English Major

Suffolk’s English majors explore the powerful connections between literary themes and modern issues. You’ll learn to articulate strong points of view, compose your thoughts in an organized and creative way, identify major literary themes, and draw lessons from groundbreaking works that illuminate aspects of the human condition.

You’ll benefit from Suffolk’s proximity to the Boston Public Library, the country’s first large public library. Boston has been home to legendary writers for generations, including Emerson, Alcott, Thoreau, and Plath. Now, it's your turn to make your literary mark!

Suffolk is also home to a branch of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society. Active membership is open to both English majors and English minors who have completed a minimum of two college courses in English language or literature (beyond the First Year Writing requirement and sophomore English requirement) with an average of 3.5, plus a general cumulative average of 3.0. Associate membership is open to students who have the requisite academic background but who are not majoring or minoring in English. Both active and associate members can contribute to the national publication, The Rectangle.

Concentrations

In the Literature concentration, you can take a wide variety of classes spanning from survey courses that explore foundational texts of the British and American literary canon along with intellectually stimulating and wide-ranging upper-level electives that focus on diverse writers and engage with multifaceted literary topics and various genres. Small class sizes foster lively classroom discussions and will allow you to benefit from individual attention from professors.

The creative writing concentration will develop your creative thinking and imaginative writing skills in three genres: poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Intensive workshops in these genres will allow you to join a community of writers engaged in the task of finding their voices and making their words come alive on the page. You will learn about the world of literary publishing and the skills of editing, revising, and submitting your work that may one day make you a published writer.

The Public and Professional Writing (PPW) concentration will develop your skills in creating, curating, and revising traditional and digital texts. You'll focus on writing in terms of audience, technology, and craft, specifically to the world of work and public facing institutions outside the academy. The newest concentration in the major, PPW offers an innovative and constructive space both to sharpen and to apply the critical thinking and composing skills you'll develop as an English major in the close reading of texts and to apply these skills outside traditional literary genres and formats.

Courses & Requirements

Learn more about the classes, requirements, and different options available to complete the program.