Goals and Requirements for Majors and Minors

Goals for Majors and Minors

In successfully completing a major in English, students will have:

• clearer understanding of the ways literature at once articulates and reflects social, political, and cultural contexts;
• deeper aesthetic appreciation of poems, drama, fiction, nonfiction, and/or films as manifestations of imagination;
• familiarity with the methods, theories, and issues of literary criticism;
• the ability to advocate critical responses in classroom discussion and to listen to and consider the critical analyses of others;
• the ability to analyze narrative and literary motifs and to present those understandings in critical papers; and
• an appreciation and critical understanding of Shakespeare’s plays as literature and performance.

Goals for the Creative Writing Major

In completing courses for the creative writing major, students will develop and deepen these abilities and understandings:

• the ability to read as a writer and critic, and the understanding that this combined ability is crucial to successful writer’s work;
• an understanding of the range of precedent and example represented by literary traditions both contemporary and historical, and an ability to situate one’s own efforts in relation to these traditions;
• the ability to complete literary works in more than one genre, and the understanding of genre and craft essential to this effort;
• an understanding of the usefulness and limitations of criticism of work-in-progress, and the ability to give, receive, and make appropriate use of constructive comment;
• the ability to interrogate and develop one’s own imagination, habits of mind and habits of craft, in order to improve and extend one’s artistic capacities; and
• the ability to generate, revise, and effectively order a booklength manuscript of original work.

In successfully completing a major in Creative Writing, students have:

• Writing skills in a variety of literary genres and familiarity with the craft of writing in its formal aspects.
• Substantial experience with group discussion and writing work-shops and the ability to benefit from workshop discussion.
• Broad familiarity with literature, with emphasis on English and American but not excluding world literature, and recognition of the influence of literary precursors on contemporary writing.
• The ability to critique a manuscript-in-progress in a constructive way and apply editing skills at each stage of the writing process.
• Familiarity with various stages of the writing process, from gathering of material and free writing to revision and completion of a final polished manuscript.
• The ability to complete successfully a polished, sustained manuscript in the genre of a student's choice and to present that manuscript in an appropriate format.

Requirements for Majors and Minors

The English and creative writing majors are available as bachelor of arts degrees only, as defined in the section on degree requirements for all majors in this course catalog.

For a major in English: 40 credits plus 2 portfolio credits (279 and 479). The 40 credits must include 260, 275, either 350 or 351, 486 and 16 credits at or above the 300 level (with at least one course in U.S. and one course in British literature). A further 8 credits may be taken at any level. A maximum of 8 credits in creative writing may be counted toward the English major.

For a minor in English: 20 credits, with at least one course at the 300 level. Either 260 or 275 strongly recommended. An English minor may include 4 credits in creative writing.

For a major in Creative Writing: 40 credits plus 2 portfolio credits (279 and 479). The 40 credits must include 16 credits in creative writing courses; 20 credits in literature, including 275 and at least one course in U.S. literature; and 485. One 3-5 credit course in an allied field (arts or mass communication) may be included in the total of 40 credits. Creative Writing courses may be chosen from the following: 200, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321. ENGL 316, 317, 318, 319, and 321 may be repeated once for credit. (Independent study courses may be substituted at the department’s discretion.) 120 may be used as part of the total with permission of the department. Strongly recommended in addition to course work: internship in a related field.

For a Creative Writing Minor: 20 credits in creative writing courses. A creative writing minor may include the senior thesis (485) as part of that 20, provided the student notify the creative writing advisor during the academic year preceding composition of the thesis.

For Oregon Initial Teaching Licensure in Language Arts, a student must complete the Linfield Teacher Education Program requirements. In order to complete these requirements, a student must begin taking education courses no later than his/her sophomore year. The student must be advised by an Education Department faculty member each semester prior to registration.