The Secondary Field in English

Welcome to the Secondary Field in English

The Department of English offers one secondary field for non-concentrators. Designed to be flexible enough to accommodate every kind of interest in this broad field, it requires six courses, specified in the chart below:

English 10a, Major British Writers I

In addition to the benefits of studying English literature from the earlier centuries, this course offers a common learning experience for all secondary field students—and indeed all English concentrators.

Undergraduate Seminar

At least one seminar is required, which could be a 90-level departmental seminar, a Sophomore Seminar (Eng 97), or a Freshman Seminar taught by a member of the English faculty. You may take more than one. Please note: We advise you not to wait until your senior year to fulfill your seminar requirement.

American Literature

Any course in American literature from the department's range of offerings will fulfill the requirement. A seminar in American literature can “double count” for these two requirements (although you must still take a total of six courses).

Three electives

Three more courses in English and/or American literature complete the requirements. They may include literature courses offered through other departments but taught by English Department faculty.

Click here for the Secondary Field Advising Worksheet
Click here to file.

Students are free to explore the field by selecting a variety of courses; or they may focus on a genre or mode (such as poetry, drama) or a period (Medieval, Postcolonial) or any other aspect of the larger field. See the FAQ page and its link to a list of sample tracks, which suggests ways that individual students might organize their course selections around a guiding rubric, if they choose to do so. The six courses may be taken in any sequence, but for a number of reasons it makes sense to take Eng 10a early on. With the exception of Freshman Seminars, each course must be taken for a letter grade, with a minimum threshold of C-minus. There are restrictions on summer school and study-abroad credits, which the FAQ and departmental advisers listed below can clarify. No more than two creative writing courses may count toward the total of six.

The secondary field in English is largely self-administered. The six required courses must be completed by the end of the senior year. Seniors will print out a webform administered by the Registrar’s Office, check to make sure that all requirements are met, bring it to the English Department for a signature, and then submit the hard copy to the Registrar’s Office.

Questions? See our FAQ page.

Advising

Students pursuing a secondary field are urged to seek out members of the English Department faculty for advice on their specific course choices. For general information about the department, its faculty, and courses, visit the departmental website.

For more information on the secondary field and for advising, please speak to the coordinator of the Secondary Field:
Melissa Gerber, mgerber@fas, 5-8443

Daniel Donoghue, dgd@wjh, 5-2505
Director of Undergraduate Studies

revised July 2008