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English (Writing and Literary Studies, B.A.)

Prepare for careers that demand reading, writing and speaking skills in this program, where you’ll work closely with other students and distinguished literary studies faculty to understand how writing, meaning and society have entwined over time. Enrich your experience through academic conferences, internships, university publications work, tutoring and study abroad.


Why Study English at DelVal?

As a student in our writing and literary studies program, you’ll examine a variety of texts and study literature from times and places, gaining a more global cultural understanding of the relationships between text, meaning and society. We define critical thinking as thinking about your own thinking and we explore and develop that skill in our classes.

Our faculty have worked for nationally published newspapers, published in Cambridge University Press, presented at conferences on topics ranging from composition studies to popular culture, and will help you present your work well. The faculty include playwrights and Bucks County’s youngest Poet Laureate. They have received awards from the Mid-Town Manhattan Theater Festival, Stage Door Productions One Act Play Festival, Stage Left Theatre and Dubuque Fine Arts Players.

Small class sizes empower you to work closely with classmates and faculty to:

  • engage in thoughtful seminar-style discussion
  • explore ideas and texts
  • discover new theories
  • relate the literature of all time periods to the problems of today and to your own lives

You will have the opportunity to gain relevant professional experiences through academic conferences, internships, university publications, tutoring in the Writing Center, and study abroad.

100%
real-world experience
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$30,100
average scholarship and grant amount awarded to freshmen in 2025-26
18
Average class size
college students in a classroom

WRITING AND LITERARY STUDIES AT-A-GLANCE

Core Writing and Literary Studies Courses

  • Literary Interpretation
  • American Literature Before the Civil War
  • American Literature After the Civil War
  • British Literature I and II
  • Critical Theory
  • Shakespeare
  • History of the English Language
  • Linguistics
  • The Structure of English

Recommended Minors

Career Paths

As a DelVal graduate with real-world experience, you can: 

  • Work in advertising by applying your classroom experience with digital media, graphic novels and composition
  • Write feature articles for newspapers, regional and national magazines and groundbreaking websites
  • Join a publishing house as a story editor, proofreader, or in their social media or marketing departments
  • Attend graduate school in such diverse areas as literature, film studies, composition, linguistics, law, advocacy and social justice, and more
  • Write and publish the kind of literature that you loved to read and study, and inspire the next generation of readers

Be a Storyteller

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The Experience360 Program gives you the opportunity to apply classroom lessons to real-world activities like internships, career exploration experiences, student research, study abroad, leadership development and more.

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Get Involved

The Full360 Blog

Student-produced multimedia stories spotlight DelVal’s experiential learning program and highlight choices for eating, entertainment and things to do on campus and in the Doylestown area.

Click here to visit the blog

Student Writing Conference 

The Student Writing Conference is an all-inclusive, interdisciplinary annual celebration of writing that showcases outstanding student writing in all of its various forms and genres. Reach out to michael.stamps@delval.edu for more information. 

Contact
Dr. Brian Lutz, Chair, Department of English, Associate Professor

Office Location: Miller Hall 100

POV of English (Writing & Literary Studies) Students

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