Social Structure and Institutions: one course.
Courses in this category address material or institutional components of experience in the United States.  Students may take courses that focus on social institutions such as race, class, gender, the family; courses addressing political institutions and processes; courses analyzing economic systems and structures in the United States.  The student's advisor in the major typically approves courses from the following departments to fill this requirement:  American Studies, Anthropology, Economics, Environmental Studies, History, Political Science, and Sociology.

Representation: two courses, one in American literature.
The requirement in representation directs students toward courses that focus on the construction and dissemination of cultural meanings.  In addition to the course in American literature, students typically take courses that analyze the mass media, films, photography, music, popular culture, or art.  The Departments of American Studies, Anthropology, Art and Art History, English, Music, Political Science, Philosophy, Religion, Theatre & Dance, and Women's Studies typically offer courses that fulfill this requirement.

Fieldwork: one course from one of the following:
American Studies 302, History 311 (Oral History), Anthropology/Sociology 240 (Qualitative Methods).

Thematic Concentration : three courses.
In consultation with their advisor, all American Studies majors develop an area of concentration in some aspect of the American culture.  Thematic choices made by students have included:  mass media, gender, religion, health, the environment, law and culture, race, the arts, popular culture, the family.  The choice of thematic depends on the student's intellectual interests, and may also be a way to prepare for the after-Dickinson world.  Students draw on courses from a variety of departments to develop their thematic, and to ensure a variety of approaches they must have at least two departments represented among their three courses.

American Studies 401: Research and Methods in American Studies

American Studies 402: Writing in American Studies.