English (BA [International Honours] in English)

The Joint Degree Program in English

The Joint Degree Program in English Language and Literature allows students to gain from both the St Andrews in-depth and progressive approach to the study of English and the more broad-based and interdisciplinary William & Mary approach. The joint degree program in English provides distinctive opportunities for the development of writing skills, increased sensitivity to language, awareness of the aesthetic and intellectual enjoyments of literature, and an understanding of the cultural values reflected in literature. Students will be exposed to a range of historical periods and critical approaches to literature. They can also take creative writing classes. The program serves students who are seeking to teach; students who are preparing for graduate study in English; students who desire a rich intellectual and aesthetic experience in advance of professional study in fields such as law, medicine and business; and students who choose English simply because they enjoy the disciplined study of literature and language. All English majors in the joint program have the opportunity to work on an independent research project as part of their degree, either by writing a dissertation at St Andrews or by taking a senior research seminar at William & Mary. A student who chooses to spend Year 4 at William & Mary may qualify to work on a senior honors project either in literature or creative writing.

Requirements for the Joint Degree Program in English

Required Credit Hours

  • 61 credits toward the major, at least 21 of which are completed at William & Mary.
  • Credit requirements during honours years (years 3 and 4)
    • Students must earn at least 60 credits in Years 3 and 4 combined, including credits outside the major.
    • Of the 60 credits, students must earn 30 credits at each university.
    • With the approval of the Programme Directors and major advisors at both institutions, students may apply up to six (6) 300- or 400-level credits taken at W&M during the summers before years 3 and 4 toward the total required Honours credits.
    • Of the 60 credits, students must earn at least 52.5 credits at the 300- to 400- level in years 3 and 4 combined and no more than 7.5 credits below the 300- level. No courses below the 300- level will be used for the St Andrews degree classification. 
      • Of the 60 total credits, at least 45 credits must be in the major at the 300- to 400- level.
        • Of the 45 major credits, at least 22.5 must be at the 4000 level at St Andrews or at the equivalent level at W&M. Most 300 level courses in the major at W&M will count towards this requirement. See the major advisor for a list.

Major Computing Requirement

Fulfilled by the Capstone Experience requirement of the major.

Major Writing Requirement

Fulfilled by the Capstone Experience requirement of the major.

Core Requirements

Note: ENGL is the prefix for English and CRWR is the prefix for Creative Writing courses at W&M; EN is the prefix for English courses at St Andrews. All majors in the joint program are required to take the following:

Year 1 at W&M
ENGL 250Interpreting Literature3
ENGL 204British Literature II3
Year 1 at St Andrews
EN1003 - Culture and Conflict: An Introduction to 19th and 20th Century Literature5
EN1004 - Explorers and Revolutionaries 1680-18305
Year 2 at W&M
ENGL 250Interpreting Literature3
ENGL 203British Literature I3
Year 2 at St Andrews
EN2003 - (Medieval and Renaissance Texts 5
EN2004 - Drama: Reading and Performance5
Honours: years 3 and 4
In years 3 & 4, students must satisfy the following requirements and take additional electives in the major to meet the 45 credit total required during Honours. A single course can be used to satisfy no more than two of the following requirements.
One Course or Module in American Literature:
ENGL 207American Literature: Themes and Issues3
ENGL 361Early American Literatures3
ENGL 362Literatures of American Nationalism and the Crisis of Slavery3
ENGL 363Literatures of Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Incorporation3
ENGL 364American Modernism to the 1960s3
ENGL 365Early Black American Literature3
ENGL 366Modern African-American Literature3
ENGL 371Topics in American Literature3
ENGL 383Topics in American Literature Before 19203
ENGL 414AAfr-Amer Women Writers3
ENGL 417BThe Harlem Renaissance3
EN4370 - Voicing America: Colonisation to Civil War 7.5
EN4409 - Modern American Drama 7.5
EN4418 - American Poetry Since 1950 7.5
EN4419 - American Fiction: Self and Nation (1865 - 1939) 7.5
EN4437 - American Fiction 1950-2000: Postmodernism and Beyond 7.5
One Course or Module Each in Two Different Period Groups:
Courses in two of the three period groups a.) Medieval, b.) Renaissance, and c.) 18th-19th century (for a total of two courses); this requirement may be covered as follows at W&M/St Andrews:
Medieval
ENGL 315Beowulf3
ENGL 316Arthurian Literature3
ENGL 317Topics in Old English Literature3
ENGL 322Medieval Literature3
ENGL 381Topics in British Literature Before 1700 (depending on the topic)3
EN3111 - Beowulf7.5
EN3112 - Chaucer's Canterbury Tales7.5
EN3113 - Older Scots Literature to 15607.5
EN3223 - The Mystery of Love: Sacred and Secular Themes in Late Medieval English Literature 7.5
EN4311 - Old English Poetry: Lordship and Landscapes 7.5
EN4312 - Authorising English: Society, Gender and Religion in Late Medieval English Literature 7.5
EN4316 - Courtly Literature in Middle English 7.5
EN4317 - Diversifying Old English Literature 7.5
EN4318 - The Golden Age of Chivalry? Arthurian Ideals in Middle English Romance 7.5
EN4319 - Green and Pleasant: Landscape and Later Medieval Literature 7.5
ME3502 - The Medieval Book 7.5
Renaissance
ENGL 323Early Modern British Literature3
ENGL 324Renaissance and Restoration3
ENGL 325English Renaissance Drama3
ENGL 381Topics in British Literature Before 1700 (depending on the topic)3
EN3141 - Tragedy in the Age of Shakespeare 7.5
EN3142 - Renaissance Literature: Texts and Contexts 7.5
EN4341 - Renaissance Sexualities: Rhetoric and the Body 1580 - 1660 7.5
EN4342 - Restoration Drama in Context 7.5
EN4344 - Shakespeare and Race 7.5
EN4345 - Hard Cases: Literary Complexity from Donne to Pope 7.5
EN4346 - The Early Tudors: Literature and Reformation 7.5
EN4347 - Milton7.5
EN4348 - Bodies and Selves in the Renaissance 7.5
EN4350 - Women and Authorship in Renaissance England 7.5
EN4351 - Translating the Renaissance: England and Europe in the Age of Shakespeare 7.5
EN 4353 - Literature, Nature and Science in Early Modern England 7.5
18th-19th Century
ENGL 332Enlightenment & Sensibility3
ENGL 333The Rise of the Novel3
ENGL 341Romanticism and Revolution3
ENGL 343English Novel, 1832-19003
ENGL 382Topics in British Literature Between 1700 and 19003
EN3162 - Revolution and Romanticism: Literature, History and Society (1789-1805) 7.5
EN3163 - The Younger Romantics: Poetry and Prose (1810 - 1830) 7.5
EN3165 - 'Loose Baggy Monsters': The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Novel 7.5
EN4361 - The Novels of Jane Austen in Context 7.5
EN4362 - Mind, Body and Soul: Literature in the Enlightenment 7.5
EN4363 - Romantic Writing and Women 7.5
EN4364 - The Art of Victorian Poetry 7.5
EN4365 - Literature and Childhood in the Eighteenth Century 7.5
EN4367 - Romantic Gothic 7.5
EN4368 - Read all about it! Victorian Literature and the Press 7.5
EN4369 - Victorian Literature and Science 7.5
EN4370 - Voicing America: Colonisation to Civil War 7.5
EN4372 - Labour, Leisure and Luxury in British and Transatlantic Literature of the Eighteenth Century7.5
EN4373 - Material Culture in Victorian and Modernist Fiction 7.5
EN4374 - The Queen's English: Language, Literature, and Politics in the Victorian Period 7.5
One Course or Module on Constructions of Race
Courses in literature and expressive culture by people of color and those that take race as a central conceptual category for critical examination can be counted toward this requirement. This requirement may be satisfied in combination with one of the courses that satisfy the American literature or period groups requirements above. Courses typically satisfying this requirement are listed below, but other courses may satisfy on a one-time basis when content is appropriate.
ENGL 365Early Black American Literature3
ENGL 366Modern African-American Literature3
ENGL 414AAfr-Amer Women Writers3
ENGL 417Topics in Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality3
ENGL 417ALiterature of the Americas3
ENGL 417BThe Harlem Renaissance3
ENGL 423Topics in Post-Coloniality3
EN3213 - Postcolonial Literature and Theory 7.5
EN4372 - Labour, Leisure and Luxury in British and Transatlantic Literature of the Eighteenth Century 7.5
EN4374 -The Queen’s English: Language, Literature, and Politics in the Victorian 7.5
EN4424 - Nationalists and Nomads: Contemporary World Literature 7.5
EN4433 - Black and Asian British Writing 7.5
EN4435 - Writing the Pacific 7.5
EN4436 - Caribbean Literature 7.5

Capstone Experience:

All JDP students complete a major research project as a capstone experience during year 4, which involves extensive, independent, faculty-mentored research.

At W&M

Students may either complete an Honors Thesis or complete a Research Seminar in English (COLL 400). Students choose one of the following:

ENGL 475 Seminar in English

OR

ENGL 495 Honors and
ENGL 496 Honors

At St Andrews

EN 4399 Dissertation in English Credits (7.5)

Course Specific Requirements

Joint Programme students are required to complete the university’s foreign language, writing, quantitative, and major computing proficiencies and a first-year seminar (COLL 150). All William & Mary home students in their first year, and host students from StA at W&M in their second year, will take a COLL 150 and a 1-credit course in the Fall that will prepare them for the academic culture at W&M. W&M first year home students will also take, in the Spring semester of their first year, a 1-credit course that will prepare them for their first year abroad.

Knowledge objectives:

Every student must take a total of nine credits explicitly labelled COLL 200, with at least one course in each of the three knowledge domains of not less than three credits. In addition, students must take one additional course, of not less than three credits, in each of the three knowledge domains of ALV, CSI, and NQR, for a minimum total of 9 credits.

Knowledge Objectives and Proficiency Requirement Guidelines

College Board Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate examinations, and college-level coursework completed post-high school graduation may be used to satisfy Knowledge Domain objectives (not COLL 200), Foreign Language Proficiency, and Mathematics Proficiency. Note that the credit does not count towards the degree, even if it is used to fulfill these requirements.
The COLL 150 and COLL 200 requirements must be met at W&M.
All other requirements may be met with either W&M or StA coursework.