Bachelor of Arts in English University of South Carolina, USA

The Bachelor of Arts in English major offers four distinct areas of study, designed to advance skills in writing, interpretation and critical thinking:

• The general major offers students broad and diverse knowledge in literary and cultural studies (e.g., from Shakespeare and Toni Morrison to comic books and digital writing), along with advanced skills in writing and critical analysis.
• The writing concentration lets students work with distinguished authors in multiple genres to hone their skills in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and professional writing.
• The secondary education concentration prepares students to teach English at the secondary level through the completion of the B.A. degree with the option of completing a Master of Teaching (M.T.) in the fifth year.
• The intensive major is ideal for those planning to pursue graduate study in fields like literature, creative writing, rhetoric, composition or cultural studies and includes a senior seminar or thesis.

With any of these tracks, students can earn a degree with Distinction in English as well as a degree with Leadership Distinction.

A B.A. in English pairs well with majors and minors across disciplines and can provide beneficial skills to students exploring a variety of traditional and innovative career paths. Students learn theoretical and critical approaches to interpretation and research, as well as competence in critical thinking and written expression. English students have gone on to careers in teaching, publishing, public relations, law, politics, journalism, library and information science, and the arts as well as digital media and information technology, management and administration, business, medicine and health care.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of canonical and non-canonical texts, covering a range of periods, using current theoretical and critical approaches to literary and cultural studies.
• Students will demonstrate competence in critical thinking by learning how to acquire and evaluate information in order to form compelling analyses and reach well-justified conclusions.
• Students will demonstrate competence in written expression by learning the principles of grammar and composition and argument.
• Students will demonstrate basic linguistic knowledge (such as knowledge of the nature of human language, dialects, the development of grammar of the English language, and issues involving usage and standard English.)