Program Overview

The ability to communicate ideas and information is one of the most valuable skills you can have. The English language is a powerful tool, and those who master it are well-prepared for the multiple career changes most college graduates experience in their lives.

English majors develop sophisticated abilities in communicating, listening, speaking, reading, writing, critical thinking, information gathering and understanding a broad spectrum of human cultures.

USF’s goal is to heighten and intensify student reading experiences, and help students reflect upon the ways in which written and spoken words deliver meaning. Through this discovery, students can develop the ability to recognize authoritative analysis and question authority. They can even become authoritative critics themselves.

Skilled writing begins with skilled listening and speaking. Through spontaneous and focused exchanges that entertain wide-ranging ideas in a respectful way, USF English majors become confident speakers and can present their ideas in formal and informal settings. Critical thinking skills are honed in every class and assignment, enriched by discovery, originality, humor, creativity, and the pleasure of reading.

Comparative Literature
The Comparative Literature concentration is an interdisciplinary option for students of literature. Comparative literature, now often understood as international and interdisciplinary study rooted in literature, began as a disciplinary home for the comparison of literatures from different national traditions. It then evolved to encompass cultural studies and eventually became fully interdisciplinary. At its heart is comparison, which involves pondering juxtapositions, asking questions, making connections, starting a conversation, and carrying it through to the end with an awareness of how it all came about. Because Comparative Literature offers great freedom and creativity, it demands in turn great discipline: one needs the appropriate expertise to make the comparison (linguistic or disciplinary), a sound basis for the comparison, an understanding of the theoretical underpinnings and implications of the comparison, and the ability to articulate them orally and in writing.