Freshman Seminar 101 is designed to orient all first-time freshman and/or newly and readmitted students with less than fifteen credits to Medgar Evers College. It serves as a foundation course where students gain the intellectual confidence needed to successfully complete their general education curriculum in a timely manner. Specific general education and basic skills courses are linked to FS 101 so that students can integrate and apply FS 101 reading, writing, and analytical techniques to their content-based courses. Students are introduced to the following modules that will help them to persist and adapt to college life: 1) Orientation to acclimate students to Medgar Evers Colleges history, mission, vision, students rights, and their responsibilities; 2) Medgar Wiley Evers and the Importance of Civic Engagement; 3) Bonding with Faculty and Peers; 4) College/Life Management where students learn to effectively manage their time and create more efficient schedules; 5) Study Skills that consist of note-taking, outlining, test-taking skills, and overcoming test-anxiety; 6) Technological Proficiency that consists of all the tools that students need to excel in an academic institution such as their College Email Accounts, Blackboard, CUNYFIRST, E-portfolio ,and Library Research; 7) Financial Literacy; and 8) Wellness for Mind and Body. Students are assigned to a particular course section depending upon students pre-collegial experiences and assessments.

A writing course emphasizing selected essays by writers across cultures and times. Focus is on every aspect of the essay, including style, diction, theme, organization, and analysis of the role and function of the essay in different time periods and cultures. Students use these essays as models to construct their own essays and to improve their own skills as writers of essays, and consequently as writers in general.

In this course, students will engage in critical readings of fiction, drama and poetry by authors of diverse cultures, nationalities and historical periods. Students will gain knowledge of literary terms and diverse theoretical perspectives, participate in discussions about selected works and write original essays involving close reading and research about literary topics. The course enables students to recognize a variety of approaches to analyzing literary texts, to reflect upon their own interpretations and to develop their skills in writing critically about literature.

This is a course in literary theory. The readings in this course will focus on the nature of literature. The course provides students not only with an understanding of the great traditions of literary criticism but with a chance to reflect on their own literary and critical interests. Students will be exposed to both historical and current applications of various methods of literary criticism.

The course provides an overview of the origins of civilizations to the age of European exploration, including contributions of the great cultures of Africa, Europe, the Near and Far East and Americas. Emphasis will be placed on the religious, social, and political ideas and institutions of these cultures.

Senior Thesis is the English BA capstone course. Students write a senior thesis in their area of concentration under the guidance of a faculty mentor. To support that writing process, students also participate in three double-period seminars (9 hours) on research techniques and writing styles. These seminars are conducted by the coordinator for this course. Faculty mentors, however, have the primary responsibility of guiding students through the process of developing their senior theses and for approving their final drafts.