing or literature can seek certification to teach at the secondary level. To be certified in English language arts, students must take a course in adolescent literature (such as ENG 115), a writing course (e.g., ENG 150 or 180, or 350 / 360 / 370, or 401 / 402 / 403), and a course that focuses on the literature of ethnic/racial minority groups in the United States (e.g., ENG 260, 478, 504, 506, 510). Students must also gain experience in journalism through a course or directed study, internship, or work on The Lawrentian. A course in the structures of English (LING 362) is recommended though not required. Students can add an endorsement for a second area (such as English as a second language) by completing the appropriate minor. Students who plan to seek teacher certification should review the requirements in the Education section of the catalog and meet with the director of teacher education, preferably before the end of the sophomore year.

Students can seek certification to teach English as a second language at the elementary and secondary levels by completing the Teaching ESL minor in linguistics and other certification requirements. Interested students should review the requirements in the Education section of the catalog and meet with the director of teacher education, preferably before the end of the sophomore year.

All students who have earned a 4 or better in the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Exam will be given credit for one course in English.

Students who earn a 4 or better in the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Exam will be given credit for one course at Lawrence, which will count toward graduation, but not toward the completion of the major.

Questions about exemption and placement should be addressed to the department chair. The application of AP credit towards the general education requirements for either the B.A. or the B.Mus. degrees will be determined by university policy. Please see the following link for more information about university credit for AP Examinations. AP Examination Information (PDF)

When students officially declare themselves English majors, they should choose a departmental advisor who will be responsible for guiding them in planning and completing their major course of study. Questions about the advising of English majors should be addressed to the department chair.

Students considering graduate work in English are advised to take classes with at least two different members of the department. They will likely want to do more English coursework than the minimum required for the major. Creative Writing students should take as many courses as possible in both creative writing and literature.

For Literature students considering pursuing the master's degree, be advised that most graduate schools require demonstrated proficiency in at least one modern language in addition to English. For the doctorate, the usual requirement is demonstrated proficiency in two modern languages. ENG 525: Contemporary Critical Theory is also an asset when preparing for graduate school. College work leading toward graduate study should be planned with these considerations in mind.