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Visit Queen's Student Wellness' page for urgent resources. 

For advice about English Plans (Specialization, Major, Minor), English courses, or Creative Writing courses, contact the English Department’s Undergraduate Program Assistant or the Undergraduate Chair.

For more general academic advice, consult the Faculty of Arts and Science’s Student Services web page.

• Student Wellness Services offers counselling and mental health support, as well as medical appointments, a same-day clinic, and healthy lifestyle appointments, 
• Yellow House provides community and support for racialized, LGBTQ+, and marginalized students at Queen’s.
• The Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre provides academic advising, cultural counselling, and support for Indigenous students at Queen’s

Yes. The letters A and B after a course number (e.g., ENGL 200A, ENGL 200B) indicate a full-year course, offered over 24 weeks during the Regular Academic Session (Fall and Winter Terms). You must complete both halves of the course to get credit for it. It is not permitted to enrol in only one half of a full-year course.

Then you don’t get any credit for taking the course. The A half remains on your transcript with the designation NG (not graded), and you get no credit for the course. You must complete both halves of a full-year course to get credit for it.

No. Both halves of a full-year course must be taken during the same academic session—that is, the Fall and Winter Terms of a given academic year—for you to get credit. It is not permitted to enrol in only one half of a full-year course, so you will not be able to enrol in only the B half of a full-year course, even if you took the A half in a previous year.

Mostly when you take two courses with the same number, this counts as a repeat: you only get credit for taking the course once, and while both attempts remain on your transcript, only the higher grade counts toward your GPA.

However, some courses are repeatable, which means that you can take them as many times as you want and get credit for all of them. Repeatable courses are useful for “Topics” courses, which is to say a particular topic under a broader heading, which an instructor might offer only once or twice, so it doesn’t make sense to give it its own course number. For instance, ENGL 466 is our Topics in Modern/Contemporary Canadian Literature course; in any given year, we might offer two, three, or even four sections of this course, all with different topic titles. You can take as many of them as you want, and they will all count toward your degree.

With repeatable courses, the course number (e.g., ENGL 466) is repeatable, but the topic is not. You can take as many topics as you like under the same course number, but you can only take each individual topic once. Thus, if we offer ENGL 481 Topics in Indigenous Literature—Topic 001 Intro to Indigenous Literature in Canada, and ENGL 481 Topics in Indigenous Literature—Topic 005 Transnational Perspectives, you can take both courses, but you can take each course only once.

All of the English Department’s 400-level courses, plus a small number of 200-level courses, are repeatable. Our 100- and 300-level courses are not repeatable, and most of our 200-level courses are not. You can identify repeatable courses easily: most of their course titles begin with the words “Topics in,” and the course number is followed by a topic number and title.

There is a list of courses offered by other Departments that can count toward English Plans: these courses are known in SOLUS as English Substitutions, or ENGL_Subs, because you can substitute them for ENGL courses. Majors can count a maximum of 12 units of English Substitutions, and Medials and Minors a maximum of 6 units, toward their Plans. If you take more than the maximum permitted units of English Substitutions, the extra ones will count as electives. Note that English Substitutions can replace 200-level ENGL courses, but not 300- or 400-level courses: the number of those upper-year courses that you must take remains unchanged, no matter how many English Substitutions you take.

You can find a complete list of English Substitutions in the Faculty of Arts and Science Calendar, under any of the English Department’s Plan regulations (e.g., the Major). The list of English Substitutions is the same for Majors, Medials, and Minors.

All Creative Writing (CWRI) courses are English Substitutions.

No. You may take them if you want to, but you don’t have to. You can—and most students do—complete your English Plan entirely with ENGL courses. English Substitutions give you a broader array of options—that’s all.

Yes. All Creative Writing courses are English Substitutions, which means that Majors may count a maximum of 12 units, and Medials and Minors a maximum of 6 units, of them toward their plans. You are welcome to take more, but any courses above the maximum permitted units will count as electives.

No. Creative Writing courses are open to students in any Plan.

That depends on the course: some are open to all students in second year and above, while others require the Department’s permission. To obtain permission, students must submit a sample of their creative work to the course’s instructor. Email our for more information. 

The Senior Essay Option is a one-term course in which students work individually with a supervisor on a topic of their choice. The course culminates in a substantial research essay, which is assessed by the supervisor and a second reader. The course is officially offered in the Winter Term, but much of the work occurs during the Fall Term, when students meet with their supervisor, refine their topic, and begin their research.

The Senior Essay Option is intended for students who enjoy research, who are able to work independently, and who have a keen interest in a specific topic that they cannot pursue in any of our courses on offer in a given year. It is best suited to students who have a very specific topic in mind: those with only a general idea or area of interest should not consider ENGL 590, because it’s possible to waste a great deal of time in trying to come up with a viable topic. ENGL 590 is suitable only for students with a very clear idea of what they want to do, and who are confident that they can work independently toward that goal.

ENGL 590 is open to English Majors and Medials entering their fourth year, and who have a GPA of at least 3.5 on 24 ENGL units. They must also secure the permission of the Undergraduate Chair. 

No. The English Department does not offer an Honours Thesis. Students graduate with Honours by completing a four-year BA comprising 120 units, and including a Major, a Major-Minor, a Medial, or a Specialization. Queen’s students are not required to complete a thesis to graduate with an Honours degree.

No. As the course’s name states, it is an option, not a requirement for any English Plan. In any given year, only one or two students take this option, so the vast majority English Majors and Medials do not take ENGL 590.

We have no evidence that it does. Insofar as it provides evidence your ability to do research, it may be useful; however, graduate programs are looking for applicants with a broad foundation in literary study, and most students acquire that foundation by taking ordinary courses. Indeed, it may be preferable to take named courses: the topic of your Senior Essay does not appear on your transcript, so nobody will be able to tell what your essay focuses on. Most graduates who proceed to graduate programs, law school, or other professional programs do not take ENGL 590. If you choose to pursue the Senior Essay Option, you should do it purely because you have a strong interest in a specific topic, not because you think it might confer some advantage: it probably won’t.

As soon as you think you may be interested in ENGL 590, and preferably before the end of your third year, you should discuss the possibility with the Undergraduate Chair. We have to check your eligibility, and find a supervisor for you. If we can’t find a supervisor who is both available and appropriate for your topic, you will not be permitted to take ENGL 590. Finding a supervisor can take time, which is why it’s important to start early.