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Homepage > Academics > Course Descriptions > English

English

(School of Arts and Letters)

ENG 1110 First Year Composition
4 cr.

Emphasis on developing thinking and writing skills. The course is based on principles of contemporary writing pedagogy, including prewriting activities,writing process, focus on audience and purpose, writing reflections, peer evaluation, drafting, group writing and instructor conferencing. Early assignments depend on personal experience and then sequence to referential and argumentative writing. Includes basic documentation and bibliographic instruction.

ENG 1115 Introduction to Literature (IV)
4 cr.

Introduces the student to the foundations of literary study. In addition to reading a variety of texts from world literature students will try out the role of literary critic, applying at least two critical frameworks to texts. Students will experience ways in which different critical lenses may stimulate,enrich,change and challenge their understanding of a text. Students will also try out the roles of both poet and storyteller to appreciate the ways literary genres shape and limit expression.

ENG 1120 Mythology (IV)
4 cr.

Myth as society'sway of expressing itself is approached here through narrative frames and choices and interpretation of stories from primary sources. Stories are taken fromthe ancient Mediterranean, South and East Asia, early America andmodern Africa. Study will reach to include myths selected from China, India, Islam, Japan, Africa and/or the early Americas.

ENG 1130 Introduction toWomen's Literature (I, IV)
4 cr.

Surveys of prose and poetry in the English language by women of the 1300s to the present. Readings include three novels and several plays.Women's issues are discussed as they arise in the literature.

ENG 1140 ModernWorld Literature (IV)
4 cr.
Cultural revolution of the 20th century narrated by the men andwomenwho created and then experienced it: Africa's Achebe and Soyinka, England's Woolf and Lawrence, Ireland's Yeats, Joyce and Beckett, India's Desai, the Americas' Silko, Marquez, Borges and Faulkner, Russia's Akhmatova and Solzhenitsyn, Germany's Mann and Czechoslovakia's Kafka.

ENG 2105 InvestigativeWriting
2 cr.

Theory and practice of research skills in preparation for writing an article-length essay, report, review of literature, literary or cultural critique, memoir, etc. Focus on developing a proposal,producing aworking bibliography, developing an outline or focus statement, writing drafts, and using discipline-specific formats as appropriate. Excellent preparation for McNair students and liberal arts majors intending to pursue graduate school as well as others interested in investigative writing.

ENG 2210 Ethnic Literature (I, IV)
4 cr.
Introduction to literature written by authors of minority groups in the United States, including Hispanic Americans, American Indians, African Americans, Asian Americans and Jewish Americans. The course focuses on the diversity of American literature, on the ways in which writers outside the mainstream view America and on how they view their own cultures.

ENG/MER 2220 Medieval and Renaissance Worlds in Literature (I, IV)
4 cr.
Study of medieval and Renaissance texts in their historical, cultural,and literary contexts. The course examines various genres and subjects in an effort to understandwhat texts froma distant past reveal about their own cultures and howtheymight speak to a 21stcentury audience. Texts are selected from a range of cultures, such asmedieval and Renaissance France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Scandinavia, Spain, and Wales, as well as Arabia and the Jewish Diaspora.

ENG 2250 Introduction to Poetry (IV)
4 cr.
Study of theory, forms and techniques of poetry with greatest emphasis on close study of selected poems. The course focuses on the major forms of poetry and the relationship of metaphor, symbol, tone and metrics to meaning.

ENG 2251 Introduction to Fiction (IV)
4 cr.
Survey of the world's great novels in a variety of cultural settings and idioms. Special attention is given to the forms and conventions of the genre,and to the critical apparatus by which a reader may intelligently analyze works of fiction. A typical reading list might include works by Austen, the Bronte sisters, Flaubert, Twain, Dostoevsky, Lawrence, Hurston, Camus and Erdrich.

ENG 2252 Introduction to Drama (IV)
4 cr.
Study of theory, forms and dramatic conventions of plays taken from Greek, medieval, Renaissance, neoclassical, modern and contemporary periods.

ENG 2270 Studies in Literature
4 cr.

Semester length study of selected genres such as the Bible, fantasy literature, science fiction, murder mysteries, and the Gothic novel.

ENG/RUS 2280 Literature in Translation (I, IV)
4 cr.
Study of literature written in Spanish or French or German or Russian and translated into English. This course focuses on selected works of prose and poetry from a particular period with emphasis on careful reading and reader response as well as cultural, historical, political, religious and economic developments that provide context.

ENG 2777 Topics
2 or 4 cr.

ENG 3300 CreativeWriting: Fiction and Nonfiction (WI)
4 cr.
The reading of appropriate fiction andwriting of short weekly pieces and a final short story. The class includes presentations on technique. Students need not be English majors. Work fromthis class is often published in the St. Scholastica literary journal, Out of Words.

ENG 3301 CreativeWriting: Poetry (WI)
4 cr.

Reading and discussion of poetry to learn technique from published poets. A final portfolio of poetry required which will include students' choice of their best work. Students need not be English majors. Work from class is often published in the St. Scholastica literary journal, Out of Words.

ENG 3310 American Literature I: Beginnings to 1900 (IV)
4 cr.

Survey of American literature (poetry,essays, short stories and novels) beginningwith Anne Bradstreet in the 17th century and including such authors as Irving, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Stowe, Twain, et al. The course focuses on writers' responses to the political, social and literary concerns of the period, as well as tomore general human concerns. Some attention to issues of form.

ENG 3311 American Literature II: 1900 to Present (IV)
4 cr.
Survey of works by American poets and prose writers from the late 1800s through the 1990s. Poets include Dickinson, Frost, Williams, Stevens, Eliot, H.D., Marianne Moore, Plath,Wilbur and Rich. Novelists include Cather, Faulkner, Hemingway, Malamud, Walker, Morrison, Updike, Nabakov, O'Brien and Erdrich; American dramatists include Miller, O'Neill, Shepard, Albee and Williams.Short story writers include Anderson, Chopin, Cheever, O'Connor, Mason, Beattie and Oates.

ENG 3315 American Short Story (IV,WI)
4 cr.
Chronological survey of the development of the American short story as well as a survey of selected short story theory and criticism. Students will read stories by more than 30 American short story writers, beginning in the 18th century and continuing into the present decade. Discussion will focus on themes, the contexts in which the stories were written and story structure.

ENG 3320 British Literature I:Medieval to Neoclassical (IV)
4 cr.
Survey of English literature from the beginning until the late 18th century, including important and representative texts from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the neo classic era. The course offers a view of literature within its historical and cultural context.

ENG 3321 British Literature II: Romantic toModern (IV)
4 cr.

Survey of British literature from the end of the 18th century to the present day, including poetry, drama and prose from the Romantic period, the Victorian period and Modernist canon. The course offers a historical context so that students may understand the writers in relation to one another and to the world they inhabited.

ENG/CTA 3330 Theatre:Greek - Elizabethan (IV, VIII)
4 cr.
Survey of major historical developments in theatre from the birth of theatre performance in ancient Greece through Roman theatre to medieval liturgical drama. The course concludes with Elizabethan theatre and includes study of technical developments as well as historical contexts. Classes focus on production as well as the literary perspective.

ENG/CTA 3331 Theatre: Restoration - 20th Century (IV, VIII)
4 cr.

Survey of major historical developments in theatre from the Restoration through the 20th century. The readings focus on the change in realism with the influence of psychoanalysis, absurdist, surrealism and ethnic theatre. Literary and historical components of the plays are addressed. Classes focus on production as well as the literary perspective.

ENG 3340 American Novel (IV,WI)
4 cr.
Analysis and discussion of the development of the American novel in the 19th or 20th centuries. There will be some attention given, where appropriate, to British and American antecedents. Classes focus on selected novelists and the variety of themes and forms characteristic of either century.

ENG 3350 British Novel (IV,WI)
4 cr.
Analysis and discussion of the origins and development of the British novel either from its beginning in the 18th century through the romantic novel of the 19th century, or at the discretion of the instructor, a survey of one of the following categories: Victorian novels, post-modern novels.

ENG 3360 TechnicalWriting (WI)
4 cr.
Emphasis on the kinds of written communications required of engineers, technologists, researchers and technicians, with special attention to the translation of technical information for understanding by laypersons. Students will produce letters, reports, proposals and procedures and are expected to give oral presentations. The class focuses on the writing process, audience analysis and adaptation strategies, formats, graphics, resumes and cover letters. Prerequisite ENG 1110 or competency.

ENG 3362 AdvancedWriting (WI)
4 cr.
Designed for students interested in writing who want to explore some of theways in which language can be used to achieve particular aims. Students will do a considerable amount of writing aswell as some reading in rhetorical theory and stylistics. There may be some imitative exercises, but the emphasis is on adapting discourse for various audiences and different occasions. Occasionally, designated sections of the course will focus on writing for electronic media and the rhetorical demands such writing entails. Prerequisite: ENG 1110 or competency.

ENG3364/MGT 3150 Management Communication:Written (WI)
4 cr.
Emphasis on the writing process as appropriate to the management situation. Students complete a series of writing assignments including letters, memos, proposals, problem-solving reports, informational reports and group writing projects. The emphasis is on audience adaptation, clarity of purpose, adequacy of support and correct format. Students will be introduced towriting for the electronicmedia. Students must be juniors and have some professional experience before enrolling. Prerequisite ENG 1110 or competency.

ENG 3370 Studies inWomen's Literature (IV,WI)
2 or 4 cr.

Studies focused on, for example, literature of women's friendship and mother-daughter literature.

ENG 3371 Studies inWorld Literature
4 cr.

Studies focused on, for example, post-colonial literature and Third-World literature written in English.

ENG 3390 Irish Literature (IV)
4 cr.

Analysis and discussion of Irish literature and its cultural and nationalistic context. The course begins with mythology, folk tales and epic, then examines their transformations in the writings of Yeats, Joyce, Synge, Heaney, Boland, etc. Attention is paid to the matic and linguistic manifestations of "Irishness" and their subversion.

ENG 3777 Topics in Literature,Writing or Linguistics
2 or 4 cr.


ENG 4400 Shakespeare I (IV,WI)
4 cr.

Close reading of the earlier plays with attention to understanding of the narrative and appreciation of the text. Classes focuses on earlier plays with attention to variety of type; e.g., comedies A Midsummer Night's Dream,TwelfthNight andMuch Ado AboutNothing;histories Richard II and Henry IV; tragedies Macbeth and Othello; romances Cymbeline and Pericles. Elizabethan background and critical study is included. The play choices will be made considering the availability of Shakespeare in performance.

ENG 4401 Shakespeare II (IV,WI)
4 cr.
Close reading of the later plays.Classes will focus on a variety of types such as: tragedies Hamlet, King Lear and Antony And Cleopatra; comedies As You Like It,Measure For Measure and Troilus And Cressida; romances The Tempest and The Winter's Tale. Elizabethan background and critical study are included. Play choices will be made considering the availability of Shakespeare in performance. ENG 4400 is not a prerequisite.

ENG 4410 Individual Author (IV,WI)
4 cr.

An in-depth study of one English or American writer, with special focus on the writer's important works and the cultural, historical and literary contexts. Offerings may include, but are not limited to, Geoffrey Chaucer, VirginiaWoolf, D.H. Lawrence and William Faulkner.

ENG/CTA 4420 Film and Literature (IV, VIII)
4 cr.

Comparison of written and cinematic texts. A variety of film theories will be discussed in conjunction with image creation. Narrative issues - e.g., theme, style and characterization - will also be covered.

ENG 4425 Literary Theory
4 cr.
Introduction to literary theory, ancient to post-modern. The course surveysmajor theoretical trends in the West from classical, medieval, modern, and post-modern periods. Students will also articulate and examine critically their own theoretical assumptions about literature and literary study. Junior or senior standing or instructor permission required.

ENG 4430 English Language and Linguistics (WI)
4 cr.

Introduction to the history of the English language, theories of grammar and major topics in linguistics. Class discussions will focus on a variety of questions: how language got started, what it is, where English comes from, how English has changed, the extent to which there is such a thing as correct English, what dialects are and how they are significant, how words and their semantic values change, what the major approaches to grammar are, how people learn language, how the mind processes language, how linguistics can help teachers and how systems of writing arose and developed.

ENG 4440 Communication Arts/Literature Methods
4 cr.

Provides students with an integrated approach to the teaching of reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing skills in bothmiddle level and high school settings. Topics include: teaching strategies that address the stages of the reading process and the writing process; teaching strategies that help students interpret and evaluate texts in a variety of ways; assessment; technology integration; selection of middle school and high school texts; lesson design and presentation; membership in professional organizations. Pre-requisites: EDU 2800 and EDU 2805.Co-requisite:ENG 4445.

ENG 4445 EnglishMethods Field Experience
1 cr.

Introduces students to the culture of a high school environment. They observe and assist teachers, interview school personnel, talk with students, and teach lessons that incorporate computer-based technology activities and content area reading strategies. Co-requisite: ENG 4440.

ENG 4450 Internship
2 or 4 cr.

Conducted in a professional setting related to the student's field of interest. The student is supervised by a site supervisor. Performance evaluation will be completed by the site supervisor, an English instructor, and the student. Instructor permission required.

ENG 4999 Independent Study
1-4 cr.

Advanced English study in an area of special interest to the student.The work must be conducted under faculty direction and receive departmental approval.