English Department: How to Apply

How to Apply

1. Get an application from the English Department office, LL 422

2. Schedule an appointment with an English advisor. Your advisor will talk with you about program options and help you complete and submit your major or minor application form.

3. If you are seeking teacher certification, you will need to talk to the Certification Office about the admission requirements for teacher education programs. See an education advisor to establish a plan for completing the professional sequence courses which lead to teacher certification.

4. Enroll in ENG 302 to begin the major and in ENG 303 during your first or second term.

Planning Your Course of Study

Students in all specializations begin their programs with two introductory courses, which may be taken in sequence or simultaneously:

ENG 302 Poetry and Poetics is designed to help you become aware of the ways in which language can appeal to our senses through its designs, sounds, situations, rhythms, moods, tones and voices. It offers a practical introduction to the intense, concentrated critical analysis that literature, and especially poetry, requires.

ENG 303 Principles of English Studies introduces the ways of reading and writing you will be expected to recognize and practice as an English Major. In this class you will also begin your major portfolio - the focus of your senior colloquium - by submitting a writing sample and a purpose statement explaining why you chose the major and what you hope to learn. This writing sample will also function as an intermediate writing assessment as required by university policy.

Choosing from the Program Strands

Each major is divided into required strands in order to give you as broad and diverse an experience as possible. Within each strand there are many possible choices, allowing you to pursue specific interests

The English Studies strand focuses on specific genres such as the novel, short stories, and poetry. Six different novel courses give you the opportunity to study the genre as it has developed in specific cultural and historical contexts. This strand also offers a course on the history of literary and critical theory. [hyperlink to outcomes and courses in the strand]

Period Courses introduce a wide range of works from major periods in English and American literature and read them in their historical context. Broad surveys help you develop a literary “map” of the period and understand the interplay of canonical and non-canonical works. [hyperlink to outcomes and courses in the strand]

Major Figures courses focus on one, two, or three major authors. In these courses you will analyze individual texts as part of a larger body of work developed over a career as well as the historical and cultural and explore the relationships between biography and art. [hyperlink to outcomes and courses in the strand]

The Comparative/Cultural Studies Strand analyzes works in their cultural context. In this strand, you will learn to recognize significant characteristics of a specific ethnic, regional, oral or gendered tradition as they inform specific works and understand how individual works reflect or resist constructions of gender, ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation. [hyperlink to outcomes and courses in the strand]

The Language Strand introduces you to the study of language and linguistic analysis of texts as well as the practical application of grammar in your own writing. [hyperlink to outcomes and courses in the strand]

For teaching majors, the Pedagogy Strand gives you practical and theoretical tools for developing young readers and writers as well as experience in planning lessons and classroom strategies. [hyperlink to outcomes and courses in the strand]

The Portfolio and Senior Colloquium

During your career as an English Major, you will be compiling a portfolio of papers representing your work at CWU. In the Senior Colloquium, you will choose three papers for revision, giving you a chance to focus on writing for a larger audience and on the craft of writing. The purpose of the portfolio is to document the range and quality of your reading and writing skills and experiences. It can also be used to introduce you to prospective employers or as a component of your applications to graduate and professional schools.

ENG 488 Teaching Portfolio. Students prepare an end-of-major E-Portfolio which illustrates their mastery of major program and professional sequence competencies.

ENG 489 Senior Colloquium for Literature Specialization . Students prepare an end-of-major portfolio that illustrates their competence in interpreting and compo