Being an English minor at Southern is all about discovering your voice in the global, professional, and academic community of readers and writers, in a shorter, more concentrated course of study suitable for coupling with other majors or minors. English studies provide a pathway to careers in teaching, law, publishing, professional writing, management, advertising, web design, and many other fields. Employers have increasingly cited a strong background in literature, writing, and the humanities as a valued commodity in the professions. An English minor fosters strong writing, reading, and communication skills, as well as a deep awareness of the varieties of human motives, social interactions, and cultures.
Concentrations
Creative Writing
In the Creative Writing minor, you will join a close, vital writing community with a long history that includes graduates who have won national prizes, published books with national presses, and who have become professors of creative writing, editors, high-school teachers, journalists, and founders of literary periodicals. In addition to courses in literary analysis and contemporary literature, you will take beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses in the writing of fiction and poetry. You will share your work with peers, learning how to give and receive constructive feedback that will challenge you to revise and discover your vision as a writer. You may also become an editor of SCSU’s literary and art annual, Folio.
Language, Literature, and Writing
Education majors who wish to minor in English can select the Language, Literature, and Writing minor, which prepares future teachers in the English Language Arts with a combination of grammar, literary analysis, young adult literature, rhetorical writing, and choices in creative writing and literature.
Literature
The Literature minor offers students the opportunity to supplement courses in literary analysis and multicultural literature with further choices in a broad range of literary studies courses in the English language and world literature.
Professional Writing
The Professional Writing minor offers, in a more concentrated form than the major, preparation for a career in writing. You will learn to design and write information that meets professional needs, from reports and proposals to social media and user manuals. Professional writing classes will challenge you to write for both experts and public audiences. Even more important than learning what standard workplace documents look like, you will learn how to judge the informational and instructional needs of a workplace audience. You will also have the opportunity to supplement your professional writing studies with additional courses in journalism and media studies, as well as internships in the field.