English

Major

Why choose an English major at CMU?

The English major/minor affords students the opportunity to develop—through reading, writing,and engagement with various kinds of contemporary media and technologies—the crucial, interrelated and highly sought after skills of thinking, analysis, evaluation and creativity.

Students will work closely with award-winning, innovative researchers and faculty whose expertise ranges from Composition and Rhetoric, Creative Writing, British/American/World/Diversity Literature and Linguistics to Comparative Media Studies, Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Game Studies and Popular Culture Studies.

Classes are small and student-focused. In them, students will interact with each other through guided workshops; experiment with different reading, writing and analytic techniques; and expand their skills and knowledge through guided discussion, active learning and other cutting-edge learning modes and activities.

Students also have access to a range of exceptional resources and opportunities, including internships, speaker series, student organizations, CLASS’s career Hub, CMU’s Adobe Digital Campus, CMU Library’s research collections and study abroad.

The English Major can be supplemented by an undergraduate certificate in Creative Writing and/or it can be expanded through the Accelerated Masters in Creative Writing. Moreover, an English major or minor pairs well with nearly any other major and minor, for it gives students skills that are necessary and desirable in many fields, offering varied pathways to a range of careers or further study.

What will you study as an English major?

Our program introduces students to the fields of linguistics, literature, diversity studies and writing (Professional and technical writing, as well as creative writing). It then extends students’ skills and knowledge with courses that develop their abilities to work with texts, use language as a tool for analysis and/or personal and creative expression and situate themselves, their studies and their work within the global and cultural contexts of the contemporary world.

As an English major, you will:

• Immerse yourself in stories across time, place and culture through a wide range of genres and media.
• Enhance your creativity by writing your own stories.
• Develop the power of your mind through focused textual analysis.
• Fix close attention on language and its workings.
• Grow your capacity to express your ideas clearly, effectively and persuasively in writing.

Highlights of the English major

Study with award-winning faculty. Submit your fiction or nonfiction to our literary journal, Central Review. Attend readings by prominent poets and fiction writers through the Meijer Writers Series. Gather with faculty and other students to chat about favorite books or read together on the quad. Apply for scholarships and submit your work to contests designated and designed for students of English.

As a student of English literature, you'll:

• Build your portfolio and resume: Work as a Writing Center Consultant or find an internship through the CLASS HUB.
• Grow your network: Find a community of writers by joining student groups such as Fiction Collective, Poets Central, Word Hammer or the Writing Circle. Join the English Honors Society, Sigma Tau Delta, to connect with students around the country and develop campus and community events (such as Banned Book awareness).
• Lean into your passions and show what YOU can do: Present your work at conferences such as M/MLA, NCTE, MiUCA—or just attend with faculty mentors.

Up to nine credits in the Creative Writing Minor, the Creative Writing Undergraduate Certificate or the Technical Writing Undergraduate Certificate can be counted as elective credits toward your English major.