English, BA

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The Bachelor of Arts - English program is designed to enable students to explore many aspects of English studies. The Department of English, Languages, and Cultures offers courses in composition, creative writing, film, literature, and literary theory. A distinctive feature of this English department is the commitment to improving students’ writing skills. Given this focus on writing and on reading different types of texts, students will find these programs useful for a variety of occupations and/or further study.

Graduates will be aware not only of the historical and generic categories of English literature but also of the role language plays in shaping our perceptions of everyday life. Mount Royal English graduates will be broadly literate for having engaged with written, visual and other types of social text. Mount Royal English graduates will be able to articulate the cultural processes that produce literature in a variety of different geographic settings including Canada. In order to achieve this level of understanding, graduates will have taken a variety of courses stressing different kinds of literature, genres, media and approaches to forms of cultural production.

Graduates will be able to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts. Graduates will be in firm possession of other core, transferable skills, such as thinking strategies, ethical reasoning, information retrieval and evaluation capabilities, computer literacy and group effectiveness, thus enabling them to succeed in further studies and career opportunities. Qualified graduates may go on to professional programs like law or develop careers in business, writing, or teaching. Graduates will have experienced different learning environments and developed metacognition (that is, a high level of self-awareness regarding learning and professionalization) around learning styles and preferences, an important outcome for the life-long learner in the education system or the workplace.

The graduate will:

demonstrate a writing style that exhibits clarity, eloquence, and precision.
consider the audience when selecting rhetorical strategies.
articulate positions clearly and persuasively.
support arguments with appropriate sources of information.
analyze, evaluate and synthesize information from different sources.
construct reasonable and informed readings of texts.
be aware of genre conventions and literary traditions.
recognize various theoretical and critical approaches to texts.
address different positions in the course of developing an argument.
interrogate the ways in which ethical assumptions are shaped and analyze how one’s own ethical framework affects one’s readings of texts.
document sources in an ethically responsible way.
use information technologies effectively.
apply group process skills in diverse settings.
assess personal effectiveness in learning.

Curriculum

Program Structure - English

Total number of three-credit courses (or equivalent)	40 courses minimum
Required courses in English	18 courses
Elective courses	12 courses
General Education Courses	10 courses
First-year course limit (1000 level)	16 courses maximum
Maximum number of courses outside of the Faculty of Arts, and/or the Faculty of Science and Technology, and/or designated as General Education courses	8 courses
Course limit in a single discipline	24 courses maximum
Grade Point Average (GPA) to graduate	2.00 minimum

Required Courses

All students must meet the general graduation requirements for the Bachelor of Arts, in addition to the graduation requirements for the English Major. Students must complete 18 core courses, 10 General Education courses, and 12 elective courses. As part of the 18 core courses, students must complete a minimum of 14 ENGL-prefixed courses.

Introductory Literature

One course in:

Literary Foundations

All of:

Intermediate Writing

One course in:

Indigenous Arts and Cultures

Any INST or one course in:

North American Literature

Two courses in:

Global / Transnational Literature

One course in:

Pre-1900 Literature

Two courses in:

Additional Courses

One Language/Linguistic course*
Two ENGL courses at the 3000 level or higher**
Two ENGL courses at the 4000 level or higher
Two additional ENGL courses at any level***

Notes

*Any Language/Linguistic course includes all courses with the prefixes CHIN, FREN, GERM, ITAL, JPNS, SPAN, LING, and ENGL 3306 , with the exception of CHIN 2217 , FREN 2250 , JPNS 2209 , SPAN 2219 , and SPAN 2220 .

**FILM 3345 can also be used to complete this requirement, as well as any course at the 3000-level or higher with the prefix CRWT and ENGL.

***FILM 2251 , FILM 3345 , or any course with the prefix CRWT and ENGL can also be used to complete this requirement, with the exception of ENGL 1101 /GNED 1401 and ENGL 0212 .

Electives

12 Elective Courses

Students are eligible to choose any 3-credit university-level course to complete an elective requirement, including Bachelor of Arts - English courses that are not already fulfilling a major requirement. Students should be aware that no more than 24 courses within one discipline will be counted towards their degree (e.g., no more than 24 courses with the course prefix ENGL).

General Education Requirements

Ten courses must be completed to meet the General Education requirements to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts - English.

Four courses will be taken at the foundational level: one from each of the thematic clusters.
Three courses will be taken at the second tier: no more than one from each of the thematic clusters. One of these courses must be from the Numeracy and Scientific Literacy Cluster
Three courses must be taken at the third tier, selected from at least two of the thematic clusters.

Graduation Requirements

Eligibility To Graduate

To be eligible to graduate from a Mount Royal program, a student must have been officially admitted into the program and must normally complete at least 25% of the graduation requirements as a student within the program, except where written approval has been given by the dean/director of the faculty/centre/school.

Normally, 50% of the academic work completed toward the award of a Mount Royal parchment must be completed at the University, except where written approval has been given by the dean/director of the appropriate faculty/centre/school.

Application for Honours after receiving a Bachelor of Arts in the same discipline.

A student who has graduated with a Bachelor of Arts may not apply to enter Honours in the same discipline in which he or she has received the Bachelor of Arts degree.

Time Limitation

All graduation requirements for the BA degree program must be completed within eight years of initial admission to and enrolment in the program. The prior learning of all students entering baccalaureate programs will be fully assessed at the point of admission for possible advanced standing or transfer credit. Applicable credit for prior learning which is recognized at the point of entry into the program will remain valid for the same time limit (eight years) as is permitted to complete the program.