Mar 28, 2024  
2015-2016 Catalog 
    
2015-2016 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

English Minor


The minor in English at the University of California, Merced asks students to recognize the complex interactions of culture and literature. Literature and literary criticism are significant parts of an ages old, continuing conversation about the meaning and value of human society. Unlike scientific or social scientific approaches to this conversation, literary discourse emphasizes the particular in the dialogue between particular and universal. It always arises out of specific times, places, and cultural traditions, and it often gives powerful voice to cultural differences and individual differences against the backdrop of larger, homogenizing forces. Moreover, literature has traditionally fore-grounded questions of value over questions of definition, or rather, sees questions of value as central to the definition of humanity itself.

The study of literature enables one to engage this conversation richly, both for personal development and for the ability it gives one to be a responsible agent in the many societies each person inhabits. Moreover, literary study gives one insight into how cultures operate in such a way as to facilitate ethical cross-cultural interactions. Literary study facilitates such agency by teaching readers how to understand—an understanding that engages intellectual, ethical and aesthetic faculties— and then critique literary artifacts.

Lower Division Minor Requirements [8 Units]


  • One lower-division seminar English course (ENG 050 through ENG 089)
  • One additional lower-division English course (ENG 010 through ENG 089 or  )

Upper Division Minor Requirements [16 Units]


  • Two upper-division Survey of Literatures in English courses (  or   or   or  )
  • Two additional upper-division English courses (ENG 105 through ENG 189)

English Minor Program Learning Outcomes


  1. Interpret texts with due sensitivity to both textual and contextual cues.
  2. Articulate an appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of texts by the standards of their times and places.
  3. Develop historical, geographic, and cultural empathy by reading texts written in other times, places, and cultures.
  4. Apply interpretive strategies developed in literary study to other academic and professional contexts.
  5. Write cogently and with sensitivity to audience.

The following guidelines pertain to all SSHA minors:


  • To complete any SSHA minor, students must complete a minimum of five courses, at least four of which must be upper division.
  • All courses must be taken for a letter grade.
  • All minor course requirements must be completed with a C- or better.
  • A minimum overall grade point average of 2.0 (C) in upper division courses is required. The only exception is a minor in Arts, for which the minimum GPA in upper division courses is 2.7 (B-).
  • At least three of the five required courses must be taken at UC Merced.
  • Only one course may be used simultaneously to satisfy requirements for two minors.
  • Only one course may be used to satisfy both a minor and a major requirement.
  • Students must consult the UC Merced General Catalog for prerequisites to required courses.