Stories Matter 5--Health and Medicine 11:00-11:50 a.m. MWF
In this past year, we have all been faced with hard truths about health and medicine. In this section of Stories Matter, we will work together to analyze stories about health and medicine, in order to learn what these stories can teach us about ourselves and our society. We will read stories about health challenges and about medical caregiving. Our primary texts may include memoir, fiction, poetry, plays, and graphic novels/comics. This course is writing intensive, which means that a significant part of the final grade will be earned through writing assignments.
Notes: This course satisfies the Gen Ed Humanities & Fine Arts requirements. All majors are welcome.
English 1099G Section 099 CRN 95566
Charles Wharram
Stories Matter, Honors--Literature, Health, and Medicine 11:00-11:50 a.m. MWF
This course will address two ways of looking at the connections between literary texts and questions of health and medicine. We will read about the ways that literature can shape and even transform the way we think about health and medicine. How do authors represent illness and disease? How do fiction and poetry illuminate the work of healthcare providers and institutions? On the other hand, we will consider how concepts from health and medicine might apply to our approach to literary texts. How seriously should we think about the viral aspects of reading? How does good reading practice help us become better at diagnostics? This course meets the "Humanities" general education requirement, and can be used for the Health & Medical Humanities minor program.
Notes: This course satisfies the Gen Ed Humanities & Fine Arts requirements. All majors are welcome.
English 1105 Section 001 CRN 92264
Melissa Caldwell
English Forum 12:00-12:50 p.m. M
What can you do with an English major? This course is designed to answer that question from a wide variety of perspectives. Topics include academic choices within the major, minor(s), undergraduate research opportunities, English-related student organizations, study abroad, internships, scholarships, career options and career planning, graduate and professional programs, study abroad and internships. You will begin to plan the direction you want to go with your English major and with your subsequent career through writing projects and attendance at Department and University events.
English 2000 Section 001 CRN 93045
Ann Hart
Introduction to Creative Writing11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. TR
This course will introduce students to reading for craft and writing creatively across poetry, fiction, nonfiction and dramatic genres. Students will participate in workshops of their creative work and read writing in each genre.
English 2205 Section 001 CRN 93047
Julie Campbell
Introduction to Literary Studies 12:30-1:45 pm TR
There are as many ways to view a text as there are readers, and each reader brings to a text his or her own perceptions, prejudices, and experiences. When reading and writing about literature are approached from a variety of perspectives, exciting things happen. Texts come alive artistically, historically, and politically in fascinating ways, and we realize that readers co-create meaning with writers. A text is a two-way street. English majors are encouraged to learn to view literature from a variety of critical stances that have evolved into the field called literary theory. In this course, we will read a selection of poetry, drama, and prose from several theoretical standpoints and discuss the historical development of literary criticism.
Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 1105 or concurrent enrollment in ENG 1105.
English 2760 Section 001 CRN 91527
Terri Fredrick
Introduction to Professional Writing 3:30-4:45 pm TR
This course introduces students to the principles and practices of communication in professional settings. Students will complete case-based and/or client-based projects in multiple genres and media. The course will also address ethical communication, document design, intercultural/global communication, collaboration, basic copyediting, and oral presentation.
English 2901 Sections 001 and 002 CRN 91233 and 90333
Jad Smith
Structure of English 9:30-10:45 a.m. TR; 12:30-1:45 p.m. TR
This course is an introduction to the grammar of English. It is designed to help you learn to describe and analyze the structure of sentences in English and, as such, focuses primarily on syntax. However, phonology (pronunciation), morphology (word forms), and semantics (meaning) will also come up from time to time. Although we will consider grammar from both traditional and modern perspectives, we will take a rhetorical rather than rules-based approach. In other words, we will treat grammar as a tool for reflecting on possible stylistic choices, not as a set of inflexible rules. Ideally, this course will heighten your understanding of the complexity of the English language and help you develop strategies for communicating clearly and effectively in speech and writing.
English 2901 Section 003 CRN 90334
Melissa Caldwell
Structure of English 10:00-10:50 a.m. MWF
Language is one key to empowerment. In this introduction to the English language, we will explore the analytic approaches to language that can help prepare us to use language to achieve goals of many kinds. Our study of the grammar of the English language is meant to help you think critically about language-related social issues and to apply an understanding of English grammar to a variety of practical uses, including your own writing in a variety of settings, teaching at a variety of levels, editing, and other language-related work. There will be several tests throughout the semester, a final exam, and a short research project.
English 2901 Section 600 CRN 96789
Melissa Caldwell
Structure of English Online 11:00-11:50 a.m. MWF
Language is one key to empowerment. In this introduction to the English language, we will explore the analytic approaches to language that can help prepare us to use language to achieve goals of many kinds. Our study of the grammar of the English language is meant to help you think critically about language-related social issues and to apply an understanding of English grammar to a variety of practical uses, including your own writing in a variety of settings, teaching at a variety of levels, editing, and other language-related work. There will be several tests throughout the semester, a final exam, and a short research project.
English 2950 Section 001 CRN 93048
Charles Wharram
Transatlantic Literary History: Culture, Literacies, and Technologies I 2:00-2:50 p.m. MWF
An introduction to the key cultural movements and genres in Transatlantic literary history aimed at familiarizing students with the history of orality, literacy, and print technology in textual production from the Anglo-Saxon period to the beginning of the eighteenth century.
English 3001 Section 001 CRN 90335
Elizabeth Tacke
Advanced Composition--Exploring Educational and Community Justice11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. TR
This course will build on and refine research and argumentation skills introduced in Composition II. Effective writers understand the importance of critical inquiry as a tool for entering academic conversations. As such, in this composition-based course we will begin with critical questions about ourselves, one another, and the society in which we live. Specifically, we will grapple with tensions and contradictions at the heart of educational practice and theory. As Paolo Freire contends, there is no such thing as “neutral education”; rather, education functions to reinforce conformity or create pathways to freedom. While we will share a number of course readings to begin our inquiry process, your own interests will drive your research and writing. Possible topics and themes to explore include community-based organizing and education, the role of standardized testing and standards in equitable education, disability and accessibility in the classroom, the school-to-prison pipeline, or race and restorative justice.
The course will also equip you with the tools needed to question how issues of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and language shape our experiences in the contexts of conducting research, analyzing data, and writing up the research project. Throughout the semester, we will work cooperatively as a community to explore the writing and research process and come to understand the importance of promoting issues of diversity and social justice in our lives as agents of change.
English 3001 Section 600 CRN 95571
Donna Binns
Advanced Composition Online
ENG 3001: Advanced Composition centers on advanced applications of the principles of writing analyses and arguments. This course offers opportunities to explore a variety of research sources and genres of writing. Attention will be given to analyzing writing situations, including the purpose for writing, assumed audiences, and appropriate styles and tones. Active participation in online class activities is required. In addition to major writing projects, homework assignments will consist of analytic reading responses or pieces of writing that contribute to larger writing projects-in-progress. This course will have class and group discussions online during which students will discuss their responses to readings, collaborate on exercises, or provide feedback on strategies and plans for major writing assignments. Students will also evaluate and provide feedback on one another’s writing as part of peer response groups.
Course Objectives (Connections to University Learning Objectives in Parentheses):
Understand writing as a process that includes critical reading, research, evaluation of sources, synthesis, drafting, feedback, revision, and editing (writing and critical reading; critical thinking).
Develop strategies for reading and producing texts in a variety of modes, media and genre, with a particular focus on argumentation and its function in specific fields or disciplines (writing and critical reading; speaking and listening).
Understand the purposes and correct application of discipline-specific citation systems; integrate and document sources of ideas and information (writing and critical reading).
Share writing and give/receive feedback with classmates. Read carefully and critically, both your writing and the writing of others (writing and critical reading).
Apply knowledge and skills to new and changing contexts within and beyond the classroom (responsible citizenship).
English 3005 Section 001 CRN97492
Rashelle Spear
Technical Communication 9:00-9:50 a.m. MWF
Instruction and practice in technical communication and creating documents used in professional settings. Focus on communicating complex information to specialized and non-specialized audiences. Students will complete case-based and/or client-based projects in multiple genres and media. Course will also address online communication, ethical communication, document design, intercultural/global communication, collaboration, accessibility issues, and oral presentation.
English 3008 Section 600 CRN 96914
Melissa Ames
Digital Writing and Multimodal Texts Online
This course engages with the history, theory, and production of digital writing and multimodal texts. Students will consider the importance that multimodal literacy has for 21st century learners and consumers. Course study will involve analyzing how digital texts both reflect and influence larger cultural contexts and how such multimodal texts (and technology more generally) impact (or aim to impact) individual audiences. The required work for this course can be customized to fit students’ specializations and will include: case studies, individual and collaborative digital design projects, social media analysis, multimodal presentations, and a semester-long applied research study of online writing practices/spaces.
Even the observant animals are aware That we’re not very happily home here In this --- our interpreted world.
--Rainer Maria Rilke
This course explores the ways in which myth and myth-making across cultures relate to issues of identity, desire, language, epistemology, and violence. Requirements include short papers, critical essays, discussion posts, a midterm, and a final exam.
Poetry readership is on the rise, as more and more people turn to poems to provide solace, or to reflect their feelings in our uncertain times. This course will focus on the writing and revising of poems at an intermediate level, with an emphasis on building vocabulary and learning the wide range of moves that poems can make. Using some of the best collections of poems from the past few decades as our guide, we’ll craft and revise poems that showcase each student’s individual voice. Through workshops, students will end the course with a complete chapbook of poetry.
Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 2000 or equivalent.
English 3063 Section 600 CRN 96944
Bess Kosinec (Winter)
Intermediate Fiction Writing Online
This class focuses on developing students’ knowledge of the craft of fiction through both the reading and writing of prose. The course is divided into two parts, the first being a writer’s craft unit, and the second being an intensive workshop of each other’s fiction. It culminates in the submission of a revised portfolio of workshopped prose.
Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 2000 or equivalent.
English 3300 Section 001 CRN95579
Marjorie Worthington
Seminar in English Studies--Becoming a Public Intellectual 10:00-10:50 a.m. MWF
The world needs to hear from smart people who can think critically and communicate well. The world needs to hear from you. In this course, we will explore the myriad ways you can bring your substantial skills as an English major to bear in various public forums, from newspaper editorials, magazine and blog entries, multi-modal projects, effective web and twitter presences, as well as more traditional essays and presentations.
Prerequisite: ENG 2205 or equivalent.
English 3401 Section 001 CRN 90341
Elizabeth Tacke
Methods of Teaching Composition in the Secondary School 12:30-1:45 p.m. TR
This course explores various best practices and approaches to teaching and evaluating written composition in secondary schools. Course work will consist primarily of reading and responding to pedagogical texts, applying the findings in such to contemporary educational concerns, and crafting/modeling instructional tools both independently and cooperatively in ways that mirror professional learning communities. The required work for this course includes crafting lesson plans, thematic units, a course design, and various reflective essays. This course requires on-site observation hours and the live-text submission of one required assignment (Unit Plan). The course includes five hours of on-site, pre-clinical experiences.
Prerequisites & Notes: ENG 2901 and SED 2000. EDP 3331 and SED 3330; for ISEP students, SED 3000 and 3100; for Middle Level Education majors, MLE 3110. University Approval to Teacher Education is required prior to taking this course.
English 3405 Section 001 CRN 95580
Niall Nance-Carroll
Children's Literature 2:00-3:15 pm TR
Study of the rich variety of texts written for or primarily read by children, including picture books, poetry, fairy tales, chapter books, and novels. Emphases include historical, cultural, pedagogical, critical, and theoretical perspectives.
English 3504 Section 001 CRN95582
Bobby Martinez
Film and Literature--"Fella, you don't know what this story means": Conspiracy, Paranoia, and Trauma in Literature and Film 12:30-2:30 p.m. T
English 3504 is an exploration of the “practical and theoretical relations between film and literature.” In this course, we will focus on film and literature that respond to key political, social, and philosophical challenges of the late-twentieth century and emerging twenty-first century. Specifically, we will examine how film and literature attempt to capture, represent, and explore themes of paranoia, conspiracy, and trauma in our political and social reality. Some of our films and texts will have their roots in major cultural events (such as the political assassinations and scandals of the 1960s/early 1970s, the Vietnam War, the conditions of the Cold War), while others will focus on more subtle social and technological developments and their impact on humanity. Crucial to this class will be the question of identity and the nature of truth—in other words, how do we process shocking or violent events and attempt to make sense of them? What is evil, and how do we deal with it? How do perplexing experiences affect our sense of personal and national history?
Notes: This course may be repeated once with the permission of the department chairperson.
Themes:Identity & Culture; Law & Social Justice; Genre, Form, & Poetics; Media, Technology, & Popular Culture
English3705Section 001 CRN95583
Bobby Martinez
American Multicultural Literatures 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. TR
A study of multicultural literatures of the Americas with emphasis on pluralism (ethnicity, race, language/dialect, religion, socio-economic status, gender, sexuality, ability, among others).
English 3806 Section 001 CRN97310
Randall Beebe
British Romantic Literature--Old Texts, New Media: Romantic Legacies in the 21st Century 1:00-1:50 p.m. MWF
In this course, we will be reading texts from British Romanticism—a 50-year period (1780 to 1830) that contributed some of the most provocative and influential texts in literary history as writers and intellectuals wrestled with a massively changing cultural and political landscape. We’ll focus our study on the top hits of the period, reading famous writers as Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, and John Keats. While much of our work will focus on how to historicize such writers and this turbulent period, we will also spend a great deal of time looking at just how influential Romantic texts are in our own time as they are adapted and transformed across a range of new media. Students will complete short papers and will be encouraged to complete projects that complement chosen concentration.
English 3903B Section 600 CRN96456
Colleen Abel
Women, Literature, and Language, Post-1800--Women & Dystopia Online
A dystopia is a nightmare society, one characterized by injustice, suffering, and imbalance of power. Writers who envision dystopias are holding up mirrors to their own society, and these dystopias express their fears and concerns for the future. This class will examine dystopian literature through the lens of gender. What does it mean to be a woman in a nightmare world? What rights, power, and expression has been taken away? Throughout this course, we will read and watch texts by women and through discussion, presentation, written analyses, and creative projects, we will examine the worlds created by this literature and what they can tell us about our own.
English 4060 Section 001 CRN 93965
Terri Fredrick
English Studies Career Development 12:00-12:50 p.m. W
This course is designed to prepare English majors for the job market and/or for graduate school applications. In this course, you will research job openings and professional organizations, participate in discussions with professional guest speakers, analyze your own professional skills and abilities, and read course materials related to career development. As part of the class, you will create your final resume, a cover letter template, a print portfolio, and a professional website or online portfolio.
English 4060 Section 600 CRN 96638
Angela Vietto
English Studies Career Development Online
This course is designed to prepare English majors and Professional Writing minors for the job market and/or for graduate school applications. In this course, you will research job openings and professional organizations, participate in discussions with professional guest speakers, analyze your own professional skills and abilities, and read course materials related to career development. As part of the class, you will create your final resume, a cover letter template, a print portfolio, and a professional website or digital portfolio.
English 4275 Section 001 CRN 94048
Terri Fredrick
Internship in Professional Writing Arranged
Students must meet with the Internship Coordinator (Dr. Fredrick) to arrange an internship placement before registering for ENG 4275.
A community-based experience featuring practical application of skills developed in the English curriculum, the Internship is open to any student who has taken ENG 2760 or ENG 3005. To the extent possible, placement is matched to career goals with the expectation that students might approach graduation and the job search with writing/editing portfolios to show potential employers. Recent English interns have worked as writers or editors for nonprofit organizations, small businesses, corporations, libraries, local government offices.
English 4275 is a three-hour course offered on a credit/no credit basis. In addition to work created as part of the internship, students will engage in reflective writing about the internship and organizational culture. The coordinator and site-supervisors cooperate in evaluation. Students who have taken English 4275 previously may repeat it again as an elective; students who repeat the course will be placed at a different internship site.
English 4742 Section 600 CRN 96739
Melissa Caldwell
Studies in Genre--The Art of Adaptation Online
Adaptation has long been viewed as a lesser, derivative art form. No doubt at one time or another you have been disappointed by a film, graphic novel, stage, or other adaptation of one of your favorite texts. But what happens when we reject the idea that an adaptation can only be viewed in light of its predecessor? What happens when we view adaptation as a rich genre that can develop texts that hold value and meaning as works of art unto themselves? Or when we see adaptation as a kind of literary evolution or as part of an extended literary family, not less than but simply different than an earlier text that it is related to?
Both film and written adaptations are often criticized for not being as good as “the original.” Yet as scholars of adaptation studies have recently shown, such a distinction is highly problematic, especially since adaptation is an old practice and often the “original” itself was originally….well, an adaptation! Moreover, many adaptations can be read on their own without any reference to a source text, while others develop a kind of symbiotic relationship with a prior text (or texts), providing new relevance and insight into their source text. In this way, adaptations offer their pretexts new power and perspective in our contemporary world.
In this course, we will think about literature and literary history as dynamic and ever evolving as we read, watch, and explore these kinds of questions about literary adaptations. By viewing these texts both in relation to and quite distinct from the works they adapt, we will consider adaptation as both a product and an artistic process.
Students from all concentrations are welcome in this course and will be encouraged to apply their study of the genre of adaptation to their academic and professional goals:
preservice teachers will be encouraged to think about the pedagogical value of teaching adaptations in their future classrooms;
literary studies scholars may want to explore adaptations in the light of literary theory or history;
creative writers may want to conceptualize and develop their own adaptations;
professional writers may consider how adaptation can function as a sort of translation of texts across time, culture, and/or media.
Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 2205. This course may be repeated once with the permission of the department chairperson.
CLASSES NUMBERED 4750 THROUGH 4999 - THESE CLASSES ARE OPEN TO JUNIORS, SENIORS, AND GRADUATE STUDENTS. GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE LIMITED TO TWELVE HOURS OF COURSEWORK IN THIS CATEGORY.
English 4750 Section 600 CRN96953
English 4750Z Section 600 CRN97521
Angela Vietto
Studies in African-American Literature--Reclaiming Heritage: Early African American Writers, Genealogy, and Human Rights Online
In this course, we will study the earliest African-American writing (before about 1800), but we will study this literature with an eye toward how it informs our present. Specifically, we will look at two distinct but inter-related themes in early African-American writing: family history and human and political rights.
In a world of displacement and family separation, how did African-American authors write about family and family history, and what did this vision of family have to do with claiming personal dignity and human and political rights? How can we see these early writers as establishing patterns and tropes that persist today--or how has the discussion changed?
While our reading and discussion will focus on the early period, students are welcome and encouraged to create final projects that will put some of our early texts into conversation with related more recent texts.
(Of special note to current and future K-12 teachers, this course will include discussion of black-authored texts that speak back to the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, thus I hope providing some more inclusive ways of teaching those founding documents.)
English 4760 Section 600 CRN 94049
English 4760Z Section 600 CRN97522
Donna Binns
Special Topics in Professional Writing--Accessibility Online
This course involves focused study of professional writing, designed to enhance understanding of accessibility workplace writing and provide experience in producing it. Students will gain experience in writing proposals for improving accessibility for a wide range of audiences. Topics covered include accessibility, usability, universal design, and writing for international readers, people with disabilities, and people who do not read easily. May be repeated once (with a different topic) for credit. Topic will vary semester to semester. May be repeated once for credit.
English 4761 Section 600 CRN 96826
Colleen Abel
Advanced Nonfiction Writing Online
We all have a story to tell: This advanced course will provide students with an in-depth look of the styles and techniques of contemporary creative nonfiction in the service of helping develop their unique voice and style. We will read memoirs and essay collections to break down their structures and techniques, and students will workshop and revise their own writing in the service of transforming life into art.
Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 3061 or, with permission of Department Chairperson, ENG 3062, 3063, or 3064. May be repeated once with permission of the Department Chairperson.
English 4764 Section 600 CRN97311
Christopher Wixson
Advanced Dramatic Writing Online
This course offers further opportunities to unlock the possibilities of stage storytelling, providing advanced creative practice combined with reading/discussion of contemporary American plays in order to continue to develop, diversify, sharpen, and deepen the craft of the playwright. Like theatre itself, the course is as invested in process as it is in product.
Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 3064 or, with permission of Department Chairperson, ENG 3061, 3062, or 3063. May be repeated once with permission of the Department Chairperson.
English 4765 Section 001 CRN 91238
English 4765Z Section 001 CRN97545
Tim Taylor
Professional Editing 11:00-11:50 a.m. MWF
Advanced practice and theory in professional editing, including copyediting and comprehensive editing. Focus on working effectively with writers, publishers, and audiences. Discussion of the production process and the role of technology in editing and information design.
English 4801 Section 600 CRN96599
Melissa Ames
Integrating the English Language Arts Online
Note: This section is only available to students completing the accelerated post-baccalaureate program through the College of Education. This course will be offered again in Spring 2022 and will be open to English undergraduate and graduate students at that time.
English 4901 Section 600 CRN95949
Angela Vietto
History of the English Language Online 8-week course (8/23-10/13)
English is a living language, one that has changed over time and which has developed many variations based on the global spread of the language. In this course we will explore the forces that act on languages to generate such changes, the specific history of English, and the political and social forces acting on it. We will pay special attention to the contemporary varieties of English in the United States and to the social and political debates surrounding our contemporary language. We will consider how schools, teachers, and editors engage in language politics, and how they might do their work in a way that both empowers and respects the writing and speech of diverse users of the language. Final projects may be pedagogical, analytic, or creative (with an analytic component). Note: This is an 8-week, accelerated course.
English 4903 Section 001 CRN96541
Elizabeth Tacke
Young Adult Literature 3:30-4:45 p.m. TR
This course will explore the range of literary works written or marketed as "Young Adult" (YA), for a readership usually defined as 12–18-year-olds. Shared and self-selected readings include literature in a variety of formats, forms, and genres from a variety of perspectives. Selected texts include: Monster by Walter Dean Meyers, A Step from Heaven by An Na, American Born Chinese, by Gene Leun Yang, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, A Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, and Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian.
Readings, discussions, and writing assignments will require critical analysis of the literary features of these books and invite discussion of the craftsmanship and rhetorical strategies of the authors, artists, and publishers who produce and market them. We will also explore the range of criteria professionals use to evaluate books for young adults, including reader appeal, pedagogical usefulness, and cultural authority. This focus on the merits of individual books will be complemented by a broader consideration of diversity and inclusion in young adult literature. By the end of this course, you should have a working knowledge of the resources available to the scholars and professionals who work with Young Adult Literature. You should also do some important thinking about young adult readers, literature, and the contexts in which they meet.
GRADUATE SEMINARS
English 5000 Section 600 CRN 95165 Online
Marjorie Worthington
Introduction to Methods and Issues in English Studies
This seminar provides a foundation for the M.A. in English, serving as an introduction to the methods and issues of advanced-level research and scholarship in English studies. Through our reading and discussions, we will examine the field of English Studies, discuss assumptions and challenges in the field, and develop a strong understanding of what professionals do. This will involve becoming aware of discourse practices, methods of research, and the writing genres that we use in various settings of English.
English 5007 Section 001 CRN 91407
English 5007Z Section 001 CRN 97314
Rachael Ryerson
Composition Theory and Pedagogy 3:30-6:00 pm T
This seminar focuses on theories and pedagogies of teaching college writing. Students will explore diverse composition pedagogies, be introduced to the various theoretical influences that have shaped the teaching of college writing, and learn about the history of composition/rhetoric as a discipline.
English5007 Section 600 CRN95588
Donna Binns
Composition Theory and Pedagogy Online
This graduate seminar focuses on theories and pedagogies of teaching college writing. Students will explore diverse composition pedagogies, be introduced to various theoretical influences that have shaped the teaching of college writing, and learn about the history of composition/rhetoric as a discipline.
English 5007 Section 601 CRN 97572
Rachael Ryerson
Composition Theory and Pedagogy Online
This seminar focuses on theories and pedagogies of teaching college writing. Students will explore diverse composition pedagogies, be introduced to the various theoretical influences that have shaped the teaching of college writing, and learn about the history of composition/rhetoric as a discipline.
English5010 Section 600 CRN97315
English5010Z Section 600 CRN97530
Tim Engles
Studies in Twentieth-Century American Literature--Race and Masculinity in Contemporary American Literature Online 8-week course (8/23-10/13)
Due to recent cultural, political and demographic changes in the United States, men face new challenges in terms of how to think of themselves and their relationships with others. Such challenges confront men of all races and ethnicities, including those who have long occupied the dominant identity norms, such as straight, able bodied, middle class and white. We will study literature that registers social and cultural shifts that have been pushing men to deal with their gendered status in new ways, raising insistent questions in terms of race and masculinity about male identity, and about how men tend to interact with other people. Our creative authors will include Richard Wright, Adelle Waldman, Adrian Tomine, David Henry Hwang, Percival Everett, Chen Chen, and James Baldwin. Note: This is an 8-week, accelerated course.
English 5025 Section 600 CRN 96552
Colleen Abel
Creative Writing Professional Development Online
There's more to being a writer than just sitting down in front of a blank page or screen. What does it mean to be a part of the creative writing professional community? How does one go about getting published anyway? How are literary publications run? How do I continue to learn, grow, and be part of a literary network once I've graduated from EIU? This course will help students chart a path as a literary citizen and learn how to put their work into the world.
English5061B Section 600 CRN97476
Suzie Park
Topics in Literature and Literary Theory--Zombies, Bugs, and Literary Theory Online
What does the hungry student of literature do? Does she devour texts, feed on the brains of others with a desire to feed her own? Does she behave like a parasite, both feeding on and feeding her host, the literary work? Whether zombie or parasitic bug, we ought to learn about table manners—the rules of etiquette to follow when unleashing our appetite on texts. Through an examination of major rule makers and rule breakers, we will sample a whole buffet of schools of thought that have shaped literary studies. From Charles Darwin through Jacques Derrida, we will focus on thinkers that have questioned the boundaries of science, understanding, and habits of consumption.
English5742 Section 600 CRN96543
Randy Beebe
Studies in Genre for Writers and Teachers--Intertextuality Online
“I only have one language; it is not mine.” –Jacques Derrida
A catch-all, tricksy term, intertextuality covers a wide spectrum in the field of English Studies—a spectrum covering everything from, at one end, allusions or borrowings to adaptations, appropriations, or transmedia work to, at the far end, pastiche, imitation, and creative plagiarism. In this seminar, we will study intertextuality as both an interpretive framework (how a text performs its meanings or makes its “connections”) and as a condition for reading in the 21st century.
After reading some foundational texts on the concept (classical, modern, and postmodern), we will work through 3-4 units, where, in addition to reading some great texts together, we will explore the demands intertextuality makes on readers, writers, and teachers. Primary readings will cover a variety of fictional genres—prose, poetry, graphic novel, drama, and film—across historical periods, including (but not limited to) such texts as Frankenstein, stories by Poe and Morrison, graphic novels by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, Stoppard’s Arcadia, and some fairy tales. Students will also be asked to self-select a text for study outside the reading list.
Complementing the primary reading, we will review selected research on genre theory and rhetorical poetics, using these scholarly conversations to learn the many ways intertextuality is deployed in cultural studies and pedagogy. One point of emphasis in this reading will be on work of rhetorical theorists James Phelan and Jennifer Fletcher, whose work offers useful explanatory models of fictional forms and provides practical ways of teaching reading and literary texts. Can the study of intertextuality make us better readers and teachers?
During the final weeks of the course, students will be encouraged to develop projects related to their concentration. Creative writing students may want to study intertextuality as matter of craft or perhaps produce (or perform) their own intertextual work. Students in Literary and Cultural studies may want to use the term as way to re-think a specific text or author or to use the term as a window into narrative theory or as a means to consider gender and social justice topics. For students in Composition and Rhetoric (or students who are educators), intertextuality invites opportunities for study of authorship, originality, and the writing process in addition to important questions about the use of sources in the teaching of writing.
Prerequisites and notes:Undergraduate students seeking departmental honors may use this class to fulfill their graduate course requirement with approval of the instructor and Dean of the Graduate School. This course may be repeated with the permission of the department chairperson.
English 5960 Section 001 CRN 94145
Terri Fredrick
Internship in Professional Writing Arranged
Students must meet with the Internship Coordinator (Dr. Fredrick) to arrange an internship placement before registering for ENG 5960.
A community-based experience featuring practical application of skills developed in the English curriculum, to the extent possible, placement is matched to career goals with the expectation that students might approach graduation and the job search with writing/editing portfolios to show potential employers. Recent English interns have worked as writers or editors for nonprofit organizations, small businesses, corporations, libraries, local government offices.
English 5960 is a three-hour course offered on a credit/no credit basis. Internship work is part time (an average of 10 hours per week over a 15-week semester) and can be completed while enrolled in other courses and/or while holding a graduate assistantship. In addition to work created as part of the internship, students will engage in reflective writing about the internship and organizational culture. The coordinator and site-supervisors cooperate in evaluation.
EIU SENIOR SEMINARS
EIU 4192G Section 099 CRN97312
Bobby Martinez
Film and Contemporary Society [Honors EIU Senior Seminar] 3:30-6:50 p.m. T
This EIU Honors senior seminar will explore how various filmmakers use cinema to study and assess a variety of social and philosophical problems that affect human life. Students will encounter exciting films, both foreign and American, across a range of genres (e.g., war/combat films, romantic comedy, thrillers) and important cinematic schools of thought (e.g., French New Wave). Requirements include short response papers, a term paper, group presentation, and participation in discussion.
Notes: Completion of 75 semester hours and admission to the University Honors College required. Only non-English majors can take this course.
Notes
ENG 1002G is a prerequisite for 2000-level courses and above.
All courses designated with a G (for example, ENG 1009G) fulfill requirements in the EIU General Education Program.
Concurrent or prior registration in ENG 2205 is strongly recommended for majors in all courses at the 2000-level and above.
