Program Contact: Valerie Smith  203-582-8452

Professional advancement often depends on good reading aptitude, as well as sound writing and rhetorical techniques along with critical and creative thinking. With an English minor, you’ll explore literature while you also hone your communication skills. These are must-have talents to work in creative fields, such as screenwriting, advertising and publishing. They are also important in other careers where you may have to write a grant proposal, a contract, a persuasive argument for a legal case, a public policy or a business plan. This minor can complement any major.

The Department of English offers a minor in English for students who wish to study literature and improve their writing abilities—both creative and critical. Students whose professional advancement depends on good reading aptitude, sound writing and rhetorical techniques, and critical and creative thinking are encouraged to apply to the chair of the English department.

To complete the minor, students must take 18 credits of English coursework; at least 9 credits must be at the 300 level.

Possible courses include:
EN 201Creative Writing3
EN 202Introduction to Creative Nonfiction3
EN 203Practicing Stylistics3
EN 204Reading Literature3
EN 205Introduction to Fiction Writing3
EN 206Introduction to Writing Poetry3
EN 207Interactive Storytelling and Narrative3
EN 208Greek Tragedy3
EN 209Love Stories3
EN 210The Art of Poetry3
EN 212The Personal Essay3
EN 213The Nature Essay3
EN 214The History Essay3
EN 215The Travel Essay3
EN 220The Short Story As a Genre3
EN 222Comics and Graphic Novels3
EN 223Hippies, Punks and Rude Boys3
EN 230Carbon Tales3
EN 235Literature by Women3
EN 240Survey of English Literature I3
EN 241Medieval Romances3
EN 250Survey of English Literature II3
EN 260Survey of American Literature I3
EN 265Black Writers in and Beyond the US3
EN 270Survey of American Literature II3
EN 277Literature of the Americas3
EN 280The European Tradition in Literature I3
EN 281The European Tradition in Literature II3
EN 301Advanced Fiction-Writing Workshop3
EN 302Advanced Creative Nonfiction3
EN 303The Art of Audio Narrative3
EN 304Junior Seminar in Critical Theory3
EN 306Advanced Poetry Writing Workshop3
EN 308Composing America3
EN 320Studies in the Novel3
EN 321Twentieth-Century British Literature3
EN 322Modern British Literature (1900-1945)3
EN 323Contemporary British Literature (1945-Present)3
EN 324The Gothic Novel3
EN 325History of the English Language3
EN 326Modern Irish Drama3
EN 330World Literature3
EN 338American Literature by Women of Color3
EN 340Immigrant Fictions3
EN 341Chaucer and the Medieval Period3
EN 343Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies3
EN 344Shakespeare: Tragedies and Romances3
EN 345English Literature of the Renaissance3
EN 348Milton and the 17th Century3
EN 35018th-Century British Literature (1660-1800)3
EN 351Studies in Rhetoric and Writing3
EN 352British Romanticism (1785-1832)3
EN 355Victorian Literature (1832-1901)3
EN 361Origins of U.S. Literature (1492-1865)3
EN 365The American Renaissance (1830-1865)3
EN 366Modern U.S. Literature (1900-1945)3
EN 367Contemporary U.S. Literature (1945-Present)3
EN 373Modernist American Poetry3
EN 390Environmental Writing3