English (ENG)

Develops skills in writing business documents, including letters, memos, reports and case analyses. Emphasis is on format, organization and the use of appropriate language. English grammar, usage and vocabulary will be taught according to the needs of the members of the class. Grading is on a Pass/Fail basis.

This course helps students develop better control of written English with an emphasis on the type of English used in academic writing. Students learn to compose clear essays and to evaluate and edit them for grammar, organization, and content. For nonnative and bilingual speakers only.

In this course, students learn about the elements of an essay and writing. Students also become better skilled at identifying and correcting persistent grammar problems through numerous writing assignments and revision exercises. For nonnative and bilingual speakers only. Restrictions/Requirements: Referral through the English Placement Test for speakers of English as a second language. This course may not be used for core credit.

ENG 105C provides intensive instruction in writing.

This course will emphasize critical reading, writing, and thinking. Students will learn to approach the writing, revising, and editing of well-organized and coherent analytical essays as a series of tasks and learn to develop strategies for effectively accomplishing each stage of the writing process. In addition, students will learn basic research skills, including methods of documentation and the use of library and Internet resources.

This course engages students in the process of writing while still emphasizing the importance of a polished final product. Special emphasis is placed on learning to revise essays for clarity and coherence. Students will read a variety of texts organized around specific themes. Students will also complete a guided research project as they learn basic research skills and methods of documentation. For nonnative and bilingual speakers only.

This course will emphasize critical reading, writing, and thinking. Students will learn to approach the writing, revising, and editing of well-organized and coherent analytical essays as a series of tasks and learn to develop strategies for effectively accomplishing each stage of the writing process. In addition, students will learn basic research skills, including methods of documentation and the use of library and Internet resources.

This course will emphasize the development of argument and analysis as students work with a variety of literary and non-fiction texts. Students will learn more advanced research skills, including methods of documentation, the use of library and Internet resources and the synthesis and integration of primary and secondary sources into their own essays.

This course emphasizes advanced writing, analysis, and research skills as students read and respond to a variety of literary and non-fiction texts. Students continue to develop their research skills, including data collection, methods of documentation, and the integration of primary and secondary sources into their own writing. For non-native and bilingual speakers only.

This course is an upper-level writing requirement. Its focus will be on writing effective essays and research papers in disciplinary modes and in students' field of interest. It may include interviews, analysis of journal articles, and appropriate documentation style formats. Restrictions/Requirements: Sophomore or Junior standing.

This course fulfills an upper-level writing requirement. Its focus will be on writing effective essays and research papers. It may include a number of different modes of professional writing and analysis, and appropriate documentation style formats. This course is recommended for ESL students.

As an undergraduate, community-based research course, students will work with civic and/or local organizations by using narrative research and writing to help advance the cause of voter education and civic engagement. Students, then, will design public writing projects that use applied knowledge of rhetorical theories, relevant disciplinary literacies, and narrative research methods including but not limited to: oral history, biographical studies, ethnography, autoethnography, and life history.

Everyone has an interest in language but most also have misconceptions about how language works. By learning the basics of linguistics (the study of language in general as opposed to one single language), you will learn how linguistic concepts can describe and explain everyday phenomena related to language, such as the commonalities across all languages, how new words are formed and adopted while others are rejected, and why new languages emerge as others disappear. Moreover, language is closely linked to our identities. Consciously or unconsciously, we all make judgments about others based on language, and others judge us as well. A main goal of this course, therefore, is to raise your awareness about issues related to language so that you can challenge common myths and unfair judgments about people based on language. Students in all disciplines should find this overview of linguistic theory and practice relevant to their studies and personal interests. Fulfills AOK 5.

ENG 206: Introduction to Writing Studies surveys the Rhetoric & Composition, Creative Writing, and Professional Writing fields, focusing on studies, practices, and professions of writing. Projects may include critical reflections, field journal analyses, creative nonfiction writing, and digital portfolios framed for later capstone projects.

This course will present students with an overview of the English grammatical system. Students will learn to approach language as an object of study as they engage in description and analysis of how English works at various levels, ranging from the morphological to the syntactic and discourse levels. Particular emphasis will be placed on the relationships between grammatical forms, grammatical meanings, and pragmatic meanings of grammar in use. This course is ideal for students who are considering careers or graduate programs in composition, publishing, linguistics, education, or foreign languages. Fulfills AOK 5.

Writing in Your Profession equips you with essential writing skills for your chosen profession, emphasizing effective strategies for adapting writing to different audiences, purposes, and contexts. Using rhetorical and critical theories, as well as design thinking, you will explore writing situations and contemporary writing issues in the workplace, develop their professional brand identities, and create profession-specific writing material for a professional portfolio. The course highlights writing processes, collaboration, and experiential learning. Whatever your future profession, this course will provide you with the foundations to write your professional future.

Genre Studies offers insight into how language, power, and culture work in the texts we see and write every day, from graffiti and shopping lists to email and academia. This course focuses on how scholars have used genre as a productive category of inquiry, with specific focus on rhetorical analysis, composition theory, and the teaching of writing. We will use scholarly texts to explore the history and flexibility of various genres chosen by students in our course. We will analyze genre as a source of creativity and innovation, as well as a technology of social control and change, as we challenge and advance our understanding of how genres act within our own lives. Fulfills: AOK 2 & 5.

This course will present students with an overview of the English grammatical system. Students will learn to approach language as an object of study as they engage in description and analysis of how English works at various levels, ranging from the morphological to the syntactic and discourse levels. Particular emphasis will be placed on the relationships between grammatical forms, grammatical meanings, and pragmatic meanings of grammar in use. This course is ideal for students who are considering careers or graduate programs in composition, publishing, linguistics, education, or foreign languages.

Common parlance today often regards the word “rhetoric” with suspicion, associating it with language that is constructed to mislead. However, in ancient Greek and Rome, rhetoric was regarded as an integral component of civic life. In this course, we will read foundational texts from the history of rhetoric in order to compare ideas about rhetoric and writing, as they are conceived by rhetors like Plato and Aristotle, to assumptions about rhetoric and writing today. For example, as a class, we will compare historical critiques of the dangers of writing to today’s fears about the destruction of language, especially as a results of using technology and social media.

This course will investigate theoretical and rhetorical approaches to the body. We will examine the idea of embodiment and its relationship to language, gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability. In particular, the ways in which different bodies have been historically erased, controlled, and/or policed. This course will also consider the topoi, commonplaces, and rhetorical affordances of diverse bodies. We will interrogate the normative assumptions about (dis)ability by exploring the “body” as a site of rhetorical analysis and resistance. With a special focus on Disability Studies (disability rhetorics), course texts will draw on work by feminist and queer rhetoricians and scholars of rhetoric who have sought to reclaim bodies that have been omitted from the rhetorical canon.

This course focuses on the relationship between language, linguistics, and discrimination and how language prejudice perpetuates social inequality. After learning about dialects, standard languages, and standard language ideology, students will develop a deeper understanding of what language discrimination looks like and how it surfaces in everyday activities. Students will learn to recognize and critically examine judgments in which language plays a key role. Course material will draw on work from leading researchers in the field of language and discrimination as well as recent controversies closely connected to language issues.

Students will apply from composition, writing center studies, and other relevant research areas by observing writing center tutoring sessions, reflecting on and discussing tutoring sessions, and gradually implementing practices themselves. This practicum course will typically be paired with a course in writing studies such as ENG 206 Introduction to Writing Studies.

This course offers students the opportunity to develop the art and craft of writing short stories, poems, and memoir. Across the genres of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, students will write, read models by contemporary authors, and share new work with fellow students. All of this is aimed to help students cultivate their individual voice and style.

In this creative writing course, students explore the intersection of research on creativity, productivity, success and happiness. Students will explore the idea of how creativity works in all aspects of both personal and professional life-whether you are a small business owner creating a new product, or a writer creating a novel or a scientist creating an experiment, or a student trying to create a new career. We will use creative writing techniques to generate memoirs, stories, personal essays and multi-media works that investigate, challenge and further those American ideals and the current research on happiness and creativity. Each student will use creative techniques and strategies for self-discovery and to generate their own roadmap or path towards a happy future.

As an introduction to the art of playwriting, this course is structured to acquaint students with the necessary creative building blocks of character, action, setting, event, and performance. This class explores what makes a good play, emphasizing the development of both stories and playwriting techniques.

This class will present an overview of the particular demands and limitations of writing for film, television, the web, and other media. Readings may include screenplays and teleplays as well as novels, plays and graphic novels. Students will consider the particular attributes of each form, and how and where they overlap and clash. They will also develop a portfolio of creative work, which may include scene samples, feature and episodic pitches, television spec scripts and bibles, and sketch and monologue writing. New Core: Fulfills 3-credits in Humanistic and Creative Expression (Area of Knowledge IV).

In this course, students will begin by exploring their own "cultural intelligence" to develop the intellectual tools to look deeply into another culture, society or group and to understand the way their own cultural contexts create their ideas about the world. Using the itinerary of the Trip as a starting point, students will study the culture and the places they will visit (through guidebooks, films and internet research), and they will create a series of cultural questions they hope to answer through their travel. Students will also interact with Costa Rican students via online platforms (such as video blogs) over the course of the Fall semester. The final 4 days of the trip will be in the town of Samara, where we will meet local children and offer some English enrichment activities at their day camp. During the travel portion on the course, students will engage in a daily writing workshop in which they will create and publish (via trip blogs): interviews, travel essays and a trip memoir that reflects on their service experiences.

In this workshop class for the novice writer, students will develop the basic skills necessary to help them write stories for the growing variety of visual media: screenplays, sitcoms, one-hour procedurals, limited series, web series, and more. We will examine the storytelling principles that undergird all of them, and the particular demands of each form – the classically structured three-act screenplay; the necessary stasis of the sitcom; the rigorous formal demands and expectations of crime dramas; developing a season arc for streaming seasons. Through a series of writing assignments and exercises, students will learn the basics of screenplay format and elements of scene composition. We will look at specific examples with an eye to noting how they follow or depart from conventional structural elements.

This course will focus on developing students’ writing and artistic skills by exploring a wide range of word- and image-making media, but with a specific concentration on the unique forms of poetic expression brought to life through the interplay of words and images. Prior experience with art or poetry is not a requirement for entering this course. As in more traditional Comics and Graphic Novels courses, students will encounter classic and contemporary examples of the form, while they participate in the avant-garde, multi-genre discourse between poems and images by creating and workshopping their own discoveries.

In a supportive workshop environment, each student will create one or more topical writing projects to be revised and developed for publication. Discussions and assignments will address Issues such as researching the publishing marketplace (appropriate to levels of experience and genre) strategically targeting publications, agents, editors and writing query letters. Additionally, each student will develop a working knowledge of how to navigate the publishing process and Utilize social media 10 promote one's work before and alter publication.

In this course, we will explore questions and research about the relationship between language and gender – how gender influences language variation and vice versa. After reading and discussing some of the foundational work in the field, starting with the pioneering work of Robin Lakoff, we will develop our own research questions and design empirical studies for collecting and analyzing language data. Through the course readings and assignments, we will uncover how our language shapes, and is shaped by, our gender identities. By the end of the course, we will be able to make informed choices as to whether to accept or challenge common assumptions about the influence of gender on language and vice versa. Fulfills: AOK 5

A comprehensive study of the history and structure of the English language with particular attention to language growth and historical change in vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns.

Students will be introduced to a variety of pedagogical approaches in composition and the historical contexts and theoretical underpinnings associated with each approach. Students will draw on the composition literature, their own experiences as students and writers, and observations of students in composition classes to learn about and critique methods for teaching writing. This course is recommended for students considering graduate programs in English or who are interested in working as tutors at the Writing Center. Fulfills: AOK 5

This course introduces the study of lexical and pragmatic meaning in the English language. Topics include componential semantics, metaphor, implicatures, and speech acts. This course examines the words we use and the meanings they convey. Do synonyms really exist in English? What is the difference between a “path” and a “trail?” How do the words we use frame our thoughts and behaviors? How do they help us counter propaganda, clarify our ideas and values, make us laugh, and get practical things done? How do basic metaphors we use every day reveal our implicit worldviews? We will discuss these questions and more by gathering evidence from our experiences and our media. This course should be of interest to students in all disciplines, including those studying linguistics, communication, political science, and creative writing. Recommended for ENG, ECM and ED majors.

This course focuses on developments in the English language, both past and present. Topics include early history of the language and the standardization process, the global spread of English, the emergence of various Englishes in the United States and around the world, and current controversies such as linguicism (linguistic discrimination), language death (or linguicide), native-speakerism, and code-meshing.

Designed to provide students with an opportunity to develop their creative skills in fiction. Critical guidance is given in individual and group discussions.

Designed to provide students with an opportunity to develop their creative skills in poetry. Critical guidance is given in individual and group discussions.

Designed for students who wish to further improve their communication skills, the course emphasizes news writing, news editing, makeup, and headlines. In addition to newspapers, this course will treat other media, including newsletters, house organs, magazines, and broadcasting.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the creative process and to help them develop their skills in writing short fiction. The class will function as a writing workshop, in which students will prepare assigned fiction-writing exercises; read and discuss assigned short stories and chapters on the craft of fiction writing; discuss and critique each other’s short fiction drafts; be guided in different strategies for editing and revising fiction; and become familiar with different styles of fiction.

Students will consider poetry in new ways and read contemporary and other poetry: experimenting with styles, forms, tones, and subjects; revising (i.e. learning to be self-critical); locating sources of inspiration; and considering criteria for publication.

Students will share, revise, and refine their own translations after receiving feedback from other students and the instructor. Texts chosen for translation may include poetry, drama, fiction, or essays. Restrictions/Requirements: Translation Studies Minors must have 6 credits of intermediate foreign language (or approved equivalent).

This course focuses on the history and application of linguistics to address problems related to crime and the law. Specifically, the course illustrates how knowledge gained from a systematic study of language has been and can be applied to real-world forensic situations. Cases in which language data have served as evidence include copyright disputes, accusations of plagiarism, email authorship, anonymous threats, and contested confessions, among others. On a practical level, students will learn about various levels of language studied by forensic linguists (phonetic, morphological, syntactic, lexical, discoursal, and pragmatic) and the types of analyses involved. Overall, students will learn how linguistic expertise can be applied in the interests of justice. Students from all disciplines but especially those interested in pursuing a law degree should find this course valuable.

This course explores elements used in writing plays (dialogue, character, action, setting, and event), concentrating on the short play format or beginning acts of a longer play. Students will do a series of playwriting exercises in different styles, cumulating in a portfolio of student work. Students will also read plays by some classic and contemporary writers.

Students will explore the history and the rapidly growing world of American graphic novels and comics while learning to write for this form.

In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of screenwriting, starting with a general overview and then with closer examination of techniques for developing plot, character, dialogue, and theme. We will explore several examples of screenplays while students work on developing their screenwriting skills.

An advanced course stressing techniques and methods of feature writing. Writing assignments include profiles, human interest, news, and television documentary.

The New Journalism movement of the 1960s led to a change in the way news and events were reported. In this class, we will explore both in reading and writing literary journalism, reading such authors Joan Didion and Tom Wolfe and writing pieces in the same vein.

A course for those who need training in writing forms ranging from business or academic reports to general informative articles, interpretive and critical essays, creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry. [Note: this is only a slightly revised description, with additional advanced writing genres that students may write in during the course: creative non fiction, fiction, or poetry.]

Students will write memoirs about their own lives. Through writing assignments and class discussion of readings, students explore published memoirs and develop voice and perspective, tone, plot, and characterization in their own writing.

This workshop in advanced fiction-writing will provide students with the craft, tools, and inspiration to write individual short stories, a collection of short fiction, a novella, and/or a novel in any fiction genre (historical, experimental, realistic, science fiction, speculative fiction, etc.). Students will be expected to complete a series of writing assignments for presentation and will receive and offer constructive feedback in a positive and supportive environment. In addition, in order for students to develop a reader/writer vocabulary and the skills necessary for critical analysis, the class will be expected to read selected short fiction and articles on the craft of fiction. The course includes individual conferences and class discussions of how to be published and how to apply for Creative Writing MFAs.

This course will provide the student with the craft, tools and inspiration to write as short novel, or short stories, for the middle grade and young reader. The student will learn how to develop a story idea, create a main character, plan a setting, devise a plot, build obstacles, uncover them and find a writer’s 'voice’ as it pertains to the 'kidslit' genre. The student will be expected to complete a series of writing assignments for presentation and constructive feedback in a positive and supportive environment. In addition, in order for the student to develop a reader/writer vocabulary and the skills necessary for critical analysis, the class will read excerpts from a number of contemporary MG and YA books, taken from your recommended reading list. Throughout the course, there will be a few quizzes based on assigned material. By the semester’s end, each student will be expected to produce either a twenty page short story, a few short stories that add up to at least twenty pages or the first twenty pages of an original novel, or WIP (work in progress).

This advanced course for experienced playwriting students will concentrate on using the elements of dialogue, character, action, setting, and event to create longer, more crafted pieces of theater, concentrating on the short play format or beginning acts of a longer play. Using a workshop process, students will write one long play or two short plays that will be created over the course of the semester, Students will showcase their work at the end of the term.

This course offers students the opportunity to explore and examine the freedoms and boundaries of the traditional creative writing genre in order to mix, cross, blend, and subvert them. In its investigation of poetry, fiction, essay, and varied multimodal and digital media, the course will seek to consider the usefulness of limitation and the possibility of hybrid works across these borders, and in the interstitial spaces between them. Students will produce weekly workshop pieces which will ultimately culminate in the generation of a multi-genre project which approaches the questions and considerations at the center of the course. Final projects will be presented at an online event, the Hybrid Forms Exhibit , featuring student works.

Further instruction and guidance in the preparation of scenarios for students.

This course is designed for students who seek to advance their short fiction skills to publication levels. It will focus on fiction-writing exercises and explore styles and aspects of short stories and longer fictional works. While students' writings will be the central focus of peer discussions, there will also be selected readings that demonstrate various styles and techniques of fiction writing.

This course is designed to deal with the writing professions: magazine writing and editing; broadcasting; advertising writing; public relations; and marketing, for example.

The course will emphasize the technical aspects of the teleplay for conventional television situation comedies, including script format, narrative arc structure (within an individual script and within a series and multiple seasons), managing A and B plot lines, and collaborative writing. Some attention will be paid to dialogue writing, and minimal attention to submitting scripts professionally.

This course involves the reading and analysis of important and groundbreaking contemporary journalism, classic travel pieces, and literary narratives on travel. In a discussion and workshop setting, students will examine a wide variety of travel narratives; fictional and literary devices used in travel writing; the literary and journalistic elements of 'writing place' by the exploration of local, national and international travel narratives; and their own unique voices as the traveler/adventurer.

ENG 226E Topics in Professional Writing: Art of Content Creation is a course focused on the various forms and functions of specific business writing genres as they pertain to content creation. This course will place particular attention on collaborative, digital, and hierarchical texts and contexts. The course is centered on both rhetoric and scaffolding in digital writing, as students go about analyzing assigned texts and creating works of their own which make use of these techniques. The course integrates writing assignments and forms of digital communication into a cohesive, semester-long, team project. Assignments include architectural forms of writing for business building (pitches, hiring materials, branding and style guides, mission statements, etc); longer content pieces (analytical and argumentative); and those emerging forms through which businesses must communicate today (short copy, twitter feeds, image and video posts, captions, and other microcontent)]. The course works to consider essential questions driving the field: What are the newly emerging rules of languaging in a virtual space? Are we post-grammar? How is identity communicated digitally? How have traditions in professional writing become newly mediated by social networking? How do we connect to the values of our audiences? Is authenticity possible online?

ENG 326F Topics in Professional Writing: Avatars, Identity, & The Internet is a course focused on examining the myriad means by which identity is sculpted and curated in our current digital landscape. We will explore the ramifications of shifting technology on how identity is now mediated and maintained. Considerations for the course include: What does it mean for people to be able to assert increasing control of their audiences' perception of them? Is authenticity possible in a created online world? Are the values of audiences changing fundamentally? What traditions of professional correspondence are becoming obsolete? Is reality itself at stake, or will it be replaced?

In this workshop class, students will learn the structure of, pitch ideas for, write spec episodes for, and develop season arcs for episodic television. Emphasis will be on capturing the voice of a show; what the formal demands of television writing are; what makes for a good pitch; how best to function in the writers room; the relationship between the writing staff, show runner, network and cast. Each semester will focus on a different genre of the form, which will include (but may not be limited to) the sitcom; the procedural; and the one-hour serial drama.

This course examines language variation within social contexts. We will look at various forms of language, including spoken, written, and online communication. The course content is motivated by the following key questions: How do social aspects interact with the language we use? How and why do we vary the way we speak and write? Why do some of our attempts to communicate fail? What are speech acts and how can a speech act analysis inform our understanding of current social issues, such as the prevalence of microaggressions and street harassment? What are linguistic landscapes and what do they tell us about communities? What are terms of address and how do they reflect status in society? What are some methods for observing, documenting and analyzing interactions between language and society? How can this course inform our reactions to real-world issues? Fulfills AOK 2, AOK 5.

Ethnography is a research method derived from the field of anthropology that uses in-depth observation and "thick description" of cultural practices in an attempt to indicate what meaning these practices have in context. In this course, we will study how to use ethnographic research to examine connections between language and culture. We will read works by foundational theorists in the fields of ethnography and literacy studies and investigate ethnography's capacity for considering questions of why we read and write and how different cultures approach literacy. Fulfills AOK 2, 5.

The idea that writing and language reflect identity is widely accepted, but the reverse proposition, that identity is constructed and mediated by language, is more troublesome because it challenges our commonly held cultural beliefs. In this course, we will consider the idea of identity as constructed by language by reading foundational theories and research in the fields of composition, sociolinguistics, and psychology. We will enter into a conversation with these ideas by examining how our own identities are constructed by language (via an autobiographical literacy narrative) as well as by completing an empirical study of literacy in a site of your choosing. Fulfills AOK 5

A workshop in poetry for those who want to pursue their interest at a higher level. The course will include readings and discussion of contemporary and other poetry, development of individual writing styles, opportunities for feedback, and trips to poetry readings when possible.

A seminar in poetry writing at the advanced level. This course will include readings and discussions of contemporary and other poets, development of individual styles, writing experiments, group feedback, individual conferences and advice about getting published.

An internship is an assignment to a business, corporation, public agency, school, or other organization that provides on-the-job and pre-professional experience. Internships may be full-time or part-time and generally last for one semester. Permission of Department Chair.

Placements in this internship will engage students in a community-based work experience that will involve them in issues and events through which community values are contested. Through writing, research, oral communication, and discussion, students will consider the notion of citizenship from a discplinary perspective, will apply their skills as writers in a way that meets community needs, develop a sense of the role and responsibilities of the engaged citizen, test and expand their leadership abilities, and integrate service and learning. Permission of Department Chair. Restrictions/Requirements:Satisfies AOK I.

With the approval of the appropriate faculty member, the department chairperson, and the academic dean, students may select a topic for guided research that is not included in the regular course offerings. The student meets regularly with the faculty member to review progress. A research project or paper must also be submitted. Restrictions/Requirements: Junior standing and a minimum CQPA of 3.00

This class introduces the elements of writing plays, concentrating on the one-act format. We will read plays by the best writers in the genre in order to understand the ways they move us with their works. We will also do a series of playwriting exercises and end the course by completing a 10-12 page one-act play.

This course is an introduction to the art and practice of cultural criticism. Students will read cultural theory and contemporary criticism that addresses literature, film, art, social phenomena, television, music, and more. They will write critical pieces and learn how to pitch these pieces to current online outlets. Rotation: Fall

In an era where information spreads rapidly and influence is exerted through various online platforms, this course explores the persuasive strategies and language employed in digital and social media spaces. We will examine how creators of online content employ (consciously or not) classical rhetorical principles, and students will critically evaluate real-world examples from various contexts, including political discourse, social activism, and online communities. We will also explore the ethical considerations and challenges associated with digital and social media rhetoric, such as misinformation. The course will culminate in a project where students analyze rhetoric and discourse in an online site of their choosing.