Butler's English Department offers a comprehensive literature-based major, offering coverage of cultural and historical epochs from Chaucer's England to the present day, and skills training featuring in-depth research and writing training. Students take courses ranging from sophomore-level surveys of the American and English literary and cultural traditions, and also take required courses in World Literature, Theory, Rhetoric, and Research and upper-level literature and culture electives of their own choosing. At the end of the program, Literature majors produce an extensive senior essay as an emblem and celebration of their work. Our alumni go on to attend some of the best graduate schools in the country, and enjoy successful careers in a variety of fields, from writing, teaching, and editing to medicine, law, religion, government, and media.