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Degree Requirements

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English Degree Requirements

  • These requirements apply to students entering this program in fall 2013 and thereafter. Students who enrolled earlier should consult the catalog in effect at the time they enrolled.
  • You can also reference the graduation requirements for the year in which you enrolled on the portal; view graduation requirements by year (PDF) in the right-hand column of your MyResources page.  
  • Transfer students may apply up to 9 credits (three courses) of certain approved 200-level courses toward this major. For students transferring 300- and 400-level courses, at least 18 credits in this major must be taken at UB.
  • Read the course descriptions.

General-Education Requirements
(43 credits)

Complete these courses with a grade of C- or better:

  • English Composition
  • Mathematics
  • Oral Communication
  • Literature
  • History or Philosophy
  • Fine Arts
  • Computer Literacy
  • Social and Behavioral Science 1
  • Social and Behavioral Science 2
  • Biological and Physical Science
    • Laboratory course, 4 credits
    • Non-laboratory course

Complete three courses with a grade of C or better:

  • Advanced Expository Writing (WRIT 300)
    completing WRIT 101 and either passing the writing placement test or successfully completing WRIT 200 required
  • Ethical Issues in Business and Society (IDIS 302)

and one of the following:

  • World Cultures (IDIS 301)
  • Arts and Ideas (IDIS 304)
    required if no lower-level general-education course in fine arts

English Program Requirements 
(36 credits)

Core Courses (12 credits)

Choose one of the following Period & Context courses:

  • Wells of the Past: Classical Foundations (ENGL 311)
  • Melville, Poe & Whitman: American Voyagers (ENGL 342)
  • The Hero & the Quest (ENGL 361)
  • Dante, Chaucer & Cervantes: Three Versions of Pilgrimage (ENGL 362)
  • Milton, Blake & Yeats: Poet as Prophet (ENGL 366)
  • Austen, The Brontes & Woolf: Rooms of Their Own (ENGL 374)
  • Literature in Society (ENGL 400)
  • The Elizabethan Renaissance: In the Green World (ENGL 421)
  • The Metaphysical Moment: From T.S. Eliot to John Donne (ENGL 431)
  • The Age of Reason (ENGL 432)
  • The Romantic Imagination (ENGL 441)
  • The Victorian Paradox (ENGL 442)
  • The Great Moderns (ENGL 450)

Choose one of the following:

  • Shakespeare: Kings, Knaves & Fools (ENGL 364)
  • Shakespeare: Love, Myth & Metamorphosis (ENGL 365)

and

  • Seminar in English: The Modern Tradition (ENGL 498)
  • any 300- or 400-level ENGL, CMAT or WRIT course

Specializations

Complete one of the following English specializations:

LITERATURE SPECIALIZATION (24 credits)

  • Reading Strategies (ENGL 397)
  • two additional Period & Context courses
  • three additional 300- or 400-level ENGL courses
  • two additional 300- or 400-level ENGL, WRIT or CMAT courses

PROFESSIONAL WRITING SPECIALIZATION
(24 credits)

  • Computer Graphics: Publishing (CMAT 211)
  • Writing, Editing & Publishing (WRIT 330)
  • Syntax, Semantics & Style (WRIT 380)
  • Internship in Professional Writing (WRIT 407)
  • Copyediting & Document Design (WRIT 430)
  • three additional 300- or 400-level courses appropriate to the professional writing specialization

CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION (24 credits)

  • Publication & Performance (WRIT 401)
  • two additional 300- or 400-level ENGL, WRIT or CMAT courses

And two of the following:

  • The Short Story (ENGL 315)
  • Modern Poetry (ENGL 316)
  • Contemporary Literature (ENGL 320)

And three of the following:

  • The Art of Memoir (WRIT 315)
  • Creative Writing Workshop: Poetry (WRIT 318)
  • Creative Writing Workshop: Fiction (WRIT 319)
  • Creative Writing Workshop: Screenwriting (WRIT 363)

DISCOURSE & TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIZATION
(24 credits)

  • Media Literacy (CMAT 352)
  • The Archaeology of Language (ENGL 392)
  • Narrative Discourse: Cross-Media Comparison (ENGL 395)

Directed Project or Internship

Choose one.

  • Internship in Corporate Communication (CMAT 407)
  • Internship in Professional Writing (WRIT 407)
  • Directed Independent Study (WRIT 489)

Application Requirement

With the advice and consent of an adviser, choose four related courses from one or more of these application areas:

Media Production*

  • Digital Video (CMAT 369)
  • Communication Technologies (CMAT 451)
  • Multimedia Design & Production (CMAT 456)
  • Advanced Audio/Video Production (CMAT 469)

Graphic Design*

  • Computer Graphics: Publishing (CMAT 211)
  • Computer Graphics: Imaging (CMAT 212)
  • Principles of Design (CMAT 357)
  • Digital Design (CMAT 358)
  • Graphic Design & Production (WRIT 375)

Writing*

  • Media Criticism (CMAT 475)
  • Writing for Information Systems (WRIT 313)
  • Creative Journalism (WRIT 316)
  • Techniques of Popularization (WRIT 317)
  • Writing for Managers & Executives (WRIT 320)
  • Writing, Editing & Publishing (WRIT 330)
  • Public Relations Writing (WRIT 331)
  • Writing for Digital Media (WRIT 361)
  • Syntax, Semantics & Style (WRIT 380)
  • Copyediting & Document Design (WRIT 430)

* Other undergraduate/graduate courses may also be appropriate.

General Electives

  • First Year Seminar: Introduction to University Learning (IDIS 101)
    freshmen only; transfer students replace this with a different elective

Complete as many courses as necessary from any discipline to fulfill your 120-credit requirement, including this recommended elective:

  • The Experience of Literature (ENGL 200), or another 200-level literature course

Information Literacy Requirement

Meet the UB Information Literacy graduation requirement by successfully completing one of the following:

  • Introduction to Information Literacy (IDIS 110)
  • Seminar in English: The Modern Tradition (ENGL 498)
as of fall 2013