Mar 29, 2024  
2012-2013 Catalog 
    
2012-2013 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

English, Associate of Arts


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The English degree program is designed for students interested in focusing on literature and writing in an interrelated academic environment. The program features a broad range of courses in English language, literature, and composition, including introduction to literature and literary theory, linguistics, survey courses, genre courses, diversity-based and interdisciplinary courses, and writing-intensive courses. The program will enable interested students to begin their major in English at RVCC and to transfer to a four-year institution to continue their academic advancement on the baccalaureate level.

Graduates are able to:

  • write clearly, grammatically and fluently with focus and continuity in standard American English
  • demonstrate clarity, analytical skill, and organization to present and support ideas in take-home papers and in-class writings
  • articulate their evolving point of view about literature, authors, diverse cultures and periods, and/or about compositional artistry, creativity, and style
  • write research papers that explore critical inquiry on works and authors studied in a given course; employ, when practicable, technological tools; and responsibly use and document sources
  • appreciate, discuss and write about major writers, movements, cultures, and works covered in a given course in ways that demonstrate analytical competency and compositional skill
  • appreciate the interrelatedness of literature, literary theory, language, and composition

Curriculum – A.A. Degree


First Semester


Second Semester


Third Semester


  • Science (lab) 4 Credits 3
  • History 3 Credits 1
  • Free Elective 3 Credits 8
  • English Elective 3 Credits 6
  • English Elective 3 Credits 6

Fourth Semester


  • Mathematics or Science (lab) 0-4 Credits 3,9
  • History 3 Credits 1
  • Global & Cultural Awareness 3 Credits 7
  • English Elective 3 Credits 6
  • English Elective 3 Credits 6

Total Credits 61 - 65


1 Select a course from the appropriate category of the General Education & Computer Science Electives List  list.

2 Mathematics by official Placement Test. Students may not take courses below placement level. Exceptions by permission of department chair.

3 Select a course from the appropriate category of the General Education & Computer Science Electives List  list. For the Math, Science and Technological Competency General Education requirements, students must take a minimum of 12 credits. This must include at least one lab science course, one math course and satisfaction of the technological competency requirement by either passing the technological competency test (no credit) or taking a technological competency general education course. If a student passes the technological competency test, another course must be selected from Math, Science or Technological Competency General Education, so that the student has earned at least 12 credits in those categories.

4 A two-semester sequence is required. Placement by examination is required for students who wish to continue studying a language previously studied. Students may not take courses below their placement level. For more information, see Foreign Language Placement Testing & Degree Requirements .

5 FITN 142 Elements of Physical Fitness  or FITN 146 Exercise Physiology & Body Mechanics  ( pre-req Human Biology) may be substituted.

6 English Electives
Must take one course from Category A: ENGL 201 Introduction to Literature 
; ENGL 202 Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism ; or ENGL 205 Language, Mind and Society .
Choose one course each from three of the four categories B-E, for a total of 12 credits as follows:
Category B: Survey Courses (one) from among the following: ENGL 221 American Literature: Colonial through the Civil War 
; ENGL 222 American Literature: Post Civil War to the Present ; ENGL 211 Masterpieces of Early World Literature ; ENGL 212 World Literature Since the Renaissance , ENGL 235 English Literature: Middle Ages through the 18th Century ; ENGL 236 English Literature: Romantic Period to the Present .
Category C: Genre-based Courses (one) from among the following: ENGL 224 The Short Story 
, ENGL 226 Introduction to Poetry , ENGL 262 Drama , ENGL 233 Shakespeare , ENGL 227 Science Fiction , ENGL 281 The Modern Novel , ENGL 282 The Victorian Novel , ENGL 213 Autobiography , ENGL 234 The Literature of Comedy .
Category D: Diversity-based or Interdisciplinary Courses (one) from among the following: ENGL 259 History and Literature of the Vietnam War 
, ENGL 228 Psychology & Literature , ENGL 291 Masculinity in Literature , ENGL 231 African-American Literature , ENGL 290 Women in Literature , ENGL 207 Global Patterns of Racism ,

 , ENGL 223 Ethnic Writers in America , ENGL 206 Law & Literature , ENGL 214 Race in American Literature and Popular Culture .
Category E: Writing-Intensive Courses (one) from among the following: ENGL 248 Creative Writing I 
, ENGL 249 Creative Writing II , ENGL 263 Business Writing and Management Communications , ENGL 250 Technical Writing and Communication  and ENGL 247 Rhetoric and Writing Studies .

7 Any General Education course that is listed as a Global & Cultural Awareness (GCA) course. If a course satisfies both the Global & Cultural Awareness Requirement and another General Education requirement in Social Science or Humanities, the student may select any course from the General Education & Computer Science Electives List .

8 Any college-level course.

9 If the student has already completed 12 credits in the Math, Science and Technological Competency categories, the student does not need to take a course here. 

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