When you enroll at Susquehanna, you’ll be paired with an advisor and application tool to guide you in your course planning and scheduling. The following is an excerpt from the complete course catalog. Enrolled students follow the requirements of the course catalog for the academic year in which they declare each major and/or minor, consult with their advisor(s) and the Academic Planning Tool.
English and Creative Writing Studies
Students in English and Creative Writing study literature from three different perspectives: as writers, readers, and editor-entrepreneurs. Foundational courses taken by all students in the first and second years show how literary history, literary theory, and literary diversity are integral to formal concerns and to emerging digital contexts. These provide a common learning experience. After the foundational courses, English-Literature and English-Secondary Education majors take advanced seminars in literary history and theory; English-Publishing & Editing majors take advanced courses in literary criticism and professional skills; and Creative Writing majors take advanced writing workshops. Coursework in each major is completed through a capstone experience. English-Literature and English- Secondary Education majors pursue an independent research project; English-Publishing & Editing majors take a course in which they reflect on the cultural, political, and commercial functions of publishing; and Creative Writing majors prepare a portfolio of their original work.
Students in the English and Creative Writing Department may, with department head approval, complete more than one major and/or minor in the department.
English Literature
The English Major - Literature is designed to prepare students for a successful, fulfilling life and career in the 21st century by training them to understand the theoretical implications and historical context of all forms of writing and become expert writers. A graduate from this program will have superb analytic and problem-solving skills, powerful methods to understand cultural context and meaning, and the ability to perform advanced research in any text- based field, such as law, education, government, library science, publishing, editing, marketing and public advocacy.
Learning Goals
- Critical thinking: originality and appreciation of nuance
- Interpretation: history, theory and criticism
- Literacy: reading, intertextuality and cosmopolitanism
- Style: rhetoric, genre and audience
Requirements for the English Major - Literature
40-42 semester hours with grades of C- or better.
4 ENGL-240 Literary Themes
4 One course chosen from:
ENGL-245 Studies in Comparative Literatures of the Americas
ENGL-250 World Literature
ENGL-255 Jewish Literature
ENGL-240 Literary Themes.
NOTE: Students cannot repeat a course with the same content.
4 ENGL-265 Forms of Writing
4 ENGL-290 Aesthetics and Interpretation
4 Mid-level writing course chosen from:
ENGL-295 Voice and Audience
WRIT-250 Topics in Creative Writing
WRIT-251 Introduction to Fiction
WRIT-252 Introduction to Poetry
WRIT-253 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
16 Advanced study: To be chosen from among courses in the ENGL-300 to ENGL-390 range.
4 semester hours of this work must be in an early period course.
2-4 ENGL-540 Internship in field related to likely career
4 ENGL-440 Applied Knowledge in the Discipline
Of the semester hours listed above, 4 semester hours taken at the 200 or 300 level must be early period, defined as pre-1865 America or pre-1789 British. 4 semester hours taken at either the 200 or 300 level must be multicultural/non-western.
Secondary Teaching Certification
The English-secondary education major is designed to prepare students to teach English in grades 7-12 and be successful on standard exams required of teaching candidates. This major is offered by the Department of English and Creative Writing in conjunction with the Department of Education. It is designed to be a program leading to teacher certification, and students formally apply to the teacher education program by February of their sophomore year or as soon after that as possible. At the time of application, the candidate must have at least a 3.00 overall GPA and a 3.00 English GPA.
Coursework required by the state of Pennsylvania for admission to the teacher certification program includes successful completion of ENGL-100 Writing and Thinking or equivalent course, at least 3 semester hours in British or American Literature, at least 6 semester hours of mathematics coursework (or other courses which satisfy the Central Curriculum Analytical Thought requirement), and at least one 40-hour externship.
Education course requirements for secondary education
EDUC-101 Introduction to Education and Society
EDUC-250 Educational Psychology
EDUC-260 Introduction to Special Education
EDUC-270 Instruction of Exceptional Students
EDUC-330 Technology in Education
EDUC-350 English Language Learners
EDUC-380 Instructional Design
EDUC-421 Methods of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Teaching English
EDUC-479 Principles of Learning and Teaching in Secondary Education
EDUC-483 Differentiated Instruction and Classroom Management in Secondary Education
EDUC-500 Student Teaching Package (EDUC-501, EDUC-502, EDUC-503, and EDUC-600)
In addition, secondary education English students complete all of the usual requirements for the English-Literature major with grades of C- or better.