The Bachelor of Arts with a major in English is designed to be flexible enough to provide the student with an adequate background for graduate studies in English or preparation for such professions as law, medicine, the ministry, advertising, communications, technical writing, and library science.

Students will develop not only the ability to derive meaning from what they read, particularly literary texts, but also the ability to write analytically about literature and its history. Derived from this are the following six objectives:

1. Students will demonstrate the ability to do a close reading of genres (e.g., poetry, fiction, drama, or film);
2. Students will demonstrate a general knowledge of major move - ments, periods, and authors in British and American literature;
3. Students will demonstrate a working knowledge of literary terms;
4. Students will demonstrate the ability to understand literature in its cultural context;
5. Students will demonstrate the ability to locate, read, understand, and apply literary criticism and scholarship; and
6. Students will demonstrate the ability to write analytically and articulately about literature, offering evidence of clarity, coherence, and style.