Undergraduate Course Descriptions

English Language and Literature

ENG 100a Basic Composition for International Students (4 credits)
A course in basic composition designed for international students who have completed ESL 131. Students will improve their understanding of theme, development, critical reading, and English grammar. Students who have earned a B or better in ESL 131 may request exemption from ENG 100a from the chairperson of the Language Division. This course does not fulfill composition or literature requirements. When taken, this course must be completed prior to ENG 101.

ENG 100b Critical Reading (2 credits)
An intensive reading course and instruction of specific reading strategies to prepare the student to comprehend and retain college-level reading and thinking assignments. Focus will be on a practicum approach to reading efficiency and effectiveness. This course does not fulfill composition or literature requirements. When taken, this course must be completed prior to ENG 101.

ENG 100c Review of Composition (2 credits)
A course in composition designed to equip students with the writing skills necessary for satisfactory completion of typical college writing assignments. Includes sentence structure, writing patterns in paragraphs and essays, and the revision process. This course does not fulfill composition requirements. Does not fulfill literature requirement. When taken, this course must be completed prior to ENG 101.

ENG 101 Thinking and Writing Across the Curriculum (4 credits)
This course emphasizes the strategies students need for writing and thinking across the curriculum. By practicing writing strategies such as argumentation, researched writing (or writing with sources), summary, analysis, comparison and contrast, definition, students will build the skills needed to succeed as college writers. Each section will focus on a specific theme. Themes from previous classes have included the following: American identity, family, love, the politics of food, Native American culture, and biography. This course does not fulfill the literature requirement. Not open to students with credit for ENG 110.

ENG 102 Scholarly Adventures: Researched Writing (4 credits)
Building upon the research skills from ENG 101, this course focuses primarily on academic research writing. Intensive reading and writing will be used to develop knowledge of analytical techniques in the liberal arts. There will be specific emphasis on reading strategies, library research, integrating sources, argumentation, and the MLA method of documentation. Each section will focus on a specific theme. Themes from previous classes have included the following: American identity, family, love, the politics of food, Native American culture, and biography. This course does not fulfill the literature requirement. Prerequisite: ENG 101 or 110. Not open to students with credit for ENG 111.

ENG 213 Literary Discourse (4 credits)
This course focuses on the various modes and methods of reading essential to the discipline of English. Students will gain an understanding of the terminology appropriate to a wide range of critical approaches: formalist, historicist, reader-response, and feminist, among others. Special attention will be given to the close reading of a variety of genres, a valuable skill with broad and interdisciplinary applications. Recommended for English majors. Prerequisites: ENG 110, 111; HUM 110.

ENG 215a Survey of British Literature I (4 credits)
Surveys predominantly the traditional, canonical writers of England of the Anglo-Saxon period, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. The course emphasizes historical and cultural influences on writers such as the Beowulf poet, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Spenser, Milton, Pope, Swift, and Samuel Johnson. The history of English-its dialects and levels of usage-is also covered. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 215b Survey of British Literature II (4 credits)
Surveys the major writers of England from the Romantic and Victorian periods and through the twentieth century. The course emphasizes historical and cultural influences on writers such as Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, George Eliot, Arnold, Browning, Joyce, Eliot, and Woolf. The history of English-its dialects and levels of usage-is also covered. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 216 Survey of American Literature (4 credits)
Surveys the major writers of the United States from colonial times through the twentieth century. The course emphasizes historical and cultural influences on writers such as Emerson, Whitman, Melville, Twain, and Faulkner. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 220 Professional Writing (4 Credits)
A study of the various forms of business and technical writing: resumes, correspondence, proposals, case studies, and reports. Especially useful for liberal arts majors who want to make themselves more marketable in their careers and for those interested in professional writing. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111. Not open to students with credit in BA/BUS 120. This course does not fulfill the literature requirement.

ENG 222 Creative Writing (4 credits)
A beginning course in creative writing. The class concentrates on the processes of discovery and invention, the analysis of creative literary works, discussion of student manuscripts, and oral presentation of creative work. The course focuses on a specific genre such as playwriting, short story writing, and poetry. Contact the instructor for the specified genre. This course does not fulfill the literature requirement. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111..

ENG 322 Creative Writing Workshop (4 credits)
This course continues the goals of ENG 222 and includes intensive instruction and practice in the writing of a specified genre. In addition, the course will focus in greater detail on the means of presentation, production, and publication methods and options for writers. Especially useful for those interested in professional writing. Contact the instructor for the specified genre. Does not fulfill the literature requirement. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111, ENG 222 or consent of instructor.

ENG 326 Advanced Critical Writing (4 credits)
This course provides extensive opportunities for experienced writers to develop advanced stylistic techniques essential to good writing. The focus ranges from microscopic (nuances in grammar) to macroscopic (writing theory), as well as the means by which we read and write for different purposes. Recommended for those interested in professional writing, teaching, and especially for the English major planning graduate study. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111. Does not fulfill the literature requirement.

ENG 330 Major Authors (2-4 credits)
This course offers an in-depth examination of a single author, or auteur, whose life and works comprise an important contribution to the field of literature. The focus of a particular course will be reflected in the title. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111. May be repeated for up to eight credits on different authors.

ENG 342 Introduction to African Literature (4 credits)
A general survey of African literature including the oral traditions that formed its background. Students will examine various forms of African artistic expression including oral literature, short story, and novels. Students will read literary texts originally written in English or in English translation. Reading of primary texts will be supplemented with critical essays and documentary films. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 343 The Literature of American Diversity (4 credits)
A study of literary works and authors not usually included in the traditional canon because of race, ethnic background, gender, age, or other factors. The class includes works by the minority cultures of African-American, Native American, Asian-American, and Hispanic-American as well as other groups left outside the mainstream of the American experience. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 344 Nineteenth-Century American Fiction (4 credits)
By reading authors such as Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman, students will study what is often called "the American Renaissance." In addition, understanding of romanticism, realism, and other major literary trends of the time, will be developed, discussed, and analyzed. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111; ENG 346.

ENG 346 Twentieth-Century American Literature (4 credits)
A representative study of the poetry, drama, and fiction of the United States since 1900. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 348a Thematic Studies: The Epic Tradition (4 credits)
A study of the tradition, form, and content of the epic from Homer to Milton. Emphasizes the role of the hero and deals with issues such as war, nature, human progress or regress, and theodicy. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 348c Thematic Studies: Studies in the Biographic Arts (4 credits)
An examination of the various biographies and autobiographies, paying close attention to the characteristics of the biography as a genre, the various permutations throughout history, and its often complex relationship to fiction. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 348d Thematic Studies: Women in Literature and Psychology (4 credits)
A study of the psychological treatment and images of women in literature and of psychological theories relevant to women. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 348f Thematic Studies: The Great Chain of Ideas (4 credits)
Using concepts Arthur Lovejoy describes in The Great Chain of Being, this course will explore essential connections in the human search for truth. Course materials will be of particular interest to students who enjoy the humanities. Readings may include The Odyssey, selected plays of Sophocles, segments of the Arthurian legends, a sampling of Chaucer, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Brave New World. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 348g Thematic Studies: Film and Literature (4 credits)
By reading and analyzing literature in relationship to film, filmic techniques, and film's history, this course will explore the often complex and frequently competitive relationship between film and literature. Fulfills literature requirement. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 351 Studies in Romanticism (4 credits)
Students will study how the Romantic writers in England and the United States contributed to new ways of thinking about nature, the individual, God, art and other issues. Includes such writers as Wordsworth, Keats, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, Emerson, Thoreau, Irving, Hawthorne, and Poe. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 352 Studies in Victorian Literature (4 credits)
This class explores how Victorian writers reacted to a time of industrialization, profound changes in science (evolution, for instance), social upheaval, religious doubt, and views of art, and how these issues relate to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Authors typically covered include Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Thackeray, Gaskell, Tennyson, Arnold, Browning, Newman, Trollope, and Wilde. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 353 Twentieth-Century British Literature (4 credits)
A study of the literature of Modernism and its aftermath, focusing on the poetry, drama, and fiction of Great Britain since 1900. Authors will include such figures as Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, Conrad, and Beckett. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 357 International Literature in English (4 credits)
A study of selected masterpieces, in English translation, by international authors whose native language is not English. There will be an exploration of interplay between English-language and other language literatures, discussion of the place of translation, analysis of universal motifs, and exposure to authors not widely read in the United States. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 450 Studies in the Novel (2-4 Credits)
A study in the forms, techniques, and historical evolution of the novel through the discussion of a particular theme, author, group of authors, or literary movement. A particular course's focus will be reflected in its title when it is offered. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111. May be repeated up to eight credits on different topics.

ENG 451 Studies in Women's Literature (4 credits)
Explores the roles women have played in the history of literature and explores the contributions of female artists. The course also addresses issues of empowerment, marginalization, and voice. Some sections may include a service-learning component. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 452 Studies in the Short Story (4 credits)
A study in the forms, techniques, and historical evolution of the short story as a literary genre through the discussion of authors, themes, and literary movements. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 455 Studies in Poetry (2-4 Credits)
A study in the forms techniques and historical evolution of poetry through the discussion of a particular theme, author, group of authors, or literary movement. The course's focus will be reflected in the course titles in the course offering bulletins. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111. May be repeated up to eight credits on different topics.

ENG 456 Studies in Drama (2-4 Credits)
A study in the forms techniques and historical evolution of drama through the discussion of a particular theme, author, group of authors, or literary movement. The course's focus will be reflected in the course titles in the course offering bulletins. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111. May be repeated up to eight credits on different topics.

ENG 460 The Age of Chaucer (4 credits)
A study of Chaucer and other major writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Prerequisites:ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 463 The Age of Shakespeare (4 credits)
A study of the major works of Shakespeare and other dramatists from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This course will focus on various genres. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.

ENG 1/2/3/485 Special Topics (1-4 credits)
Advanced courses on writers or subjects of special significance or interest to groups of students or faculty.

ENG 2/3/486 Independent Study (4 credits)
This class gives students the chance to develop individual creative, critical, and research projects. Includes Honors Program research. Prerequisites: Consent of instructor, academic advisor, division chairperson.

ENG 497 Internship (4 credits)
Supervised fieldwork of 160 hours in creative writing, professional writing, or other activities in English language and literature. Students will be expected to meet regularly with the division chairperson. Prerequisites: junior standing, 3.0 average in major, consent of instructor, academic advisor, and division chairperson; successful completion of application requirements for internship.

ENG 498 Senior Seminar (4 credits)
Intensive study of literary theory, gender studies, evolution of the literary canon, and other theories and pedagogies that shape the practices of the professional in English language and literature. Includes career planning, advanced experiences in writing, grammar, and independent research and/or creative projects. Prerequisites: ENG 101-102 or 110-111.