ENG100I - Writing Skills

This course, designed to prepare the nonnative speaker of English for the Core Writing I - Writing II sequence, addresses the development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening competencies crucial to the successful completion of college coursework. Placed in this course on the basis of the TOEFL score, students work on oral and written English language skills through informal exercises and formal oral and written projects; the lab component of this course provides an opportunity for individual conferencing around written assignments. Students must receive a grade of C or higher in order to pass this course.

ENG101 - Writing I

This course concentrates on improving the student’s attitude toward writing as well as the writing itself. The student can expect to write informal exercises, nongraded papers, graded papers, and journals. Scheduled individual conferences with the instructor are for the purpose of working on the student’s particular writing projects and problems. Based on the results of the writing assessment, students may be placed in a Writing Lab as part of this course or may be placed in an ESL section. Students must receive a grade of C or higher in order to pass this course.

ENG102 - Writing II

This course is a continuation of ENG 101 that concentrates on the student’s writing ability. There is a greater emphasis on exploring various literary types and themes, such as Women in Literature, Recent Fiction, and Family in Literature. Students may be placed into an ESL section of this course. Students must receive a grade of C or higher in order to pass this course. Prerequisite: ENG 101.

ENG104 - Academic Reading & Writing

This elective writing course is designed for any student who recognizes the need for additional work on reading and/or writing following completion of ENG 101 and 102. The course focuses on close reading and academic writing in response to readings about American culture from across the academic disciplines. Students develop and reinforce their skills in using reading strategies and in selecting and integrating text from a reading, analyzing issues, and synthesizing ideas in a focused and coherent essay. Students may be placed into an ESL section of this course. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG107 - Oral Communication & Presentation Skills

This course is designed to help international students develop confidence in their oral English skills, so that they can participate freely in classroom discussions and present comfortably in the classroom context. Students work at their English listening and speaking skills in order to improve their English fluency and comprehensibility, benefiting from the regular practice and from instructor feedback; coursework focuses on pronunciation, vocabulary, and English usage conventions. Course activities include speaking opportunities, vocabulary building exercises, group discussions, and a series of presentations scheduled during the semester. Prerequisite: Permission of Instructor

ENG201 - Eng Lit/Themes & Writers

This course offers a special thematic approach to the study of English literature. Various authors, such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Shaw, and Yeats, are studied within such contexts as convention and revolt, the hero and the heroine, or evil and decadence. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG208 - The Structure of the English Language

This course focuses on essential elements of the structure of the English language: its phonology (sound structure), morphology (word structure), and syntax (sentence structure). Students draw on their own knowledge of language as they examine spoken English; they then study the relationship between spoken and written language. As students discuss issues pertinent to teachers and to writers, the relevance of linguistic analysis both to written language development and to writing practice is considered. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG209 - Intro to Literature & Literary Studies

This is a foundations course required for the major and the minor in English. The course provides an introduction to a variety of forms and styles in poetry, drama, short story, fiction, memoir, and essay; European, African, North American, Central and South American, and Asian literatures are considered. The focus is on interpreting texts; students are introduced to various schools of interpretation and to standards for supporting an interpretation. Students become familiar with the conventional elements of each genre and with the terminology of critical interpretation. The course introduces print and database tools for research on literature. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG210 - Survey of American Literature

This course surveys representative periods, authors, or genres in American literature from beginnings in Native American oral literatures through contemporary works. Individual sections organize study of classic and contemporary texts around particular themes, such as Queering American Literatures, American Migrations, Hemispheric American Literature, or Americans on the Edge: "Frontiers" in the American Imagination. Individual sections also trace twentieth- or twenty-first-century movements to their roots in or resistance to earlier movements or forms. This is a writing-intensive course. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG211 - Modern Drama

This survey course introduces students to great modern works of drama, considering the late nineteenth century through the present. Plays are considered in terms of performance as well as in literary terms, with a focus on the ways in which the philosophies and sensibilities of modernism and postmodernism are reflected both on the page and on the stage. Readings include modern classics by such writers as Ibsen, O'Neill, Brecht, and Beckett, as well as more recent works. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG212 - Literature for Young Adults

This course surveys current literature for adolescent and teen readers. It prepares students to evaluate young adult books in terms of literary quality, reader interest, and social and political perspectives. Strategies for use in the classroom are explored; various genres are examined. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG214 - Special Topics in Literature

This course concentrates on an interdisciplinary approach to literature. The focus is on one theme, one author, one period, or one genre. Students are responsible for substantial written and oral work in analysis, criticism, and/or research. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG216 - The Mystery Novel

This course examines the history of one type of genre fiction, the mystery, beginning with texts from the late nineteenth century and ending with contemporary novels. Emphasis is on the development of the form, the social context of the texts including historical background, changes in popular taste, and analysis of the popularity of the genre. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG217 - Contemporary Literature

This course explores key issues and texts in twentieth-century literature and surrounding periods. The course will focus on one or more literary movements and authors from the early modern period through the early twenty-first century. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG218 - British Literature

This course surveys British writing in poetry, fiction, and drama, with a focus on key periods in the development of British literature. Emphasis is on representative writers in each period. Periods and movements surveyed include Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, Romanticism, Victorian, Modern, and Contemporary or Postmodern. This is a writing-intensive course. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG219 - Creative Writing

In this course, students explore various types of creative writing including fiction, poetry, and screenwriting. Students do a wide range of in-class and out-of-class writing assignments, and they have the opportunity to select one form for a major project. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG220X - Conventions of Written English

In this course, we consider the basic conventions of written English. Topics will include grammatical categories, clauses, phrases, sentences, punctuation, usage, spelling, and capitalization. Readings will cover these topics; written assignments will involve sentence-level exercises on course topics, sentence-level editing, and text-level editing. Application of written English conventions in decontextualized exercise formats is a first objective in this course; contextualized application of the conventions while writing/editing at the text level is a second and more important objective. When possible, drafting and editing will occur in authentic contexts, to strengthen connections between classroom practice and applications beyond the classroom.

ENG222 - Lyric Poetry

This course considers the lyric poem in global contexts, with attention to poetic voice, composition, sense, and sound. Form and content are examined in medieval to modern meditative and lyric poems. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG223 - Ethics & Morality in Literature

This course focuses on the role that ethics and morality play in a variety of literary texts. Emphasis is on analysis of characters' decisions and choices that relate to ethical issues as well as to the formation of their ethical codes. Characters' positions relating to ethical systems and the prevailing morality of their society are considered. Literature is selected from diverse genres and traditions. The focus of the course changes each semester. Possible topics include Literature of Human Rights, Prison Writing, Literature and the Environment, and Literature of War. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG224 - Film & Literature

This course explores the nature of narrative in literature and film. Focus is on analysis of literature that has been made into movies. Students consider the types of changes involved in the transformation from one genre to another as well as the complex reasons for variations. Prerequisite: ENG 102

ENG225 - The Short Story

In this course, students study the development of the short story as a twentieth-century form; critical and creative approaches are offered. Selections are taken from such authors as Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Joyce Carol Oates, Doris Lessing, and Alice Walker. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG235 - From Sounds to Sentences

This course considers the acquisition of human language as a biologically based and species-specific communication system. The interaction, from infancy through early and later childhood, between biological preparedness and environmental influence is studied, as is the development of phonology (sound system), lexicon (vocabulary), syntax (sentence structure), and pragmatics (language use). The developmental phases through which a young learner passes as the language systems develop are also studied in this course. Bilingualism, dialect, language disorder, and early written language development are considered. Prerequisite: ENG 102.

ENG237X - Becoming Ourselves in Society

How are we influenced by our group and our society? What attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs do we develop in our social contexts? These questions have been addressed through the lens of social psychology; in addition, creative writers have been moved to explore them. In this course, we consider the individual’s interface with social groups from psychological and literary perspectives. This is a four-credit interdisciplinary course. Prerequisites: ENG102, PSYC101 or SOC101.

ENG304 - Stories of Origin

This course considers both written and oral traditional texts. Texts originating in expressions of faith, devotion, cultural origin or expression, and ethnic identity are examined, with attention to narration, characterization, sacred mystery, moral /ethical content, and interpretation. Readings include selections from Ancient Greek and Roman literature, the Bible and/or the Qur’an, and world myths and folktales. Prerequisite: Any 200-level English course.

ENG307 - Creative Nonfiction Writing Workshop

In this course, students study the literary genre of creative nonfiction by exploring a variety of personal essays and memoirs and by engaging in writing practice. Work by class members is read and discussed, as are textbook readings that illuminate the use of craft tools such as description, imagery, diction, syntax, text structure, and metaphor in the development of personal essays and memoirs. Reading assignments involve the close examination of essays and memoirs; written assignments involve in-class work, reflections on craft essays, annotations on creative reading, and one 10-page text of original creative nonfiction. Prerequisite: ENG219, COM209, or permission of instructor

ENG308 - Fiction Writing Workshop

In this course, students write various types of fiction. They work on different types of short stories and may have the opportunity to work with longer forms such as the novella or the novel. Students will analyze the work of professional writers in order to understand a variety of writing strategies, including the uses of and approaches to plot, dialogue, point of view, and description. Students work on short and longer assignments to develop technique and also have the opportunity to structure some of their own assignments. Students' analysis of one another's writing is an extremely important component of the course. Prerequisite: ENG 219 or COM 209.

ENG310 - Poetry Writing Workshop

In this course, we consider English verse by exploring lyric poetry and engaging in its practice. Work by class members is read and discussed, as are other example poems whose study illuminates the use of tools such as imagery, diction, sound device, structure, lineation, and figurative language in the construction of poetic meaning. Reading assignments involve the close examination of poems; written assignments include short poetry annotations and the creation of a portfolio of original poetry. Prerequisite: ENG 219 or ENG 222.

ENG312 - Literature of Postcolonial World

In this course, students consider issues, movements, or traditions in literatures that respond to a history of colonization and/or imperialism. Latin American, African, and Asian cultures or traditions are emphasized in English or in English translations; issues addressed might include matters of publication and criticism, myths about the "third world," nationalism, fundamentalism, human rights, technology, and cultural resistance. Example topics include The Novel in India, Caribbean Dub Poetry, Prison Writing, Major South African Writers, Magic Realism. This is a presentation-intensive course. Prerequisite: Any 200-level English course.

ENG313 - American Multiethnic Literature

This course focuses on the history, variety, and aesthetic conventions of one or more racial-ethnic traditions in American writing. Individual courses might focus on key forms or authors; distinct traditions such as African-American, Latino, Asian-American, or Native American literature; or a survey across several traditions. Examples include Barack Obama and the African-American Tradition, Contemporary Latino Literatures, or Haiti and the US in Haitian-American Writing. This is a writing-intensive course. Prerequisite: Any 200-level English course.

ENG340 - Classics of World Literature

This course explores representative fiction, poetry, or drama by major figures in world literature, centering on topics such as love, tragedy, comedy, immortality, madness, wasteland, quest for knowledge, voyages, or exploration. This is a presentation-intensive course. Prerequisite: Any 200-level English course.

ENG402 - Advanced Writing Workshop

This is the capstone course for creative writing majors and minors. In consultation with the instructor, each student develops and completes a major writing project that focuses on the student’s writing interests. A major component of the course is students’ analysis of one another’s work. The course includes reading assignments that relate to the writing projects. Prerequisite: ENG307, ENG308, or ENG310.