ENGL 148
Introduction to Composition
MWF 9:30 to 10:20 Staff
Introduction to Composition is an introductory, three-credit course designed to help students develop basic academic writing skills and beginning familiarity with the reading, thinking, and writing required by college-level work. The course is appropriate for both native speakers and those for whom English is not a first language. Students will develop strategies for reading texts critically and effectively communicating their views orally and in writing. Course goals include acquiring greater ease in organizing, focusing, and developing ideas. Classes are small (12 students) and a great deal of individual tutorial work is provided along with formal instruction. Topics, readings, and writing assignments vary across individual course sections.
ENGL 150-100
Expository Writing
MWF 9:30—10:20 Staff
English 150 is a three-credit course designed to help students build on basic academic writing skills by further developing the sophistication of their claims, the strategies of argumentation, and the practices of research and source integration. Students will develop strategies for developing compelling and sophisticated claims, reading texts critically, and effectively communicating their views in writing. Students will learn techniques for research, source evaluation, and the development of sophisticated claims through the process of a drafting and revising a substantial researched essay. Topics, readings, and writing assignments vary across individual course sections.
ENGL 150-101
Expository Writing
MWF 9:30—10:20 Staff
English 150 is a three-credit course designed to help students build on basic academic writing skills by further developing the sophistication of their claims, the strategies of argumentation, and the practices of research and source integration. Students will develop strategies for developing compelling and sophisticated claims, reading texts critically, and effectively communicating their views in writing. Students will learn techniques for research, source evaluation, and the development of sophisticated claims through the process of a drafting and revising a substantial researched essay. Topics, readings, and writing assignments vary across individual course sections.
ENGL 180
Writing Tutorial (1 credit)
TBD Emmons
English 180 is a one-credit writing tutorial class designed to develop students’ expository writing skills through weekly scheduled conferences with a Writing Resource Center Instructor. Goals are to produce clear, well-organized, and mechanically acceptable prose, and to demonstrate learned writing skills throughout the term. Course content is highly individualized based on both the instructor’s initial assessment of the student’s writing and the student’s particular concerns. All students must produce a minimum of 12 pages of finished writing for each credit for which they are enrolled, and complete other assignments as designed by the instructor to assist in meeting course goals.
ENGL 200
Literature in English
TTh 4:00 to 5:15 Ring
How does literature enable us to see in new ways? To hear in new ways? To think in new ways? We will consider the ways in which literature can open up new modes of perception and thought in us, particularly through use of literary devices. The word “device” can be traced to the Old French devis, meaning”something invented or fitted to a particular use or purpose” and more generally “intent, desire, plan, or design” (etymonline). A literary device refers to how a form of words is intended to produce a particular effect in the context of a literary work (OED). Literary devices will serve as our entry point for ultimately understanding and appreciating four major literary genres—short fiction, poetry, the novel, and drama. Some devices we will examine include theme, tone, symbolism, imagery, diction, point of view, and structure. As you learn how to identify and talk about these features, you will also learn how to formulate critical interpretations of how a literary work catalyzes new modes of perception and thought. No previous experience in literary study is necessary for this course.
ENGL 203
Introduction to Creative Writing
TBD Davydov
This course acquaints students with opportunities for creative expression across genres. The course primarily focuses on poetry and short fiction – though playwriting, screenwriting, and genres of creative nonfiction will also be explored. We will attend to those elements that make for vivid, effective writing, including relevant detail, lyrical language, and memorable images; inventive metaphor and simile; and authentic voice, setting, and characterization. Taking this course will help to further develop an understanding and practice of creativity in the medium of language and to distinguish among the creative opportunities and constraints of different literary genres.
ENGL 204
Introduction to Journalism
MW 12:45 to 2:00 Sheeler
Students will learn the basics of reporting and writing news stories, but also the traditions behind the craft and the evolving role of journalism in society. Instruction will include interviewing skills, fact-checking, word choice and story structure—all framed by guidance on making ethically sound decisions. Students will also periodically interact via Skype with journalists from newsrooms throughout the country including the New York Times and the Washington Post. No prerequisites.
ENGL 213
Introduction to Fiction Writing
W 2:15 to 4:45 Grimm
“What I want to do is nab something of life in motion… and to catch the characters who will be strong enough to bear the weight of what is in my mind.” –Ingrid Bengis
In this class, students will work on exercises based on assignments designed to familiarize them with the techniques of story and story writing: how do characters speak? where do they speak, and act? why do they do what they do, and what does it mean? In the second half, they will put together what they’ve learned to write a story (or two, if they decide to write shorter pieces). We will also read and discuss the prose of contemporary writers. Workshop discussion of student writing. No exams.
ENGL 214
Introduction to Poetry Writing
TBD Staff
A beginning workshop, focusing on such elements of poetry as verse-form, syntax, figures, sound, tone. May include discussion of literary examples as well as student work.
ENGL 270
Introduction to Gender Studies
TTh 11:30 to 12:45 Jewell
This course introduces students to major concepts of and current issues in Gender Studies. We will begin with an overview of academic approaches to the study of gender, focusing on gender as social construction and gendered institutions. We will then read historical and contemporary texts from a variety of disciplinary perspectives to explore topics such as gender activism in the United States; representations of identity in popular culture; health and reproductive justice; and the division of labor in the home and workplace; and others. Students will write short critical responses, take midterm and final exams, and participate in a group project. Course objectives are to not only demonstrate an understanding of the academic study of gender, but also to critically interpret the complex and often contradictory ways in which it operates in cultures. Notes: This course is the required introductory course for students taking the Women’s and Gender Studies major, and is cross-listed as WGST 201, SOCI 201, HSTY 270, PHIL 270, and RLGN 270. It fulfills the global and cultural diversity breadth requirement.
ENGL 300
English Literature to 1800
TBD Staff
A survey of major British authors from Chaucer to Milton and Dryden. Prereq: ENGL 150 or passing letter grade in a 100 level first year seminar in FSCC, FSNA, FSSO, FSSY, FSTS, or FSCS.
English 306
Intermediate Creative Non-Fiction Workshop
Memoir Writing
T 4:00 to 6:30 Umrigar
This is a writing and reading-intensive course. We will read acclaimed memoirs such as Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club, Jesmyn Ward’s Men We Reap and Sonali Deraniyagala’s Wave. (Texts are subject to change.) We will discuss what constitutes creative nonfiction, how it uses the techniques of fiction—dialogue, character development etc.—to tell stories that are true. We will discuss the ethics of memoir writing and examine controversies that have rocked the publishing world, such as those involving the author James Fray. And you will write two personal stories as well as weekly Canvas assignments. Since we will follow the workshop model, you will also read stories written by your classmates, and submit written critiques. Prereq: ENGL 203 or 213 or 214.
ENGL 307/307C
Feature/Magazine Writing
MW 3:20 to 4:35 Sheeler
Students in this class will learn how to write longform and short-form nonfiction as well as how to craft effective pitch letters to send to editors as freelance writers (many students have successfully published stories from this class to magazines throughout the country). Students will also learn the intricacies of fact-checking their work and the work of others. The class will analyze some of the best narrative non-fiction writing and students will speak via videoconference with Pulitzer Prize- and National Magazine Award-winning writers throughout the country. The bulk of the class will focus on techniques for crafting compelling true stories with a discernible beginning, middle, and end — stories that take readers places they’ve never been, both physically and emotionally. Students choosing to take this course as their capstone 307C will be required to do the same work as the other students as well as an extended final project and oral presentation with other capstone students. No prerequisites.
ENGL 308
Introduction to American Literature
TTh 10:00 to 11:15 Clune
In this survey of important works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, we will investigate how literature transmits and transforms some central American obsessions. These include: the love of money; visibility and invisibility; memory and forgetfulness; and ways of replacing society. Authors include Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Edith Wharton, and Claude Brown. Written work includes two short papers and informal response papers.
ENGL 324/324C/424
Shakespeare
Histories and Tragedies
MW 12:45 to 2:00 Vinter
In this course we’ll read a selection of Shakespeare’s histories and tragedies from Richard III to Othello. These texts span the entirety of Shakespeare’s career, and in part we’ll be tracking the development of his drama and his shifting place within the Renaissance theater and the wider social sphere. What made Shakespeare so successful in his own time? How do the plays respond to changing artistic fashions and performance conventions, as well as to different social, political and economic conditions? In particular, how is Shakespeare reflecting, commenting on, or contesting common Renaissance understandings of drama and language, gender roles and gender identities, and politics and nationhood?
But we’ll also be thinking about what it means to be reading and watching Shakespeare today, in part by looking at more recent receptions and adaptations of some of his plays. What explains the continued attraction of Shakespeare? Can we treat him as our contemporary? What is gained and what is lost when we think of him as modern?
Requirements include regular participation in the classroom and on blackboard, two 5-7 page papers, and a final project. Fulfills pre-1800 distribution requirement for the English major.
Students registering for ENGL 324C—the Capstone version of this class—will be required to develop and complete a Capstone research project in the wider field of study covered by the course. This Capstone project will have an approximate length of 25pp. and will also include a public presentation of the project. This Capstone research project will fulfill the formal writing requirements for 324. All other reading, class participation, and final exam requirements will be identical for 324 and 324C. Completion of the major’s pre-1800 requirement is a prerequisite for 324c.
ENGL 358/358C/458
American Literature 1914-1960
The Lost Generation
TTh 11:30-12:45 Marling
Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mina Loy, e.e. cummings and more. Prose and poetry by the most celebrated generation of American writers. We will read them in the context of the art, music, economic ideas at the time of World War I. Paper books. Two short papers and one longer one, faithful attendance, and a presence on our CANVAS discussion groups.
ENGL 360/460
Studies in American Literature
Beats & Hippies
TTh 2:30-3:45 Marling
We’ll start in the aftermath of World War II, with Jack Kerouac, Diane DiPrima, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and others who became known as the “Beats.” Ginsberg and Gary Snyder will carry us to the Hippies: Ken Kesey, Ann Waldman, and New Journalists such as Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe. We will read them in the context of Pop and Op art, rock music, the drugs and economic ideas that develop from the 50s to the Vietnam War era. Paper books. Two short papers and one longer one, faithful attendance, and a presence on our CANVAS discussion groups.
ENGL 365N/ENGL365NC/ETHS 365N/WLIT 365N/ENGL 465N/WLIT 465N
Studies in African-American Literature
The Harlem Renaissance
TTh 1:00 to 2:15 Mobley
Defined at one point by scholar Alain Locke as “the definite enrichment of American art and letters,” the Harlem Renaissance was one of the most prolific periods of literary and cultural expression in the United States. Though scholars differ on the precise beginning and end of this phenomenal cultural movement, in this course, we will view it as the period from 1919-1940. We will read the work of such poets and authors as Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, Jean Toomer, and Langston Hughes, and consider the art and music that characterized the period as well. The course will also include a reading of Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns (2010) and Toni Morrison’s sixth novel, Jazz (1992), both of which not only capture the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of people’s lived lives, but which also capture the improvisational spirit and mood that shaped society and culture. The goal of the course is to introduce the major writers, themes, and scholarship of the period and to engage in critical thinking about the intellectual, cultural, political, economic, and social issues that influenced the literature of the period. The ways in which the intersection of race, gender and class influenced African American cultural production and reader reception during the Harlem Renaissance will also be explored. Course requirements include weekly response papers, an oral presentation, a short 5-7 page paper, and a longer paper of 15 pages. Students taking the course for graduate credit will be required to do a longer final paper.
ENGL 367/467
Introduction to Film
TTh 1:00—2:15 (class)
T 7:00—9:30 p.m. (screening) Spadoni
An introduction to the art of film. Each week we’ll take an element of film form (editing, cinematography, sound, and so on) and examine how filmmakers work with this element to produce effects. Most weeks we’ll also screen a whole film and discuss it in light of the week’s focus. Films screened will include masterworks of the silent era, foreign films, Hollywood studio-era classics, and more recent cinema. Undergrads (ENGL 367) take a scheduled quiz, midterm, and final exam. Grad students (ENGL 467) satisfy the same requirements as the undergrads, but their final essay will be an extended research project, in connection with which they submit a proposal, outline, partial draft, and other related assignments
This course has no prerequisites. First year students are welcome in this class.
ENGL 368/368C/468
Topics in Film
History of Film: The First Century
TTh 10:00—11:15 (class)
Th 7:00—9:30 p.m. (screening) Spadoni
A brisk survey of the historical development of cinema from its beginnings in the late 1800s through the twentieth century. We’ll take into account film movements in various countries and also ways theorists and others have sought to understand the medium at different times. We’ll consider cultural contexts of the past production and reception of films as we pay close attention to the history of film style. Undergrads (ENGL 368) write two essays (5-6 and 8-10 pages), take part in a group presentation, and take occasional brief quizzes (lowest is dropped). Grad students (ENGL 468) satisfy the same requirements as the undergrads, except their final essay will be an extended research project, in connection with which they submit a proposal, outline, partial draft, and other related assignments.
The undergraduate section of this course has no prerequisites, including Introduction to Film, and welcomes first year students. Interested grad students are advised to talk to the instructor before registering.
ENGL 380
Department Seminar
Creative Responses to 9/11
M 2:15 to 4:45 Umrigar
This multi-genre course will examine how different genres depict the terrorist attacks on 9/11. We will see how contemporary artists used film, novels, graphic novels, journalism and poetry to grapple with this tragedy, and how each medium contributed to the national conversation. Our discussions will be about the political event itself and about the aesthetic response to it. Requirements include class participation, regular postings on Canvas, a short paper, a longer final research paper and oral presentations. Prereq: ENGL 300
ENGL 387/487
Literary and Critical Theory
MWF 9:30-10:20 Koenigsberger
What makes literature “literary”? Just what do literary critics and theorists do, and why? Certainly critics are concerned with what texts mean, but from where does that meaning emerge—from the author’s intentions, the linguistic design of the work itself, the historical period in which the text was produced, or readers and critics? This course will explore such questions and introduce various forms of twentieth-century and contemporary literary and critical theory, in order to enable students to situate the critical texts they read and write. Regular exchange in the seminar and via Canvas will be essential to the semester’s work. Students enrolling in 487 should expect additional readings, meetings, and presentations.
ENGL 398
Professional Communication for Engineers
TBD Staff
English 398 introduces principles and strategies for effective communication in both academic and workplace engineering settings. Through analysis of case studies and of academic and professional genres, this course develops the oral and written communication skills that characterize successful engineers. Students will prepare professional documents that focus specifically on communicating academic and technical knowledge to diverse audiences. Because such documents are always situated within professional, social, and rhetorical contexts, this course also requires students to explain and justify their communicative choices in order to become adept in navigating the rhetorical environments they will encounter as professional engineers. As a SAGES Departmental Seminar, English 398 also prepares students for the writing they will do in Capstone projects.
Note: ENGL 398 complements ENGR 398, a 1-credit co-requisite lecture course, which introduces major practical, theoretical, and ethical issues that shape the environment for communication among professional engineers. For details of the ENGR 398 objectives, work commitments, grade breakdown, and assignments, please see the separate syllabus for that course.
Additional Note: ENGL 398 is a departmental seminar, and as such, the workload and time commitment outside of class time will be demanding. Be prepared and plan ahead. Beginning assignments early, particularly near the end of the semester as things get busier, will allow you to finish on time and submit your best work. This course asks you to develop your writing skills while also honing your professional skills, including time management, organization, and punctuality. By the end of English 398, students should be able to:
- Produce written texts in a variety of professional genres – texts that communicate effectively and adhere to professional ethical standards.
- Deliver clear and professional oral presentations on a range of engineering topics.
- Reflect on and justify the rhetorical choices involved in planning, writing, revising, and presenting academic and professional engineering documents.
- Summarize the research writing of an academic engineer for a non-technical audience.
- Demonstrate the ability to work as part of a research team, coordinating workflow and collaboratively presenting outcomes.
- Synthesize the academic research and professional best practices related to an engineering project in the student’s field.
- Produce and refine an array of personal professional documents.
- Demonstrate the capacity for life-long learning through sustained reflection, revision, and research.
ENGL 506
Professional Communication
Theory and Practice
M 4:25—6:55 Emmons
English 506 is a graduate seminar in technical and professional communication theory and practice. We will survey key historical and contemporary practices that constitute the field of technical and professional communication (TPC); explore how TPC practices involve the formation, ordering, and circulation of knowledge/power relationships; examine the roles of disciplinarity, expertise, and genre knowledge in the practice of TPC; and develop pedagogical strategies to teach professional communication to undergraduates.
In this course, students will:
- Gain an understanding of the histories and theories that inform and shape contemporary disciplinary writing programs;
- Explore, assess, and compose teaching materials & strategies for disciplinary and professional writing courses;
- Analyze and compose genres of professional communication (e.g., literature review, CV/Resume, institutional documentation); and
- Develop (and reflect on the composition of) a research proposal that addresses a significant scholarly question in the student’s primary field of study.
ENGL 518
English Literature from 1550-1660
The Inhuman
W 4:25 to 6:55 Vinter
What does the world look like to a worm? Can trees and stones feel emotions? Do angels have sex? Are bees happy with their system of government? Is your cat talking about you behind your back?
This course explores how sixteenth and seventeenth century authors represent non-human beings. Although the period is sometimes associated with a new focus on human experience (even with the “invention of the human,” in Harold Bloom’s words), many texts show intent interest in the inner lives of angels, devils, animals, plants, and minerals. To think about why, we’ll read poetry, plays, and prose works by Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Cavendish, and others alongside early modern theological, philosophical and scientific texts and recent scholarship in fields like animal studies, ecocriticism, and post-humanism.
In part, our focus will be historical. We’ll investigate how different philosophical and theological schools approach the non-human world. And we’ll consider how early modern attempts to define human and inhuman experience against one another influenced the intellectual, political, and economic landscape of the time – including by contributing to discourses around capitalism, imperialism, and the slave trade. But we’ll also use sixteenth and seventeenth century texts as a spur to think more generally about how works of literature represent forms of being that their writers and readers have not experienced directly.
Requirements include regular participation, short writing assignments, a class presentation and a 20-25 page term paper.