Fulfillment of the English Major requires a total of 10 courses in the Department of English and Comparative Literature.

Any student wishing to receive honors for his or her English Major must (1) have a GPA of 3.65 or higher in the courses used to fulfill the English Major and (2) submit a senior essay by the deadline in early April (see the Senior Essay Program section of this website). Submitting a senior essay is necessary, though not sufficient, for a student to receive honors for his or her English Major. By College rule, the department can grant honors to no more than 10 percent of the College English majors.

One of the 10 courses used to fulfill the English Major must be Literary Texts, Critical Methods (ENGL W3001), along with accompanying seminar section ENGL W3001 (3001 and 3011 are each a part of the same three-credit course). Unlike all other courses, which are generally open to all students, W3001 is open to only sophomores, juniors, and seniors. All English Majors must take W3001 before they graduate, but otherwise it does not matter when they take it.

Among the remaining 9 courses used to fulfill the English Major, the following distribution requirements must be satisfied:

PERIOD DISTRIBUTION
3 courses dealing (primarily) with periods before 1800
Restriction: only one course in Shakespeare may be used toward this requirement

GENRE DISTRIBUTION
1 course in each of the following 3 generic categories: — poetry — prose fiction / narrative — drama or film
GEOGRAPHY DISTRIBUTION
1 course in each of the following 3 geographical categories: — British— American— comparative / global

Note: A Single Course May Fulfill More Than One Distribution Requirement
For example, a Shakespeare lecture fulfills all 3 following requirements at once:
— a pre-1800 course and— a drama course and— a British course

Course Distribution Lists for the current year’s courses, as well as for past years, are available at this website (see sidebar links); hardcopies are also available in the department office, 602 Philosophy Hall. These lists indicate which requirements are fulfilled by which departmental courses (as well as by which Barnard courses and summer courses). No course may be used to fulfill a requirement if that course does not appear under that category in the course distribution list—unless it is approved by the D.U.S.

English Major WORKSHEET.