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EIU Department of English

 

 

Spring 2021 English Course Descriptions

 

English 2000 Section 600 CRN 32969      

Bess Kosinec (Winter)

Introduction to Creative Writing 1400-1515 TR Online Synchronous

 

Think of this class as imagination boot camp. Here, you’ll learn to tap into your innate creativity, and to give voice to ideas that excite you, intimidate you, even scare you.

Through a tasting menu of four different genres of creative writing, you’ll learn the basic tools necessary to turn your fascinations into work written, or performed, for others. This means you’ll learn both the habits of the artist and the artist’s tools in the form of writer’s craft, as well as engage in workshop by sharing your work with classmates and learning to critique the work of others constructively. The course culminates in the submission of a revised portfolio of workshopped writing.

 

English 2205 Section 600 CRN 30540          

Bobby Martinez

Introduction to Literary Studies 1400-1450 MWF Online Synchronous

 

English 2205 “is a study of fundamental issues underlying literary criticism and interpretation focusing on literary works, diverse critical practices, and historical backgrounds of critical strategies.” The main goal of the course will be for all of us to develop sharper critical thinking skills through close reading. Through a study of poetry, film, novels, essays, and even some music, we will all work at refining our reading skills to notice nuances in written and visual texts, language and sound, and to think about how historical context shapes textual production and our shared intellectual history. As we study a variety of works we will aim to bring those nuanced observations of what we study to bear on how we interpret and explain what we read and see, and how it affects our understanding of the world around us. This class will be taught online, which will include weekly synchronous video discussions. 

Despite this course being offered online, the instructor will hold weekly synchronous video meetings with the class at the day and time assigned for the course to meet.

Prerequisites: ENG 1105 or concurrent enrollment in ENG 1105.

 

English 2705 Section 600 CRN 36337          

Angela Vietto

African-American Literature Online

 

The creative work of African-American writers from origins to the present. We will of course consider the major figures of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Douglass, DuBois, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Baldwin, and Morrison. But we will also look back in time to the earliest origins (and less often discussed writers) of African-American literature as well as spending some time on very recent work by living writers, with some attention as well to film and perhaps graphic novels.

Throughout, we will consider the literary tradition in connection to the social and historical forces from which it emerged--a story that is in itself a complex and nuanced plot.

Course format: The class is online, there will be multiple (but optional) opportunities, at multiple times, to meet via videoconference in large or small groups as well as required individual conferences by video or phone with the instructor. Students who wish to participate in online discussions but need a space to connect can get help from the English Department. Students who want to meet in person will be accommodated depending on campus conditions.

 

English 2760 Section 600 CRN 33052     

Donna Binns

Introduction to Professional Writing Online

 

Introduction to the principles and practices of writing in professional settings. Students will complete case-based and/or client-based projects in multiple genres and media. Course will also address ethical communication, document design, intercultural/global communication, collaboration, basic copyediting, and presentation. WC (Connections to EIU learning goals in parentheses)

 

Course Objectives: English 2760 introduces the principles and practices of communication in professional settings. In this course, you will learn and then apply professional communication concepts. Specifically, by the end of the semester, you will be asked to demonstrate the following objectives:

  1. Use effective communication strategies, including appropriate research techniques, to solve hypothetical and real-world problems (i.e., critical thinking and problem solving) (critical thinking, writing and critical reading, speaking and listening)

  2. Adapt general professional writing principles (related to content, organization, and tone) to specific audiences, purposes, and contexts—including online and global contexts (critical thinking, writing and critical reading, speaking and listening, responsible citizenship)

  3. Use revision and editing strategies to improve your own and others’ writing (writing and critical reading)

  4. Use basic principles of effective visual and document design

  5. Use effective collaborative strategies to create a positive work environment (critical thinking 1, speaking and listening 2–3 & 7, responsible citizenship 1–2)

  6. Demonstrate understanding of basic ethical and legal considerations related to professional communication (responsible citizenship 2)

  7. Demonstrate college- and professional-level writing produced through the process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading (writing and critical reading)

 

English 2901 Section 001 CRN 30541   

Jad Smith

Structure of English 1230-1345 TR Hybrid

 

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.

The class will be divided into two groups of 12. One group will meet on Tuesday, the other on Thursday. Students will complete half of the work for each week online, before attending class. The rest of the material for a given week will be covered in the face-to-face) class.

 

English 2901 Section 600 CRN 30542  

Terri Fredrick

Structure of English 0930-1045 TR Online Synchronous

 

In this class students will analyze the rules that govern the English grammatical system. They will develop a deeper understanding of the systematic nature of language. By the end of the course they will be able to comprehend the major differences between traditional, structural, and transformational approaches to grammar, identify sentence patterns and their expansions, and understand verb tense, aspect, voice, and modality. There will be several tests throughout the semester, a final exam, and two short research projects. 

Most weeks, this course will meet online twice each week during our assigned class time (Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m.).

 

English 2960 Section 001 CRN 32971   

Marjorie Worthington  

Transatlantic Literary History II--Culture, Literacies, and Technologies 1100-1150 MWF Hybrid

 

An introduction to the key cultural movements and genres in Transatlantic literary history aimed at familiarizing students with the history of literacy, and print and non-print technology in textual production from the eighteenth century to the present. Requirements will include: several short essays, 2 longer essays, a group presentation and a final exam. 

Hybrid in this case means that each week half the class will meet face-to-face on Monday, the other half will meet face-to-face on Wednesday. Fridays will be synchronous, online, sessions which the entire class will attend. Also, the whole class will have substantial online responsibilities each week which will serve as a substitute for the third face-to-face session.

  

English 3001 Section 600 CRN 35390    

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):

 

English 3001 Section 601 CRN 34091      

Tim Engles

Advanced Composition Online

 

This course will improve your writing skills as you gather your forces toward a career in a professional work environment. Nearly all professional fields include more writing tasks than those entering them usually realize, and the quality of a worker's writing greatly affects interactions with colleagues and supervisors. In addition to getting your skills up to speed for specific forms of professional writing, this course will help you anticipate key features of your future workplace, including those related to race, class, gender, and sexuality.

 

English 3005 Section 600 CRN 35391      

Donna Binns

Technical Communication Online

 

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 document presentation. WC

 

Course Objectives: (Parentheses indicate which undergraduate learning goals are covered by the learning objective. In some instances, specific sub-steps are listed when only portions of the learning goal are covered.):

  1. Explain the value of technical communication in organizational settings and the responsibilities of professional communicators to communicate clearly and concisely to satisfy an audience’s need for information (writing and critical reading)

  2. Adapt common genres of technical communication (proposals, progress reports, reports, instructions, presentations, etc) to specific audiences, purposes, media, and contexts—including global contexts (critical thinking, writing and critical reading, speaking and listening, responsible citizenship)

  3. Critically read and analyze information addressed to readers of differing technical levels (critical thinking, writing and critical reading 5-7, quantitative reasoning 3–4)

  4. Implement principles of effective document design (using basic and advanced features of computer software) to create professional, easy-to-use projects, including quantitative displays of information (quantitative reasoning 5–6)

  5. Use effective collaborative strategies to create a positive work environment and high-quality projects (critical thinking 1, speaking and listening 2–3 & 7, responsible citizenship 1–2)

  6. Demonstrate college- and professional-level writing produced through the process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading (writing and critical reading)

  7. Demonstrate metacognitive awareness of strategies used to successfully approach, adapt to, and complete new (previously untried) communication situations (responsible citizenship 4)

 

English 3005 Section 601 CRN 36798      

Angela Vietto

Technical Communication Online

 

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 document presentation. WC

 

English 3009G Section 600 CRN 32661          

Christopher Wixson

Myth and Culture Online

 

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 postings, a midterm, and a final exam.

 

Themes: Identity & Culture; Genre, Form, & Poetics

  

English 3061 Section 600 CRN 33568          

Woody Skinner

Intermediate Nonfiction Writing 1300-1350 MWF Online Synchronous

 

This intermediate course will provide participants with an overview of the styles and techniques of contemporary creative nonfiction while also offering a venue for student work. We will begin the semester by analyzing anthologized essays, focusing on different aspects of narrative craft each week. Then we’ll dedicate the second half of the semester to workshop—we’ll critique student work, in other words, using the craft concepts covered earlier in the term.

 

Prerequisite: ENG 2000

  

English 3064 Section 600 CRN 36338     

Christopher Wixson

Intermediate Dramatic Writing Online

 

This course provides further opportunity to develop, diversify, and deepen the craft of the playwright. Exercises, applied techniques, and reading/discussion of contemporary scripts will work collaboratively to unveil the possibilities of stage storytelling. Like theatre itself, the course is as invested in process as it is in product.

 

Prerequisite: ENG 2000

 

English 3099G Section 600 CRN 34650      

Christopher Wixson

Myth and Culture, Honors Online

 

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 postings, a midterm, and a final exam.

 

Themes: Identity & Culture; Genre, Form, & Poetics

 

Note: Admission to University Honors College or Departmental Honors Program required.

 

English 3300 Section 600 CRN 32974  

Colleen Abel

English Studies Seminar--Speculative Fiction W 12:00-12:50 Online Synchronous 

 

This seminar emphasizes research and writing skills and their applicability in academic and nonacademic contexts. This semester's topic will be speculative fiction. The Doomsday Clock—a symbolic timepiece that indicates how close humanity is to annihilation—is currently at one hundred seconds to midnight, the closest it's been since 1953. No wonder we’re obsessed with stories about the future. This class will look at speculative fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and film / tv to investigate some common themes in these narratives, from killer viruses and the walking dead to climate change and nuclear war. What are the contemporary scientific and cultural fears that writers investigate by imagining a future in which today’s problems have escalated to cataclysmic proportions? How do gender, ethnicity, and geography shape a writer’s concerns about the world to come? Required of English majors.

 

Prerequisite: ENG 2205

 

English 3402 Section 001 CRN 30547     

Elizabeth Tacke

Methods of Teaching Literature in the Secondary School 1500-1550 MWF Hybrid

 

This course will provide theoretically-based, yet practical ways to integrate literature, reading, and media literacy in a language arts classroom. The course thus centers on creating a backward planned literature unit and rationale that builds on the needs of an effective language arts curriculum. Students will gain an understanding of current literary and pedagogical theory and its application by reading and responding to literary and secondary texts. Live-text submission of a literature unit is a required component of the course. This “hybrid” course will meet primarily face-to-face, with the possibility of incorporating a cohort-based model (i.e., two cohorts taking turns attending online/in-person sessions) depending on need.

 

Themes: Identity & Culture; Education & Society

 

Prerequisites: ENG 1002 and SED 2000. Prerequisites or co-requisites: ENG 2901.

 

Notes: University Approval to Teacher Education is required prior to taking this course.

 

English 3405 Section 001 CRN 34652        

Charlotte England

Children's Literature 1400-1515 TR Hybrid

 

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 3405 will be taught as a hybrid course in spring 2021. Students will be expected to attend in person lectures on Tuesdays and to be available on Thursdays for a variety of synchronous and asynchronous activities. Please keep 2:00-3:15 p.m. free for class on both days. 

 

English 3705 Section 600 CRN 36342        

Tim Engles

American Multicultural Literatures Online

 

As certain forms of comics have ascended to the lofty-sounding status of "graphic narratives,” many such works also fall into the genres of “multicultural literature” and “coming of age narratives.” We will study those that belong in all three. Our course will begin with a review of the intricacies of comics itself as a “sequential art,” and of methods traditionally deployed by authors of the bildungsroman, or coming of age novel. As we move on to a diverse array of graphic narratives, guiding questions will include: How do the many graphic narratives that tell "coming of age" stories do so differently from narratives confined to printed words? How do authors from diverse backgrounds combine the visual and verbal tracks of comics in ways that draw from, signify on, and otherwise differ from conventional methods? If characters in comics are simplistic representations of people, and stereotypes are too, how do comics artists portray diverse characters in ways that avoid the pitfalls of ethno racial caricature?

  

English 3802 Section 600 CRN 30552         

Christopher Wixson

Shakespeare Online

 

In the “Sickness is catching: O were favour so.”

--Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

 

William Shakespeare wrote at a time in many ways similar to our own. Cast in the shadow of the aggressive spread of bubonic plague through London and often employing the terms of contagious epidemic, his plays interrogate ideologies of social distancing according to gender, race, sexuality, social class, and species. In this course, we will explore six plays by Shakespeare, all written during periods of lockdown or performed soon after the reopening of the public theatres. After reading a couple early comedies, we will discuss Othello in dialogue with Toni Morrison’s brilliant Desdemona (2011) before turning to two more of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies and then concluding with his romance The Winter’s Tale, an ambitious meditation on imagination, loss, and healing.

 

The course’s subtitle makes clear our interpretive lenses. The word “ecology” is derived from the Greek words for “house” and “study” and denotes networks of relations. The concept of “infection” refers to the presence of various contaminants within such systems. Broadly concerning themselves with (as Hamlet puts it) “something rotten in the state,” Shakespeare’s plays depict how outbreaks of all kinds in our relationships to our natural and social environments, our dealings with one another, and our understandings of ourselves can cut either way --- towards tyranny and tragedy or towards reform and rebirth. The ways in which the plays stage the friction between contagion and containment provide us with vocabularies and contexts to map our own contemporary landscapes, making clear how Ben Jonson’s epitaph that the Bard was “not of an age but for all time” has proven prophetic. Indeed, Shakespeare is alive and well in the 21st century.

 

Themes: Identity & Culture; Law & Social Justice; Genre, Form, & Poetics

 

English 3805 Section 600 CRN 36343         

Jad Smith

Restoration and 18th-Century British Literature Online

 

Encompassing a wide range of cultural forms from illustrated street ballads to stage spectacle, Restoration and eighteenth-century visual culture is a rich counterpart to the literature of the period. Approaches to the long eighteenth century emphasizing visual culture largely grew out of cultural studies, a field of study that according to Paul Gilroy, “directed scholarly attention toward areas hardly taken seriously elsewhere as objects of sustained academic interest.” Practitioners of cultural studies tend to break down the high and low art distinction, and to demonstrate how individual texts emerge and circulate within larger historical networks of production and consumption. Our work in the course will follow this pattern, for instance, approaching Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko alongside illustrated travel literature, John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera alongside William Hogarth’s paintings and engravings, and William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience alongside illustrated broadside hymns, manuals, and subscription tickets related to the charity school movement.  

 

Our core objectives will be: 

  • to historicize developments in British print culture from the Restoration to the early Romantic period;

  • to improve analytical and verbal skills in regard to the literature and culture of this period by writing about and discussing its literary forms and visual cultures; 

  • to think critically about significant topics in cultural history, including childhood, gender, race, and status; 

  • and to explore how another cultural and historical context relates to our own. 

 

English 3809 Section 600 CRN 35766         

Bobby Martinez

Contemporary British and Anglophone Literatures 1200-1250 MWF Online Synchronous

 

English 3809 is a study “in fiction, poetry, and drama published since 1950 in one or more of the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland).”  In this course, we will explore the exciting genesis of new fictions and art forms that emerged in Britain after World War II.  Specifically, we will look at how youth culture emerges as a contemporary phenomenon during the post-war era, especially following the punk explosion of 1976.  Students will learn about how youth culture becomes a potent critical voice of various economic, political, and social crises in the UK (e.g., the political violence in Northern Ireland, the controversial economic policies of Thatcherism, the eruption of racial politics and racial strife, and protests of and concerns about nuclear warfare and advanced communications technologies) through new developments in literary and artistic styles (e.g., radical experiments in postmodern, postcolonial, and feminist writing; avant-garde film; and punk, post-punk, shoegaze, hip hop, and new wave music).

Students in this course will study youth culture by examining writers, filmmakers, and musicians that encompass both the Young Adult (YA) literature genre and genres outside of YA literature. Artists covered in the course may include the following: writers such as Angela Carter, Sarah Kane, David Mitchell, Siobhan Dowd, Savita Kalhan, Ian McEwan, Pat Barker; filmmakers like Andrea Arnold and Mike Leigh; and bands from the Sex Pistols and The Clash, to Joy Division and The Smiths, to Radiohead, Portishead, and The 1975.  Students will emerge from this course with a wider understanding of the intellectual, social, theoretical, and popular forces at work that have shaped our present moment.

This course is writing intensive and requires a shorter analysis paper, a research term paper, several online forum posts and in-class writing exercises, active class discussion, and midterm and final examinations.  This course actively aims to prepare students to meet EIU’s University Learning Goals of critical thinking, writing and critical reading, speaking and listening, quantitative reasoning, and responsible citizenship. This course is “Writing Intensive.”

Despite this course being offered online, the instructor will hold weekly synchronous video meetings with the class at the day and time assigned for the course to meet.

Themes: Identity & Culture; Law & Social Justice; Genre, Form, & Poetics; Science & the Environment; Education & Society; Media, Technology, & Popular Culture.

 

English 3892 Section 600 CRN 32976         

Christopher Wixson

Shakespeare, Honors Online

 

In the “Sickness is catching: O were favour so.”

--Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

 

William Shakespeare wrote at a time in many ways similar to our own. Cast in the shadow of the aggressive spread of bubonic plague through London and often employing the terms of contagious epidemic, his plays interrogate ideologies of social distancing according to gender, race, sexuality, social class, and species. In this course, we will explore six plays by Shakespeare, all written during periods of lockdown or performed soon after the reopening of the public theatres. After reading a couple early comedies, we will discuss Othello in dialogue with Toni Morrison’s brilliant Desdemona (2011) before turning to two more of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies and then concluding with his romance The Winter’s Tale, an ambitious meditation on imagination, loss, and healing.

 

The course’s subtitle makes clear our interpretive lenses. The word “ecology” is derived from the Greek words for “house” and “study” and denotes networks of relations. The concept of “infection” refers to the presence of various contaminants within such systems. Broadly concerning themselves with (as Hamlet puts it) “something rotten in the state,” Shakespeare’s plays depict how outbreaks of all kinds in our relationships to our natural and social environments, our dealings with one another, and our understandings of ourselves can cut either way --- towards tyranny and tragedy or towards reform and rebirth. The ways in which the plays stage the friction between contagion and containment provide us with vocabularies and contexts to map our own contemporary landscapes, making clear how Ben Jonson’s epitaph that the Bard was “not of an age but for all time” has proven prophetic. Indeed, Shakespeare is alive and well in the 21st century.

 

Themes: Identity & Culture; Law & Social Justice; Genre, Form, & Poetics

  

Note: Admission to University Honors College or Departmental Honors Program required.

  

English 3903B Section 600 CRN 36344         

Robin Murray

Women, Literature, and Language, Post-1800--Women, Literature, and Environmental Justice Online

 

With women’s lived experiences at its core, environmental justice, a movement asserting “that nature is not only found in ‘wilderness,’ but also in the places where we live, work, and play” (Greta Gaard), revises our understanding of environmentalism to include national forests and nuclear waste sites, wild and scenic rivers and mega-dams and levees, industrialized food production and human health, car culture and indigenous rights. Led primarily by women across races, classes, and sexualities, the environmental justice movement marks a worldwide grassroots effort merging intersectional social justice with environmental concerns. In this course, we will study texts that focus on the intersection of environmental issues and various systems of social injustice, especially racism, (hetero)sexism, and economic inequity. Ultimately, this course will explore a question integral to literary study: What is the role of art in the struggle for social change? 

 

Themes: Law & Social Justice; Genre, Form, & Poetics; Media, Technology, & Popular Culture

 

Notes: ENG 3903B is an elective in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor.  

 

English 4275 Section 001 CRN 33608    

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.

  

CLASSES NUMBERED 4750 THROUGH 4999 - THESE CLASSES ARE OPEN TO JUNIORS, SENIORS, AND GRADUATE STUDENTS. GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE LIMITED TO NINE HOURS OF COURSEWORK IN THIS CATEGORY.

 

English 4760 Section 001 CRN 30558 

English 4760Z Section 001 CRN 35949       

Tim Taylor

Special Topics in Professional Writing--Traditions of Argumentation & Proposal Writing   0930-1045 TR Hybrid

 

In this course we will study classical rhetoric, its beginnings in ancient Greece and its continuation in the Roman Republic, and how the precepts and principles from Isocrates, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian are crucial for anyone who attempts to persuade and argue in academia, courts of law, and the workplace. In addition, we will examine alternate ways of looking at argumentation by learning from the work of Stephen Toulmin, Carl Rogers, and contemporary scholars in composition and rhetoric. With a strong grounding in rhetoric and argumentation, the course will practice important rhetorical concepts through writing arguments, especially proposals. The course will explore argument-based documents that are commonplace in business and professional settings, such as recommendation reports, practical proposals, policy proposals, and grant proposals. In addition, students will lead discussion of readings throughout the semester, and participants will provide informal presentations from time to time.

This course will mainly meet face-to-face with some activities and class days in an asynchronous online format.

 

English 4762 Section 600 CRN 30559   

English 4762Z Section 600 CRN 35950     

Colleen Abel

Advanced Poetry Writing Online

 

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 advanced level. 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 intensive workshops, students will end the course with a complete chapbook of poetry.

  

Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 3062 or, with permission of Department Chairperson, ENG 3061, 3063, or 3064. May be repeated once with permission of the Department Chairperson.

 

English 4763 Section 600 CRN 33571    

Bess Kosinec (Winter)

Advanced Fiction Writing 1500-1615 MW Online Synchronous

 

This course builds on the concepts of writer’s craft introduced in Intermediate Fiction. It challenges writers to both workshop their own fiction intensively and approach the published work of contemporary authors with an eye to how those authors construct their writerly fascinations—voice, subject matter, the interplay of the personal and the fictional, and the little tics that make fiction vital, human, and necessary—and sustain them over the course of a book or body of work. Participants will read and discuss several short story collections in their entirety, and workshop multiple short stories of their own. By the end of the course, they will have developed a greater awareness of their own writerly fascinations, more familiarity with advanced workshop and revision strategies, and an increased ability to approach contemporary published work critically, like a writer.

 

Prerequisites and Notes: ENG 3063 or, with permission of Department Chairperson, ENG 3061, 3062, or 3064. May be repeated once with permission of the Department Chairperson.

 

English 4765 Section 600 CRN 33609

English 4765Z Section 600 CRN 36756    

Colleen Abel

Professional Editing Online

 

Advanced practice and theory in professional editing, beginning with proofreading and copyediting then advancing to comprehensive editing for style, organization, content, and design. Focus on working effectively with writers, publishers, and audiences. Discussion of the production process and the role of technology in editing and information design. Course will also address ethics and liability in editing, editing in global contexts, and editing for accessibility.

 

English 4776 Section 600 CRN 34088

English 4776Z Section 600 CRN 35951           

Terri Fredrick

Research and Rhetoric in Professional Writing 1400-1515 TR Online Synchronous

 

How is knowledge about writing developed? What questions do researchers ask about how writing works in classrooms, in professional organizations, and in society in general? How do we choose the right methods to answer our questions? What makes an interview effective? What ethical concerns should writing researchers have? How do theory and practice come together through research? In this special topics course, we will explore some of the core issues in qualitative research about writing. Students will have the opportunity to complete hands-on research-based activities and to design their own research project.

Throughout the semester, we will use our assigned class time (Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 p.m.) for live class sessions, one-on-one workshopping, and group project work time.

 

English 4801 Section 600 CRN 30560        

Melissa Ames

Integrating the English Language Arts 0930-1045 TR Online Synchronous

 

This course centers on connecting pedagogical theory and its practical applications for integrating the English language arts, including reading, writing, speaking, listening, critical thinking, and media analysis.  Future teachers will have the opportunity to learn how to integrate a variety of methods grounded in theories in the teaching of English language arts, as well as strategies for teaching non-traditional texts from popular culture.  Adapting written and oral communication to audience and situation; recognizing components of effective oral and written communication; and integrating technology and media into the language arts classroom will be key elements of this course.  Course work will include:  pedagogical research, lesson plans, unit design, authentic assessments, and various presentations.  This course is not recommended for practicing secondary instructors.

As a synchronous online class, students will attend live video sessions (up to 75 minutes a week, scheduled on Tuesday or Thursday during our designated class time) in full class, small group, or one-on-one conference meetings.

 

Themes: Law & Social Justice; Genre, Form, & Poetics; Education & Society; Media, Technology, & Popular Culture

 

Prerequisites: ENG 1002G and SED 2000.

 

Notes: University Approval to Teacher Education is required prior to taking this course. The above listed prerequisites do not apply to graduate students enrolling in this course.

  

English 4904 Section 600 CRN 36346        

Robin Murray

Studies in Film--Women, Contemporary Film, and Authorship Online

 

Filmmaker Michelle Citron declares that "many women directors are forced to make a choice: either they maintain control over production of their films and settle for smaller audiences, or they relinquish a degree of control to establishment forces in order to reach a wider audience." Crucial to this class is the question of authorship, particularly the extent to which contemporary women directors (auteurs) have agency and authority over their own cultural representation. With a global/intersectional approach underpinning our choices, this spring 2021 section of English 4904 will explore the question of authorship in relation to films by contemporary female directors who cross audiences, while also maintaining artistic agency. Filmmakers will range from Patty Jenkins, Ana Lily Amirpour and Ava Duvernay to Deniz Gamze Erguven, Dee Rees and Rungano Nyoni. Students will also have the opportunity to self-select films to screen. 

 

Themes: Law & Social Justice; Genre, Form, & Poetics; Science & the Environment; Media, Technology, & Popular Culture. 

 

Notes: May be repeated once with permission from the Department Chairperson.

 

GRADUATE SEMINARS 

English 5000 Section 600 CRN 36347

English 5000Z Section 600 CRN 36757       

Randy Beebe

Introduction to Methods and Issues in English Studies

Online 8 week course (1/11 - 3/4)

 

A required course for all MA students, this 8-week seminar provides a foundation for the MA in English, serving as an introduction to methods and issues of advanced-level research and scholarship in English Studies. In addition to short readings that profile the changing nature of English studies in the 21st century, we will use Richard Powers’s The Echo Maker (2006) as our core text, using it to identify and evaluate scholarly resources and using it as the basis for our discussions about how the many fields in English studies cohere and connect. Students will also gain practical experience in developing a professional research, creative, or applied project, while they study and practice some of the primary means of communication in the discipline of English Studies, such as conference proposals and presentations, grant writing, and book reviews.

 

English 5011 Section 600 CRN 34764       

Melissa Ames

Studies in Composition and Rhetoric--From Fandom to Activism: Rhetorical Strategies in/and Digital Writing Online 

 

This course focuses on the ever-evolving forms of 21st century digital writing. Students will engage with contemporary scholarship from various fields (e.g. computers and writing, rhetoric, internet studies, new media studies) to understand theories and practices of digital writing. By studying what might at first glance seem like trivial online activity (e.g. digital fandom sites) against more high stakes digital work (e.g. hashtag activism campaigns), students will come to see the rhetorical strategies, writing practices, and genre conventions that transcend topic and platforms. Students will also be introduced to best practices, ethical debates, and methodological approaches to studying digital writing. Class work will include a mix of formal academic writing and multimodal/digital writing tasks, including blog-style response papers, presentations, a collaborative group project, and a student-designed study of a particular online writing space.

 

English 5020 Section 600 CRN 34656       

Bess Kosinec (Winter)

Workshop in Creative Writing Online

 

This workshop-intensive course focuses on further development of your work, voice, and writerly fascinations, with an emphasis on the contemporary literary landscape. You will read several contemporary published works, and engage deeply with your own work and the work of your peers in the form of high-level workshop and advanced revision techniques. The ultimate goal is to produce fiction that is publishable or near-publishable.

You will be graded on a mid-semester project and a final portfolio, as well as workshop participation.

 

English 5061A Section 600 CRN 36348

English 5061Z Section 600 CRN 36758      

Jeannie Ludlow

Special Topics in Literature and Literary Theory--Native American Literatures: Stories of Community and Continuance  Online

   

Laguna Pueblo/Sioux scholar Paula Gunn Allen explains that modern and contemporary Native American writers create in two literary traditions simultaneously: indigenous storytelling; and Western literary conventions. She notes that modern "storytelling-on-the-page" serves simultaneously to connect and to distinguish between these two traditions. In this graduate seminar, we will read a variety of modern and contemporary Native literature, as well as key pre-twentieth century texts, in order better to understand the ways Native American authors foreground in their work both community and cultural continuance, in the face of ongoing colonization and threats of genocide.

  

Note: Course may not be retaken if previously completed with this topic. If you have questions, please contact the Graduate Coordinator. 

 

English 5061D Section 600 CRN 34766 

English 5061Z Section 601 CRN 36759    

Woody Skinner

Special Topics in Literature and Literary Theory--The Contemporary American Comic Novel Online

   

This special topics course will focus on funny—we’ll read and discuss recent comedic works that explore a range of subjects and styles. We’ll examine comedy as a vehicle for critiquing American life, and we’ll investigate comedy’s complex relationship with genre. Along the way, we’ll consider the particulars of comic craft and analyze the influence of other media (film, sitcoms, standup, etc.) on the novel form.

We might read some of the following writers (we won’t have time to read all of them, unfortunately): Charles Portis, Chris Bachelder, Mary Robison, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Joy Williams, Paul Beatty, Amelia Gray, Kevin Wilson, Jack Pendarvis, Colson Whitehead, Jen Beagin, Elizabeth McKenzie, Alissa Nutting, Tom Drury, Kiley Reid, John Brandon, Ottessa Moshfegh, Ed Park, Nell Zink, Percival Everett, Patrick deWitt, Helen DeWitt, Emily Temple, Luke Geddes, and Helen Oyeyemi.

 

Note: Course may not be retaken if previously completed with this topic. If you have questions, please contact the Graduate Coordinator. 

  

English 5502 Section 001 CRN 30562        

Tim Taylor

Mentored Composition Teaching 1530-1800 T

 

This course provides a foundation for the effective teaching of first-year composition and other writing classes. Building from theory and pedagogy covered in English 5007 and English 5500, we will immerse ourselves in the praxis of teaching writing at the college level. Students should be prepared to engage vigorously in discussion, analysis, reflection, and performance.

The seminar will address these topics and activities:

  • Exploring various research strands related to the teaching of writing

  • Designing writing assignments

  • Crafting lesson plans

  • Facilitating peer review and workshops

  • Implementing strategies for effective conferences

  • Responding to and evaluating writing

  • Teaching observations

  • Facilitating productive discussions and small group work

  • Using in-class assessment practices

  • Reflecting on teaching experiences

  • Establishing ethos as an instructor

  • Building a course policy and syllabus

  • Constructing a persuasive and visually appealing curriculum vitae

  • Assembling a teaching portfolio—curriculum vitae, teaching philosophy, sample course policy, ENG 1001 course syllabus, sample assignments, and sample handouts

 

English 5960 Section 001 CRN 34096      

Terri Fredrick

Professional Writing Internship 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 organization, small businesses, corporations, libraries, and 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 AND INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES

   

EIU 4192G Section 600 CRN 32219       

Bobby Martinez

Film and Contemporary Society [Honors EIU Senior Seminar] 1500-1615 W Online Synchronous

 

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.

Despite this course being offered online, the instructor will hold weekly synchronous video meetings with the class at the day and time assigned for the course to meet.

Notes: Completion of 75 semester hours and admission to the University Honors College required. Only non-English majors can take this course.

 

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Notes

  1. ENG 1002G is a prerequisite for 2000-level courses and above.
  2. All courses designated with a G (for example, ENG 1009G) fulfill requirements in the EIU General Education Program.
  3. Concurrent or prior registration in ENG 2205 is strongly recommended for majors in all courses at the 2000-level and above.

 

English Major Themes

In order to allow students to choose courses that meet their intellectual interests, English courses numbered between 3005 and 4904 are tagged with the following themes:

Education and Society: These courses address changing practices, values, and/or theories of education over time; changes in literacy and readership, and how these changes may have affected writers and their readers; education as a theme in literature.

Media, Technology, and Popular Culture: These courses address changes in communications media and technologies over time; changes in readership and viewership; the growth and development of popular audiences; the relationship of popular culture to ideology; the effects of media, technology and popular culture on writers and their readers.

Genre, Form, and Poetics: These courses focus closely on the relationship of form to meaning; historical considerations of generic traditions and conventions; uses, appropriations of, and changes to genre over time; hybridity and experimentation; genre, poetic, and narrative theories.

Science and the Environment: These courses examine issues and controversies in science or the environment through the lens of literature, film, or other media; environmental advocacy; writing for or about the sciences and/or the natural world.

Identity and Culture: These courses explore the relationship among the individual’s sense of self, membership in identity groups, life experiences, and perceptions. In other words, these courses answer the question: how does who I am shape my understanding of the society and the world?

Law and Social Justice: These courses explore the ways individuals and groups influence social norms regarding ethics and morals. In other words, these courses answer the question: what needs to be changed in the world, and how can I work to change it?

 

 

Related Pages

Contact Information

Department of English

600 Lincoln Ave.
Charleston, IL 61920
(217) 581-2428
Fax: (217) 581-7209
arvietto@eiu.edu


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