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Major Requirements

In order to successfully complete the English major at Maryland, each student must complete the following requirements:

12 courses (36 credits) are required for the major

  • ENGL 301 (3 credits)
  • Group I Requirements (9 credits)
  • Group II Requirements (12 credits)
  • Emphasis/Elective Requirements (12 credits)

Download: Degree Requirements Worksheet

ENGL301 (3 credits)

Majors must take ENGL301, Critical Methods in the Study of Literature, before they take other 300- or 400-level English courses. We recommend it be taken during the first semester of sophomore year. In special cases, students may be permitted to take ENGL301 while they are taking their first upper-level course.
 

Students must receive a grade of C- or better to pass English 301, which is required for the English major. This class may only be attempted twice, as per University policy. (Withdrawing from a course after the add/drop period counts as an attempt.) The English department does not grant exceptions to this policy, and students who take English 301 twice without passing it will be required to leave the major.

GROUP I REQUIREMENTS (9 credits)

To be taken at the 100, 200, or 300 level (only two lower-level courses can count toward the major)

  1. A course in literary and cultural history
  2. A course in literary, linguistic, or rhetorical analysis
  3. A course in the literature of African Americans, peoples of color, women, and/or lesbians, gays, and bisexuals

GROUP II REQUIREMENTS (12 credits)

To be taken at the 300- and 400-level (at least twelve credits within Group II and Emphasis/Elective Requirements must be at the 400-level)

  1. Two courses (6 credits) focused on writing before 1800
  2. A course in Modern British, Anglophone, and/or Postcolonial Writing (after 1800)
  3. A course in American, African American, and/or U.S. Ethnic Writing

EMPHASIS/ELECTIVE REQUIREMENTS (12 credits)

To be taken at the 300- and 400-level (at least twelve credits within Group II and Emphasis/Elective Requirements must be at the 400-level)

  1. Four English emphasis/elective courses (12 credits), which may follow a designated pathway if the student desires

Students may also count one 300- or 400-level literature course in a literary tradition other than English, either in the original language or in translation, as an elective with the approval of their English advisor.