Learning Objectives and Matrices
The Department of English carries through its mission in part by offering academic programs for majors on the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels; and it supplies courses that meet communication and humanities requirements for University Studies. More detailed information may be found in the
current university catalog.
The department's common learning objectives are based on its mission statement:
The Department of English engages students and faculty in the public presentation of ideas. By studying how individuals in specific historical, cultural, and rhetorical circumstances present their ideas to others through the medium of language, our students learn how to present their own ideas persuasively. They learn to raise key questions, gather relevant information, reach well-reasoned conclusions, weigh alternative systems of thought, and communicate effectively with others. The means by which they develop these abilities range from analyzing and creating literary works through presenting ideas in the classroom to composing professional documents and conducting cultural analysis. But, whatever the means, we are a department unified in the belief that articulating ideas is the most intense form of critical and creative thinking, and these, in turn, are the core of a university education.
Accordingly, the learning objectives common to all our programs measure the ability of students
1. To identify and develop key questions.
2. To gather relevant information from electronic, print, site-specific, and human sources.
3. To reach compelling conclusions through the development of critical arguments, professional documents, or creative texts.
4. To weigh alternative systems of thought or approaches to craft, recognizing their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences.
5. To communicate their ideas effectively or imaginatively in both writing and speaking.
Below are links to tables listing for each departmental program the specific goals for each course offered.