Spring 2022 English Course Descriptions
English 1105 Section 001 CRN 34744
Melissa Caldwell
English Forum 1200-1250 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 32969
Staff
Introduction to Creative Writing 1100-1215 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 30540
Randy Beebe
Introduction to Literary Studies 0900-0950 MWF
As a required course for all beginning English majors, this course seeks to help students understand the practical, theoretical, and professional contours of English studies. In other words, we will study what unites the concentrations in the major and what makes English an exciting and relevant means of inquiry in the 21st century. At the top of the list of goals for the course is to help you develop strategies and skills for becoming a better reader—more careful, nuanced, and intentional. As we do so, we will also consider questions about what we read, why we read, and how we read—questions that will carry us into topics of the need and challenges of connecting our reading to contemporary culture and to our pasts. To do this, we will be reading a variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, memoirs, critical essays, visual art, and nonfiction. Students will complete short essays, multimodal projects, a group project, and a presentation.
Prerequisites: ENG 1105 or concurrent enrollment in ENG 1105.
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:
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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)
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Use revision and editing strategies to improve your own and others’ writing (writing and critical reading)
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Use basic principles of effective visual and document design
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Demonstrate understanding of basic ethical and legal considerations related to professional communication (responsible citizenship 2)
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Demonstrate college- and professional-level writing produced through the process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading (writing and critical reading)
English 2850 Section 001 CRN 37138
Bobby Martinez
Postcolonial Literatures in English 1230-1345 TR
English 2850 (3-0-3 credits) is designed to be an introduction “to African, Indian and West Indian literatures in English in their sociocultural and historical contexts; examination of concepts of culture, civilization, colonization and independence; and English as a global language.” In this iteration of the course, we will include Latin American literary and cinematic narratives (novels and films) that will broaden our understanding of the complicated ways in which the postcolonial condition has affected the concept of identity—both personal and national—in the late twentieth century and early twenty first century. In particular, we will consider the innovative strategies that Latin American writers use to address problems of existence, political strife, and nationhood—from the excitingly bizarre literary experiments of “magic realism” to the current re-invigoration of gritty social realism and crime fiction, mystery narratives. We will also consider writers from the Latinx movement and discuss how this newly emerging conception of cultural identity is explored in literature and film.
Central to all these explorations will be a set of thematic questions: How do these writers imagine new conceptions of the self/identity? How are personal issues of love, romance, and family altered? And most importantly, just what is “history,” and how do narratives of the past affect us? This course is open to majors and non-majors, and is a great course for future teachers and anyone interested in gaining a more in-depth global perspective. This course counts towards the minor in Latin American and Latinx Studies.
English 2901 Section 001 CRN 30541
Jad Smith
Structure of English 1230-1345 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 002 CRN 30542
Jad Smith
Structure of English 0930-1045 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 2960 Section 001 CRN 32971
Marjorie Worthington
Transatlantic Literary History II--Culture, Literacies, and Technologies 1100-1150 MWF
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, 1 longer essay, a group presentation and a final exam. WI
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):
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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).
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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).
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Understand the purposes and correct application of discipline-specific citation systems; integrate and document sources of ideas and information (writing and critical reading).
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Explore and consider a variety of perspectives on a topic in a field of interest. Establish and defend an argument (writing and critical reading; critical thinking).
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Share writing and give/receive feedback with classmates. Read carefully and critically, both your writing and the writing of others (writing and critical reading).
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Apply knowledge and skills to new and changing contexts within and beyond the classroom (responsible citizenship).
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 working professional'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 001 CRN 35391
Shelly Spear
Technical Communication 0930-1045 TR
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 3009G Section 001 CRN 32661
Elizabeth Tacke
Myth and Culture--American Mythmaking and the Stories that Shape Us 1100-1215 TR
If we understand myths, in part, as the stories that help us to understand how societies are formed, knowledge is created, and norms are produced, then it is important to ask: What are some of the myths that have constructed America as we know and experience it today? Whose story is told? Who does the telling? Whose voices are silenced? In this course, we will explore the myths that have been woven into the fabric of our daily lives and how those myths relate to issues of identity, epistemology, language, beliefs, and other systems of privilege and oppression. We will read and interrogate a diverse arrange of texts, including novels like American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline; lyric essays like Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates; long-form journalism projects like The 1619 Project; and other poems, short stories, art, and essays.
English 3061 Section 001 CRN 33568
Staff
Intermediate Nonfiction Writing 1530-1645 TR
This is an intermediate course centered on the writing of creative nonfiction. Class time will be devoted to writing, reading, and discussion of creative nonfiction.
Prerequisite: ENG 2000
English 3064 Section 001 CRN 36338
Christopher Wixson
Intermediate Dramatic Writing 1100-1215 TR
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 099 CRN 34650
Elizabeth Tacke
Myth and Culture, Honors--American Mythmaking and the Stories that Shape Us 1100-1215 TR
If we understand myths, in part, as the stories that help us to understand how societies are formed, knowledge is created, and norms are produced, then it is important to ask: What are some of the myths that have constructed America as we know and experience it today? Whose story is told? Who does the telling? Whose voices are silenced? In this course, we will explore the myths that have been woven into the fabric of our daily lives and how those myths relate to issues of identity, epistemology, language, beliefs, and other systems of privilege and oppression. We will read and interrogate a diverse arrange of texts, including novels like American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline; lyric essays like Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates; long-form journalism projects like The 1619 Project; and other poems, short stories, art, and essays.
Note: This course will meet concurrently with English 3009. Admission to University Honors College or Departmental Honors Program required.
English 3300 Section 001 CRN 32974
Marjorie Worthington
English Studies Seminar-- MWF 1300-1350
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
English 3402 Section 001 CRN 30547
Elizabeth Tacke
Methods of Teaching Literature in the Middle and Secondary School 1400-1515 TR
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. This course requires on-site observation hours and the livetext submission of one required assignment (Unit Plan). The course includes five hours of on-site, pre-clinical experiences.
Themes: Identity & Culture; Education & Society.
Prerequisite or co-requisite: SED 2000.
Notes: University Approval to Teacher Education is required prior to taking this course.
English 3405 Section 001 CRN 34652
Niall Nance-Carroll
Children's Literature 1400-1515 TR
Children’s literature, it’s Where the Wild Things Are! This course examines classic and contemporary children’s texts through a variety of critical lenses. Whether swinging through the streets with Jason Reynold’s Miles Morales: Spiderman or watching Charlotte spin a web on the Zuckerman’s farm, we will see how the texts work, who they are trying to reach, and what they are trying to teach.
English 3604A Section 001 CRN 37146
Melissa Caldwell
Special Topics in Literature and Language Before 1800--Monsters and the Literary Imagination in Pre-1800 England 1000-1050 MWF
In this course, we will explore how writers of medieval and early modern England imagined monsters and monstrosity in their prose, poetry, and dramatic works. The word “monster” comes from the Latin verb monstrare, which means “to demonstrate or show”: in short, monsters tell tales. Often an index of cultural anxiety, representations of the monstrous in literature can tell us something about the fears and values of a culture that often seems far distant from our own. Located at the boundary line between the human, animal, non-human, and/or supernatural, monsters are fundamentally defined by their relationship to the human. By examining medieval and early modern representations of the monstrous, we will seek to better understand literary imagination and the ways in which literature can be used to both codify and violate cultural and social norms.
English 3704 Section 001 CRN 37147
Marjorie Worthington
American Literature: 1950 to Present--Paranoia in Literature: You're Not Paranoid If Everyone Really IS Out to Get You 1400-1450 MWF
Can you see the matrix? Ever feel like the entire world is out to get you? Like the universe is a vast system designed to persecute you? Or is paranoia simply a form of narcissism? These questions arise in a lot of contemporary American literature in works such as Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Don Delillo’s White Noise, Toni Morrison’s Jazz, Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Bret Easton Ellis’s Lunar Park, Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution and Colson Whitehead’s Zone One, We’ll also watch some films, such as The Matrix, The Manchurian Candidate, No Way Out and/or the documentary Hypernormalisation.
Themes: Identity & Culture; Genre, Form, & Poetics; Education & Society; Media, Technology, & Popular Culture
English 3705 Section 600 CRN 36342
Tim Engles
American Multicultural Literatures--Coming of Age in Multicultural Comics Online
As certain forms of comics have ascended to the exalted status of "graphic narratives," many have also landed in the genres of “multicultural literature” and “coming of age narratives.” We will study those that belong in all three. We will begin by reviewing both the intricacies of comics itself as a “sequential art” and the traditional features of the bildungsroman, or coming of age novel. We will then analyze a diverse array of graphic narratives, fleshing out as we go their sociohistorical contexts.
Guiding questions will include: How do authors from diverse backgrounds combine the visual and verbal tracks of comics in ways that both draw on and differ from conventional methods? If characters in comics are drawn as simplistic representations of people, and stereotypes are too, how do makers of multicultural comics portray their characters in ways that avoid the pitfalls of ethnoracial caricature? Authors will include George Takei, Walter Dean Myers, Maia Kobabe, Nate Powell, Miné Okubo, and Lila Quintero Weaver.
Themes: Identity & Culture; Genre, Form, & Poetics; Media, Technology, & Popular Culture
English 3802 Section 001 CRN 30552
Julie Campbell
Shakespeare 0930-1045 TR
In the twenty-first century, interest in the works of William Shakespeare shows no sign of abating. Shakespeare studies are still one of the most vibrant and exciting areas of English Renaissance literature, in part because Shakespeare had the good fortune to be a great synthesizer of the most popular trends in Renaissance literature, philosophy, and drama. This semester we will consider the Shakespeare of the English Renaissance, as well as the Shakespeare(s) of the present. Our primary goals will be to familiarize you with the categories of Shakespeare’s plays and to introduce you to the techniques that Shakespeare uses, the historical, political, and cultural backdrops to the plays, and ways of analyzing character, theme, and structure in them. Ultimately, this class is meant to prepare you to read Shakespeare on your own and to enjoy the plays in performance in an informed manner. To facilitate these goals, we will examine a few representative plays in great depth.
Themes: Identity & Culture; Genre, Form, & Poetics
English 3892 Section 099 CRN 32976
Julie Campbell
Shakespeare, Honors 0930-1045 TR
In the twenty-first century, interest in the works of William Shakespeare shows no sign of abating. Shakespeare studies are still one of the most vibrant and exciting areas of English Renaissance literature, in part because Shakespeare had the good fortune to be a great synthesizer of the most popular trends in Renaissance literature, philosophy, and drama. This semester we will consider the Shakespeare of the English Renaissance, as well as the Shakespeare(s) of the present. Our primary goals will be to familiarize you with the categories of Shakespeare’s plays and to introduce you to the techniques that Shakespeare uses, the historical, political, and cultural backdrops to the plays, and ways of analyzing character, theme, and structure in them. Ultimately, this class is meant to prepare you to read Shakespeare on your own and to enjoy the plays in performance in an informed manner. To facilitate these goals, we will examine a few representative plays in great depth.
Themes: Identity & Culture; Genre, Form, & Poetics
Note: Admission to University Honors College or Departmental Honors Program required.
English 3903B Section 001 CRN 36344
Jeannie Ludlow
Women, Literature, and Language, Post-1800--Crossing Borders, Writing Lives 1100-1150 MWF
“[T]he Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other, where people of different races occupy the same territory, where under, lower, middle and upper classes touch, where the space between two individuals shrinks with intimacy.” Gloria Anzaldúa, “Preface,” Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.
ENG 3903B will explore the power of languages to break down barriers and enable resistance. In particular, we will study texts that explore the experiences of those who live on or cross over borders: im/migrants and refugees; queer, trans, and nonbinary persons; people with disabilities; and those who live or work on the margins of dominant society. ENG 3903B is an elective in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor. 50% or more of the course materials in this section will be by authors who identify as Chicana, Latina, Latin American, or Caribbean; therefore, this section will also count as an elective toward the Latin American Studies minor.
Notes: ENG 3903B is an elective in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor.
English 4275 Section 001 CRN 33608
Angela Vietto
Internship in Professional Writing Arranged
**Students must meet with the Internship Coordinator (Dr. Vietto) 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
Colleen Abel
Special Topics in Professional Writing--Producing a Literary Magazine 1400-1515 TR
In this course, students will learn the ins and outs of producing a literary magazine by completing an issue of EIU’s award-winning student-run magazine, The Vehicle. We will combine discussion of best practices in literary editing, print, and digital publishing, with nuts-and-bolts production of a full issue. Students will solicit and evaluate work, as well as produce, promote, and distribute the final product.
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
English 4763Z Section 600 CRN 37365
Colleen Abel
Advanced Fiction Writing Online
Extensive practice in the writing and revising of prose fiction, with an emphasis on the development of the student’s personal style.
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
Angela Vietto
Professional Editing Online
Editing is an important part of the work professional communicators do. In this course, we will practice all levels of editing: copyediting for grammatical correctness and consistency, fact-checking, editing for style, editing for design, and developmental editing for content and organization. Because editing, like all communication, is contextual, we will address the rhetorical choices editors have to make across cultures and disciplines, and we will look at the different style guides that might influence what and how you edit. Middle and high school teachers enrolled in this course will have an opportunity to explore how different types of editing might translate to classroom instruction.
English 4776 Section 001 CRN 34088
English 4776Z Section 001 CRN 35951
Tim Taylor
Research and Rhetoric in Professional Writing 1000-1050 MWF
This course focuses on rhetorical principles, research methods, and primary research as they relate to professional writing. 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.
English 4801 Section 001 CRN 30560
English 4801Z Section 001 CRN 35874
Melissa Ames
Integrating the English Language Arts 1630-1900 W
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.
Themes: Education & Society; Media, Technology & Popular Culture; Genre, Form & Poetics; Law & Social Justice
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 4903 Section 600 CRN 37157
Niall Nance-Carroll
Young Adult Literature Online
This course examines young adult literature through a variety of critical lenses. In our discussions, analytical papers, and research projects, we will explore the boundaries of young adult literature and the core issues that drive contemporary studies and discussions of these texts. The reading list focuses primarily on recent texts with special attention on those that explore the issues of identity, representation, and community. As the young adult characters grapple with the questions of who they are and how they fit into the world, we will consider how the authors construct adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood.
English 4904 Section 001 CRN 36346
Bobby Martinez
Studies in Film 1530-1850 R
(3-2-3) S. In-depth study of major periods, genres, history, criticism and/or theory of film. Topics to be announced and may include the following: representations of gender and masculinity, the problem of evil, crime and punishment, and understanding social problems.
Through a study of films from around the world, we will consider how directors frame such topics through the cinematic lens and compel us to think critically about what possible remedies cinema has to offer.
Notes: May be repeated once with permission from the Department Chairperson.
GRADUATE SEMINARS
English 5000 Section 600 CRN 36347
Randy Beebe
Introduction to Methods and Issues in English Studies
8 week course (1/10 - 3/3) Online
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 scholarly and creatives readings that profile the changing nature of English studies in the 21st century, we will use Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005) as our core text, using it to identify and evaluate scholarly resources and 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 5006 Section 600 CRN 37162
Christopher Wixson
Studies in 20th Century British Literature--"Those with Elsewhere in Their Blood": Modernism's Afterlife in Contemporary Fiction Online
Scholars usually stake out the territory of British literary Modernism between the first and second world wars of the 20th century, when writers responded innovatively to a crisis of representation spawned by various spatial, temporal, psychological, socio-political, technological, and existential dislocations. Recent works of fiction, however, challenge such traditional periodized definitions as a new generation of authors seeks to dialogically reconfigure and repurpose Modernist tropes to represent the lived experience of “those with elsewhere in their blood.”
This course will begin with a review of literary Modernism staged within the context of four “case study” early twentieth-century texts. From there, it will pay particular (although not exclusive) attention to Modernism’s legacy in the work of 21st century black British writers as they tackle subjects such as migration, identity formation, desire, legacy, violence, and the construction of racial, gender, class, and sexual difference. Fiction by Oyinkan Braithwaite, Bernardine Evaristo, Guy Gunaratne, Mohsin Hamid, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Jean Rhys, Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Rebecca West, and Virginia Woolf will be supplemented by secondary readings in criticism and theory.
English 5011 Section 600 CRN 34764
Rachael Ryerson
Studies in Composition and Rhetoric--Queer Rhetoric & Composition Online
What is queer theory? What is queer rhetoric? What is queer/ing composition? How has queer/ness impacted (or not) rhetoric/composition/writing studies? Since queer theory entered academic conversations, it has brought with it the promise of transformation. What have been its promises—for identities, for social justice, for the unraveling of destructive binaries, for pedagogy, for writing, for composition, for rhetoric? How have these promises been realized (or not)? What tensions exist between the pairing of queer with the academic? We will begin to address these questions and more by first exploring what we mean by queer theory and then by considering what that theory has meant/means for writing and rhetoric, as a field, a practice, a pedagogy. Readings will include queer texts produced from both within the field of Rhetoric & Composition and without. Coursework will consist of weekly discussion board posts, reading responses, and two substantial course projects.
English 5020 Section 600 CRN 34656
Colleen Abel
Workshop in Creative Writing Online
An advanced workshop in which writers create and revise long-term writing projects.
English 5061D Section 600 CRN 34766
Suzie Park
Special Topics in Literature and Literary Theory--Harry Potter and the Romantics: Novels, Poetry, and Why We Love the Past Online
How did this boy—“the chosen one”—become a worldwide icon of Anglo-English culture, a guide to a “medieval-ish” past, a bearer of the meritocratic possibilities of literacy or “magic,” and a middle-aged man? “Harry Potter and the Romantics” is a course (and not the name of a bad cover band) that will focus on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series as a modern cultural phenomenon that draws heavily on the particular fixations of the 18th- and 19th-century British Romantics. These obsessions include the gothic (in architecture and in storytelling), the unique individual (who knew that this was ever not a thing?), psychological aberration (lots of it), genius (for better or worse), search for origins, return of the repressed, and love of all things medieval (Hogwarts!).
Note: Course may not be retaken if previously completed with this topic. If you have questions, please contact the Graduate Coordinator.
English 5091A Section 600 CRN 37164
English 5091Z Section 600 CRN 37288
Donna Binns
Studies in Language, Linguistics, and Literacy--Language and Literacy in Video Games Online
Video game theory can be fun! We will examine concepts such as semiotics, textuality, multimodality, lexicology, discourse analysis, and situated meaning. Topics covered will include video games and learning, world-building, projected identities, interaction, discord, and many others, some of your own choosing. Rage quitters need not join the group. Well, okay, you can play too, if you promise to stick around and have fun this time.
Note: May be repeated once with permission of the Department Chairperson.
English 5260 Section 001 CRN 37167
Shelly Spear
Science and Technical Communication 1700-1930 T
This graduate course looks beyond academic writing to the types of communication professionals use in their careers. The course will introduce students to practices and principles of audience-centered communication within organizational settings. The applied and strategic nature of this communication will be emphasized throughout the course, and students will learn to communicate scientific and technical information to internal and external stakeholders. Thus, the broad content areas covered in the class will include organizational communication, professional writing, technical writing, and public relations.
**This course is cross-listed with Communication Studies and will be team-taught by a faculty member in Professional Writing and a faculty member in Public Relations/Organizational Communication.**
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:
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Exploring various research strands related to the teaching of writing
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Designing writing assignments
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Crafting lesson plans
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Facilitating peer review and workshops
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Implementing strategies for effective conferences
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Responding to and evaluating writing
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Teaching observations
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Facilitating productive discussions and small group work
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Using in-class assessment practices
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Reflecting on teaching experiences
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Establishing ethos as an instructor
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Building a course policy and syllabus
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Constructing a persuasive and visually appealing curriculum vitae
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Assembling a teaching portfolio—curriculum vitae, teaching philosophy, sample course policy, ENG 1001 course syllabus, sample assignments, and sample handouts
English 5742 Section 600 CRN 37282
English 5742Z Section 600 CRN 37306
Charles Wharram
Studies in Genre for Writers and Teachers--Poetry
8 week course (1/10 - 3/3) Online
Think of this as a crash course in poetry and poetics. What is poetics? What do we mean when we say that some writing--but not other writing--is poetic? Learn about the formal features and unique demands of poetic form. In other words, learn how to read poetry with an enhanced appreciation of its highly disciplined structure and formative role in literary history. William Shakespeare, John Keats, Adrienne Rich, M.I.A., Amanda Gorman (U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate): what do they have in common and what makes their poetic productions distinct? We will examine poetry with an eye towards teaching poetry at the middle school and secondary levels.
Note: May be repeated with permission of the Department Chairperson.
English 5960 Section 001 CRN 34096
Angela Vietto
Professional Writing Internship Arranged
**Students must meet with the Internship Coordinator (Dr. Vietto) 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
FILM 2759G Section 600 CRN 34243
Robin Murray
History of Cinema Online
Film 2759G will offer a comprehensive yet selective overview of the history of cinema, integrating the basic tools for analyzing film as art. It will examine how the uses of camera, editing, lighting, sound, and acting contribute to the construction of meaning for various audiences, as well as consider how meaning is filtered through various cultural contexts. WI.
Note: This course fulfills the Cultural Diversity and Fine Arts requirements for General Education.
HIC2190G Section 099 CRN 35794
Charles Wharram
Introduction to the Health and Medical Humanities, Honors 1000-1050 MWF
This course introduces students to the Health & Medical Humanities, integrating the study of medicine and health with the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Each version of this introductory course centers on a particular problem in health and/or medicine. During the first module, we will read Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures of 2012. This text foregrounds the role of cultural sensitivity in making informed decisions, helping us recognize and focus on the value of the study of cultural diversity and communication in the fields of health and medicine. For the remainder of the course, we will be introduced to a particular problem or issue current in health and medicine. For this semester, we will concentrate on “Contagion and Vaccination,” since this topic links to many recent and current controversies and problems in health and medicine, and society and technology.
Note: Admission to University Honors College required.
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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.
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?
