English Major with Literature Concentration (B.A.)

Do you love to read and study works in a variety of genres: fiction, poetry, and drama. Explore and understand the cultures these texts represent and the writers and poets who created them? In our program you will have read, discuss, and write about a wide variety of texts, full of ideas and characters that will have excite, challenge, and move you. Explore and articulate your own ideas, and watch your writing improve through the revision process while you create relationships with your peers and professors .

The Bachelor of Arts with a Major in English and a Concentration in Literature provides a broad set of writing and analytical skills that will serve you whether heading to graduate school, business, law, journalism, medicine, creative writing, or any other professional field. It is no accident that even Google lists critical thinking, communication, and empathy as their most desired skills for employees. English majors specialize in these “soft” skills, using our conversations, reflections, and writing about literature to build flexible, capable minds. Individuals with English degrees are found throughout virtually any field, from Nobel Laureates in medicine to stand-up comedians.

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts

Campus Availability

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Experience Our English Programs

Our department welcomes students to a close-knit and supportive community where your professors mentor and advise you. Our faculty fosters opportunities for you to publish creative work, apply for competitive scholarships and fellowships, present research at national conferences and help secure funding for student travel.

The Chestatee Review, our award-winning student literary magazine, publishes student fiction, poetry, essays, and visual arts each year.

Our faculty have published studies on such varied topics as Jazz and African-American fiction, Gothic fiction, Southern women’s writing, science fiction pulps, and Korean theater.

Three awards are given annually to recognize student writing: the Inman Quill Essay Award, the Kathryn Hinds Writing Award, and the John Ingrisano Award.

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What Your Journey Could Look Like

Your First Year

In your first year, you will complete English 1101 and 1102, two Composition Courses required before you can enroll in sophomore level courses. Different sections of these writing classes will explore a range of topics that might pique your interest.

Choosing among these courses your first year will help you taking advantage of the diversity of the English department faculty and get to know the faculty members who will help shape your academic career.

Reach out to Academic Advising for guidance on your curriculum options.

Sophomore Year

Your second year focuses on two areas of the core curriculum. Areas C and F can be satisfied with a variety of literature courses. Our offerings include American and British Literatures, World Literature, Gender and Literature, Multicultural Literature, and Literature and Film. Additionally, students must successfully earn a “B” in ENGL 2050 (Standard English Grammar) and ENGL 2230 (Intermediate Composition) before taking upper division courses; therefore, ENGL 2050 and ENGL 2230 should be taken at some point in your sophomore year.

Junior Year

You should have completed most of your literature surveys and Area F courses by the beginning of your third year. You should complete English 2900 (Introduction to Literary Studies) as soon as possible. This course will focuses on skills that will enable you to be successful in upper division courses.

You will begin taking core courses that cover a wide range of literary studies in American, British, and World literature, and you can start exploring elective courses, which might focus on a single author, such as William Shakespeare, on a period, such as British Romanticism, or a region, such as Southern American Literature.

Senior Year

Your senior years gives you the chance to finish your elective and required courses in literary studies, pursuing the interests you’ve developed over the last two years. Complete your experience by taking English 4890, our Senior Seminar in English: Literature, where you will gather essays from your prior classes into a final portfolio that showcases your interests and growth as a writer and where you will write a capstone essay, a research project wherein you choose your own author or area of interest, in collaboration with a faculty member who is a subject matter expert in the area.

More About the English Major

The English Department is committed to low-cost textbook options for our students through Open Education Resources developed by English faculty and published by UNG Press. English Department faculty have published digital texts in English Composition, World Literature I and II, and British Literature that are available to students at no cost.

“Literature is the greatest of all sources of refined pleasure, and one of the great uses of a liberal education is to enable us to enjoy that pleasure.”

Thomas H. Huxley, A Liberal Education

Define Your Own College Experience

College life isn't just about academics. It's about the relationships you make, the experiences you have, and the new things you can discover not just about yourself, but about the world around you. UNG provides many opportunities on each campus and beyond to help you explore your interests and find new passions.