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Students in SMC’s English programs develop written and spoken mastery of the English language, creativity of thought, and an appreciation of the language’s literature. The English academic and career path can lead to a career in teaching at all levels. Additional careers include advertising copywriter, editor, foreign correspondent, literary agent, media planner, reporter, fundraiser, paralegal, public administrator, speechwriter, information abstractor/information indexer, interpreter, and translator.

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Programs Offered

Degrees and Certificates

Transfer Preparation

Many colleges/universities offer baccalaureate degrees in this field. Students planning to transfer to a four-year college or university should complete the lower-division major requirements and the general education pattern for the specific transfer institution. SMC has articulation agreements with the many UC and CSU campuses, as well as several private and out-of-state institutions.

Exact major requirements for UC and CSU campuses can be found online at assist.org.

A listing of private, nonprofit California colleges and universities can be found online at aiccu.edu. For articulation agreements between SMC and some of these institutions see smc.edu/articulation.

Creative Writing, Certificate of Achievement

The Creative Writing Certificate provides students with the preparation needed to author works in creative writing, including works for personal development and/or professional application. Completion of the required courses in the Certificate Program provides a comprehensive foundation in the study and practice of creative writing, and guides students through varied and rich opportunities to dig deep into the power and properties of language and the craft of writing expressively.

This Certificate meets the needs of those students who wish to exercise their imaginations, think rigorously about craft and literature, generate and shape personal stories, prepare creative work for publication, and/or pursue professional opportunities in fields that rely on critical thinking, creative imagination, narrative skills, sensitivity to language and training in the craft of written communication. In the course of this program, students learn an incisive critical vocabulary, formulate and absorb constructive, critical feedback, and apply critical responses to multiple, iterative revisions of their work. The program also meets the needs of those in the community who wish to participate in a creative writing community.

Students who complete the Certificate read widely and closely from the work of writers who represent a variety of genres, styles, periods, aesthetic concerns, geographies, and perspectives, thereby gaining a deeper and broader cultural fluency. In the certificate program, student writers gain meaningful experience in collaboration (via the workshop model), public presentation (via sharing their work with an audience), and self-evaluation (via critical reflection about their drafts in progress).

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the program, students will demonstrate: a) the skills to write short works that cohere, or have internal integrity, and reflect a greater sensitivity to language, attention to the rhythm and structure of the sentence and demonstrates an awareness of the relationship of form to content in the generation of meaning b) the skills to read and critique works by both established and peer writers using a critical lens c) the ability to maintain an independent creative practice that includes close, active reading, independent generative exercises, and strategies for revision of works in progress d) the skills necessary for using language and storytelling for a wide-range of applications in industry and publishing.

Area of Emphasis: (12 units)

Required Introductory Course (3 units):

ENGL 71,Introduction to Creative Writing (3)

Genre Options; Select 2 Courses (6 units):

ENGL 72,Writing in Fiction(3)

ENGL 73,Writing in Poetry(3)

ENGL 74,Writing in Creative Nonfiction(3)

Literature Options; Select 1 Course (3 units):

ENGL 3,World Literature 1(3)

ENGL 4,World Literature 2(3)

ENGL 5,British Literature 1(3)

ENGL 6,Brutish Literature 2(3)

ENGL 7,American Literature 1(3)

ENGL 8,American Literature 2(3)

ENGL 18,Children's Literature(3)

ENGL 31,Advanced Composition(3)

ENGL 34,Afro-American Literature(3)

ENGL 38,Literature of the Absurd(3)

ENGL 41,Introduction to Asian American Literature(3)

ENGL 53,Latino Literature in the United States(3)

ENGL 54,Indigenous Literatures of North America(3)

ENGL 55,Modern Drama(3)

ENGL 56,20th Centry European Literature(3)

ENGL 57,Latin-American Literature(3)

ENGL 59,Lesbian and Gay Literature(3)

ENGL 61,Introduction to the Fairy Tale(3)

ENGL 62,Crime Fiction in a Global Context(3)

ENGL 63,Science Fiction: Worlds Within Worlds(3)