English majors elect either a 30 hour minimum concentration of courses within the department or an interdisciplinary specialization consisting of 24 hours in the Dept. of English plus 15 hours in the area of concentration. American authors and Third World authors writing in English or translations into English are also taught and collected. The English Department offers a two semester honors program. Each student enrolled is expected to write an honors essay or develop a creative project.
Honors research often requires intensive library use and an advanced level of collection support.
Though disciplinary pedagogy emphasizes response to literary texts which students often purchase as textbooks, advanced literary study is heavily dependent on library collections. Oberlin's retrospective collections in English and American Literature are strong in important editions of major and minor authors, biography, criticism and theoretical texts, as well as runs of important literary periodicals. Current collecting has emphasized definitive editions of both major and minor authors' works and selective acquisition of the most important critical studies. Library materials acquired include literary texts in all genres, criticism, literary theory, biography, and bibliography. Purchases of texts in other disciplines, and works of a cross- disciplinary nature are also made in consultation with other departments and liaison librarians.