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)
| General Education | Fine Arts | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Quantitative Reasoning | 3 credit hours |
| Writing 110 | College Composition | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Historical Perspectives | 3 credit hours |
| FYS 199 | First Year Seminar | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 credit hours |
First Year (Spring Semester)
| English 161 | Methods of Literary Study | 3 credit hours |
| Writing 290 | Introduction to Creative Writing | 3 credit hours |
| Communication 101 | Fundamentals of Communication | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Fine Arts | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Science (with lab) | 4 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 16 credit hours |
Second Year (Fall Semester)
| English 201 | British Literature I | 3 credit hours |
| English 203 | American Literature I | 3 credit hours |
| Writing 301 | Short Fiction | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Social Analysis | 3 credit hours |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 credit hours |
Second Year (Spring Semester)
| English 202 | British Literature II | 3 credit hours |
| English 204 | American Literature II | 3 credit hours |
| English 230 | Literature to Film | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Leadership & Ethics | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Diversity & Global Perspectives | 3 credit hours |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 credit hours |
Third Year (Fall Semester)
| English 215 | Myth and Folklore | 3 credit hours |
| Writing 307 | Technical Writing | 3 credit hours |
| Writing 302 | Creative Non-Fiction | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Diversity & Global Perspective | 3 credit hours |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 credit hours |
Third Year (Spring Semester)
| English 350 | Shakespeare | 3 credit hours |
| English 362 | Slavery and Literature | 3 credit hours |
| English 265 | Apocalyptic Literature | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Social Analysis | 3 credit hours |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 credit hours |
Fourth Year (Fall Semester)
| English 410 | Senior Capstone | 3 credit hours |
| English 336 | Early American Novel | 3 credit hours |
| General Education | Science w/Lab | 4 credit hours |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 16 credit hours |
Fourth Year (Spring Semester)
| English 337 | Later American Novel | 3 credit hours |
| English 360 | Studies in British and American Poetry | 3 credit hours |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Elective course | 3 credit hours | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 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.
