English at North Park University

Why English?

Thomas Jefferson once told John Adams that he could not live without books.

Chinese folklore says a book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

"There's nothing to writing," says Red Smith in the Writer's Quotation Book.
"All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."

These statements provide a small window to the reasons why students decide to become English majors. Whether pursuing literature or writing, students find that study in English gives them an enhanced comprehension of the experience of being human from both a personal and societal perspective.

The aim of the English department is to foster an appreciation of literature and language within and beyond cultural contexts, to cultivate critical thinking skills that will engender autonomous but responsible actions, and to develop the writing proficiency required by the wide range of careers and graduate work for which our program prepares its students. To accomplish this aim, the English department offers study in the critical methods necessary to gain an understanding of literature and training in the practice of effective writing.