About the English Major

The Open Focus track provides choice and flexibility for students who wish to combine courses from across the range of English studies to meet their unique needs and interests. 

If you're interested in creating literary worlds of your own, Creative Writing is the track for you! Classes are usually small, beginning with a lecture from your professor, followed by a workshop with the professor and your peers. These workshop-based classes place a heavy emphasis on the importance of the revision process to improve and refine your work.

Past classes offered in Creative Writing

• Creative Non-Fiction Writing
• Fiction Writing 
• Novel Writing
• Poetry Writing
• Screenwriting 

The Literaturary & Cultural Studies track is for those who are interested in exploring the depths of humanity by studying both classic and contemporary cultural texts from a variety of sociocultural backgrounds. The blend of seminar and lecture classes will allow you to sharpen your critical reading and thinking skills, and written assignments on a range of topics will help you hone your writing and research techniques.

Past classes offered in Literary & Cultural Studies

• The Graphic Novel
  
• Studies in British Modernism: "Author as Icon"
• Studies in Literature: "Moby Dick and the Arts"
  

The Public & Professional Writing Studies track is for students who wish to improve their writing practices and gain a deeper understanding of how rhetoric and writing function both within and beyond the university. We believe that clear communication through writing is critical to success in career and professional spaces as well as in our communities and personal lives. Students in our program engage with writing and rhetoric in ways that prepare them to communicate effectively and respond confidently and ethically within a range of professional, civic, personal, and educational contexts.

We offer a range of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels that enable students to practice writing in professional settings, in digital spaces, and in their communities. Subject areas include (but are not limited to) writing for new media and in digital spaces, grant writing, professional writing, and writing for social change.

Past classes offered in Writing Studies

• Persuasive Writing
• Digital Writing & Rhetoric
• Technical Writing

The English Education track is for students who plan to teach high school English.  This program is a double major: students declare both the English major and the Secondary Education major with the Teacher Education Department. Classes include both traditional literature survey courses and experiential classwork relating to education.

Past classes offered in English Education

• Introduction to Linguistics
• Children's Literature
• Teaching High School Writing
  

If you love movies, the Cinema Studies minor may just be the program for you. You'll study films as art, cultural commentary, and narrative by examining both modern and historical films from a variety of genres. Cinema Studies will allow you to sharpen your analytical thinking and writing skills, making it an excellent complement to any major. For an in-depth description of the program, including course requirements, please see the University Catalog. For more information about the program, contact the Director of Cinema Studies, Dr. Andrea Gazzaniga, at gazzanigaa1@nku.edu or 859-572-1351.

The minor in English allows you, more than any other in the department, to personalize your experience with English studies. In it, you will take a few introductory classes, but can then furnish the rest of the minor with electives from Literature, Creative Writing, Writing Studies, and even Cinema Studies.

If you're interested in creating literary worlds of your own, a Creative Writing minor is for you! Classes are usually small, beginning with a lecture from your professor, followed by a workshop with the professor and your peers. These workshop-based classes place a heavy emphasis on the importance of the revision process to improve and refine your work.

Professional Writing is the perfect minor for any major that requires communication - in other words, all of them. Professional writing will teach students how to communicate on the terf of other disciplines, such as business, law, or technical fields.