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 |
|
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.