English Undergraduate Handbook: Charting Your Course, Choosing Your Courses

One of the great—and sometimes overwhelming—things about college is that it is what you make it. Taking ownership over your degree can help make sure you develop in the directions that are most important to you. Figuring out where to start building your degree can feel difficult, especially when looking at hundreds of possible options. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you plan your courses:

What Is Required for My Degree?

Each degree has specific requirements. There is always some leeway in those requirements, but if you don't know what the requirements are, it can be easy to get lost on your way to graduation. There are two main ways to look at degree requirements:

General Degree Requirements

The undergraduate catalog is a one-stop shop for most of the general information you need. Here, you can find degree plans, plans of study, core curriculum requirements, course descriptions and university policies. All of this information can be helpful in your time here.

However, to get information specifically about your degree requirements, you'll want to focus on degree plans (which classes to take) and plans of study (when to take them).

Degree Plans

Think of a degree plan as a checklist of every course you need to complete, and every requirement you need to satisfy, to graduate with your desired degree. Degree plans for English degrees include:

• Double Major: Secondary Education and English (7-12) BA
  • The general requirements of the Secondary Education major are at the top of this page; scroll down to find the requirements for the English-specific double major.
• English BA

Plans of Study

Plans of study are proposed schedules to ensure you fulfill all of your major degree requirements in four years. These are not set in stone; you may end up taking courses in a completely different order for a variety of reasons. However, they are here to guide you and to show one possible way to fit all of your requirements into four years of college. Plans of study for Literature and Languages include:

• Double Major: Secondary Education and English (7-12) BA
• English BA

Personalized Degree Requirements

While all of this generalized information can be useful, sometimes you need to know exactly which requirements you have already met, which you’re meeting now and what you still need to do. After all, how can you plan if you don't know where you need to go?

That's where DegreeWorks comes in. DegreeWorks provides a personalized view of:

• Degree requirements (including information on which ones you have and haven't met)
• Completed coursework (and how that coursework counts towards your degree)
• Current enrollment (and how your current classes count towards your degree)
• Percentage of progress toward graduation

Visit the Registrar's page on DegreeWorks to learn more.

What Kinds of Courses Do I Want to Take?

Although degree plans, plans of study and DegreeWorks all tell you what kinds of courses you need to take, it helps to know how different courses are classified so you can choose what interests you most.

At East Texas A&M, English courses generally follow three sub-disciplines:

Linguistics

• Fascinated by grammar? Curious about how languages form and change over time? Interested in the connection between language and culture? Then linguistics courses are for you! Our linguistics faculty and courses cover a range of topics but specialize in:
  • Teaching English to speakers of other languages
  • Understanding the mechanics behind artificial intelligence
  • Analyzing how humor is built through language

Literature

• Expand your knowledge and feed your passion for literature as you immerse yourself in the captivating world of literary scholarship, with opportunities to contribute to the ever-evolving narrative of human expression through words. Our faculty specialize in:
  • British literature from the medieval period to today
  • American literature from colonial times to the present
  • World literature (especially from eastern Europe and Korea)
  • Children's literature
  • Film
  • And more!

Writing and Rhetoric

• Language is a powerful tool which can shape beliefs, perpetuate inequalities, challenge power structures and foster meaningful connections. In our rhetoric and writing courses, you can engage in a variety of research projects, analyze writing of all kinds and find and refine your unique writing voice. Our faculty specialize in:
  • Digital writing (especially podcasting)
  • The teaching of writing
  • Cultural rhetorics
  • Studying how disability and accessibility impact discourse

English majors are required to take a set number of classes in each area, so it's good to know which courses fall in which areas. Moreover, if you find you like a particular area, you may find other classes you may like in that area.

Electives

Even with all of these requirements in place, one type of course that is required in almost all degrees at ETAMU is electives. Electives give you flexibility to explore topics that match your interests and goals, both personal and professional. As you choose electives, consider:

• Subjects you enjoy studying: Even if you're an English major, if you love studying the cosmos or music, you can leverage electives to learn more about these interests.
• Skills you want to strengthen: Maybe you want to go into a career that requires speaking in front of people; you can take a communications course as an elective to strengthen that skill!
• Career interests: English majors follow many different career paths. You can use electives to develop additional skills you need for your specific career goals.
• Graduate or professional school goals: As odd as it may sound, many law school and medical school graduates were first English majors. If you are interested in graduate or professional schools that require different knowledge than, say, an English graduate program would, electives can be a great way to build that knowledge.

Which Courses Do I Need to Take First?

ENG 1301 and ENG 1302 are prerequisites for most English courses and should be taken in your first year, if possible. Once you have passed these courses, you can generally take English courses in whichever order you prefer. Some courses may look like they should be taken in a certain order (e.g., Advanced Survey in American Literature I and Advanced Survey in American Literature II), but this is not a requirement.

The only courses that must be completed in a certain order are Capstone Sequence courses:

• ENG 303: Introduction to English Studies
• ENG 399: Research Methods in English Studies
• ENG 499: English Capstone
  • Students completing the Double Major in Secondary Education should take ENG 300: Teaching English, instead of ENG 499, as the final capstone.

Course Numbers Explained

So, if courses generally do not need to be taken in a specific order, how do you figure out when to take what? That's where the course number (e.g., ENG 1301, ENG 202, ENG 303, ENG 432) comes in. The first digit in the course number tells you what level it is, with each digit corresponding to a typical year of school (e.g., 100-level courses for freshmen, 400-level courses for seniors). However, because there are many paths to a degree, you may take courses that do not correspond to how many years you’ve been at ETAMU. Even so, there are some general trends in each level of course:

1. 100-level courses are generally introductory courses taken in the first year, such as ENG 1301 and ENG 1302, which are writing courses required of every student and generally taken in the first year. 100-level courses are generally only applicable to the core curriculum.
2. 200-level courses are also often part of the core curriculum, but get a little deeper into the department's field. They are often geared to non-majors (e.g., an Engineering major who wants to take an English class), generally do not count towards the major-specific work of a degree, and can often be taken as electives.
3. 300-level courses represent the beginning of what we call upper-level or major courses. Think of these as introductory courses to your degree's discipline designed specifically for majors.
4. 400-level courses are, in theory, the most-advanced courses in a major, reserved solely for majors. For the most part, Literature and Languages does not clearly differentiate between 300- and 400-level courses, so you'll be taking a mixture of ENG 300 and 400 courses once you're core complete (in other words, once you've finished all of your core requirements).

When Are Courses Usually Offered?

You can make an amazing plan by looking at your degree requirements and understanding what kinds of courses to take in what order, but if a course isn't offered when you planned to take it, that plan doesn't do you much good. Course offerings may vary from year to year depending on scheduling and enrollment needs. For the most current information, review the university Schedule of Classes before registration opens.

Who Can Give Me Guidance on Choosing Courses?

This is a lot of information, and it can be hard to keep track of everything. Fortunately, you don't have to figure this out on your own. There is a whole university worth of faculty and staff who can help, but there are two groups of people in particular you can ask about courses:

Your Academic Advisor

Your academic advisor can help you:

• Select courses
• Understand university and degree requirements
• Monitor progress toward graduation
• Discuss registration and scheduling questions
• Explore minors, certificates or additional academic programs

We encourage you to meet with your academic advisor regularly, especially before registration periods.

Literature and Languages Faculty

English faculty often know our courses best, so feel free to ask which courses are being offered next, which might align with your interests and other course-related questions.

Additionally, the Department Head can be an especially good person to contact for more specialized guidance on navigating the department as a whole to meet your degree requirements. They may help with:

• Course sequencing within the major
• Elective recommendations
• Career or graduate school planning
• Research and internship opportunities
• Questions about specific concentrations or subject areas
• Long-term academic planning within the discipline