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Sherlock Holmes Investigates: English


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Investigating the top majors, right here. You can profile your picks and review the evidence to find the sure-fire academic answers you've been looking for...

Study Case #5

English

Faculty:
Arts or Liberal Arts

Most common associations:
Writing, literature, language, essays.


Quick description:

As one of the most popular bachelor's degrees, English majors can expect to explore the many avenues of the English language, how it is used, cultural influences as well as literature and other written pieces. An English degree prepares you to communicate in an efficient and persuasive manner, as well as builds you research and critical thinking skills. You will read many things and be able to discern things with a critical eye. English is a great major because you get to explore many topics with the common linkage of the language holding everything together. Therefore you're able to read about many concepts and interests even though you're majoring in something specific. An English degree prepares you for any career really, with a strong base in reading and writing, you can only improve.


What your major can do for you:

Many opportunities can come from an English degree, not only are you going to be more capable in your writing abilities, but critically reading, analyzing and becoming more confident in using the English language to its true potential will always come as a helpful trend. With an English degree, you show an employer that you have done your share of writing, whether it be in the form of essays, reports, stories, summaries or poems. This proves that you can handle writing and reading. This can correspond with business jobs as well as law or other writing related job. When you have worked with the language, you become more sophisticated in  your writing and this can show well for any type of job you may be interested in.

Careers: 

With so many options available to you, it's hard to describe just a select few, but I'll try. There are a some specializations that go hand in hand with English and can lead to some pretty interesting jobs and careers. Communications and media are two distinct industries that can be lead in a very positive way through using language. Careers in this industry involve script-writing, public relations where you'll be writing out such things as speeches, or highlights for a newsletter, media relations, journalism, reporter etc. The more obvious careers that come about from English are the writing positions such as creatiev writers, novelists or poets. And many people love learning about the English language so much that they continue this by becoming teachers and teaching what they've learned and grown up with to students. This also opens doors internationally if you're interested in teaching abroad. 

In business, English majors do well by putting what needs to be said into words, making it sound great in the best and most efficient way possible. Businesses need front-line people to connect what they do to the public. And with with English majors who are able to string together mission statements as well as press releases, businesses can be very successful ventures.


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Photo by Jesse Gardner

Skills:
Successful history graduates come out of school with many skills and lessons learned.

  • Excellent written communication skills: You will find you are writing quite a lot, but don't take this as a bad thing. Everytime you write a piece, you are improving your written abilities and using vocabulary that you may not have used in other situations. Written communication is something most easily improved through practice and so when you have done this for 3 to 4 years, the progress you make shows. You are able and efficent in writing and this is a great step and opportunity to use within many varied workforces.
  • Research Skills: When writing, often you will be referencing to different authors' ideas. This skill of being able to research and reference correctly is a great skill to have. Especially when writing essays where you are comparing and contrasting, this ability to show others work as something separate from your own is very important. As the English world is converting more and more onto the wold wide web, credibility is a large thing to keep in mind. English majors are able to see and clarify what is credible and what is not, showing that you have attention to detail as well as quality detail.
  • Critical Thinking: History majors need to look beyond the simple facts and into what lies beneath. This underlying effort is product of critical thinking. To be able to decipher past events and look at them in a new way is something that can benefit many avenues in your career.

  • Editing Skills: Grammar, spelling, punctuation and the like are things that most people take for granted. It is easy to miss when someone doesn't properly edit a piece. It not only cuts out your professionalism but shows you don't take the time to read things over. In general being an English major teaches you to always overlook your work and make sure it is free of grammatical error. This shows well as it says you're a perfectionist when it comes to editing and this shows that you're willing to make an effort to do something very well. Editing is a great skill to have in many industries and is a transferable skill that comes in very handy.

How to prepare:

Because in many cases whether you come from an Indian background or one from anywhere else around the world, English tends to be a big form with your educational system. Take these classes seriously. Learn as much as you can and try to retain this information. You will not only improve at a very early stage, but this will help you flow better into a university or college setting where the stakes are higher than just a mark on a high school test. Get involved in competitions such as spelling bee's, or essay writing competitions. The worst that can happen is that you don't win, but you gain many skills in the process. Plus, what you can learn in English is endless. Vocabulary to structuring a great paragraph all come in handy when applying for a job or even working within one. Prepaing yourself by practicing this craft before you enter university will only prove to be benificial.

English Majors? Case Closed! Cherrio dear Watson,it really has been a great time. Till next time!

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References

WorldWideLearn. "English". Last Updated on November 8th, 2007. Accessed on July 31st, 2008. WorldWideLearn.com

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