Undergraduate Programs

The undergraduate major program equips students with the skills and concepts that make the English major an asset in the modern world. In addition to literary analysis in both traditional and contemporary forms, the major helps students explore historical and cultural developments and invites them into the worlds of textual studies and digital humanities. All courses at all levels of the program encourage students to become clear and effective writers.

The traditional strengths of the Department include a strong writing program; both survey and specialized courses ranging from Old English to contemporary writing; and a vital and growing creative writing concentration. Required courses in literary theory and multiculturalism ensure that the all majors become aware of the most recent developments in our discipline. In addition to required courses, the major includes five electives. Students are encouraged to use those electives to focus on such areas as world literature in English and cultural studies. Students may also take courses in advanced writing or creative writing and pursue internship opportunities.

THE ENGLISH MAJOR: SEQUENCE OF COURSES AND REQUIREMENTS

Please note: As the discipline of English studies has evolved over the course of the past decade, the English department at Loyola has adjusted the requirements for the major. If you first entered Loyola University Chicago as a freshman or a transfer student before Spring 2001 (regardless of when you declared your English major), then you may graduate under the 1997 major or the current major.

Twelve courses (36 hours), of which no more than four courses (12 hours) may be taken at the 200-level (ENGL 270 and above) and of which at least one must be among those designated by the department as "multicultural." Only courses ranked as English 270 or higher will count toward the major. The Advanced Seminar is considered the capstone of the major. These courses must also meet the following criteria:

Literary Theory (to be fulfilled by English 354, though some substitutions may be possible with written permission)
Shakespeare (to be fulfilled by English 326; note that English 274 will not fulfill this requirement for English majors)
Advanced Seminar (English 390, which is open to students with junior or senior standing; students may take an additional 390 if they wish)
Three courses in literature in English before 1900, including:
- At least one course prior to 1700 to be selected from English 297, 304, 320, 321, 322, 323, 325, 327, 328, 329 and 365
- At least one course after 1700 to be selected from English 298, 305, 330, 333, 335, 338, 340, 343, 375, 376 and 380
One course in literature in English since 1900, to be selected from English 278, 344, 345, 348, 349, 351, 361, 367, 371, 377, 385 and 388

General Note: Depending on the specific subject matter specified for a given section, the following courses may meet any of the historical period distribution requirements described above: English 282, 306, 307, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 359, 360, 362, 366, 368, 369, 372, 379, 381, 382, 384, 389 and 395. This makes it particularly crucial that students work with the advisor in planning their semester-by-semester schedule (see Advising and Preregistration).

Five elective courses

Concentrations within the Major
The department offers several "concentrations" that allow students to use their electives within the major to specialize in areas of current interest in English studies. Each concentration has its own requirements, which may include the option of taking a course from a neighboring discipline. Students electing to take a concentration must consult with their academic advisor and file a brief declaration form with the director of undergraduate programs at the earliest possible date. Taking a concentration is not a requirement for completing the major.

The concentrations available will vary from year to year, though students who declare a concentration will be guaranteed the opportunity to complete that concentration by the time they graduate. At the present, the department offers the following concentration opportunities:

The American Studies Concentration:This concentration permits students to experience the range of issues, topics, approaches and interdisciplinarity of the long-established field of American studies.
379: Studies in American Literature
381: American Literature in a Comparative Context
382: Studies in American Culture
384: Studies in African-American Literature

Students must select any two from the above list of four American field courses. Students must select a third course in American studies offered in another discipline. The department will list courses in other departments that treat American topics so that the student will have guidance in selecting that third course. The student's academic advisor will give final approval.
The Cultural Studies Concentration:This concentration allows students to focus on questions central to the theory and practice of cultural studies. What are the relationships between "high" and "low" culture? What are the relationships between literature and other forms of media (print, electronic, filmic, etc.)? How does culture circulate (and circulate among) identities based on race, class, gender, sexuality or nation? What forms of power and resistance are possible within and through culture? The concentration seeks to enhance students' understanding of literature within a broader cultural field, while challenging the assumptions that define what constitutes a "literary" text. Combining theory and material analysis, the concentration provides skills enabling students to read the world they encounter beyond the classroom.
358: Cultural Theory
359: High and Low Culture
360: Topics in the Study of Culture
382: Studies in American Culture

Students must take ENGL 358 (Cultural Theory). In addition, they will select two other courses from the list above. With the approval of their academic advisors, student-concentrators may substitute other 300-level English courses when those courses focus on topics in cultural studies. With the approval of their academic advisors, they may also substitute one course offered by another department (for example, anthropology/sociology or communication).
The Drama Concentration:This concentration allows students to specialize in the study of dramatic literature and theatre, ranging from the Greeks to the present, and to address in a variety of contexts (for example, ancient, Renaissance, modern, contemporary) the perennial theoretical issues raised by the drama. Such issues include the relationships between text and performance, performance and audience, actor and part, and theatre and culture. In addition to offering students a great variety of courses, the drama concentration will draw on the rich resources of the Chicago theatre.
327: Studies in Shakespeare
365: Drama: Medieval and Renaissance
366: Drama: Restoration to Twentieth Century
367: Modern Drama
368: Studies in Drama
369: Women in Drama

In addition to ENGL 326, the Shakespeare course required of all English majors, students in the drama concentration may take any three courses from the list above. ENGL 309 (Irish Literature) or ENGL 379 (Studies in American Literature) may be substituted when they are offered with a focus on drama. With the approval of the student-concentrator's academic advisor, one course offered by another department (for example, theatre or classical studies) may also be substituted.
The Modernist Studies Concentration. Modernism today is a rapidly changing and expanding field of study, as new critical approaches, new canons and even "new" (global/minority) literatures enlarge and alter the meaning of modernism. Cultural studies, feminist criticism, multiculturalism and other forces have set familiar writers and themes in fresh contexts and have deepened our understanding of both modernity and the modernist response to it. Once conceived as a high-aesthetic phenomenon manifested in the experimental work of a few select artists, modernism now seems inextricable from broader cultural developments: the ascent of mass culture; the empowerment of women in political and everyday life; the rise of modern psychology and philosophy and the changing notions of subjectivity that depended on them; and the advent of cultural relativism. Students in the modernist studies concentration will have the opportunity to explore the issues, contexts, and approaches that have created the "New Modernism" of current scholarship.
345: English Literature: The Twentieth Century
344: Studies in Modernism
361: Modern Poetry
367: Modern Drama
371: The Modern Novel
377: American Literature 1914-1945

Students must take ENGL 344 (Studies in Modernism). In addition, they will select two other courses from the list above. With the approval of their academic advisors, student-concentrators may substitute other 300-level English courses when those courses focus on modernist authors or topics. With the approval of their academic advisors, they may also substitute one course offered by another department (for example, history or modern languages and literatures).
The Feminist and Gender Studies Concentration:This concentration allows students to take courses in feminist and gender theory and methodology and to explore historically specific conceptions of gender and sexuality in literary works within and across literary periods and traditions. Courses offered address such topics as sex and gender roles in historical periods (Medieval, Romantic, Victorian); sex and politics in contemporary British, American and world literature; the cultural politics of sexual identity; feminism and women's literature; and feminist and queer theory.
306: Studies in Women Writers
307: Topics in Feminist and Gender Studies
369: Women in Drama

Students must take three approved 300-level courses. ENGL 306 (Studies in Women Writers) and ENGL 307 (Topics in Feminist and Gender Studies) may be taken twice for credit if the course content changes. With the approval of the student-concentrator's academic advisor, one course offered by another department or program (notably WOST 397: Special Topics in Women's Studies) may be substituted.
The World Literature in English Concentration:This concentration offers students the opportunity to study literature written in English by authors from outside Britain and the U.S. and by authors within those nations that belong to diaspora communities. Students fulfilling this concentration will explore how such literatures, and their accompanying theories, revise our assumptions about "English literature." This concentration offers courses in literature, culture and theory that engage questions about nationalism, globalization, Third World feminism, diasporic experience, political resistance and cultural power in a transnational context.
381: American Literature in a Comparative Context
312: Studies in World Literature in English
313: Border Literatures
314: African Literatures in English
315: South Asian Literatures in English
316: Caribbean Literatures in English

Students must select three courses from the list above. ENGL 312 (Studies in World Literature in English) may be taken twice for credit if the course content changes.

Note: The preceding concentrations within the general English major program are complemented by the creative writing concentration.

THE ENGLISH MINOR

The English minor consists of six courses (18 hours) ranked as English 270 or higher, three of which must be ranked above English 300.

FIVE-YEAR B.A./M.A. DEGREE

Beginning Fall 2010 the English Department offers a five-year combined B.A./M.A. degree (which, in some circumstances, can be completed in 4 ½ years). Graduates of this program will be well prepared to pursue a Ph.D. in English, to apply to a professional school, or to seek a teaching position at the post-secondary level. The combined degree will allow promising and talented undergraduates to move quickly through the M.A. degree.

The new program offers our best undergraduates access to the considerable strengths of our strong and highly-regarded graduate programs. It will give these English majors a significant opportunity to test their skills and develop professional insights, leading to stronger applications when it is time for them to be considered by Ph.D. programs elsewhere or for post-secondary teaching positions. While completing the equivalent of the requirements for the B.A. in English, students in the five-year program will receive significantly more training in research skills and methods than their counterparts who complete only the B.A., by virtue of their graduate courses in general and of the Introduction to Graduate Studies (ENGL 400) in particular. They may also fulfill the requirement for the undergraduate capstone course (ENGL 390) with a graduate seminar.

Students in the B.A./M.A. program have two electives at the graduate level, which may be used to take courses in another department or an interdisciplinary program that offers a graduate degree, such as History, Philosophy, or Women’s Studies and Gender Studies. The new M.A. in Digital Humanities also provides opportunities for students in the B.A./M.A. program to take courses in textual scholarship.

Admission Requirements and Application Procedures

To apply to the B.A./M.A. program, a student must be (1) a declared undergraduate English major; (2) be a junior at Loyola University Chicago based on credit hours earned; (3) have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 for course work at Loyola; and (4) have earned a 3.7 GPA in at least five completed English courses at Loyola, three of which must be at the 300 level.

A student should apply for admission to this program by March 15^th of her/his junior year through Loyola’s online graduate application. Transfer students may apply at the end of their second semester as a junior, or once they have met criterion #4 above. The application requires a writing sample, a one-page statement of purpose, and the names of three Loyola English faculty members who can provide a recommendation via e-mail to the directors of the Graduate and Undergraduate Programs in English. (Transcripts will already be available through LOCUS, so applicants do not need to provide those. Nor do applicants need to take the GRE exams.)

Students accepted into the five-year program will remain undergraduate students through their senior year, even though they will be taking graduate-level courses. They will be officially admitted to the graduate program in the summer following receipt of their B.A. degree, or the next fall if they do not enroll in summer courses. As undergraduates, students may take up to 9 credit hours of graduate work, which will count toward their undergraduate degree as well.

Admission to the program is highly competitive and will depend upon a positive review of credentials by the department's Graduate Program Committee. The Graduate Program Director will coordinate this program, working with the Director of Undergraduate Programs to advise students on their applications and to assure there is no significant overlap between courses completed at the undergraduate and those at the graduate levels.

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