Our Honors program is available to students pursuing the BA in English. Students pursuing the BA in Writing and Media complete an internship instead.
English Honors offers you the chance to fulfill the requirement for a Capstone experience by crafting a scholarly, creative, or professional writing project over the course of your senior year. You will work closely with a faculty mentor to plan and execute the project. The subjects for the projects are up to you and your faculty mentor to decide, but some previous topics include:
- poetry collections, short story collections, novellas, and memoirs;
- analyses of works by William Shakespeare, John Milton, J. K. Rowling, and Charles Dickens;
- analyses of various genres of film such as horror movies;
- technical writing projects such as creating a style guide, website building, and writing manuals.
Our honors students gain valuable scholarly research experience, personalized writing instruction, and the opportunity to acquire especially strong letters of recommendation from committee members — all of which can help you in future careers or applications to graduate schools. Students who complete an Honors thesis present their work at our annual Honors Symposium.
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Eligibility
To be eligible for the Honors Program in English, a student must:
- be enrolled as a UAB English major
- have earned a 3.5 GPA in English courses taken and a 3.0 GPA overall
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Requirements
Students in the English honors program are required to do the following:
- Meet with the director of Departmental Honors to discuss the possibility of entering the honors program.
- Select a member of the English graduate faculty to serve as faculty mentor. The mentor and the Director of English Honors will constitute the Honors Project Committee.
- Submit a completed English Honors Program application form to David Basilico, Director of the Honors Program, for approval. Students must secure permission of the director in order to enter the program. Submit the honors application form.
- Be enrolled in EH 494: English Honors Research (or EH 491: English Honors Research for Non-Concentrators) and EH 495: Honor Capstone Thesis in consecutive terms.
- During EH 494 (or 491), compile a thesis proposal or work in progress (for creative writing students) and have it approved by the Honors Thesis Committee. Once approved, a paper copy and an electronic copy or the proposal or work in progress should be given to the Director.
- During EH 495, write the thesis under the committee's guidance.
- Note: the English Honors Program highly recommends that students meet their faculty advisors once every 1-2 weeks throughout the semester. In order to successfully pass EH 494, 491, or 495 with a grade of C or better, students must meet with their advisor a minimum of 5 times. These meetings may be held in person or over Zoom, and they may be held individually or in workshop groups.
- Obtain final approval of the thesis from all members of the Honors Project Committee and submit a completed copy to the director in electronic form.
- Prepare and present honors project work at the Honors Symposium.
These requirements can also be reviewed in the UAB Course Catalog.
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Contact
If you have any questions about the honors program, please contact:
David Basilico
Director of the English Honors Program
University Hall 5037
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Hear from Our Students
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Wallace Golding
"Completing an honors thesis was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my college career. It allowed me to explore the intricacies and minutiae of my particular topic more than I would have been able to in a standard course, and the year-long structure of the program gave me the opportunity to formulate a thesis that I felt truly contributed to the academy."
Wallace Golding
“‘In Herself Complete’: Autonomy and Identity Creation in Milton’s Eve”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alison Chapman -
Jaclyn Hogan
"Writing my honor's thesis was a fantastic experience. My mentor, Kerry Madden-Lunsford has been incredibly supportive of my writing for my entire time at UAB. The workshop meetings we had were very useful, and I really feel like my writing has improved because of it. The defense itself was a wonderful conversation with my committee, all of whom gave me very insightful feedback and encouraged me to continue writing and to complete the work that I started with my thesis. I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to consider completing an honor's thesis. It is truly a rewarding experience."
Jaclyn Hogan
“Sins of the Father”
Faculty Mentor: Professor Kerry Madden-Lunsford -
Jessica Robbins
"My experience with the UAB English honors program has been wonderful. My faculty were there with me every step of the way to guide me. I was really nervous at first because it seemed like such a daunting task, but once I started working, ideas started coming. Before I knew it, I had written well over the necessary page count, and I could've kept going if given more time.
"To anyone who is considering writing an honors thesis for the English department, it is a wonderful opportunity that will benefit you academically, professionally, and personally. In addition to the incredible support you will receive from the department faculty, it is also a great opportunity to gain valuable research skills and produce a real piece of meaningful scholarship that has the potential for publication. I am extremely grateful for the English honors program and I am so happy I decided to be part of it!"
Jessica Robbins
"Fairy Tales, Pet Snakes, and Fish Stories: An Analysis of the Roles of Nonhuman Animals in A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Ann Bach -
Courtney Melvin
"The journey of writing and revising an Honors Thesis provided a great lesson in humility and, ultimately, in standing by my work. The process is tentative and cathartic at once. It was a joint effort. My director, Kerry Madden-Lunsford, was enthusiastic and hands-on, offering guidance at every opportunity. In the end, I walked away feeling like I'd really done something to contribute to my passion.
"My advice to anyone considering this path: Do it. You can't go wrong when you're trying to better your craft. When the work is done and your hands are sore from typing or writing, you then get the chance to say, 'Here's why I chose the words that I chose.'"
Courtney Melvin
"What If It Hurts."
Faculty Mentor: Professor Kerry Madden-Lunsford -
Anna Simms
"The English Honors Program challenged me to an honest exploration of my abilities in professional writing. The program allowed me produce a document that would stand as a testimony of not just the education that I took part in but also the steps I took to explore that education further."
Anna Simms
MEMORANDUM Style Guide
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Bacha -
Toby Camp
"There were many nights of diligent work where I skipped meals to work on sentences. Yes the Honors Thesis was the hardest thing I've written so far without a doubt in my mind. But I encourage everyone to do it because it makes a better writer of us all. It has made me confident in my abilities."
Toby Camp
“Becoming Men: Analyzing the Heroic Journey into Toxic Masculinity in Sol Yurick’s The Warriors”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Margaret Jay Jessee
Professional writing courses allow students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to join a community of professionals who are communication experts in a multitude of workplace settings: nonprofit organizations, publishing companies, manufacturing plants, medical institutions, and legal offices, to name just a few. Professional Writing courses emphasize drafting, revising, and designing documents in both print and digital formats. Many of the courses provide students opportunities to engage the community and gain hands-on experience writing for real audiences and purposes.
BA in Writing and Media
If you are interested in completing a BA in Writing and Media, you will take 15 credit hours of writing electives which may include Professional Writing courses. By choosing a mix of writing electives, you’ll increase your creative and expressive capacities while also learning how to persuade different kinds of readers, how to work within different professional contexts, and how to compose compelling digital documents.
A complete list of major requirements, courses, and a proposed four-year program of study for the BA in Writing and Media are available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
BA in English: Concentration in Professional Writing
English majors who concentrate in Professional Writing will learn how to write and design the kinds of documents that are most common outside of university classrooms, such as memos, brochures, newsletters, reports, instructions, manuals, multimedia presentations, and resumes.
A complete list of major requirements, courses, and a proposed four-year program of study for the Professional Writing concentration are available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
Minor in Professional Writing
The Minor in Professional Writing prepares students in any major for the writing required in their chosen careers. Students who Minor in Professional Writing will learn how to compose both academic and professional documents, emphasizing the requirements of writing in their own disciplines.
A complete list of minor requirements and courses is available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
Contact
Cynthia Ryan
Director of Professional Writing Programs
University Hall 5038
(205) 934-8600
Students in literature courses engage with works from diverse historical periods and cultural perspectives, learning about the development of genres, forms, and styles in relation to the historical circumstances that surround them. Courses range from broad surveys of a period or movement to specific investigations into a single author or theme; they also reach across the media spectrum, from Elizabethan sonnets to propaganda films.
BA in English: Concentration Literature
Literature is the most flexible of the four concentrations within the BA in English. Students can choose electives not just in literature but in linguistics, creative writing, and professional writing.
If you choose this concentration, you’ll improve your reading, writing, and critical thinking skills and the communication and analytical skills developed here are a good fit especially for teaching careers and managerial careers. Students who concentrate in Literature have gone on to work in fields as diverse as book and magazine publishing, web publishing, teaching, law, medicine, library science, banking, public relations and development, and retail management. Many go on to achieve advanced degrees from graduate and professional schools.
A complete list of major requirements, courses, and a proposed four-year program of study for BA in English with a Literature concentration are available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
Minor in Literature
The minor in Literature offers you an exciting and practical way to make the most of your college learning experience. The program gives you the opportunity to read works about the human condition, and the courses will help you hone your writing, critical thinking, primary and secondary research, and text analysis skills.
A complete list of minor requirements and courses is available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
Contact
Margaret Jay Jessee
Director of Undergraduate Studies
University Hall 5055
This program allows you to explore the scientific study of language. Linguistics courses are recommended for anyone interested in understanding the principles that underlie language.
BA in English: Concentration in Linguistics
If you are working toward your BA in English, you may choose to concentrate in Linguistics by completing five Linguistics courses in addition to core English coursework. For a complete list of requirements for the BA in English with a Linguistics concentration, see the UAB Undergraduate catalog.
Minor in Linguistics
The Minor in Linguistics allows students to pair a major with focused classes on the science and structures of language.
A complete list of minor requirements and courses is available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
What Will I Study?
As a language scientist, you will study how people turn thoughts into sentences. You will explore such diverse topics as grammar, dialects, language history, sound systems, language acquisition, and language and the brain, among other areas. Linguistics is deeply interdisciplinary, having ties to anthropology, cognitive science, education, foreign language, philosophy, computer science, and psychology.
What About My Career?
Completing the English major with a concentration in linguistics can make a student uniquely suited for a number of different professions — law, medicine, education, writing, government service (such as the FBI), professional translation, or diplomacy, to name a few. Our linguistics students have entered diverse fields upon graduation: speech therapy, technical writing, language-related software development, law, and neurological medicine.
Resources
Do you want to learn more about the study of linguistics, its uses in everyday life, the science behind it, or the many career opportunities it gives? Explore these websites:
Contact
David Basilico
Director of Linguistics
University Hall 5037
(205) 934-8588
Margaret Jay Jessee
Director of Undergraduate Studies
University Hall 5055
(205) 975-3751
Our workshops introduce you to the craft of writing fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Over the course of a semester, you will learn ways of shaping stories and poems through various exercises and prompts. You'll read works by contemporary authors and use those works as models for your own writing, and classroom workshops offer a lively setting for students to respond to one another’s work.
At the end of the semester, you will have gained wide-ranging new skills in writing creatively, critiquing, and revising.
BA in Writing and Media
If you are interested in completing a BA in Writing and Media, you will take 15 credit hours of writing electives which may include creative writing workshops. By choosing a mix of writing electives, you’ll increase your creative and expressive capacities while also learning how to persuade different kinds of readers, how to work within different professional contexts, and how to compose compelling digital documents.
A complete list of major requirements, courses, and a proposed four-year program of study for the Writing and Media major are available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
BA in English: Concentration in Creative Writing
If you are working toward your BA in English, you may choose to concentrate in Creative Writing by completing five workshops in addition to core English coursework. For more information on the BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, see the UAB Undergraduate catalog.
Minor in Creative Writing
The minor in Creative Writing offers you an opportunity to write fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction as a complement to your major. A complete list of minor requirements and courses is available in the UAB Undergraduate Catalog.
Featured Alumni
Publishing
Our undergraduates have opportunities to publish their work and to compete for awards and scholarships. They can also work as interns for our nationally circulated journals, Birmingham Poetry Review and NELLE, and many are involved with UAB’s literary journal Aura.
Creative Writing Prizes
The Creative Writing program offers several prizes for the best work of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and the best poem or group of poems produced by students. Prizes of $200 each are awarded annually.
- The Barksdale-Maynard Prizes in Fiction and Poetry are made possible by a gift from Isabel Barksdale-Maynard in honor of her family.
- The Tom Brown Prize for Creative Nonfiction is named in honor of Dr. Thomas H. Brown, chair of the English Department from 1984-1992.
To be eligible you must be a currently enrolled UAB student in good standing with the University. Contact the director of Creative Writing for more details.
Resources
Contact
Adam Vines
Director of Creative Writing
University Hall 5024
(205) 934-5317
One of the best things about UAB is its amazing diversity of its students. We value every student and the richly different perspectives, characteristics, and life experiences that contribute to UAB’s unique environment. We want you to have every opportunity to succeed in your course work and college life. Here are eight easy tips for you to follow:
Are you an international student interested in attending UAB? Explore the INTO UAB initiative.
- Visit the UAB International Student and Scholar Services website. They have all sorts of forms, guides, and helpful links to make your life easier.
- Don’t be shy. Let your instructors know that English is your second language.
- Take advantage of class study groups. They let you go over material at your pace.
- Record lectures (with your instructors’ permission). Transcribe your recording to notes.
- Meet regularly with your advisor. They are experts and can help!
- Visit the UAB English Language Institute. They will give you assistance with both oral and written English.
- Visit the UAB Writing Center. They have tutors and instructional workshops.
- Frustrated and out of options? UAB counselors are there for you.
We invite you to explore all of the programs and services offered to international students. International Student and Scholar Services will be able to advise you about how to apply and who to contact for information. Please visit their website, or send general questions to
And remember — you are not alone! There are other international students/non-native English speakers in just about every class you take! Share your stories and help each other!
No matter how good a student you are, having good advice is essential to your academic success. Students are assigned College of Arts and Sciences advisors based on their status as a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior.
The College of Arts and Sciences' Academic Advising website has everything you need — advice, contact information, and all kinds of helpful links.
Incoming and Transfer Students
If you are a new student, meet with your advisor before signing up for classes. The hardest part of your first year should be your classes, not deciding what they should be. Take the easy way out: Make an appointment to talk or meet with your academic advisor before you attend New Student Orientation.
Contact the College of Arts and Sciences Advising Office at (205) 934-6135 for help with registering but also with making the most of your choice to attend UAB!
Current Students
You can rely on your academic advisor for information, assistance, and encouragement throughout your time at UAB. In general, advisors will:
- help you identify your goals and develop educational plans to reach them
- help you understand degree requirements, course selection, and schedule planning
- refer you to resources across campus that can boost your academic performance
- help you understand academic policies and procedures
- provide information about potential areas of study
Visit the College of Arts and Sciences Advising Office to find contact information for the English advisor.
The English Department offers the two following bachelor’s degrees for students, each one tailored around a different set of skills and outcomes.
BA in English
The Bachelor of Arts in English is designed for students with a passion for reading, writing, and thinking about language. Our students study writing that inspires them, even as they work to sharpen their own powers of expression and communication. This BA program gives students a wide exposure to various aspects of English studies (Creative Writing, Linguistics, Literature, and Professional Writing), and students then choose one area in which to concentrate, taking five or more classes in that concentration.
This BA also gives students the option to enter our departmental Honors track and, in collaboration with a faculty mentor, to write an honors thesis on a subject of their choosing.
The BA is an excellent choice for students interested in fields such as teaching, librarianship, law, creative writing, editing, linguistics, advocacy, non-profits, higher ed, and many others.
BA in Writing and Media
This bachelor’s degree is designed for students who want to become creators of digital media. The BA combines coursework in Creative Writing and Professional Writing so that students can become more precise and imaginative writers. Elective coursework from other disciplines, such as graphic design and screenwriting, allows students to build toolkits so they can apply their writing skills in a variety of practical, relevant ways.
In keeping with this BA’s focus on applying knowledge to professional contexts, students on this degree track get hands-on experience through a capstone internship. They also take courses in digital content creation and build portfolios.
This BA is an excellent choice for students interested in fields such as content creation, website design, user experience marketing and PR, screenwriting, podcasting, streaming media, and other forms of multimodal entertainment.