Welcome
Student Guide
The overall mission of the department is to promote literacy, specifically the ability to read, write, and think critically. The mission includes the fostering of such technological literacies as information retrieval, research, and communication.
With over 300 undergraduates seeking English degrees, we teach more English majors than any other university English department in Kentucky.
The program for English majors is designed to lay a foundation for careers in writing, teaching, scholarship, and research, as well as for many other types of positions in the business and professional worlds where skills in communication, creative, critical, or analytical writing, public relations, editorial skills, advertising, or comparable tasks are required.
The University offers a B.A. in English where students take classes across a range of literatures written in English with at least one class from each of the historical divisions of literature: pre-1700, 1700-1900, and post-1900. Requirements include 36 hours of English course work beyond freshman composition, 12 hours of foreign language study and 15 hours of Humanities courses other than English. Learn more about an undergraduate degree in English.
The department also offers English minors in Creative Writing and Literature.
Our offerings are broad and diverse and include literature courses extending from Chaucer and Shakespeare to African-American and post-colonial literatures; courses in Linguistics, Literacy tutoring, and Literary theory; as well as a range of writing courses, such as Advanced Composition, Creative Writing, Technical and Business Writing, and the Teaching of Writing. Learn more about a minor in English.
We help students:
- Develop skills for analyzing individual texts.
- Develop an understanding of literary traditions such as American, British, and where possible, other literatures in English.
- Relate texts to the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which they were produced.
- Extend, deepen, and refine critical thinking skills.
- Develop an understanding of the nuances of language.
- Earn college credit while gaining professional experience through our internship program.
Many English Department courses offer students the chance to conduct independent research projects that are designed to enhance the skills needed to conduct primary research and that may result, in many cases, in the production of an Honors thesis, a conference presentation, or publication. While specific examples are laid out in the paragraphs that follow, students should feel free to approach any English Department faculty member about the possibility of conducting research in an area of mutual interest.
A degree in English has many applications. English majors can apply their ability to think critically, interpret text and data, and communicate effectively and clearly in a myriad of ways. The versatility of a degree in English can open the doors to careers in:
- Copywriting
- Editing
- Freelance writing
- Grant Writing for non-profits
- Journalism
- Paralegal work
- Public Relations
- Technical Document writing
