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.

Writing
More than a concentration, Writing at USF is a mission rooted in the universal human right of freedom of expression. Students in our multi-disciplinary writing program determine and hone their writing skills in three arenas: imaginative and creative expression, professional communication, advocacy writing. Within each one, they explore the relationship between conscience and expression, they learn that the right to speak the truth goes hand in hand with the duty to seek it, and they probe real-world tests to the limits that have grown up around the bold assertions of our First Amendment. The premium granted to wit and invention in our society, and the authority that clear and concise writing commands means that our students begin working within professional norms immediately. Research, argument and logic drive them to design innovative communications in multiple media. Adept at code-switching, they distinguish between different rhetorical situations and audiences. They know that using commas is an art and that telling a good story is the secret weapon of advertising, advocacy, business, diplomacy, entertainment, journalism, law, medicine, philanthropy, politics, social-media, and teaching.