The concentration in Literary Studies provides students a broad
background in British, American, and other Anglophone literature.
Students begin the concentration with the gateway course, "Tools of
Textual Analysis," which teaches essential approaches and methodologies
for analyzing a variety of textual forms (poetry, novel, film, etc.).
Incoming first-year majors take 101 as a combined course with sections
of 110, "First Year Writing," thus receiving special instruction in how
to write for the discipline. Students then move into 102, "Texts in
Time," a small course (enrollment limit is 22) which offers the
opportunity for an in-depth exploration of how texts interact with their
cultural environment. Content of the 102 sections varies by the
expertise of the instructor.
Typically in the second year of the concentration students enter into
a sequence of survey courses designed to provide them with a historical
"map" of literary history and movements. In the Fall students take 205,
"British Literature to 1660," followed in the spring semester by 206,
"British Literature to the Present" and 204, "American Literature."
Upon completion of these requirements, students may choose the
courses which most appeal to them, enabling students to develop and
pursue their own intellectual interests.
As of Fall 2011, new Literary Studies concentrators should follow the 2011 checklist. Students who enter before Fall 2011 can follow these requirements, or they can follow the 2007 checklist.
Before 2007, English majors studying Literature (without a
concentration) followed a different curriculum: that checklist can be
found here.