Literature Track

The Literature track is for students who value the skill of creative thinking that is developed when we read, reflect on, and interpret literary texts. Whether it be through reading Shakespeare’s plays, the Brontë sisters’ novels, or Ta-Nehisi Coates’s reboot of the Black Panther comics series, you and your lit-track peers will enter vital conversations about the meaning and value of literature and gain a breadth of knowledge about literature across the English-speaking world.

As a lit track major, you will spend your time thinking and analyzing texts in ways that will expand your understanding and hone your ability to think, speak and write analytically about the world. By the time you graduate, you will have developed a range of transferable skills that will serve you well in a wide range of career paths. Your lit track degree will hone your skills in critical thinking, close reading, and communication in ways that prepare you for a variety of other careers.

​Writing Track 

The writing track is for students who want to hone their talents as writers. Those interested in Creative Writing can enroll in courses that focus on teaching the principles of craft such as plot, structure, character, voice, dialogue, and description. Business Writing courses focus on the genres and mechanics of professional communication. Rhetoric courses teach the history, structure, and stylistics of writing. All writing-track courses are dedicated to the idea that writing is a process, which means that you will share your work and critique your peers’ work. You will create community as you grow and improve as a writer.

During your time on the writing track, you will hone your ability to think and write critically and creatively across genres and contexts. By the time you graduate, you will have acquired skills in writing and analysis that will serve you well in a wide range of career paths. The writing track prepares you for a multitude of careers in which writing comes first. 

Film Track

The film track is for students who enjoy analyzing, interpreting, and creating visual media. As a film-track student, you will learn to apply to films the close-reading skills that you develop as an English major. You will learn how films go about inventing and renewing literary modes of storytelling and world-building. You will also learn to write for the screen, crafting stories into screenplays and using visual language to convey tone, style, and point of view.

As a film track major, you will develop your ability to analyze and create visual texts alongside written ones. By the time you graduate, you will have developed skills in multimedia analysis that prepare you for a wide range of career paths. 

Education Track

The education track is for students who want to share their interest in literature and writing with others. If you would enjoy teaching at the secondary or middle school level, then the Education track is for you. You will be guided through the necessary courses that ensure you meet the standards for Missouri state teacher certification in English.

As an education track major, you will develop your ability to analyze and teach literature and writing in the classroom. At the same time, by the time you graduate, you will have developed a range of written and oral skills that would serve you well in a range of careers in education, government and non-profit fields. Most education track English majors go on to careers in teaching, but these careers can take varied forms. The opportunities are endless.

Senior Thesis

The senior thesis, written under the guidance of a member of the English Department, is a longer, sustained piece of writing that demonstrates the major skills of reading, writing and research in a culminating experience on a topic related to a student’s studies in the major. Credit varies according to the topic chosen. Prerequisites: Senior standing and department chair approval.