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English Minor

Why minor in English? For starters, the ability to think critically, write clearly, and communicate effectively translates to ANY job you pursue. If you love to write, an English minor at Dordt can help you turn your passion into a skill that benefits you for the rest of your career.

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Program Overview

As an English minor, you’ll learn to analyze and discuss what you read and write. You’ll discover how you can express yourself in creative and innovative ways. And you’ll understand how God is woven into every fiber of our language.

English minors at Dordt have opportunities to write for several on-campus publications, as well as Dordt’s Marketing and Communication Office. They can also compete in writing competitions, get published in professional journals, and pursue internships both locally and across the country.

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What You'll Learn

As an English minor, you’ll take a number of English classes to help you develop your skills as a writer. You’ll learn to read and write clearly and critically. And you’ll discover where and how God uses the written word to teach us truths about life. Along with a core foundation of English classes, you’ll also have options for classes such as fiction writing, argumentative writing, and business and technical writing.

What You Can Do With An English Minor

When it comes to an English minor, you can choose from several career options. You may apply your reading and writing skills to work in business or the medical field. You may choose to become an English teacher. Or you may pursue a career in journalism, social media, or one of several other options. You have countless possibilities when you combine your major with an English minor.

Librarian

A Librarian is responsible for performing a variety of tasks associated with managing the library and materials within it.

Editorial Assistant

Editorial Assistants assist with the production of publications by performing a variety of administrative and editorial tasks.

English Educator

An English Educator teaches and helps students improve on skills such as writing, reading, and comprehension.

To earn an accounting major, students will complete one required English course, one course chosen from a selection of English options, and four upper-level English electives.

  • Introduction to Literary Studies: Provides students with a foundation of knowledge and skills for work in the major. It does so by introducing them to the subject matter, critical schools and methods, research strategies, forms of responsive and critical writing, and major contested issues of the discipline.
  • Introduction to Creative Writing: A course in which students will read and write in four genres: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and screenwriting/playwriting. The course will emphasize reading and research as the foundation for creative writing. It will also introduce students to workshopping creative writing and to an integrated understanding of faith and writing.
  • Reading and Writing of Poetry: In this writing course, students read and write various poems with fixed forms and in free verse. They will explore how other poets get started and where they get their ideas for poems. Time in class will be spent discussing each other’s poems, and each student will have at least three personal conferences with the instructor. By the end of the semester, each student will have a portfolio of at least a dozen poems.
  • Songwriting: A study in the craft of songwriting, particularly in lyrical composition. The course will cover listening, reading, and analyzing songs and song structure. Students will write and workshop songs. No ability to write music is required.
  • Advanced Non-fiction Writing: This course will introduce students to types of non-fiction writing sought by online and print publications. It will seek to improve students’ narrative writing skills, especially an engaging voice. Major assignments include the profile, the review, and the personal essay. Students will also read and react to various types of non-fiction writing, both essays and longer works. Significant class time is spent in workshop format, with students reading and discussing their own work.
  • Advanced Argumentative Writing: The primary goal of this course is to help students argue and persuade well in writing, in preparation for careers that demand high-level argumentation—such as seminary, law school, graduate school, political work, and research and grant writing. Students will study the art of rhetoric, writing for specific audiences in order to persuade, dissuade, or inspire them. They will also incorporate research, at an advanced level.
  • Fiction Writing: Introduces students to the task of writing fiction. In addition to significant reading in the genre, the course will require several exercises in various aspects of the craft, as well as the completion of one original short story. Time will be spent in workshop format and discussing technique, as well as the ways in which one’s faith affects the work of writing fiction.
  • Business and Technical Writing: Students will study the process, application, and characteristics of business and technical writing, and the way in which writing style, strategies, content, and clarity will relate practically to one’s profession. Concentrates on developing competence in a variety of writing tasks commonly performed in business, law, industry, social work, engineering, agriculture, and medicine. Satisfies Core Program writing-intensive requirement.
  • Screenwriting: Students will gain insight into the process and the techniques involved in scriptwriting by studying film scripts and creating their own. Students will receive hands-on instruction in concept development, character development, plot structures, dialogue, and visualization.
  • Four additional courses from English courses for majors (ENG 200-393)

See the course catalog for more information.

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