Take a deep dive into English language and literature in the Honours program.
Our Honours degree is an intensive program that combines comprehensive knowledge of literary periods, approaches, and cultures with the rigours of methodological and theoretical practices drawn from rhetoric, structural linguistics, discourse analysis, and cognitive linguistics.
As an Honours student, you’ll receive an intensive educational experience where you’ll work closely with your peers and faculty members as you participate in small-group seminars and write a graduating essay.
The 48 credits required in the Honours program provide breadth and depth through area requirements exceeding those of the major. The specialized degree in Honours will offer you a competitive edge in applications for law school, teacher education and graduate programs in English, as well as a strong potential for careers in communications and media, publishing and government.
You can also combine your English Honours with majors and minors or even double-Honours degrees in other disciplines.
Degree Requirements
You can enter the Honours in English, Literature Emphasis by applying to enter in third year, having completed ENGL 200, our seminar-based introduction to literature studies, team-taught by some of the best faculty in the business, as well as, 3 credits of one of our second-year courses, ENGL 220-249, which range in topics on English Literature and Language.
In the 2025W semester, we are dissolving the second year entry into the English Honours program. If you are a student with second year status, the best way to prepare for the Honours application is to take the 200-level requirements for the program. If you have any other questions about Honours, you may contact the Honours Program Advisor.
In third and fourth year, you will take a range of courses in both language and literature. You will take 12 credits in language, including the Structure of Modern English (ENGL 330 or 331), plus a range of courses on the history of English, English structure and usage, discourse, rhetoric, and meaning. You also need 12 credits from our Literature course groups in historical and contemporary areas, plus theory, media studies, or genre.
You will also take 3 seminars (3 sections of ENGL 491 or ENGL 489) working in small courses with specialist instructors working on texts from their particular fields and covering topics of significant contemporary interest. Among these seminars you must take at least one version of ENGL 489, the Language Seminar. You may also apply to take a graduate seminar in language, with the permission of the language coordinator and the course instructor. You will also write a graduating essay, working closely with a faculty supervisor on a topic of your choosing. To graduate with an English major, students must complete 48 upper-level credits from ENGL 304 and above.
Students who entered English Honours prior to the 2022 academic year and who are still enrolled at UBC during the 2025 academic year may elect to complete either the old requirements in place when they entered the program or the new requirements as listed below. Honours students who choose to follow the new requirements but who have completed ENGL 211 do not have to complete ENGL 300. For more information, please contact the undergraduate assistant.
A. Medieval and Renaissance literatures: ENGL 343 to ENGL 350
B. 18th- and 19th-century literatures: ENGL 351 to ENGL 364
C. Modern, contemporary, transnational, and Indigenous literatures: ENGL 365 to ENGL 379
D. Media, theory, genre, and special topic: ENGL 332 to ENGL 339; ENGL 380 to ENGL 397
A. Structure of English: ENGL 330, 331, 321
B. History of English: ENGL 318, 319, 342, 343, 344, 346
C. Approaches to contemporary English: ENGL 323, 324, 328
D. Discourse and meaning: ENGL 312, 322, 327
E. Rhetoric: ENGL 307-311
Note: Topics in ENGL 326 and ENGL 489 vary. In any year, each course will be classed into a Group depending on the topic covered in that specific year; please see an Honours Advisor if you want ENGL 326 or ENGL 489 to count as satisfying Group A-E requirements.
6 credits of one of the following options:
- 100-level English
- Arts One
- ENGL 140/LING 140 and 3 credits of 100-level English (this option is recommended, but not required)
- CAP 100 and 101 (6 credits)
- 3 credits of CAP 100 and 3 credits of 100-level English
- WRDS 150 or 350 and 3 credits of 100-level English
- 3 credits of ENGL 200
- 3 credits of ENGL 220-249
Students must complete 36 credits of courses numbered 304 and above including:
- 3 credits of ENGL 300: Introduction to Critical Theory
- 12 credits of literature comprising 3 credits selected from each of Literature Groups A, B, C, D
- 12 credits of language comprising
- 3 credits of either ENGL 330 or ENGL 331
- Remaining 9 credits: 3 credits from three out of five Language Groups A, B, C, D, E
- 9 credits of additional ENGL courses numbered 304 or higher
Students must complete 12 credits of 400-level courses
- 9 credits of Honours seminars including
- at least 3 credits of ENGL 489 and/or graduate seminar on language (with permission)
- at least 3 credits of ENGL 491
- 3 credits of ENGL 499: Honours Essay
Apply to the Honours Program
Application for the Honours in English Literature and the Honours in English Language and Literature follow the same requirements and procedures. See below how to apply.
Application Process
The English Honours program begins in the third year of study. Students apply in their second year, and, if accepted, will need to have fulfilled the second-year English requirements: Three credits of ENGL 200 plus 3 credits of ENGL 220-249. Applications will open at the end of second year and students must provide the following:
- The application form
- One writing sample from a literature course
- A short letter explaining their choice of this program and their expectations
- One confidential letter of reference
If accepted, applicants will need to have fulfilled the requirements for second-year English: 3 credits of ENGL 200 plus 3 of ENGL 220-249. Students may also show that they are planning to take the relevant credits in the summer.
Once you are accepted into the program, make an appointment with an advisor during the advising period to discuss your specific schedule for next year. We will notify interested students of our decision early in June.
Students not currently registered at UBC must apply for admission to the university.
Applicants registering at UBC for the first time should also provide the Department of English Language and Literatures with a transcript of their university or college work to date.
The Honours Committee will allocate spaces to new applicants in early May. We will notify interested students of our decision early in June.
Combined Honours Programs
Students may combine honours programs in the Faculty of Arts but only after careful consultation with the separate programs' chairs. Typically, such a combined program involves waiving some specific requirements in each program to accommodate your particular interests. Combining English honours with theatre and film or creative writing involves all the senior requirements in both programs for what is, in effect, a double degree.
Forms
Course Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
You can apply to the Honours program at the end of your second year, after taking 3 credits of ENGL 200 and 3 credits of ENGL 220-249.
The goal of this is to make sure that students take a variety of courses while following their interests to some degree.
There are five groups of courses, divided in terms of general topics in language study (such as grammar-and-pronunciation, methodologies in language study, how we use language to express meaning, what does the discipline of rhetoric add to your understanding of language).
Students should choose three such areas and do one course in each. If the program allows more credits in English language (most of them do), students can either add more courses in groups they have already tried or expand and try other groups.