English Language and Literature

Welcome! The Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo offers unique undergraduate and graduate programs covering the study of literature, rhetoric, professional writing, and digital media. Our professors have national and international reputations in these areas, and we boast many awards for teaching.

Our programs provide the tools you need to develop your analytical and critical communication capacities, your understanding of digital media, your sensitivity to language and its uses, your practical writing abilities, and your love of literature. Our diverse faculty teach exciting courses ranging from Chaucer to global English literature, from information design to experimental digital media and cyberculture. The department has a graduate student society and an undergraduate student society.

Graduates of our B.A. and M.A. programs find successful careers in industry, law, government, teaching, medicine, communication design, and entrepreneurship, often getting their start with our co-op program; they also go on to advanced studies in English. Our Ph.D. graduates hold academic and non-academic positions across Canada and the U.S.

The English department is associated with the Critical Media Lab, the Games Institute, First Person Scholar, the Waterloo Directory of Victorian Periodicals, and the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, and is supported by a dedicated Advisory Council that features leaders in education, law, industry, design, media, culture, and labour. Learn more in the department newsletter.