English/Literature

Though many view English courses through the lens of whether they like reading and writing, English is one of the most transferable types of coursework students will take in their college careers.

Students taking English classes develop qualifications geared towards enhancing a student’s critical thinking, research, and communication skills. These skills transfer to traits that are not only desired by employers in many different fields but also set students up with tools needed to be fruitful and engaged world citizens.

Composition Courses

Almost all students are required to take an English Composition class as part of their degree program at MPCC. These required classes are built around studying rhetoric, writing, argumentation, and research. Students learn how rhetoric is used to persuade and how to analyze rhetoric in different modes and mediums. After taking composition, students become more critical consumers of information and avoid being manipulated by communicators trying to persuade with biased, misleading, or flawed data.

Composition coursework makes students skillful in both formal and informal research and makes them more effective communicators. Whether it be researching how to do a repair on a car, applying for a job, or navigating a conflict, composition studies help students become more confident in finding the information they need and finding the right rhetorical strategies required to achieve their goals.

Literature Classes

Through studying literature, students hone their analytical skills. Analysis of literature gives students the ability to think deeply about how meaning is developed through language choices and storytelling devices. Students with strong skills in literary analysis engage more thoughtfully with the world around them and are more successful in navigating many different communication environments.

Many students will take at least one literature course as part of their degree program. Depending on your interests, you can choose coursework that will allow you to study different genres and subject matter. English instructors specialize in science fiction, the supernatural, television as literature, folklore, environmental literature, and crime fiction. In addition to these subject areas, students are exposed to multiple genres and can study literature through different lenses and experiences which helps them live in the world more creatively and empathetically.

Sigma Kappa Delta

MPCC is the only college in Nebraska to offer a Sigma Kappa Delta chapter. Sigma Kappa Delta is the national English honor society for two-year colleges.

Sigma Kappa Delta's mission is to promote literacy. We conduct an annual book drive and have donated between 200-500 books per year to hospitals, correctional facilities, nursing homes, and other places in need. We, along with Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society for four-year universities, help with financial support for Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library program, which has gifted over 204 million books to children aged from birth to five years. To pay for this, along with Nebraska author trips, the national conference, etc., we conduct fundraisers each year.

In addition to providing an honor to list on resumes, SKD offers numerous scholarships to its members. There are opportunities to enter writing and photography competitions, present at national conferences, and be published in the “Hedera Helix Literary Journal,” SKD’s official publication.