Courses in English
Grammar Courses
ENG-G 205 Introduction to the English Language (3 cr)
An introduction to the English language and to the principles and methods of linguistics, this course is designed to be the first course in English linguistics. The course examines the phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics of English and discusses a range of applications of these basic concepts in areas such as first and second language acquisition and language education.
Offered fall semester, even years.
ENG-G 207 Grammar and Usage (3 cr)
Provides you with a foundation in traditional grammar and usage. Intended primarily for students preparing to teach English.
Offered in spring and most summers semesters.
ENG-G 301 History of the English Language (3 cr)
The historical and structural analysis of the English language is surveyed through the stages of its development. Background provided in G205 would be useful in this course. Offered fall semester, odd years.
ENG-G 500 Introduction to the English Language (3 cr)
An introduction to the English language: its nature, structure, and development.
ENG-G 660 Stylistics (3 cr)
Survey of traditional and linguistic approaches to the study of prose and poetic style. Attention will center on description of the verbal characteristics of texts, what those characteristics reflect about the author, and how the affect the reader.
Offered spring semesters.
Literature Courses
CLAS-C 205 Classical Mythology (3 cr)
Introduction to Greek and Roman myths, legends, and tales, especially those that have an important place in the Western cultural tradition. Offered once every four years.
ENG-L 105 Appreciation of Literature (3 cr)
Stresses the enjoyment and humane values of literature. It will provide workshop experiences and programmed exercises as well as experience in listening to and studying visual adaptations of poems, novels, and dramas. Offered occasional fall semesters.
ENG-L 115 Literature for Today
Poems, dramas, and narratives pertinent to concerns of our times: e.g., works concerning values of the individual and society, problems of humanism in the modern world, and conflicts of freedom and order. Offered occasional fall semesters.
ENG-L 202 Literary Interpretation (3 cr)
Development of critical skills essential to participation in interpretive process. Through class discussion and focused writing assignments, introduces the premises and motives of literary analysis and critical methods associated with historical, generic, and/or cultural concerns. Offered fall and summer online. Offered spring in classroom
ENG-L 203 Introduction to Drama (3 cr)
Representative significant plays to acquaint you with characteristics of drama as a type of literature. Readings include plays from several ages and countries. Offered occassionally.
ENG-L 204 Introduction to Fiction (3 cr)
Representative works of fiction; structural techniques in the novel. Novels and short stories from several ages and countries. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 205 Introduction to Poetry (3 cr)
Kinds, conventions, and elements of poetry in a selection of poems from several historical periods. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 207 Women and Literature (3 cr)
Issues and approaches to the critical study of women writers and treatment in British and American literature. Offered occasional spring semesters.
ENG-L 208 Topics in English and American Literature (3 cr)
Selected works of English or American literature in relation to a single cultural problem or theme. Topics will vary from semester to semester. May be repeated once for credit. Offered occasionally..
ENG-L 209 Topics in American Literature and Culture (3 cr)
Selected works of American literature taught in relation to a single cultural problem or theme. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Offered occasionally..
ENG-L 210 Studies in Popular Literature and Media
Popular literary modes in England and America, such as detective, western, fantasy; history and theories of “mass” or “popular” culture; uses of literacy. Literary analysis of particular mass media forms, including television drama. Topic varies. Offered occassionally.
ENG-L 213 Literary Masterpieces I (3 cr)
Literary masterpieces from Homer to the present. Aims at thoughtful, intensive reading; appreciation of aesthetic values; enjoyment of reading. Courses may be taken out of sequence. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 214 Literary Masterpieces II (3 cr)
Literary masterpieces from Homer to the present. Aims at thoughtful, intensive reading; appreciation of aesthetic values; enjoyment of reading. Courses may be taken out of sequence. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 225 Introduction to World Masterpieces (3 cr)
An intensive study of masterpieces of world literature from Homer’s Odyssey to Goethe’s Faust, which present the archetypal patterns of human experience that recur in the great literature of the past and present. Offered spring and some summers.
ENG-L 240 Literature and Public Life (3 cr)
A study of literary works that feature situations, issues, and problems of values or ethics in public life as seen from a variety of viewpoints. Discussion and writing will be directed to the works themselves and to the questions they raise for contemporary life. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 250 American Literature Before 1865 (3 cr)
An introductory survey of representative works with an emphasis on major writers. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 251 American Literature After 1865 (3 cr)
An introductory survey of representative works with an emphasis on major writers. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 295 American Literature and Film (3 cr)
Film in relation to American culture and society. Topic varies. Works of literature may be used for comparison, but the main emphasis will be on film as a narrative medium and as an important element in American culture. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 297 English Literature to 1600 (3 cr)
Representative selections, with emphasis on major writers from Chaucer to Shakespeare and on their cultural content. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 298 English Literature from 1600-1800 (3 cr)
Representative selections, with emphasis on major writers from Donne to Johnson and on their cultural context. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 299 English Literature Since 1800 (3 cr)
Representative selections, with emphasis on major writers from Blake to the present and on their cultural context. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 306 Middle English Literature (3 cr)
Selected works such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Pearl, mystery and morality plays, and religious lyrics, read in Middle English. Offered even fall semesters.
ENG-L 308 Elizabethan & Seventeenth-Century Drama (3 cr)
English drama from Shakespeare's time to the closing of the theaters in 1642 and beyond. Offered occassionally.
ENG-L 309 Elizabethan Poetry (3 cr)
Major Elizabethan poets, with special attention to Spenser. Offered even spring semesters.
ENG-L 315 Major Plays of Shakespeare (3 cr)
A close reading of a representative selection of Shakespeare’s major plays. Offered some even summer semesters.
ENG-L 317 English Poetry of the Early Seventeenth Century (3 cr)
Major poets in England, 1600-1660. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 318 Milton (3 cr)
Poetry and prose of John Milton, with special attention to Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 322 English Literature, 1660 - 1789
Survey of nondramatic literature of the Restoration and 18th century. Emphasis on Dryden, Pope, Swift, and Johnson and his circle. Offered odd spring semesters.
ENG-L 332 Romantic Literature (3 cr)
Major romantic writers, with emphasis on two or more of the following: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Offered odd spring semesters.
ENG-L 335 Victorian Literature (3 cr)
Major poetry and prose, 1830-1900, studies against social and intellectual background of period. Offered occasional fall semesters.
ENG-L 337 Victorian Poetry (3 cr)
This course will focus on one major Victorian writer’s body of works (eg. Dickenson, Tennyson, Eliot, or Hardy) or family of writers (eg. the Bronté, the Brownings). It is intended for English majors and/or those with some literature & writing background. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 345 Twentieth-Century British Poetry (3 cr)
Modern poets, especially Yeats, Eliot, Auden; some later poets may be included. Offered occasionally, odd fall semesters.
ENG-L 346 Twentieth-Century British Fiction (3 cr)
Modern fiction, its techniques and experiments, particularly Joyce, Lawrence, and Woolf; some later novelists may be included. Offered even spring semesters.
ENG-L 347 British Fiction to 1800 (3 cr)
Forms, techniques and theories of fiction as exemplified by such writers as Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne. Offered occasional odd summer semesters.
ENG-L 348 Nineteenth-Century British Fiction (3 cr)
Forms, techniques, and theories of fiction, as exemplified by such writers as Scott, Dickens, Eliot, and Hardy. Offered occasionally.
ENG–L 352 American Literature 1865–1914 (3 cr.)
Surveys American literature through the development of realism, regionalism, naturalism, and the beginnings of modernism. Considers literature’s relation to social and cultural phenomena of this era, such as urbanization, industrialization, immigration, racial tensions, labor strife, changing gender roles, and the spread of mass media and consumer culture. Offered odd fall semesters.
ENG–L 354 American Literature since 1914 (3 cr.)
Provides an understanding of the pivotal literary innovations and cultural changes during this period. Literary movements such as naturalism, realism, and modernism may be the subject of focus, as might changes in race and gender relations, labor politics, immigration policies, regionalism, and the increasing shift from agricultural to urban economics. Offered even summer semesters.
ENG-L 355 American Fiction to 1900 (3 cr)
Survey of representative nineteenth-century American novels, with emphasis on works of Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, James, and Dreiser. Offered even spring semesters.
ENG-L 356 American Poetry to 1900 (3 cr)
Includes work of Bradstreet, Taylor, the fireside poets, Poe, Emerson, Whitman, Dickinson, and Crane. Offered occasional odd summer semesters
ENG-L 357 20th Century American Poetry (3 cr)
American poetry since 1900, including such poets as Pound, Eliot, Frost, Stevens, Williams, and Lowell. Offered even fall semseters, online.
ENG-L 358 20th Century American Fiction (3 cr)
American fiction since 1900, including such writers as Dreiser, Lewis, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Bellow. Offered odd spring semesters.
ENG-L360 American Prose (Excluding Fiction) (3 cr.)
Examines—but is not limited to—such nonfiction genres as the personal or political essay, science writing, journalism exposé, history, biography, film criticism, memoir, travel and speech writing. The instructor may focus on a particular genre or period.
ENG-L 364 Native American Literature (3 cr)
A survey of traditional and modern literature by American Indians, especially of the high plains and southwest culture areas, with particular attention to the image of the Indian in both native and white literature. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 366 Modern Drama: English, Irish, American and Post-Colonial (3 cr)
Shaw, Synge, O’Neill, and other significant dramatists, such as Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, August Wilson, Athol Fugard, and Wole Soyinka. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 369 Studies in American and British Authors (3 cr)
Studies in single authors (such as Wordsworth and Melville), groups of authors (such as minority writers), and periods (such as American writers of the 1920s). Topics vary from semester to semester. May be repeated once for credit. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 370 Black American Writing (3 cr)
A study of the major black American writers, with special emphasis on recent writing. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 371 Introduction to Criticism (3 cr)
Study of and practice in using contemporary critical methodologies; consideration of the history and institutional conditions of the study of English. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 372 Contemporary American Fiction (3 cr)
Examination of representative American fiction since 1955 in its social, cultural, and historical contexts. Topics include such issues as the representation of truth in fiction, intertextuality, and the transgressions of genre boundaries. Offered odd summer semesters.
ENG-L 374 Ethnic American Literature (3 cr)
Literature about the American ethnic experience, selected from works by African American, Jewish American, Italian American, Irish American, Native American, Asian American, Latin American, and other ethnic authors. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 378 Studies in Women and Literature (3 cr)
British and American authors such as George Eliot, Gertrude Stein; groups of authors, such as the Bronte sisters, recent women poets; or genres and modes, such as autobiography, film, and criticism. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Offered odd fall semesters.
ENG-L 379 American Ethnic and Minority Literature (3 cr)
Analysis of literature by and about immigrants from diverse cultures, as well as ethnic literature about groups such as African Americans, Appalachians, Latinos, and Native Americans, from a historical and thematic perspective. Offered odd fall semesters, online.
ENG-L 380 Literary Modernism (3 cr)
Phenomenon of modernism in early twentieth-century transatlantic literature, with emphasis on such writers Joyce, Pound, Eliot, Stein, Lawrence, and Faulkner; studies in relation to social and artistic movements. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 381 Recent Writing (3 cr)
Selected writers of contemporary significance. May include groups and movements (such as black writers, poets of projective verse, new regionalists, para journalists, and other experimenters in pop literature, folk writers, and distinctly ethnic writers); several recent novelists, poets, or critics; or any combination of groups. May be repeated once for credit. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 382 Fiction of the Non-Western World (3 cr)
An in-depth study of selected narratives from the fiction of the non-western world. Focus and selections vary from year to year. May be repeated once for credit. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 383 Studies in British Commonwealth (3 cr)
Study of a coherent period of British or Commonwealth periods (such as medieval, Elizabethan, Victorian England, or modern Canada), with attention to the relations between literature, the other arts, and the intellectual milieu. Offered odd spring semesters.
ENG-L 384 Studies in American Culture (3 cr)
Study of a coherent period of American culture (such as the Revolution, the Progressive Era, the Great Depression), with attention to the relations between literature, the other arts, and the intellectual milieu. Offered even fall semesters.
ENG-L 390 Children’s Literature (3 cr)
Historical and modern children’s books and selections from books; designed to assist future teachers, parents, librarians, or others in selecting the best in children’s literature for each period of the child’s life. Offered even fall semesters.
ENG-L 391 Young Adult Literature (3 cr)
Study of books suitable for junior high and high school classroom use. Special stress on works of fiction dealing with contemporary problems, but also including modern classics, biography, science fiction, and other areas of interest to teenage readers. Offered odd spring semesters.
ENG-L 392 Topics in Children's Literature (3 cr)
Studies in periods, such as contemporary American children’s literature or Victorian fantasies for children; or genres such as picture books or children’s poetry. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 394 Film as Literature
The course approaches the analysis of films through the cinematic equivalent of the tools of literary critism. It will introduce students to the elements of filmaking and the methods of literary analysis as a way of reaching an understanding of how films mean.
ENG-L 395 British and American Film Studies (3 cr)
Intensive study of special topics related to film narratives; emphasis on American or British film as a cultural phenomenon. Topic varies. Offered occasionally.
ENG-L 450 Seminar: British and American Authors (3 cr)
R: Junior or senior standing. Intensive study of a major author or school of closely related authors. Offered spring semester, odd years.
ENG-L 460 Seminar: Literary Form, Mode, and Theme (3 cr)
Study of texts written in several historical periods united by a common mode or form (narrative, romanticism, lyric, etc.), or by a common theme (bildungsroman, the city and the country, the two cultures question, the uses of literacy, etc.). Offered spring semester, odd years.
ENG-L 553 Studies in Literature (3 cr)
Primarily for secondary-school and junior-college teachers of English.
Emphasis on thematic, analytic, and generic study. With consent of instructor, may be repeated once for credit.
ENG-L 682 Topics in Children's Literature: Multicultural Children's Literature (3 cr)
Studies in periods, such as contemporary American children’s literature or Victorian fantasies for children; or genres such as picture books or children’s poetry. Topics will vary from semester. Offered occasionally.
May be repeated with different topics, for a maximum of 9 credits.
Writing & Composition Courses
ENG-W 130 Principles of Composition (3 cr)
Provides a semester of writing instruction needed before taking Elementary Composition I. Practice in writing papers for a variety of purposes and audiences. Attention to sentence and paragraph structure. Grade of C or better required to take w131. Offered fall, spring, and summer semesters.
- Prerequisites: Placement
ENG-W 131 Elementary Composition I (3 cr)
Offers instruction and practice in the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills required in college. Emphasis is on written assignments that require synthesis, analysis, and argument based on sources. Offered fall, spring, and summer semesters.
ENG-W 132 Elementary Composition II (3 cr)
Stresses argumentation and research concurrently, with a secondary emphasis on critical evaluation in both reading and writing. Offered fall, spring, and summer semesters.
- Prerequisites: W131 (with a grade of C or better)
ENG-W 203 Creative Writing (3 cr)
Exploratory course in writing in which you may attempt expression in poetry, fiction, and drama. May be repeated once for credit. Offered fall, spring, and occasional summer semesters.
- Prerequisites: W131
ENG-W 230 Science Writing
Instruction in preparing scientific reports, proposals, visuals, and research projects with instruction in CBE documentation and style. Offered spring semester, online.
ENG-W 231 Professional Writing Skills (3 cr)
Focuses on expository writing for the student whose career requires preparation of reports, proposals, and analytical papers. Emphasis on clear and direct objective writing and on investigation of an original topic written in report form, including a primary research project. Offered fall, spring, and summer semesters.
- Prerequisites: W131 (with a grade of C or better)
ENG-W 233 Intermediate Expository Writing (3 cr)
Expands upon the rhetorical and stylistic principles introduced in w131. Emphasis is on the writing process, modes of discourse reflective of professional writing, and language conventions. Offered occasionally.
ENG-W 250 Writing in Context (1-3 cr)
Offers instruction in intermediate-level expository writing. You will study a contemporary issue and write papers on that issue. Topics will vary from year to year. May be repeated once for credit. Offered occasionally.
ENG-W 260 Film Criticism (3 cr)
Viewing and critiquing currently playing films, with emphasis on the quality of production and direction. Contemporary films viewed; papers serve as a basis for discussion during class. You will be expected to pay for movie admissions.
Offered occasionally.
ENG-W 270 Argumentative Writing (3 cr)
Offers instruction and practice in writing argumentative essays about complicated and controversial issues. The course focuses on strategies identifying issues, assessing claims, locating evidence, deciding on a position, and writing papers with clear assertions and convincing arguments. Offered fall and spring semesters.
- Prerequisites: W131 with a grade of C or better
ENG-W 290 Writing in the Arts and Sciences (3 cr)
Studies academic writing as a means of discovery and record. Study of and practice in the procedures, conventions, and terminology of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Offered occasionally.
ENG-W 301 Writing Fiction (3 cr)
An intermediate course in the theory and practice of fiction writing with seminar study of relevant materials and criticism of student work in class and conference. May be repeated once for credit. Offered fall semesters or permission of the instructor.
- Prerequisite: ENG-W 203
ENG-W 303 Writing Poetry (3 cr)
An intermediate course in the theory and practice of poetry writing with seminar study of relevant materials and criticism of student work in class and conference. May be repeated once for credit. Offered in spring semesters or permission of the instructor.
- Prerequisites: ENG-W 203
ENG-W 311 Writing Creative Nonfiction (3 cr)
Writing workshop in such modes as personal essay, autobiography, and documentary. May be repeated once for credit. Offered even fall semesters.
ENG-W 321 Advanced Technical Writing (3 cr)
Instruction in preparing technical reports, with an emphasis on the use of graphics. Offered fall semesters.
- Prerequisites: W231
ENG-W 350 Advanced Expository Writing (3 cr)
This advanced writing course focuses on the interconnected activities of reading and writing, especially the kinds of responding, analyzing, and evaluating that characterize work in the many fields of the university. Topics vary from semester to semester. Offered occasionally.
- Prerequisites: W131 with a grade of C or better
ENG-W 395 Individual Study of Writing (3 cr)
Exercise in the study of written expression and communication in informative, persuasive, or imaginative writing. May be repeated once for credit. Offered fall semesters, online.
ENG-W 400 Issues in Teaching Writing (3 cr)
Focuses on the content of rhetoric and composition, as well as considers fundamental theoretical and practical issues in the teaching of writing. Reviews rhetorical and compositional principles that influence writing instruction, textbook selection, and curriculum development. Offered spring semesters, online.
ENG-W 401 Advanced Fiction Writing (3 cr)
May be repeated once for credit. Offered spring semester, even years.
- Corequisite: W301 or permission of instructor.
ENG-W 403 Advanced Poetry Writing (3 cr)
May be repeated once for credit. Offered spring semester, crosslisted with w303.
- Corequisite: W303 or permission of instructor.
ENG-W 405 Writing Prose Nonfiction (3 cr)
Study and practice of the essay. Review historical, thematic, and stylistic range of the form, with emphasis on producing effective, precise communication of thoughtful, informed personal essays. Offered occasionally.
- Prerequisites: W132 or 200-level writing course
ENG-W 411 Directed Writing (3 cr)
Individualized project assigned by instructor consenting to direct it. Individual critical projects work out with director. Credit varies with scope of project. Offered on independent study basis. Must be requested.
ENG-W470 Senior Seminar: Professional and Technical Writing (3 cr)
Intensive study of a major issue or problem in rhetoric or technical communications.
ENG-W 500 Teaching Composition: Issues & Approaches (4 cr)
Consideration of fundamental issues in the teaching of writing and the major approaches to composition instruction. Specific topics include teaching invention and revision, diagnosing errors, teaching style and organization, making assignments, and evaluating student writing. Offered summer II session.
ENG-W 501 Teaching of Composition in College (3 cr)
Practical teaching of composition; current theories and policies. May be offered as a practicum for new instructors of regular and basic sections of W131 or as a practicum for those teaching the non-native sections. Offered fall semesters.
ENG-W 620 Advanced Argumentative Writing (3 cr)
Examines techniques for analyzing and constructing arguments for different disciplines and professions, especially the use of proofs, evidence, and logic.
Considers major issues of argument , such as the ethics of persuading audiences and the use of style. Student write several researched arguments on political, legal, scientific and academic issues. Offered fall semesters.
ENG-W 682 Special Topics: Rhetoric & Composition (3 cr)
Variable topics in rhetoric and composition. Offered spring semesters.
