r/englishmajors

I'm up for a qualitative research. However, I haven't figured out what topic should I explore for my research. So, I'd like to brainstorm here for your ideas.

I'm applying as a staff journalist for my uni's yearbook. The application requires work samples - as an English major I obviously write a lot, but there's a big emphasis on familarity with AP style citation (naturally) and all of my papers and articles are humanities related, so they're in MLA. Do you think it's a better option just to write a new article in AP style (might not turn out great, because I don't have a lot of time) or change my MLA papers into AP? I thought it could look unprofesstional to change entire citations of a literature analysis paper to AP, but I guess it's possible. Any thoughts?

Hi everyone, just looking for a bit of advice. I’m an English major and I’m one semester away from completing an associates. I’ve been back and forth a lot on what I want to do, between editing & publishing, some sort of professional writing, and librarian. Today I discovered the concept of writing for educational purposes for zoos, wildlife centers, etc. which was something I had never considered previously. My second choice for a major would have been zoology, but I was concerned with job availability without relocating. So my question is, for a minor, would it be a good idea to do environmental studies? I thought that may pair nicely with an English degree if I want to focus on trying to get a position for some sort of writing for wildlife, whether that be blogs, educational, or whatever. I also considered minoring in Biology but it would take too many prerequisites for me to even be able to start a minor in that. Any advice is appreciated!

I read classical literature, philosophy, social science, psychology, cultural studies, fine art, zoology ( ornithology , ecology, entomology) passionately. I love to do this all the day...

Now there's very few Career opportunities in these fields, my parents want i build my Career in physics or microbiology ( their first choice was medical, but I never liked that Field.). It is not that I don'tnt like to read physics or microbiology, but I love their philosophical aspects and views... But academic syllsbus is more mechanical that that joy of knowledge.

Will i get enough time to read philosophy thesis, serious classical novels or my other passion in my graduation and further life... Or the competition, exam pressure , job market will destroy my passion?

Only depending on research line in zoology or English literature is risky for a student like me, belonging froma middle class family.

What should I do now.

India,WB.

Master of Arts in speech communications or Doctor of Philosophy in communications

Okay I know you are probably thinking why the switch. I am switching because I like language, I know i like it enough to study it. I honestly love it, but not all love's can sustain I suppose which is why I am so anxious before signing up for a 2 year program. If you're wondering why engineering if I loved English so much, lets just say family, and society pressure and I had little to no balls to decide for myself, or push.

Coming to my questions:

1. is doing an MA in english in this economy (I come from a middle class background) the same as digging a hole myself?

2. if I do take it, how hard is it going to be to Crack NET? What are some preparation tips you bet will help

3. I have heard a lot of negative news around the fact that people dont get jobs even after clearing NET? Can I please hear your pov on it?

4. my plan B if I dont clear NET in 1st attempt is to not waste time just do a B.Ed and teach in British curriculum schools. Or is that also me being too delusional about? Is it hard to get into international schools. This really matters because I do want to apply to schools in dubai or Kazakhstan if I have enough experience here in India

I don’t know if anyone else feels the same way. English isn’t my first language, so my reading speed is around 30 pages per hour, and with more difficult material, like Faulkner, it drops to about 20. I spent a lot of time reading in undergrad, so I was able to do well. But now that I’m about to start grad school, I’m a little stressed out by the foreseeable long reading lists.

I do enjoy reading and writing papers, but am kind of frustrated by my reading speed, especially when I realize I can read 2 pages per minute in my first language

I’m a (future) English major, and I’ve been trying to choose a college to get my bachelor’s degree. I plan to do all my coursework online, because I need a more flexible schedule than in-person classes allow for. That being said, I’m not sure what the best choice is! I want to make sure I find a credible and well-regarded online English program.

Are any of you getting your English degrees online? If so, what college are you attending, and would you recommend it? Any input is welcome!

So I'm a second semester English student, and one of the courses we have this sem is Introduction to Literary Criticism. We look at various essays, such as Plato's Republic (specifically Book X), Michel Foucault's "What is An Author," Barbara Smith's "Toward A Black Feminist Criticism," etc.

I'm stuck on how to study in order to answer 10 mark essay questions about each text. We have no way of knowing what kind of questions we'll be asked in a final, and my institution is relatively new so there are only 2 past papers (and most of the texts in the syllabus have changed anyway). We also don't have access to the texts in our exams.

Any advice on how to study for a subject like this?

Hello everyone, I'm an English education student, and I need help huhu.
My prof. structure of english gives us an assignment about syntactic structure, and the sentence is "She painted the house white", and she wants us to identify if "white" should be considered as an adjective phrase, but I'm pretty sure that "white" cannot be considered as an adjective phrase because an adjective phrase is about a group of words acting as an adjective, and "white" itself is only an adjective. I know she's just trying to test us, but please enlighten me huhuhu I need help.

i’m an english major for reference and i feel like these 3 classes all at once will be an exciting semester for me but i want to make sure i wont be overdoing too much for myself since im pretty sure all 3 involve lots of reading? i also want to take a history class with the other 3 but dont want to overdo anything for myself. any advice?

Hey all, a bit of a long post. I just want to get it all out there!

I got my BA in English, with a specialization in Secondary English Education a few years ago and have been teaching for 4 years. Through the local university, I get tuition waivers for taking student observers and student teachers. I've been using them to get a EdM in Curriculum and Instruction, with a focus in Bilingual-Bicultural Education. I've been burning out with teaching at the secondary level for a few reasons, such as student apathy & workplace drama. Working through my EdM has reignited a love of learning again and so between that and work disillusionment, I am considering a PhD.

A few facts that are possibly important: a) I received a 3.51 in undergrad. b) Right now, about halfway through my EdM, I have a 4.0. c) Monolingual. d) When I finish my EdM, I'd be the second in the family with a Master's Degree. e) If I pursue a PhD, I'd be the first in my family. f) White, agender/nonbinary, grew up lower-middle class, this changed when I was in HS and college. g) Grew up Roman Catholic, have experience in church literature.

My specific interest in an English PhD is cross-disciplinary, in Medieval studies. As of now, I have interest in studying Medieval English hagiography and its role in the religious and moral instruction for lower-class lay people. This seems a fair middle ground between English and my interest in Church history, but I wouldn't qualify for a history PhD. It would also take from my background and interest in education, though obviously in a much different context.

I imagine after the PhD, I'd move into academia, or more realistically, return to secondary education. Something I did not mention that is a motivation to leave education is the tier 2 system in IL, which is awful! I would hope it would be fixed by the time I return, but I am not holding my breath. In some ways, the PhD is motivated by the idea of being the first in my family to do, in a family who has generally seen me as less intelligent and capable than others in my family (I've struggled with a learning disability my family refused to pursue a diagnosis for..). However, I do love learning! I love the idea of TA'ing, doing research, or attending conferences in a subject I care for (English and church literature).

So, in what ways am I qualified and more importantly, in what ways am I not? What considerations do you have for me to dwell on? Does anything in this post stand out?

Thank you!

i wanted to know how you all manage your time in order to complete all your readings and get good grades on your papers. i'm a rising junior, and i took 16 credits of english courses this semester,(in my university, 1 course=4 credits and taking at least 16 credits is mandatory). these courses were a course on 18/19th century lit, a course on post-colonial literature, a course on modern literature from my country, and a 200-level elective.

needless to say, i suffered with completing readings, and my final essays were all due on consecutive days, and my gpa is going to suffer after this semester, and i submitted many of them late, and some of them were kind of terrible. i really want to be able to finish my readings and engage with my classes properly, instead of merely rushing through them, because this degree is genuinely my passion. but i have not been able to do that, and i know it's going to become an issue later too as i write my senior thesis next year.

i don't know if there's something i'm not doing right, or if i just overexerted myself this semester. either way, i feel extremely guilty because i had to really persuade my parents to let me pursue this major and switch from business/econ, therefore, i would greatly appreciate any help/advice on managing time for essays, on speedreading/speed annotating etc. and please note- i don't wish to use ai substantially in my major. i may use notebook lm to help me find page numbers for when ctrl+f doesn't work and for when i don't have time to flip through a physical copy, but nothing beyond that. i have tried listening to audio books at 1.5x for my readings, but not all of my required texts have free audiobooks (since we have some comparatively lesser-known books too), and i am unable to annotate my physical copy while listening to the audiobook since 1.5 is too fast for that. \

also, i do have adhd, so i'd especially appreciate tips from fellow english majors with adhd that helped them ace this major.

I have a midterm on Wednesday linguistics three chapters out of 15 marks (social linguistics, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics) do you think if I look in for two days Thursday and Wednesday will I be able to get full mark?

I'm a freshman year student majoring in English translation as it was a profession i really wanted to master and build my life on it. Initially i was thinking of pursuing medical degree, i realized that i had no passion for that and felt like choosing the path i am the most passionate about since i had a decent understanding of linguistics as well as skills. And i got into the university that i wanted, by the major i wanted of course, then i started feeling skeptical. I was told by one of my professors that translation is a dying field and if i genuinely want to study languages, switch into linguistics (he's a linguist). Now i am learning Chinese and Russian (also wants to study Japanese) while studying my major classes, and thinking of double-majoring in English and Chinese translation.

If i were to switch, i would go for Psychology but first of all, i'm knee deep into my English translation courses and even registering into the exam for switching would cost me an arm and a leg, and second, i still wants to major in my current major. They say if you're going to major in translation, at least specialize in a specific field, and i feel like it's literature for me (i want to translate foreign books/novels into my mother language and vice versa or just work in a publishing company). As far as i did research across the internet, in the future, if not work as a translator, i could also teach in languge institutes or work as a tourist guide (i hope).

How are translators/English majors doing today? Is there any hope for me if i desperately wanted to pursue my passion?

I have accumulated ten plus years of professional writing experience (multiple publications, course teaching and creation, etc.). My ultimate career goal is to become an English professor. There’s just one problem: I was never an English major during my undergraduate years; the closest I ever came was a high school English education major, and that was probably my worst semester performance and sickness-wise. By the time I realized this is what I really wanted, I was too sick to continue and had run out of money (I spent a good chunk of my college years fighting chronic illness). Thus, I never learned how to engage with scholarly sources in English.

Most graduate programs in English require a scholarly piece as part of their application. I never wrote any pieces that would qualify, and even if I did, I no longer have access to any of them, as the computer I used for my college career died long ago. I already have my topic: monster as lover in contemporary Gothic fiction and dark romance, both literal monsters (demons, vampires, etc.) and humans who engage in “monstrous” behavior (serial killers, mafia members, etc.). Where could I find scholarly pieces that would be relevant to this topic? What would qualify as a “scholarly source”?

Thank you for your help!

I did bachelor's degree in Zoology and now I am kind of confused what to do next

I thought of b.ed and MSC but i feel like I don't wanna study Zoology and go for English instead then pursue PHD

Does it has scope ? or Doing B.ed would be better option ?

^(I’m an English literature student struggling with academic writing and concentration. Looking for a writing buddy or mentor for accountability and feedback.)

I'm a computer engineering student so I have very little perspective on this and was just genuinely curious! I've always been interested in computing because of the problem-solving aspect, but now with AI being shoved down my throat the past few semesters, I'm beginning to feel that the reasons I love this field are becoming obsolete.

I've also always loved to read and write, so I just wanted to ask how your relationship with English/reading/writing has changed since you began your studies! Not a fan of AI/LLMs so just having a sort of quarter life crisis