Students

Courses

2013-2015 Catalog

The Major:

English majors will be required to take six historically based CORE courses in British and American literature, in order. In each course, five texts or topics (roughly half of the courses) have been designated as required. Individual instructors are free to choose the texts and topics necessary to complete the course, with the stipulation that non-canonical material must in some way be included. 

Majors must also take ENGL 202; ENGL 251; ENGL 290; 8 units of 300-level English electives; a 300-level English course that meets USCP; 20 units of 400-level English electives (12 of these units must be in literature); and a 4-unit Senior Project course.  Additionally, English majors must demonstrate intermediate-level proficiency in a modern language other than English.
 

Courses to be Taken in the First 3-4 Quarters:

All English majors must complete the following General Education courses during their first year at Cal Poly: ENGL 134, COMS 101 or 102, and ENGL 145 or ENGL 148 (ENGL 145 is strongly recommended unless students are pursuing a technical writing certificate).  They must also complete ENGL 202 Introduction to Literary Studies, either concurrently with ENGL 145 or following it, but PRIOR TO or CONCURRENT WITH ENGL 251.  (Please refer to the plan below.)

The CORE:

Normally, students will begin the CORE sequence during the fall or winter quarter of their sophomore year.  These courses are offered sequentially and should be taken in order.

  • ENGL 202 Introduction to Literary Studies
  • ENGL 203 CORE I: 450-1485: Required texts: Beowulf, Chaucer, Dante, the Pearl Poet, mystery/morality play. Prerequisite: Completion of GE Area A
  • ENGL 204 CORE II: 1485-1660: Required texts:  Bradstreet, Donne, Milton, Shakespeare, Spenser. Prerequisite: ENGL 203
  • ENGL 205 CORE III: 1660-1789: Required texts: Defoe, Franklin, Pope, Swift, Wheatley. Prerequisite: ENGL 204
  • ENGL 303 CORE IV: 1789-1861: Required texts: Austen, Emerson, Hawthorne, Keats, Wordsworth. Prerequisite: ENGL 205
  • ENGL 304 CORE V:  1861-1914: Required texts:  Arnold, Dickinson, James, Tennyson, Whitman. Prerequisite:  ENGL 303
  • ENGL 305 CORE VI: 1914-Present: Required texts:  Eliot, Faulkner, Morrison, Woolf, Yeats. Prerequisite:  ENGL 304

Students should plan on demonstrating proficiency in a modern language other than English as soon as possible upon entering the university, either by successfully completing 121 or 122 in their language of choice, or by providing other evidence of competence (i.e., passing a challenge exam).

The flowchart below details how an entering freshman might complete the major in four years:

Freshman Year

Fall

Winter

Spring

ENGL 134

ENGL 145

ENGL 251

COMS 101/102

 

ENGL 202

Sophomore Year

Fall

Winter

Spring

ENGL 203

ENGL 204

ENGL 205

 

ENGL 290

ENGL USCP

Junior Year

Fall

Winter

Spring

ENGL 303

ENGL 304

ENGL 305

ENGL 300-level

   Elective

ENGL 300-level

   elective

ENGL 400-level

   elective

Senior Year

Fall

Winter

Spring

ENGL 400-level

   Elective

ENGL 400-level

   elective

ENGL 460 or ENGL 461 (Senior Project)

ENGL 400-level

   Elective

ENGL 400-level elective

 
NOTE:  Each of the CORE courses is typically offered twice a year, back to back.  That is, ENGL 203 is offered in fall and winter; ENGL 204 in winter and spring; ENGL 205 in spring and fall; and so on, so that if a student should fall behind in the sequence, he/she could “catch up” by taking the missed course the following quarter.

 

PLEASE ALSO NOTE:  The four-year sequencing plan sketched above includes major courses only.  You will also need to incorporate GE requirements and elective courses into your plans as you proceed.  Generally speaking, it is best to spread your lower division GE requirements over the several quarters of your freshman and sophomore years, linking courses, as your time constraints and their availability allow, to provide for a balanced and interesting conjunction of courses.  Your faculty advisor can help you with these selections.  Your advisor can also help with your selection of a minor, if you wish to complete one, as well as with selection of free electives independent of a minor which might help round out a comprehensive course of study.  Please feel free to take advantage of his/her expertise in these areas.

Emphasis Areas:  Presently, we are offering two areas of concentrated study at the upper division level: Creative Writing: Fiction and Creative Writing: Poetry.  These 20-unit packages MAY be taken as part of the student’s 36-unit 300- and 400-level elective requirement.

Creative Writing: Fiction               ENGL 387 Fiction Writing (4)

                                                       ENGL 487 Adv. Creative Writing: Fiction (4) (4)

                               One 400-level modern or contemporary ENGL literature course in fiction (4)

                               Senior project in a work or works of fiction (4)

Creative Writing: Poetry                ENGL 388

                                                       ENGL 488 Adv. Creative Writing: Poetry (4) (4)

                            One 400-level modern or contemporary ENGL literature course in poetry (4)

                            Senior project in a work or works of poetry (4)

Students not selecting one of the emphasis area options above will shape an upper-division course of study with the aid of their faculty advisors and will complete a 4-unit Senior Project course in one of their last two quarters.
 

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