English Literature
The Purdue English Department’s undergraduate degree programs offer individualized attention and access to excellent teachers and experts who shape how people think about literature, linguistics, and writing. Our students have access to unique learning communities, internships, scholarships, and study abroad opportunities that provide them with the foundations for collegiate success and beyond.
The English Literature student is a reader. English Literature majors immerse themselves in the works of writers who have shaped the modern world, and they practice the skills necessary to negotiate that world and to thrive within it.
By reading and writing about literature, you will learn the adaptive thinking, empathy, and creativity that the job market demands and that global citizenship requires. The study of English promotes ethical thinking, curiosity about other times and places, and the ability to imagine alternatives to the status quo. Ultimately, reading and writing are forms of considerable power. As the British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley put it, “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” As an English Literature student, you will learn how to exert your power responsibly in whatever world you find yourself.
A flexible and versatile program, English Literature also encourages students to take electives in Creative Writing and Professional Writing.
Preparation
All Purdue University College of Liberal Arts majors prepare students with skills contributing to professional and managerial success: communicating and listening well, understanding and appreciating of diverse points of view, creative thinking and problem solving, collaborating with others, synthesizing complex ideas and expressing them clearly, and a Boilermaker work ethic.
Within the field of English, students develop skills that are applicable to many different careers. These skills include but are not limited to:
- Writing clearly and persuasively for multiple audiences and in multiple styles
- Reading deeply and insightfully
- Thinking critically and creatively about texts and the world around us
- Reasoning analytically and researching effectively
- Expressing your ideas with polished presentation skills