Who Are Hiram’s English Majors?
Students earning their English degrees at Hiram are passionate readers and writers, eager to learn from each other, their professors, and language. They use their natural curiosity to think flexibly as they analyze literature and cultures.
Hiram’s small, discussion-focused classes foster a tight-knit community of English majors, providing ample opportunity to hone interpretation and communication skills. The close relationship between Hiram’s English students and professors challenges students to relentlessly pursue creativity and their calling.
About the English Degree Program
Hiram’s flexible English major builds analytical and communication skills while focusing on students’ personal passions. The program is rooted in five focused skill areas:
- Analysis and interpretation of a wide variety of texts
- Close reading of structure, word choice, symbolism literary devices, and textual meaning
- Intensive research, including finding, evaluating, and incorporating high-quality sources to both support and complicate personal positions
- Writing short and long projects independently, from planning, to organization, to implementation
- Oral communication, expressing thoughts clearly and concisely through discussion
By interpreting language and cultural statistics and trends, and reviewing the history and origins of language, students in this program gain the critical thinking and communication skills that characterize the new liberal arts and lead to success beyond college.
In addition to coursework, Hiram’s major provides training opportunities often reserved for graduate-level students:
- Training and working as writing tutors and writing assistants
- Submitting scholarly coursework to conferences and journals
- Working on the Hiram Poetry Review, as well as other area writing internships
