Contents
Catalog Links

English - B.A. Degree

Department of English
Office: 278 Fenton Hall

(716) 673-3125

Bruce Simon, Chairperson

Email: english.department@fredonia.edu

Website: https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/college-liberal-arts-sciences/english

  • The major in English requires a minimum of 42 credit hours of courses selected according to the outline given below. It also requires the completion of an e-portfolio. In special circumstances, a particular course requirement may be waived and another course substituted. Students seeking a waiver of a particular course requirement should consult their advisors and complete a Degree Exception Request form; approval for such waivers is granted by the English Department chairperson or designee.
  • All students must earn a grade of C or higher in all courses required for completion of the major.
  • Majors must take one course in literature written before 1800 from among ENGL 291, ENGL 389, ENGL 408, ENED 413. 
  • A course in the Theoretical Approaches category is a prerequisite for ENGL 400.
  • No more than 6 credit hours earned in any combination of internships and independent studies may be counted toward the major.
  • All English majors must complete at least 45 credit hours at Fredonia in order to graduate, of which at least 21 credit hours must be taken within the major.
  • All English majors must complete at least 45 upper-level credit hours in order to graduate, of which at least 24 credit hours must be taken at or above the 300 level within the major.
  • Only Fredonia Foundations courses ENGL 227, 260, 274, and 296 will count toward the English major. 
  • All English majors must complete a separate minor or second major in another discipline, in creative writing, in writing and rhetoric, or in one of the interdisciplinary programs. Students choosing to minor in creative writing or writing and rhetoric would need more than 120 credit hours to reach 66 credit hours outside of English; students with these minors may count up to six (6) credit hours from them toward the major.
  • All majors must complete at least 66 credit hours outside the major in order to graduate. Credits earned for ENGL 100 (Craft of Writing) do not count toward the major, but do count as credit hours outside the major. Credits transferred as ENGL 099 do not count toward the major, but do count as hours outside the major.

Major Requirements

Foundations Courses:

ENGL 106Introduction to Literary Studies

3
ENGL 213Texts and Contexts

3
Total Credit Hours:6

Literature/Textual Studies Courses:

Three (3) credit hours from each of the following categories:

Genres

These courses examine the development and cultural importance of one or more specific types of literature or popular culture and help students connect form, conventions, and style to economic, political, and social circumstances.

ENGL 207Drama and Film

3
ENGL 209Novels and Tales

3
ENGL 215Detective Fiction

3
ENGL 216Science Fiction

3
ENGL 217Fantasy Fiction

3
ENGL 280Introduction to Film

3
ENGL 315The Gothic Novel

3
ENGL 318Studies in Poetry

3
ENGL 321Contemporary Drama

3
ENGL 329Graphic Literature

3
ENGL 330The Contemporary Novel

3
ENGL 333Environmental Literature

3
ENGL 405Page and Stage

1.5-6
ENED 355Adolescent Literature

3
Total Credit Hours:3

Literature and Identities

These courses explore the ways literature both reflects and shapes individual and group ideas of self and community, addressing issues like gender, sexuality, religious and cultural heritage, social class, race, and profession.

ENGL 240Introduction to African American Literature and Culture

3
ENGL 241Introduction to Latino/a Literature

3
ENGL 242American Indian Literature

3
ENGL 296American Identities

3
ENGL 304Latina Literature and Cultural Studies

3
ENGL 314Women Writers

3
ENGL 331American Literary Roots

3
ENGL 340Black Women Writers

3
ENGL 342African American Autobiography

3
ENGL 344Contemporary Multiethnic American Literature

3
ENGL 390Jewish Literature

3
ENGL 396Russian Literature

3
Total Credit Hours:3

Literary History I (Broad)

These survey and landmarks courses enable students to develop a big picture of how changes in literary styles, movements, and modes relate to their changing cultural contexts.

ENGL 204Survey of English Literature

3
ENGL 206Survey of American Literature

3
ENGL 301American Literary Landmarks

3
ENGL 302British Literary Landmarks

3
ENGL 422English Novel I

3
ENGL 424English Novel II

3
Total Credit Hours:3

Literary History II (Focused)

These courses delve deeply into one period or movement of literature in order to closely examine how writers of a time address important social and political issues through art.

ENGL 310Medieval Literature

3
ENGL 312Renaissance Literature

3
ENGL 313Scribbling Women

3
ENGL 316The Early 17th Century

3
ENGL 319Modern Drama

3
ENGL 320The Restoration and 18th Century

3
ENGL 322The Romantic Age

3
ENGL 326Victorian Literature

3
ENGL 327Modern European Literature

3
ENGL 328Modern British Literature

3
ENGL 332American Romanticism in Literature

3
ENGL 334Realism/Naturalism in American Literature

3
ENGL 335Modern American Poetry

3
ENGL 336Modernism in American Literature

3
ENGL 338Contemporary American Literature

3
ENGL 339Contemporary American Poetry

3
ENGL 341Harlem Renaissance

3
ENGL 397Discourses of the Enlightenment

3
ENGL 416Elizabethan Drama

3
ENGL 418Restoration/18th Century Drama

3
ENGL 430Bloomsbury Modernism

3
Total Credit Hours:3

World Literature

In our increasingly global society, engagement with the writings of different cultures is essential to intercultural communication, understanding, and empathy. These courses offer students the chance to travel literarily across the globe and to examine different perspectives, aesthetics, and writing styles.

ENGL 205Epic and Romance

3
ENGL 211World Poetry

3
ENGL 291The Bible as Literature

3
ENGL 300European Literary Landmarks

3
ENGL 303Global Literary Landmarks

3
ENGL 306Middle Eastern Literatures

3
ENGL 386Women in Global Cinema

4
ENGL 389Greek and Roman Literature

3
ENGL 391Romanticism in World Literature

3
ENGL 392Asian Literature

3
ENGL 393Literatures of Colonization and Globalization

3
ENGL 394Japanese Literature

3
ENGL 395Non-Western Literature

3
ENGL 408Arthurian Literature

3
ENGL 425Irish Literature

3
Total Credit Hours:3

Major Author

These courses probe the lives, works, and impact of one or two specific authors. Students can see how life circumstances shape a writer's craft, themes, reception, and influences.

ENGL 387American Film Directors

4
ENGL 410Chaucer

3
ENGL 412Early Shakespeare

3
ENGL 414Later Shakespeare

3
ENGL 420Milton

3
ENGL 427Major Writers

3
ENED 413Teaching Shakespeare

3
Total Credit Hours:3

Theoretical and Rhetorical Approaches Courses:

Nine (9) credit hours from the following categories:

Theoretical Approaches (minimum of 3 credits)

These courses teach students to bring new questions and lenses to their explorations of literature and the world.

ENGL 324Myth and Symbol in Literature

3
ENGL 343Queer Studies in Literature

3
ENGL 345Critical Reading

3
ENGL 346History of Literary Criticism

3
ENGL 348Modern Literary Criticism

3
ENGL 349Theories of Gender

3
ENGL 380Film: Silence to Sound

4
ENGL 381Narrative Film After 1940

4
ENGL 446Contemporary Literary Theory

3
ENED 357Literacy/Language/Learning Theory

3
Total Credit Hours:3

Rhetorical Writing (minimum of 3 credits)

These writing-intensive courses (maximum enrollment of 20) offer practical strategies, methods, and tools for developing clear, accurate, and effective writing for a variety of genres, contexts, audiences, and purposes.

ENGL 366Opinion in Journalism

3
ENGL 367Advanced Composition

3
ENGL 369Argumentative Writing

3
ENGL 372Grammar and Style for Writers

3
ENGL 374Writing and Social Change

3
ENGL 375Writing for the Professions

3
ENGL 377Academic Writing

3
ENGL 378Advanced Writing I: The Essay

3
ENGL 379Writing in a Digital World

3
ENGL 455Writing Tutors

3
Total Credit Hours:3

and

an additional Theoretical Approaches or Rhetorical Writing course

3
Total Credit Hours:3

Elective Courses:

Total Credit Hours:6

Capstone Experience:

A course in the Theoretical Approaches category is a prerequisite for ENGL 400.
ENGL 400Senior Seminar

3
ENGL 401Portfolio Completion

0
Total Credit Hours:3

 

Total Credit Hours: 42