UMF Catalog On-Line

About The Program
The BFA Program offers students the opportunity to work with faculty, who are practicing writers, in workshop-style classes to discover and develop their writing strengths in the genres of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Small classes, an emphasis on individual conferencing, and the development of a writing portfolio allow students to see themselves as artists and refine their writing. In literature courses, students become more familiar with British and American literature, developing their abilities to read and interpret literary and cultural materials. They gain experience in the literary or publishing world through an apprenticeship.

Learning Goals

To allow students to develop their skills in various genres of writing.
To make students aware of literary models and traditions in order to foster their development as writers.
To enrich, through the study of a foreign language, students' understanding of the language in which they write.
To give students an opportunity to develop communication skills.
To give students the opportunity to gain writing experience in the world outside the classroom.

Assessment Criteria:

Students will produce work of professional quality in poetry, fiction, and/or nonfiction, and have the option of taking courses in several other genres. In the Senior Seminar, they will produce a portfolio of their best writing to be reviewed and discussed by two professors during an Exit Interview.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of and engagement with representative texts from at least three standard periods in English literary history and a more detailed knowledge of contemporary literature in at least one genre. Students complete twenty credits in literature, four of these in contemporary literature, and four credits of literature study at the advanced level.
Students will demonstrate intermediate proficiency in a foreign language, assessable by either an exam or successful completion of the equivalent of three semesters of language study.
Students will develop oral presentation skills by reading their work aloud in creative writing classes, by introducing visiting writers, and by participating in the Senior Reading as part of the capstone seminar.
Students will gain real world experience through the required apprenticeship, taken for four credit hours in a wide variety of professional writing settings. They also submit their work for publication in the Senior Seminar.

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

Twenty credits (five courses) in writing:

All of the following:
ENG 210 Fiction Writing (or ENG 219 or HON 275)
ENG 211 Poetry Writing
ENG 212 Creative Nonfiction (or ENG 213 or ENG 217)

Two of the following:

ENG 310 Advanced Fiction Writing

ENG 311 Advanced Poetry Writing

ENG 312 Advanced Nonfiction Writing

Subtotal: 20

Twenty credits (five courses) in literature:

ENG 181 Literary Analysis and Interpretation

ENG 251H British Texts and Contexts I or

ENG 252H British Texts and Contexts II

ENG 272H American Texts and Contexts

One 300-level literature course

One of the following three courses:

ENG 267H Twentieth Century American Poetry

ENG 291H Twentieth-Century Short Story

ENG 293H Literary Nonfiction

Subtotal: 20

ENG 396 Writing Apprenticeship 4

ENG 401 Seminar in Writing 4

Subtotal 8

Total Credits for the Major: 48

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Intermediate Proficiency in a Foreign Language 12

Total Other Requirements: 12

GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
For specific information about general education requirements and expectations, see the General Education Requirements in the Academic Programs section of this catalog.

MINIMUM TOTAL CREDITS FOR THE DEGREE: 128