Join a community of scholars passionate about great literature

Explore how literature shapes our understanding of the world.

Develop critical and analytical skills employers seek.

Prepare for a rewarding career that meets your professional and personal goals.

Pursue a Degree in Literature

Are you excited by big ideas and curious about the world around you? Do you want to find a meaningful career path instead of just a job? Majoring in English Literature allows you to think deeply about the way literature shapes and reshapes our understanding of the world while also gaining highly sought-after professional skills that will prepare you for a meaningful career in a limitless variety of fields. When you pursue a BA, BS, or MA degree in Literature at MSU, you get to think deeply about art and culture and go on to have a fulfilling career.

What can you do with a Literature degree? Anything you want.

Pursing a degree in Literature prepares you for a meaningful career path rather than just a job. As a Literature major, you develop the advanced reading, writing, and researching skills that are needed in virtually every desirable job today. Literature majors develop the skills of critical thinking, argumentation and persuasion, empathy, creativity, and the ability to synthesize big ideas and understand how systems are linked.

As the National Association of Colleges and Employers notes, “what sets two equally qualified job candidates apart can be as simple as who has the better communication skills.” The advanced reading, writing, and oral communication skills you develop as a Literature major prepare you for a wide variety of careers. Is it any wonder that, as the Harvard Business Review has reported in multiple articles, major employers like Google are increasingly looking to hire Literature majors to encourage innovation and creativity within their companies?

A degree in Literature prepares you for graduate or professional study and a lifelong career in fields including law, medicine, library and archival sciences, education, non-profit and governmental work, public relations, publishing, and any other field that requires strong writing, research, and analytical skills—which is virtually every career field in the modern world.

You are only limited by your imagination.

Degree Options

The Department of English offers multiple pathways for achieving a degree in Literature. Most students pursue a four-year plan with either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science distinction. Both plans are 36 hours.

The BA is the traditional degree, recommended for students who plan to go on to graduate school. The BA includes foreign language study and coursework in philosophy, history, and the fine arts.

The BS is a more flexible option that provides a streamlined pathway to an English degree for transfer students and double majors. The BS does not include foreign language study. It is not recommended for students who plan to go on to graduate school.

Literature News

  • The Alum Report: Guye Goodlow
    The Alum Report: Guye Goodlow
    Friday May 6, 2022 at 3:55 p.m.

    Guye Goodlow graduated in 2006 from MSU with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He is one of very few English majors ever to also play football for MSU, and he took one of the first online courses offered at MSU.  He went on to business school after graduation and received an MBA in Marketing […]

    The post The Alum Report: Guye Goodlow appeared first on Department of English Blog.

  • Virtual Author Event: Margaret Sullivan
    Virtual Author Event: Margaret Sullivan
    Friday January 28, 2022 at 9:07 p.m.

    Missouri State University’s English Department and Pagination Bookshop are collaborating to host a Virtual Author Event on February 2, 2022, at 7 PM CST. It will feature Margret Sullivan, who recently published her memoir, Fragments from a Mobile Life, and will be reading excerpts from it. Sullivan will be joined by MSU’s very own Dr. Etta […]

    The post Virtual Author Event: Margaret Sullivan appeared first on Department of English Blog.

  • The Alum Report: Aubrey Larimore-Vargas
    The Alum Report: Aubrey Larimore-Vargas
    Friday September 3, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

    Written by Hank Essman Edited by Sabrina Wagganer    In this installment of the Alum Report, the English Department is proud to highlight the accomplishments of Aubrey Larimore-Vargas, a two-time MSU Graduate.  Having earned a bachelor’s in English/Literature and a master’s in Writing, Aubrey Larimore-Vargas is both a 2011 and 2014 graduate of the English Department. Today, she can be […]

    The post The Alum Report: Aubrey Larimore-Vargas appeared first on Department of English Blog.

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