General Information about the English
Program
Policies and Procedures
Declaring
the major or minor
Review the major and minor requirements.
After obtaining the
necessary form from the Registrar and meeting with your
current advisor
to
discuss
your academic
progress, meet with the chair of the department to
declare the major. Leave the pink copy of the completed paperwork
with the English Department and return the rest to the
office of the Registrar.
To declare
the minor, file the appropriate form with the Registrar after
having completed the minor requirements.
If you
are considering a major or minor in English, we host a meeting
each semester for majors, minors, and prospectives. Come
to
the meeting for more information on specific courses and
to meet the professors. The meetings are generally held just
before the advance program filing period (late October,
early November for the fall and late March, early April for the
spring).
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Major Concentrations
The English
Department offers four optional concentrations within the
English major. If you are interested in declaring
a specific concentration, first review the
amended
major requirements. After
consulting with the appropriate professors and your own
major adviser, file an amended Major Declaration form with
the Registrar. Note:
Students enter the writing concentration only by permission.
More
information on how to apply for a writing concentration
is available
here.
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Self-Audit
Majors
without concentrations should chart their progress
using the English
Major Self-Audit. Concentrators should consult one of the following forms:
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Declaring
a double, combined, or special major
Double Major
A
double major means that you intend to complete the
major requirements in two departments with no overlapping
courses.
You have the option of completing the senior project requirements
in both departments (writing one essay for each major) or of
doing a double major with one integrating senior project.
For both options you will need a sponsor in each department.
You
declare a double major any time during the second semester
of your sophomore year or any time thereafter. The forms are
available from the Office of the Registrar. Use the Major Form
for a complete double major; if you are doing one senior essay,
use the Double Major-One Integrating Senior Project Form. See
your English adviser for his or her signature of approval.
After you have taken the necessary steps in the other major
department, including selecting your second major adviser,
file copies of the appropriate forms in both departments, and
return the original to the Registrar.
Both departments must agree on your departmental honors nomination
and, if you are doing a single essay, on your senior essay
grade.
Combined Major
A combined
major is a program of study which allows you to create your
own major from course offerings in two or more
departments. It culminates with an integrating senior essay,
requiring advisers from the two departments. Unless that particular
course combination is listed in the Barnard Catalogue,
you must petition the Committee on Programs
and Academic Standing and receive the approval of the chairs
of the sponsoring departments.
Obtain forms and instructions from your Class Dean in the Dean
of Studies Office. Both departments must agree on your
senior essay grade and your departmental honors nomination.
Special Major
A special major is a major designed by you and not normally
offered at Barnard; that is, it is not listed in the catalogue.
A list of courses that satisfy the special major must be approved
by the Committee on Programs and Academic Standing. A special
major does not necessarily involve more than one department.
If it does, both departments must agree on the senior essay
grade and departmental honors nomination. Obtain forms and
instructions from your Class Dean in the Dean of Studies Office.
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Major
Advisers
Majors are assigned
an adviser in the English department when they declare
(this includes double and combined majors).
If you would
like to have a specific professor as your adviser, make arrangements
with that professor prior to filing the Major Declaration
Form. Not every faculty member in the department may
be accepting advisees. If you would prefer to simply be assigned to a
faculty adviser, indicate this to the department chair or
the department administrator when you declare. You will be
assigned based on your academic interests and professor availability.
Should your adviser go on leave, you will be assigned to
another professor for the duration of your adviser's absence.
This will be determined on the basis of professor availability.
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Transfer,
Summer and Study Abroad Credit
The
Department of English adheres to the policy set by the
Committee on Instruction (COI) in 1997, the spirit of
which is “to ensure, insofar as possible, that credit received
for summer-school work is equivalent to credit received
for academic-year work.” This also applies to
credit received for coursework at other institutions,
completed
either prior to a student's matriculation at Barnard
or while studying
abroad.
In all cases, majors
should consult with their advisers to ensure a timely
completion of the major requirements.
Summer Credit
The Department
will vet for pre-approval completely
documented requests for summer-school credit received before
May 31st. Requests
received after this date may not be pre-approved, and
you will not know whether your course will receive 3
points
of credit until the Department reviews your course materials
in the fall. In
either case the documentation required and the minimal
criteria are the same.
Documentation
consists of:
- a
course syllabus, if available, or a list of required readings (not simply
authors). A
list of readings that is slighter than 60% of that of a comparable course
at Barnard or Columbia must be submitted for exceptional
consideration by the
submission deadline. Syllabi
for Barnard courses are
available either online or at the department
office (417
Barnard Hall). Over the
summer please contact Lucy
Coolidge [lcoolidg(at)barnard(dot)edu].
- a
brief description of writing assignments. The
minimal writing requirement for 3 points of credit is 12 pages (about
3,000 words) of analytic writing (essays). For
courses in creative writing we expect a portfolio of no
less than 20 pages of
prose or 12 pages of poetry.
- a
completed English
Department Credit Request Form.
- a
completed Summer
Course Approval Form, available from the Registrar.
N.B. Courses
offered in Columbia’s summer session are treated differently
from courses in other programs. If
you are certain that you will not apply a Columbia summer
course towards completion of a major in English, approval
by the English Department is unnecessary.
Transfer
Credit
What
is considered acceptable transfer credit?
Requests
for transfer credit should be submitted as soon as
possible after a student's matriculation at Barnard.
Please complete all documentation prior to submitting
your request.
Documentation
consists of:
- a course syllabus, if available,
or a list of required readings (not simply
authors). A
list of readings that is slighter than 60% of that of
a comparable course at Barnard or Columbia must be submitted
for exceptional consideration by the submission deadline. Syllabi
for Barnard courses are available either online or at
the department office (417 Barnard Hall). Over
the summer please contact
Lucy
Coolidge [lcoolidg(at)barnard(dot)edu].
- a brief description of
writing assignments. The minimal writing requirement
for 3 points of credit is 12 pages (about 3,000 words)
of analytic writing (essays). For
courses in creative writing we expect a portfolio
of no less than 20 pages of prose or 12 pages of
poetry.
- a completed English
Department Credit Request Form.
- a
completed
Request
for Evaluation of College Work Completed Prior to Admission
to Barnard, available from the Registrar.
Study
Abroad
Credit
Requests
for credit for courses taken while studying abroad should
be submitted well in advance of a student's departure. Please
complete all documentation prior to submitting your
request.
Documentation
consists of:
- a course syllabus, if
available, or a list of required readings (not simply
authors). A
list of readings that is slighter than 60% of that
of a comparable course at Barnard or Columbia must
be submitted for exceptional consideration by the submission
deadline. Syllabi
for Barnard courses are available either online or
at the department office (417 Barnard Hall). Over
the summer please contact
Lucy
Coolidge [lcoolidg(at)barnard(dot)edu].
- a brief description of
writing assignments. The minimal writing requirement
for 3 points of credit is 12 pages (about 3,000 words)
of analytic writing (essays). For
courses in creative writing we expect a portfolio
of no less than 20 pages of prose or 12 pages
of poetry.
- a completed English
Department Credit Request Form.
- a
completed Study
Leave Course Approval Application, available
from the Registrar.
Foreseeable
problems and suggested solutions:
If
you can not obtain a syllabus or reading-list, or if
the writing required in a course does not meet the above criterion, request
the e-mail address
of the instructor and write to him or her directly. In
the case of a syllabus or reading-list, explain what the Department needs
in order to grant your application for credit. In the case of the writing requirement, inform the instructor
of the policy of the Department and ask if you may submit additional (or
lengthier) written work so as to satisfy it. (Do
not fail to add that this additional work will not affect his or her assessment
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Advanced
Placement Credit
Barnard
awards Advanced Placement (AP) credits toward the 120-credit requirement
for the B.A. degree. The department does not credit
an AP course toward the major
or the minor. AP credit does not carry exemption from ENG BC 1201 First
Year English:
Reinventing
Literary
History.
Students who have passed the AP in English with a grade of 4 or 5 are
awarded 3 credits toward the Barnard degree. For information on AP credit
for other courses, consult with the appropriate academic department.
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Independent
Study
Independent Study was designed for Senior English majors.
Permission from the Department's chairman is required. For more information
on completing an independent study in English, see the course description
for
BC3999 Independent Study, and consult with your major adviser.
The
Guidelines for Independent Study Projects and the
Independent
Study Application are for non-creative
writing projects. The form for 4-point projects for Writing
Concentrates is available by clicking
here. The
should be turned in to the English Department office when complete.
Independent Study can also be done as a one-point project
for additional work added to another course:
BC3996.
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Limited
Enrollment Courses
Sign-up for courses
with limited enrollment (including the Colloquia, Senior Seminars,
most Seminars on Special Themes, the English Conference, writing
and speech courses and spring sections of First-Year English) takes place
in the preceding semester, during the advance program filing period.
Sign-up
sheets are posted after the Program Planning Meeting each semester on
the bulletin boards across the hall from the English Department office
(417 Barnard Hall). The exact time of the posting will be
announced at the meeting and posted on the webpage and bulletin boards
ahead of time. Please pay attention to the displayed rules for as
noncompliance could eliminate you from the list. Sheets are taken
down when the class or section is full. All lists are taken down
between the end of the pre-registration period and the beginning of the
next semeste.
Students may
sign up for the English Conference
until the day of the second session (usually later that the end of the
normal Registration period.
Creative
writing
courses: All
creative writing courses require a writing sample: 3-5 pages of fiction
or personal narrative for prose-writing courses, 3 poems for poetry
writing,
a scene or short story with dialogue for playwriting. Apply to the
Director of Creative Writing, Dr. Timea Szell, by leaving writing samples
in her mailbox in 417 Barnard Hall, attached to a
cover
sheet available
in the Department office. You may apply for a place in a writing
course up until the specified deadline.
Class
lists will be posted at
the beginning
of the semester. You may place a writing course on your program during
the advance program filing period, with the understanding that you may
need to switch or drop the course later.
To enroll in theatre courses, please go to Theatre Department office,
507 Milbank.
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maintained by Lucy Coolidge
last updated 11/13/09 |
