About the English Major, Major Concentrations, and Minor

LSU English majors and minors can choose from a wide range of courses to help them explore their intellectual interests and define their career paths. The analytical, creative, and communicative skills that English majors and minors acquire ensure that LSU English alum have many career possibilities, from medical or law school to teaching to writing and editing and many other tracks.  

Our majors go on to law school, secondary school teaching, graduate study, technical writing, teaching English as a second language (or as a foreign language abroad), publishing, communications, and various other careers requiring skillful reading, writing, and learning. 

Most of our classes are small, and our Honors Program offers extra opportunities for supervised tutorials and an honors thesis. Many English majors participate in LSU Summer Programs Abroad or in exchange programs with universities in England, France, Ireland, and elsewhere. We also offer a minor in English, which allows students to sharpen their skills in writing, analysis, and communication.

English Major Concentrations

English majors can choose among four concentrations: Creative Writing, Literature, Secondary School Education in English, and Rhetoric, Writing and Culture. 

The Creative Writing concentration teaches students to create imaginative literature.  Students can learn to craft poetry, nonfiction prose, fiction (stories and novels), drama, and screenplays. 

The Literature concentration emphasizes reading, interpreting, and placing imaginative literature in a variety of interpretive contexts. Literature concentrators encounter a wide range of texts from different eras, cultures, and voices, become careful and detailed readers, learn multiple methods for analysis, and develop advanced skills in writing and research. 

The Secondary Education in English concentration prepares students for secondary school teaching, and includes courses taught in conjunction with courses from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.  Successful graduates earn a BA in English and are also certified by the state to teach secondary language arts. For more information about teaching English in secondary schools, visit Geaux Teach! 

The Rhetoric, Writing and Culture concentration, focuses on a wide range of writing (e.g., corporate budgets, newspapers, novels,  and film scripts), studied on a range of levels, including linguistics (the systematic study of the components of language), rhetoric (the art of the effective and persuasive use of language), and cultural studies (encompassing all the socially transmitted assumptions and behaviors that affect a text). 

Major and Concentration Requirements

For information about the requirements for each concentration, review Concentrations for English Majors in the general catalog and make an appointment with one of our advisors during the fall and spring semesters.

English Minor

The minor requires 18 hours of coursework in addition to ENGL 1001 and ENGL 2000 composition requirements. English minors can choose the ENGL courses in which they enroll, which allows for students to take courses that interest them and complement their career goals and major field of study.  The 18 hours must include: 

  • 6 hours at 2000-level, not counting ENGL 2000
  • 6 hours at the 3000 level
  • 6 hours at the 3000- or 4000-level.

For more information about what opportunities are available to English Majors, visit our Careers and Internships page.

The English Department is in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.