English (First Year and Transfer)

• Information for Transfer Students

English
Academic Bulletin

Area of Study: Languages, Literature, and Culture
Programs: 

• English–Emphasis in Creative Writing: Major
• English–Emphasis in Literature: Major
• English: Minor
• Environmental Writing: Minor
• Writing: Minor

When advising a student interested in English, please note:

Starting AY 23-24, all 100-level English courses will be themed courses, the 111-118 “Literature and” courses first introduced in FA 2019, the non-themed ENGL 110 will not be offered. These courses are a prerequisite for all creative writing courses at and above the 200-level and all literature courses at and above the 200-level.

• The 100-level courses, which are curricularly, analogous, are titled as follows/
  • 111: Literature and the Arts
  • 112: Literature and the Body
  • 113: Literature and Race
  • 114: Literature and Business
  • 115: Literature and Sexuality
  • 116: Literature and the Environment
  • 117: Literature and Science
  • 118: Literature and the Mind
• All 100-level courses are focused on intorductory College-level analysis of literature (poetry, fiction, and drama).
• Each course in this series is oriented around learning and practicing the “close reading” skills of textual analysis and intensive literary study.
• The title of each course in the series is intended to reflect the thematic focus of the section. The titles do not presume the need for any particular disciplinary background as a pre-requisite for each course, nor do they signal that these courses will address non-literary disciplinary knowledge. That’s to say, “Literature and Business” will be the close study of literature that relates to business — broadly defined — but that knowledge of business is unnecessary for the class, and the class will not convey any disciplinary content of business.
• The classes are not sequential; 110 is not a pre-requisite for any other course at this level.
• Any of these 100-level classes fills the prerequisite for upper level courses in English..
• Our original intention in offering this series was twofold: A) To offer more discrete themes to signal to students not-typically inclined to see literature as related to their prospective fields of study how, indeed, literature intersects with many categories of knowledge; B) To demonstrate the potential value in students taking more than one general introductory course in literature. A student who so chooses could take more than one course in the 100-level.
• Our intention in experimenting with the removal of ENGL 110 and teaching solely “Literature And” 100-level courses in AY 23-24 is also twofold: A) To eliminate confusion about the difference between 110 and these other courses as well as the sense that the 110 is the “preferred” course, and B) to allow us to offer a broader array of “Literature And” courses.

OVERALL NOTES IN ENGLISH

• Students confident in their literary criticism skills may take English 230, 231, 232, 233, 235, or 236 their first semester at Allegheny. As these are large classes that cover much more material than 100-level English, students who have any doubts about their ability to analyze literature should take 100-level English or FSENG 201 first.
• Students may also begin the major by taking a studies course (230, 231, 232, 233, 235, 236)
• 300-level courses may be appropriate for sophomore if they had at least 2 previous English courses.
•  Emphasis: The department now offers two emphases, Literature and Creative Writing. Each emphasis requires a common core of literature courses, along with other specific requirements. If one of your first year advisees wishes to begin one of these avenues, then they should begin with 100-level English or one of the studies courses (230-235). Prospective majors may begin study in an exploratory fashion, without deciding on one of the two emphases at first, since introductory classes overlap. Those who wish to pursue Creative Writing however are strongly encouraged to complete the 100-level pre-req in their first semester, so they are eligible to enroll in a writing workshop in their second semester.
• For students interested in the Pitt. M.A.T. program: Children’s Literature (English 350)  is only offered every other year. Our old English 385 (the Cultural History of the English Language) is no longer part of the curriculum; some iterations of our English 360 (Language, Theory, and Practice) will offer content similar to the old English 385. Students who require these courses for later admission to an education program should take 350 the first chance they get. For example, if a rising junior intending to enter the Pitt program sees that English 350 is offered that next year, the student needs to register for it. It will not be offered their senior year, and the department cannot offer independent study versions of either Children’s Literature or the History of the English Language course for students who might have missed a chance to take it as a class.
• Faculty Advisor: Students may ask any faculty member in the English Department to be their major advisor. Any faculty member can advise any student; the advisor’s field of expertise does not need to “match” the students major emphasis. That is, faculty with a literary studies specialization may advise creative writing students and faculty with a creative writing specialization may advise literary studies students. If students are unsure who to ask to be their advisor, they should schedule an appointment with the Department Chair to discuss how to proceed. In cases where a student’s major advisor goes on sabbatical or takes a leave of absence, the Chair assigns the student a temporary advisor.
• Junior Seminar: Students may register for their Junior Seminar in either fall or spring semester of their junior year; in rare cases involving scheduling difficulties (study awan and so on), students have delayed their Junior Seminar until fall or even spring semester of their senior year, but this is not recommended. Students register for an open Junior Seminar.
• Senior Project: The English senior project is a one-semester course that may be taken in either the fall or the spring of the senior year. Senior project requirements for the two English major emphasis - ENGL 620, Senior Project in Literature and ENGL 624, Senior Project in Creative Writing - differ significantly.
  • Students with a literary studies emphasis produce a several chapter senior project of at least 35 pages involving text-based analysis and research.
  • Students with a creative writing emphasis produce an extended original creative work or collection of works within the genre of their choice: poetry (20-25 pages), fiction (50-70 pages), or creative nonfiction (50-70 pages).
    • Students with a creative writing emphasis are expected to complete their creative writing coursework prior to their senior project: at minimum, two 200-level workshop courses and two 300-level courses - ideally including the “Forms of” course in their chosen genre. They also must complete an advanced writing workshop in the genre of choice (ENGL 405, fiction; ENGL 406, poetry; ENGL 410, creative nonfiction) BEFORE they may enroll in a creative writing SEnior Project - a requirement with absolutely no exceptions. Of note, these advanced workshops are typically only offered in the fall semester, although in AY 23-24 ENGL 410 is being offered in the spring.

  • Enrollment in a senior project course requires signature consent from the senior project director. Students need to ask a faculty member to be their senior project director early in the semester prior to writing their comp. Typically that faculty member is the person with the greatest expertise in the field in which the student is writing the comp, corresponding with either the genre of the creative writing comp or with the literary period and/or subject specialization of the literary studies comp. Students with a planned senior project that does not readily fall into one faculty member’s field of study should consult with their major advisor and/or the Department Chair.

  • A proposal (literary studies emphasis) or audition portfolio (creative writing emphasis) must be submitted to the student’s senior project director by the 10th Monday of the semester preceding the senior project. 

• Options for students looking for help in writing:
  • Work with a writing consultant. If one of your advisees is particularly anxious about his/her writing skills or if you have concerns about the quality of the student’s prose, please encourage him/her to sign up for a matched writing consultant through Student Success. The consultant and the student will meet weekly to help strengthen the writer’s writing over the course of the semester and to address any general areas in which the writer would like to improve
  • Students may also opt to meet one-to-one with trained student writing consultants at the Learning Commons. Students can make an appointment online or drop in Sunday-Thursday 3-5 p.m. and 7-11 p.m.
  • Take one of the 100-level English courses. While not composition courses, these classes will help students get more closely attuned to the subtleties of language and will give them lots of practice writing.

Questions: Contact Alexis Hart the Director of Writing, at ext. 6296, or, Jennie Votava English Dept. Chair, at 4334. 

Pathways for the English Major
Students may choose from one of two emphases in the English Major: Creative Writing or Literature. Each requires a total of 44 credits.

English–Emphasis in Creative Writing major. 4 year sample sequence.

English–Emphasis in Literature major. 4 year sample.

The Department of English offers Minors in English, Writing, and Environmental Writing. Please see Academic Bulletin for specifics for each. 

Information for Transfer Students

Transfer Scenarios

Note: the most likely classes to be accepted for direct transfer credit are 100-level English, 230, and 231.

English–Emphasis in Creative Writing Major. 3 year sample sequence.

English–Emphasis in Literature Major. 3 year sample sequence.