Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Major in English (Writing and Rhetoric Concentration)

Minimum required: 120 semester credit hours

General Requirements

  1. The general education core curriculum courses are listed in the degree plan below along with the statewide component code number. See the General Education Core Curriculum section of this catalog for the Texas State requirements and options in the core curriculum, including Honors courses.
  2. In addition to the general education core curriculum requirements, the Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) requires three additional hours of English literature, three additional hours of math/science/logic/computer science courses, six hours of 2000-level modern language courses, and a minor. For this program, the additional literature course may be satisfied by selecting a sophomore literature course for the 040 component of the core curriculum.
  3. Students must select a minor from the approved list of Undergraduate Minors.
  4. Students must complete a minimum of 36 advanced hours (3000 or 4000 level courses).
  5. Nine hours of writing intensive (WI) courses are required for graduation.
  6. This major requires 36 semester credit hours of English courses. Within the 36 hours, students are required to complete six hours of early literature, three hours of literature focused on the work of a single author, and three hours of 4000-level literature. To satisfy the group requirements, students must select one course from 4 of the 5 groups. ENG 1310 and ENG 1320 are recommended prerequisites to all other English courses.
  7. The minimum number of hours required for this degree program is 120. The number of free elective hours a student will complete depends on the number of hours a student may need to achieve the required 120 total or 36 advanced hours.
  8. For transfer students, 12 semester credit hours in English (or equivalents) may be transferred from a Texas public institution of higher education for the English Language and Literature Field of Study and be applied to the Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English at Texas State University. More information about the Field of Study is available in the Academic Policies section of this catalog. The transferable Texas Common Course Number (TCCN) is listed below the Texas State University course number in the following course list.

    ENG 1310College Writing I3
    TCCN: ENGL 1301
    ENG 1320College Writing II3
    TCCN: ENGL 1302
    Choose 6 semester credit hours from the following: ENG 2310, ENG 2320, ENG 2330, ENG 2340, ENG 2359, ENG 2360, and ENG 23716
    TCCN: 6 semester credit hours from the following: ENGL 2321, ENGL 2322, ENGL 2323, ENGL 2326, ENGL 2327, ENGL 2328, ENGL 2331, ENGL 2332, ENGL 2333, ENGL 2341 and ENGL 2351
    Total Hours12

Course Requirements 

Freshman
First SemesterHoursSecond SemesterHours
ENG 1310 (Communication Component Code 010 [TCCN ENGL 1301])3ENG 1320 or 1321 (Communication Component Code 010 [TCCN ENGL 1302])3
Mathematics Component Code 0203Life and Physical Sciences Component Code 0303
Government/Political Science Component Code 0703American History Component Code 0603
Modern Language 14104Government/Political Science Component Code 0703
US 11001Modern Language 14204
 14 16
Sophomore
First SemesterHoursSecond SemesterHours
Life and Physical Sciences Component Code 0303Social and Behavioral Sciences Component Code 0803
ENG Literature (Language, Philosophy, and Culture Component 040)33ENG Literature (Component Area Option Code 090/094)33
Creative Arts Component Code 050 [HUMA 1315]3ENG 33013
American History Component Code 0603Modern Language 23203
Modern Language 23103Minor3
 15 15
Junior
First SemesterHoursSecond SemesterHours
Component Area Option 0903ENG 3303, 3304, 3311, or 33423
ENG 33183ENG Advanced Group Elective3
ENG Advanced Group Elective3Minor3
Minor3Electives (as needed)6
Elective (as needed)3 
 15 15
Senior
First SemesterHoursSecond SemesterHours
ENG 3303, 3304, 3311, 3318, or 33423BA Science, Math, Computer Science, or Logic3
ENG Advanced Group Elective3ENG Advanced Group Elective3
Minor3Minor6
Electives (as needed)6Elective (as needed)3
 15 15
Total Hours: 120
1

Students who earn a grade of “B” or higher in the first sophomore course may elect to take an advanced literature course in lieu of the second sophomore course. No more than six hours of sophomore literature may count toward the major.

2

ENG 3301 is required, and students should take it immediately after completing the sophomore literature requirement.

3

An ENG Literature course may be selected from the following: ENG 2310 (TCCN ENGL 2322), ENG 2320 (TCCN ENGL 2323), ENG 2330 (TCCN ENGL 2332), ENG 2340 (TCCN ENGL 2333), ENG 2359 (TCCN ENGL 2327), ENG 2360 (TCCN ENGL 2328), ENG 2371

Advanced English Courses

Students are required to take ENG 3301, preferably immediately after completing the sophomore literature requirement. Students must also take two courses focusing on early literature at either the sophomore or advanced level. In addition to ENG 3301, students must complete seven advanced courses, one of which must be a 4000-level course. Students must take one advanced course from three of the four non-writing groups (Groups A, B, C, and D) plus nine hours of electives in writing and rhetoric. In choosing their nine hours of electives in writing and rhetoric, majors with the emphasis in writing and rhetoric must take three hours of theory (ENG 3318, repeatable); three hours of practice (ENG 3303, ENG 3304, ENG 3305ENG 3311, or ENG 3342); and three hours of theory or practice. They also select one three-hour elective from any group. One of the advanced courses must focus on the works of a single author and is recommended to be taken at the end of the major.

EARLY LITERATURE COURSES
ENG 2310British Literature before 17853
ENG 2330World Literature before 16003
ENG 2359US Literature before 18653
ENG 3327Early Global Drama in English3
ENG 3333Early US Literature3
ENG 3350Global Medieval Literature3
ENG 3351Early Medieval Literature of the British Isles3
ENG 3352Medieval English Literature3
ENG 3353British Poetry and Prose of the Sixteenth Century3
ENG 3354Shakespeare3
ENG 3356British Poetry and Prose of the Seventeenth Century3
ENG 3357British Literature, 1688-17503
ENG 3359British Literature, 1750-18003
ENG 3392Women Writers of the Middle Ages3
ENG 4334US Romanticism3
ENG 4351Chaucer and His Time3
ENG 4355The Later Shakespeare3
ENG 4358Milton3
SINGLE AUTHOR COURSES
ENG 3343The Interdisciplinary Approach to Literature3
ENG 3354Shakespeare3
ENG 4343Approaches to a British Author3
ENG 4344Approaches to a US Author3
ENG 4345Approaches to a Global Author3
ENG 4351Chaucer and His Time3
ENG 4355The Later Shakespeare3
ENG 4358Milton3
GROUP A—BRITISH LITERATURE
ENG 3351Early Medieval Literature of the British Isles3
ENG 3352Medieval English Literature3
ENG 3353British Poetry and Prose of the Sixteenth Century3
ENG 3354Shakespeare3
ENG 3356British Poetry and Prose of the Seventeenth Century3
ENG 3357British Literature, 1688-17503
ENG 3359British Literature, 1750-18003
ENG 3362The British Romantics3
ENG 3365Victorian Literature3
ENG 3368The British Novel3
ENG 3370Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century British Literature3
ENG 4343Approaches to a British Author3
ENG 4351Chaucer and His Time3
ENG 4355The Later Shakespeare3
ENG 4358Milton3
GROUP B—US LITERATURE
ENG 3331Black Literature3
ENG 3333Early US Literature3
ENG 3335US Literature, 1865-19453
ENG 3336US Literature, 1945 to the Present3
ENG 3338The American Novel3
ENG 3344Chicana/o/x Narrative and Social History3
ENG 3345Southwestern Studies I: Defining the Region3
ENG 3346Southwestern Studies II: Consequences of Region3
ENG 3347American Poetry3
ENG 4325Literature of the Southwest3
ENG 4334US Romanticism3
ENG 4344Approaches to a US Author3
GROUP C—GLOBAL LITERATURES
ENG 3322The European Novel3
ENG 3325Literature in Translation3
ENG 3327Early Global Drama in English3
ENG 3328Modern Global Drama in English3
ENG 3329Studies in Mythology3
ENG 3341Studies in Global Literature3
ENG 3350Global Medieval Literature3
ENG 3385Children's Literature3
ENG 3386Adolescent Literature3
ENG 3388Women's Writing3
ENG 3392Women Writers of the Middle Ages3
ENG 3393Postcolonial Literatures3
ENG 4345Approaches to a Global Author3
ENG 4385Advanced Studies in Children's or Adolescent Literature3
GROUP D—MEDIA, GENRE, AND VISUAL STUDIES
ENG 3302Film and Video Theory and Production3
ENG 3307Introduction to the Study of Film3
ENG 3308Advanced Topics in Film3
ENG 3309The Southwest in Film3
ENG 3316Film Adaptation Studies3
ENG 3320Theory and Criticism3
ENG 3321The Short Story3
ENG 3323Modern Poetry3
ENG 3326US Drama on Film3
ENG 3340Special Topics in Language and Literature 13
ENG 3343The Interdisciplinary Approach to Literature 13
ENG 3371Queer and Trans Texts 13
ENG 3372Race and Ethnicity in Texts 13
ENG 3373Gender and Sexualities in Texts 13
ENG 3390Independent Study in Language and Literature 13
ENG 4323Studies in Autobiography and Biography3
ENG 4350Senior Seminar in Film3
GROUP E—WRITING STUDIES AND PRACTICE
ENG 3303Technical Writing3
ENG 3304Professional Writing3
ENG 3305Life Writing3
ENG 3306Writing for Film3
ENG 3311Practices in Writing and Rhetoric3
ENG 3312Internship in English Studies3
ENG 3313Scientific Writing3
ENG 3315Introduction to Creative Writing3
ENG 3318Approaches to Writing and Rhetoric3
ENG 3319The Development of English3
ENG 3342Editing3
ENG 3348Creative Writing: Fiction3
ENG 3349Creative Writing: Poetry3
ENG 3389Teaching English Language Arts in the Secondary Classroom3
ENG 4310Modern English Syntax3
ENG 4348Senior Seminar in Fiction Writing3
ENG 4349Senior Seminar in Poetry Writing3
1

May fall into other groups depending on specific course content.