The English major is an effective school of thought that reaches the core of education. This is the major for students who love to deepen human experiences and communication through literature.
There is no one reason to be an English major. It's not only to get the right job, to write that one book, to teach in a classroom, or to obtain knowledge with the best books. It's all those things and more. Every English student is their own author.
Making the most of your degree can be difficult, even if you know what you want to do with it. And with something as adaptable and broad as English, it can be easy to fall into reading books mindlessly and writing to meet a word count. To make it more than busy work, take your effort to the next level.
Reading & Writing Methods
Literacy is foundational to modern society and education. The introduction of widespread literacy acts as a hallmark of humanity's progression towards equality, removing one barrier between classes.
The English major requires students to respect literacy. By practicing methods for strengthening your own literacy, you can make the most the two pillars of the English major, reading and writing.
Strengthening literacy will make you a better student, but it will also make you a more well-rounded person. Current studies suggest that consistent reading and writing helps with "feelings of positivity, self-understanding, empathetic relations”, which has positive impacts on “self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and connectedness” (Sirisena, M et al., 2025).
Methods For Reading
Reading strengthens attention-span, memory, and reasoning abilities. The following practices can improve reading ability:
Predicting
Making an educated guess about what will come next based on the provided context and patterns. This involves (1) pausing to assess, (2) contextualizing the content, (3) analyzing patterns and following logic, (4) forming potential answers, and finally (5) narrowing your best prediction.
By stopping to predict, you shift from a passive observer to an active participant. This involves cognitive effort, helping you to engage with the text in a more meaningful way.
Visualizing
Creating visual guides of maps, tables, or even drawings that helps your brain to associate the text you're reading with the thoughts you are having. This helps your brain keep track of complex information, commit important items to memory, and contribute to the creative or argumentative process.
Making Connections
Referencing information found inside or outside the text to compare similarities, contrast differences, add important context, and deepen understanding.
Summarizing
Condensing the important and relevant information with just enough detail to help you commit items to memory, bring ideas together, and recall them when you need them. This practice is best when done after reading without referencing the text to make sure that you can recall information.
Questioning
Analyzing the premises in the text by performing a literary analysis, asking questions that inspire deep thought and prompt insightful answers.
Inferring
Reading between the lines, not the text at face value, by using textual evidence to draw conclusions, make arguments, and create interpretations.
Annotating
There are two types of annotation: general and specific. General annotation focuses on understanding the overall text and what stands out as noteworthy. Specific annotation focuses on particular ideas and elements in the text.
This can be combined with another method called close reading where the annotation is dedicated to a specific part of the text rather than the overall item.
Methods For Writing
Writing encourages vocabulary growth, developing syntax, and thoughtful organization. There are two main forms of writing: digital and by hand. While that might seem obvious, there are specific advantages to both. Understanding the advantages will help you determine which one to use for each situation.
Digital Writing
Refers to composition created with digital technology, specifically typing. Advantages include convenience, speed, efficiency, formatting, and more. Digital writing offers you the ability to take notes, draft, write, revise, edit, research, and share all from your screen. This tool cannot be replicated with handwriting with physical paper.
Digital writing shouldn't be compared with handwriting; it should be contrasted.
Handwriting
Studies show that handwriting offers more cognitive benefits than typing because it actively engages your brain in a way that typing cannot replicate.
Writing by hand engages multiple parts of your brain, including motor, language, and attention systems, which promotes better logical reasoning and memory encoding.
The sequential movements of your hands in forming the words that you are thinking helps connect the ideas in your mind.
The Bottom Line
The English major and literacy go hand-in-hand. You can use literacy to enhance your own progress int the degree. If you want to make the most of your English degree, start by implementing these reading and writing methods in your education today.
Interested In Learning More?
If you want help learning how to strengthen your literacy skills, consider visiting these resources:
Sources
Using the annotating strategy to improve students' academic achievement in social studies | Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning | Emerald Publishing
The effect of notetaking method on academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis - ScienceDirect
Improving Reading Skills Through Effective Reading Strategies - ScienceDirect
2026 Which Majors Have the Most Writing? | Research.com
A Chapter a Day – Association of Book Reading with Longevity - PMC
The Impact of Extensive Reading on Academic Writing Proficiency in EFL Undergraduate Students - Record details - EBSCO Discovery Service
Reading for wellbeing: a realist review of evidence - PubMed
Reading-and-Cognitive-Processes-A-Literature-Review-of-Cognitive-Psychology-Essayb-Ayoub-SSJ-2024-6th-Issue-Fig-FR.pdf
Frontiers | The Effects of Sustained Literacy Engagement on Cognition and Sentence Processing Among Older Adults
The relationship between cognitive reserve and cognition in healthy adults: a systematic review | Current Psychology | Springer Nature Link