Students of English excel as writers. They learn how to formulate ideas, drafting and revising their points with lucid and compelling language.
In a world filled with information, much of it deliberately misleading or confusing, students of English learn how to disentangle truth and fiction; they are expert readers and skilled analysts and interpreters, able to decode any complex text.
Students of English are experts in what it takes to broadcast emotional truths and communicate dramatic stories; they understand, study, and master the tools of communication, expression, and persuasion.
Students of English gain a deep, well-informed understanding of how language and cultures develop and change over time and in history. They understand social change and cultural history (from Beowulf to Toni Morrison) and understand the extent to which ideology, rhetoric, and argumentation impact our lives.
Students of English use both reading and writing to gratify the imagination. They use language in all of its beauty and power to help make sense of every dimension of the world.
All of these skills and habits of mind are highly valued in a range of professions and careers, including teaching, publishing and technical writing, law, politics, education, public relations, advertising, nonprofit arts administration, and business.
An English minor pairs effectively with many majors: both within the College of Arts and Sciences, including those offered by the new Media School and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and majors outside of the College, such as the Kelley School, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Public Health.
The College of Arts