English Major (BA)

Requirements
Sample Plan
Quick Facts (PDF)
Faculty and Staff
English and Linguistics Department
Contact

As an English major, you cultivate your expressive skills as you learn to think critically, write fluidly, and communicate effectively. Courses in the program explore language, literature, and culture across the globe. The ability to write powerfully and read perceptively is becoming increasingly important in a digital media age, and this highly adaptable field of study equips you with a versatile set of tools and skills you can transfer to multiple career fields.

Apply
Learn more

Career Paths

Professor and students

Potential Careers

An undergraduate degree in English provides excellent training for a broad range of careers. Recent graduates are working as digital marketers, attorneys, teachers, and novelists.

Students

Continue Your Education in English

You can complete both the Bachelor of Arts in English and the Master of Arts in English in just five years. Teaching, administrative, and editorial assistantships are available to help support full-time graduate studies.

Featured Courses

This course explores a range of texts that fall into the broad category of “graphic texts.” We’ll consider some of the different terms that have been applied to these creative forms – including comics, comix, comic art, sequential art, graphic novels, graphic journalism, and graphic memoirs – and the implications of those various terms.  We will also take a look at some closely related forms: webcomics, manga, and anime. We will discuss issues or challenges these various forms present to their readers and creators and investigate topics that relate to or inform our reading of them.  How do we read these visual texts differently than we read verbal texts?  In what ways are they similar?  What do they offer that makes them so appealing to a wide audience?

This course explores many of the choices filmmakers make in creating their works of art, with the goal of deepening our experience with and understanding of film. You’ll establish a working film studies vocabulary, learn about who does what on a film production, and consider various approaches to film analysis. Among other topics, we’ll discuss the following: How do films create powerful experiences for viewers? What is special about film as an art form? What are some ways of waking up to a deeper experience with film? What are some of the decisions filmmakers have to arrive at in making the kinds of films they want to make?

How are race and ethnicity presented in the stories we tell about ourselves? In this course students will analyze literature from the latter quarter of the 20th century into the new millennium to trace how representations of race and ethnicity are treated in the United States. Students will look at the fiction of acclaimed contemporary authors such as Toni Morrison, Gish Jen, Helena María Viramontes, and Jonathan Safran Foer. Graphic art by Art Spiegelman and drama by Anna Deavere Smith will expand our exploration into other forms of storytelling. Examining theory alongside these texts, students will discover how the structure and content of these texts respond to the cultural changes from the Civil Rights Movement to the present.

Mindful Reading, Writing, and Research examines how applying the tenets of mindfulness to daily life, including academic practices, can help participants lower stress, reap more enjoyment from their day, and experience general better well-being.  The class specifically looks at the foundations of mindfulness, its leading theorists and practitioners, how it impacts both the body and the mind, and how it can be applied to various aspects of life:  reading, writing, eating, digital devices/practices, and more.  The course culminates with a self-study wherein students apply mindfulness practices to an aspect of their lives based on a review of current literature, collect data over the course of several weeks, and present their findings informally to their peers.

Student quote: “I took this class because I needed another three credits, and I have to say it is one of the top three most important classes I have ever taken during my college career. I am able to manage my stress better and I have never been more calm during a semester…It was also so amazing to hear how this course greatly impacted others in our class…This class positively impacted everyone involved, which was so amazing to see.”

This course will help you explore the many career pathways open to you as a liberal arts student; teach you how to communicate the knowledge and skills gained in pursuit of an English BA degree to future employers; reflect on the factors that contribute to career satisfaction; learn about your interests, skills, values, and strengths through assessment tools; and draft and receive feedback on resumes, CVs, as well as gain preparation for interviews.

Student Opportunities

MAE student

Internships

English majors at Truman participate in internships all across the country and abroad. The practical, hands-on experience you gain through an internship can propel you above the competition in the job market.

Student

Literary Journals and Publications

You can demonstrate your writing skills through several unique opportunities at Truman including a student-edited literary magazine and a student-produced newspaper.

On-Campus Opportunities

Alumni Spotlight

Corinnne Brinkerhoff's passion for creative writing, TV production, and acting propelled her into a career as a successful TV writer and producer in Hollywood.

Explore Related Programs

Majors

Minors

Graduate Studies

Explore All Academic Programs
Schedule A Visit
Apply