English Major

Overview

The Department of English is dedicated to the study of the literatures and cultures of those parts of the world in which English is a primary language. Although committed to no single method or approach, the department requires a knowledge of British, American, and Anglophone literary history and an engagement with a range of methodological approaches that foster intellectual curiosity and critical thinking and encourage its students to be not only expert readers and writers but engaged and ethical citizens.

An understanding and appreciation of literature can furnish lifelong rewards. In addition to offering students such personal benefits, the department seeks to foster critical analysis and lucid writing and to teach them to think about how language and representation function in the world. Such skills are essential to success in a variety of professions for which the major in English can provide excellent preparation, including law, administration, business, teaching, media, and entertainment.

Within the BA degree in English, qualified students may elect a concentration in creative writing. The department also offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Literature and Culture.

When selecting courses to fulfill requirements for the majors, students are expected to choose those that best reflect their own interests and simultaneously contribute toward a coherent program in literary studies.

Requirements

The Major: 10 Upper-Division Courses

  • All courses used to fulfill requirements for the English major must be 4 or 5 units and taken for a letter grade.
  • Seminars may not be applied toward Historical or Breadth requirements.
  • When choosing classes to fulfill requirements for the major, students are expected to select those courses that best reflect their own interests and simultaneously contribute toward a coherent program in literary studies.

4 Historical (one course in each period)

Literatures in English before 1500
Literatures in English 1500-1700
Literatures in English 1700-1850
Literatures in English 1850-Present

3 Breadth (one course is required in three of the four areas below)

Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Disability and Sexuality Studies
Imperial, Transnational, and Postcolonial Studies
Genre Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, Critical Theory
Creative Writing (enrollment in any creative writing workshop is by application only)

2 English Electives: English 100-199, or approved English Composition courses

1 Senior English Seminar or English Capstone Seminar

Download your degree checksheet!

To view current Department of English course offerings by major requirement, navigate to the ‘Courses’ tab.

Preparation for the Major

Preparation for the English Major
Preparatory Coursework (the Prep)

English Composition 3: English Composition, Rhetoric, and Language
This is an introductory course focusing on fundamental writing skills. It is administered by UCLA Writing Programs, located in 146 Kaplan. If you received a score of 4 or 5 on either of the Composition & Literature or Language & Composition AP tests or scored 5-7 in the Language-English (native) IB exam, then you will receive credit for English Composition 3 and 8 units toward graduation.

English 4W/4HW/4WS: Critical Reading and Writing
This course introduces students to literary analysis through close reading and written exposition on selected literary works.

For English Majors ONLY:

English 10A: Literatures in English to 1700
English 10B: Literatures in English, 1700-1850
English 10C: Literatures in English, 1850-Present

The English 10 Series is a foundation for your study of English literature at UCLA. This yearlong series is a survey of major writers and genres, with emphasis on tools for literary analysis such as close reading, argumentation, historical and social context, and critical writing. English majors should take the 10 Series in sequence early in their career at UCLA.

The Prep courses for the English and American Literature and Culture majors must be taken for a letter grade, and students must receive a grade of “C” or higher in each of the courses.

Foreign Language/Literature in Translation Requirement

All English and American Literature and Culture majors must have completed either (1) level five or equivalent in any one foreign language or (2) level three or equivalent in one foreign language and two additional courses in foreign language or foreign literature, including foreign literature in translation (click here for a list of eligible courses).

Transfer students who have satisfied the College of Letters and Science foreign language requirement at the high school level through the IGETC program may satisfy the departmental requirement with five foreign literature in translation courses.

The Department will give credit toward the major’s Foreign Language/Literature in Translation Requirement for any work the student may test out of in a UCLA language department placement exam or in an AP or IB exam. Please refer to the “Advanced Placement (AP) Credit” and “International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher Level Exam Credit” tables on the UCLA Undergraduate Admission website.

Foreign language and foreign literature in translation courses may be taken on a Pass/No Pass grading basis.

Declaring the Major

At this time, the Department has not placed a limit on the number of undergraduate English or American Literature and Culture majors at UCLA. The Department does stipulate that to declare either Bachelor of Arts program as your major, you must not be on academic probation. If you are a continuing student, you must have completed one quarter at UCLA.

To declare English or American Literature and Culture as a major, please connect with a Department of English undergraduate advisor virtually or in-person. To see our most up-to-date advising options, click here.

Adding a Second Major

Please go to the College of Letters and Science’s web page concerning the procedures for declaring a second major.