Whether you are analyzing Shakespeare or preparing an annual report, at Marietta you will gain the education to become a perceptive reader, logical thinker and persuasive writer. Our graduates are authors and English teachers—as well as attorneys, software engineers, hospital administrators, technical writers, public relations specialists, and CEOs. Majoring in English is about learning to interpret and analyze information, crucial and marketable skills in today's information-driven economy.
All of the English faculty at Marietta are writers, so you will learn writing skills from experienced authors. In your senior capstone project, you will work with professors and students as a community of scholars to apply cutting-edge theoretical approaches to literature, whether your focus is cultural studies, textual criticism, postcolonialism or cognitive psychology. Your project will demand the kinds of critical analysis and communication necessary both in graduate school and professional careers.
Other campus opportunities include workshops and readings with visiting writers; presenting your poetry or fiction at our Pizza, Poetry and Prose series; and submitting your work to Pulse, the literary magazine published by Marietta’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the national English honor society. The Department also brings in professional writers to conduct workshops with students and present public readings to the community. This includes Andrew Grace, Amy Irvine McHarg, Dan Chaon, Anthony Doerr (Pulitzer Prize Winner), Joni Tevis, Sharon Hatfield, Andrew Hudgins, James Harms and David Citino.
The English Department also invites all students to enter these contests every year:
The Lawrence M. Howard Memorial Scholarship
Value: approximately $1,400
Open to juniors and first-semester seniors
Applicants submit a portfolio of writing samples
Guidelines for submission are available at the English Department office
The Stephen Schwartz Prize for Poetry
Value: $100
For the best poem submitted by a student
The Emerson Prize
Value: approximately $140
For the best poem or group of poems by a student, representing a substantial creative effort
The Margaret Ward Martin Prize
Value: approximately $115
For the junior or senior submitting the best original piece of creative writing
The Burton E. Stevenson Prize
Value: approximately $100
For the best essay devoted to American literature
Further information and printed guidelines are available at the English Department office (Thomas 216).
Sample Four-Year Schedule
First Year (Fall Semester)
| PIO 101 | Information Literacy | 2 credit hours |
| PIO 102 | Student Engagement | 1 credit hour |
| WRIT 102 | College Composition | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 201 | Literary Culture of Great Britain I | 3 credit hours |
| MATH 123 | Practical Statistics | 3 credit hours |
| SPAN 101 | Spanish Level 2 | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 credit hours |
First Year (Spring Semester)
| COMM 203 | Fundamentals of Oral Communication | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 161 | Methods of Literary Study | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 202 | Literary Culture of Great Britain II | 3 credit hours |
| SPAN 102 | Spanish Level 2 | 3 credit hours |
| POLS 210 | Presidential and Executive Leadership | 3 credit hours |
| HIST 202 | The Professional Historian | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 18 credit hours |
Second Year (Fall Semester)
| PIO 201 | Integrative Learning Seminar | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 203 | Literary Culture of the U.S. I | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 250 | Concepts of Comedy | 3 credit hours |
| WRIT 210 | Composition Theory, Reflection, and Practice | 3 credit hours |
| COMM 314 | Persuasion | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 credit hours |
Second Year (Spring Semester)
| ENGL 204 | Literary Culture of the U.S. II | 3 credit hours |
| ENGLE 210 | The Bible as Literature | 3 credit hours |
| ASTR 205 | Life in the Universe | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 9 credit hours |
Third Year (Fall Semester)
| ENGL 350 | Shakespeare | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 230 | Literature into Film | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 324 | African-American Literature | 3 credit hours |
| RELI 310 | History of Religion in the United States | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 12 credit hours |
Third Year (Spring Semester)
| ENGL 370 | Junior Core | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 357 | Studies in the Later British Novel | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 265 | Literature of the Apocalypse | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 9 credit hours |
Fourth Year (Fall Semester)
| ENGL 410 | Capstone | 3 credit hours |
| ENGL 245 | Concepts of Tragedy | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 6 credit hours |
Fourth Year (Spring Semester)
| ENGL 322 | Representative American Writers I | 3 credit hours |
| GEOL 104 & 105 | Dinosaurs | 4 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 7 credit hours |
* Remember that this schedule should just be seen as a guide toward your English degree (this schedule has an emphasis on creative writing). Your schedule can be adjusted to accommodate a second major and/or minors at the College. You will work with your academic advisor to ensure that you graduate on schedule and with classes that most interest you and lead you toward the career path that you are working to achieve.