English

Overview

As an Elgin Community College student, you will take courses in the English Department to fulfill degree and certificate requirements. These courses may cover areas such as composition, literature, journalism, and creative writing. The department also offers special interest topics in each of these areas. Get additional information, including course listings and course descriptions.

Our professors emphasize both hard and soft skills that will serve you in further studies and in the workforce. Faculty members are passionate about teaching critical inquiry, providing students with opportunities to interrogate information systems, analyze rhetorical situations, and bring their own voices and experiences to bear in written communication. The English Department is here to help you assemble the communication skills to support your academic and career goals.

ECC's English Department offers accelerated developmental courses for extra help and honors courses for students seeking challenges. For those interested in joining the Honors Program, please contact Jason Kane (jkane@elgin.edu).

Journalism

You can cultivate your reporting and newswriting skills through journalism courses designed for curious, engaged learners. Taught by former media professionals, you’ll gain both content knowledge and practical skills relevant to today’s news media. You can apply what you learn by contributing to the student-run news publication, the ECC Observer. Whether you’re interested in photojournalism, podcasts, advertising, translation, or news writing, you’ll find opportunities to explore your interests and develop valuable 21st-century skills that apply to a wide range of career paths.

Literature

If you're interested in the power of the written word, ECC offers extensive coursework in literature across genres and periods. Specialty topics include literature by women, children’s literature, LGBTQ literature, and multicultural American literature. The department also offers a series of great book seminars exploring classic humanities writings. Get additional information, including course listings and class descriptions.

Creative Writing

The English Department offers a range of creative writing classes, in addition to the Creative Writers Center, which supports writers on campus and in the broader community. You can explore fiction, poetry, memoir, and personal essays through both introductory and advanced courses. The introductory classes let you experiment with different genres to find your voice, while advanced courses give you the chance to refine your style and deepen your understanding of craft.

Beyond coursework, the Writers Center hosts monthly open mic coffeehouses and a reading series where visiting authors share their work and teach writing techniques. Located in Room B275 behind the Poetry Wall, the Center also provides writing competitions, full-tuition scholarships for students who help run its programs, and opportunities to submit to or work on the Spire Literary Journal. You can also review these offerings and much more on the Writers Center webpage.

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