Offered at: San Luis Obispo Campus
The English minor is an excellent opportunity for Cal Poly students. Any minor allows you to complement courses in your major with work in another discipline. When you graduate, your transcript will show that you have completed a minor as well as a major. A minor allows you to concentrate your electives, learning enough about another discipline so that you can be well educated in two academic areas.
An English minor complements any major, adding richness and depth to students' educations. The curriculum boasts literature courses to help students cultivate empathy and insight; writing courses to help students practice essential communication skills; and linguistics courses to provide an understanding of the nature and power of language.
The English minor offers special opportunities for students in technical majors who might otherwise take a scattering of “available” electives without developing a coherent complement to their technical training. It also offers students in majors close to English—such as Communication Studies and Journalism—a chance to broaden their competence in a related area. The minor is simple and should not increase the total number of hours you must have for graduation. You need only to plan your elective courses to include 21-24 units of English courses (those established for the minor). The English minor is planned to offer satisfaction for you as a student, as well as significant advantages in your career.
Students interested in pursuing an English minor should meet with the minor advisor to review the requirements. The English minor is not open to Liberal Studies majors with a concentration in English.
Who Can Minor in English?
Anyone can take an English minor. For students in most majors, taking a minor will be easy. Often about half the work for the English minor can be accommodated by meeting the general education requirements. They may be “double-counted.” That is, they will fulfill the humanities requirements of your major course of study while at the same time completing a large part of the 21-24 units that make up an English minor.
You probably can use other electives allowed by your major to finish the minor. If you have already taken English classes at Cal Poly or another university, it is likely that some of them can count toward a minor, even though they are not part of the list of minor courses.
Advantages of the English Minor
People who choose to study English like to read, and the minor gives them that pleasure, as well as providing a basis of critical understanding for a lifetime of reading. Most English majors are good writers as well; and they choose to study what they enjoy, just as most students in other majors do. Clearly, the minor in English is a pleasure for the people like you, and this pleasure is one of the main advantages of the minor.
It is also a practical choice. With an English minor on your transcript, you will stand out from other candidates when you look for a job. Employers are seeking well-rounded people who understand the world more broadly than a technical major usually allows and who can communicate their understanding to others. They are looking for candidates who can do more than just the immediate job. With training in close reading, precise writing, and critical thinking, you will be better equipped to advance after you are hired. Many studies have shown that people educated in the humanities progress further and faster than those trained only in a technical discipline.
The English minor can improve your long-range job prospects by allowing you to be more flexible. A large percentage of people change careers completely at least once before they retire, and this pattern is increasing. Education in more than one field—especially if your second field is as broadly useful as an English minor is—may allow you wider choices when the time for change comes.
Minor Requirements and Curriculum
- At least half of the units must be from upper-division courses (3000-4000 level).
- At least half of the units must be taken at Cal Poly (in residence).
- No more than one-third of the units will be taken with credit-no credit grading (CR/NC), not counting courses with mandatory CR/NC. Departments may further limit CR/NC grading if desired.
- A minimum 2.0 GPA is required in all units counted for completion of the minor.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| REQUIRED COURSES | ||
| Introduction to World Literature | ||
| Select from the following: | 3-4 | |
| Literature Survey: Fifth to Fifteenth Centuries | ||
| Literature Survey: The Early Transatlantic Era | ||
| Literature Survey: The Multicultural Eighteenth Century | ||
| Literature Survey: Multicultural Romanticism | ||
| Literature Survey: Transatlantic Literature in the Industrial Age | ||
| Literature Survey: Transatlantic and Global Modernism | ||
| Introduction to Classical Literature | ||
| Introduction to Medieval through Enlightenment Literature | ||
| Introduction to Literature in the Age of Revolution | ||
| British Literature | ||
| Select from the following: | 3 | |
| British Literature: Beginnings to 1485 | ||
| British Literature: 1485 to 1660 | ||
| British Literature: 1660 to 1798 | ||
| British Literature: 1798 to 1832 | ||
| British Literature: 1832 to 1914 | ||
| British Literature: 1914 to Present | ||
| Introduction to Shakespeare | ||
| US Literature | ||
| Select from the following: | 3-4 | |
| Intermediate U.S. Literature: Beginnings to 1865 | ||
| U.S. Literature: 1865 to 1914 | ||
| U.S. Literature: 1914 to 1956 | ||
| U.S. Literature: 1956 to Present | ||
| Multiethnic Literature of the U.S. | ||
| African American Literature | ||
| Asian American Literature | ||
| Topics in Diversity in Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century US Literature | ||
| Intermediate Literature Survey: U.S. Literature Beginnings to 1820 | ||
| Intermediate Literature Survey: U.S. Literature from 1820 to 1900 | ||
| Sixteenth to Seventeenth Century U.S. Literature | ||
| Research Topics in Diversity in Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century U.S. Literature | ||
| Crossing National Boundaries or Exploring Genres | ||
| Select from the following: | 3-4 | |
| Women Writers of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries | ||
| Trans Literatures | ||
| The Modern Novel | ||
| Modern Poetry | ||
| Modern Drama | ||
| The Bible as Literature and in Literature and the Arts | ||
| Special Intermediate Topics | ||
| Film Styles and Genres | ||
| Film Directors | ||
| Topics on Gender Representations in Film | ||
| Disability and Diversity in U.S. Film | ||
| Early U.S. Poetry | ||
| Topics in Genre | ||
| Contemporary U.S. Dramatic Literature | ||
| Topics in Queer and Trans Literature and Media | ||
| Research Topics in Queer and Trans Literature and Media | ||
| Intermediate Topics in Film | ||
| Non-Literature Focused English Studies | ||
| Select from the following: | 6-9 | |
| Corporate Communication | ||
| Writing With Style | ||
| Multilingual/Multimodal: Writing Transnational Spaces | ||
| Writing Sustainability, Equity, and Resilience | ||
| Humanistic Perspectives in Technical and Professional Editing | ||
| Creative Nonfiction | ||
| Fiction Writing | ||
| Poetry Writing | ||
| The Linguistic Structure of Modern English | ||
| Applied Linguistics | ||
| History of the English Language | ||
| Intermediate Topics in Writing | ||
| Writing Grant Proposals and Fundraising Appeals | ||
| Copywriting | ||
| Designing Content and Information for the Web | ||
| Total Units | 21 | |