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SPRING 2010 |
202-001
Introduction to Journalism
Janis Chakars
TR 12:30-1:45
MO 204
This course will introduce students to the basics of journalism writing and reporting. Students will learn the conventions of the craft by examining its elements and producing news stories. We will discuss news judgment, story origination, story structure and composition, sources, and interviewing, among other facets of journalism. We will also pay attention to ethical and legal issues. At the end of the course students will know what makes news and how to report and write it.
202-002
Introduction to Journalism
Shirley Mathews
MWF 12:00-12:50
BR 160
Go beyond the mundane "who, what, where, when and why" of journalism and, over the semester, discover the fact that remains as true today as when the Founding Fathers raised Freedom of Speech as a fundamental right: One person telling the truth can indeed change the world. Extensive practice in the basics of writing news stories, instruction in how a newsroom works, training in how to look for stories and the importance of accuracy, accuracy, accuracy. Roll up your sleeves, put on your good shoes and prepare to walk in the footsteps of giants. Texts include: Mencher, News Reporting and Writing and The Associated Press Stylebook.
202-003
Introduction to Journalism
Lewis Beale
TR 2:00-3:15
BR 160
This is an introduction to media writing, with particular emphasis on writing for newspapers and the web. The course will focus on such basics as how to write leads, story structure, how to cover news events and conduct interviews. We will also work on the difference between news stories and feature stories, and will cover the basics of ethics in journalism, including communications law, especially libel.
204-001 MWF 10:00-10:50
204-002 MWF 11:00-11:50
Jeremy Tirrell
Introduction to Professional Writing
MO 204
Students in this course will engage core professional writing concepts, including audience analysis, research, document design, usability, and ethical composing practices. Students will produce works including technical instructions, usability tests, and public relations documents in both printed and digital formats. Individual and group projects are a feature of this course, as is directed service-learning interaction with community partners.
204-003 TR 8:00-9:15
204-004 TR 9:30-10:45
Introduction to Professional Writing
R. Michelle Manning
MO 204
This web-enhanced course introduces students to the basic concepts involved in professional writing environments and provides guided practice in drafting business documents, such as resumes, memos, proposals and reports. Both individual and group writing projects will be assigned however, collaborative assignments will be emphasized. Most importantly, the class is framed in a service-learning context, which means that students will act as writing consultants for an area non-profit agency or UNCW entity, completing a project that targets real world audiences. By the course’s end, students will produce writing artifacts suitable for inclusion in their professional portfolios. Text: Bowdon and Scott, Service Learning in Technical and Professional Communications.
205-001
Approaches Study of Literature
Keith Newlin
TR 9:30-10:45
MO 102
How does one find something interesting and informative to say about a work of literature? And how does one convey that interpretation effectively in writing? This course seeks to answer those two questions by introducing students to the theories and methods of literary criticism and by providing an opportunity for detailed attention to the process of writing and revision. We will begin by examining a variety of interpretive strategies for reading literature; and then we will write a series of papers applying selected approaches to several literary works. Texts include Lynn, Texts and Contexts; Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers; Alger, Ragged Dick
205-002
Approaches to the Study of Literature
Barbara Waxman
MW 2:00-3:15
MO 202
Together we will study six ways of reading literature and invention strategies for writing about literature. We’ll apply these to fiction, poetry, and drama. We aim to develop a comfortable community of readers and writers as we analyze a selection of contemporary poetry; short stories by Cather, Bambara, Oates, and others; Stephen Crane’s novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets; and David Auburn’s play, Proof. There will be four writing assignments, three of which will require some research. We will workshop drafts of your written responses to literary texts. I will, in addition, schedule conferences with each student for the writing assignments. Our class will also have library instruction in methods of literary research. Texts include: Lynn, Texts and Contexts; Hayes, ed. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets; Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers; Lawn, 40 Short Stories; Schakel & Ridl, 250 Poems; Auburn,. Proof.
205-003
Approaches to the Study of Literature
Cara Cilano
TR 3:30-4:45
MO101
There are two primary goals in this course: to refine our abilities to engage constructively and critically with primary literary texts (and lots of other texts we come across all the time); and to sharpen our research, writing, and speaking skills so as to convey more effectively our analyses of these texts. We will focus as much on our own interpretive attitudes and practices as on the literary works we read in order to formulate an understanding of the relationship between contexts, texts, and readers. Students will read poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and drama, as well as scholarly essays on these texts. They will produce informal and formal written work, some of which will require literary/scholarly research. And they will participate actively. Required texts include: King, Truth and Bright Water and The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.
211-001
British Literature to 1800
Mike Wentworth
MWF 10:00-10:50
MO 207
As a survey of British literature from Beowulf (first recited in the eighth century) to the death of Samuel Johnson (1784), the course will consider such major authors as Geoffrey Chaucer, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Johnson; a broad variety of genres, including narrative poetry, utopian fiction, tragedy, comedy, Christian epic, travel narrative, biography, and the periodical essay; topical and thematic concerns such as wit, imagination, art and nature, reason and passion, life choices, happiness, gender roles, and crime and punishment; such concerns as the value and purpose of literature, strategies of interpretation, and various factors that figure into the enduring permanence of our featured writers; and the relevance of selected works to other works of literature students have read, the current arena of local, national and international affairs, contemporary popular culture, and other academic courses students have taken. Text: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. 1, 8th ed.
211-002
British Literature to 1800
Daniel Noland
TR 9:30-10:45
MO 207
Topics for reading and discussion include talking trees, monstrous hell-bridges, thugs, drunks, naughty jokes, holy rollers, rolling heads, flimsy gowns, all hell breaking loose, eye-gouging, treachery, utopian fantasies, smooth lines, sharp replies, madmen, devoted human and divine love. Grades will be earned through participation, quizzes (if necessary), a few very short papers and a final exam. Text: Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. 1, 8th ed.
Note: This course will be a hybrid, meaning we will be online instead of in the classroom for some of our classes.
212-001
British Literature since 1800
Kathy Rugoff
TR 9:30-10:45
MO 205
Literary texts written in the UK from 1800 to our time present remarkable insights into society and culture and into the natural environment. Writers include William Wordsworth, John Keats, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, and Derek Walcott. We will examine the themes, experiments in style, and the defining characteristics of each writer's work. Important social and political issues will be discussed, and trends in music and the visual arts will be noted. The class includes lecture and discussion. The main requirements are short papers and exams. Text: Norton Anthology of English Literature: Major Authors, vol. b.
212-002
British Literature since 1800
Katherine Montwieler
TR 9:30-10:45
MO 201
Industrialism. Urbanization. The Rise and Fall of Empire. Two World Wars. The Empowerment of Women. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Great Britain witnessed some of the world's most cataclysmic events in history. Writers responded to these devastating, profoundly significant phenomena in poetry, novels, and essays, where they expressed their sometime pleasure in, excitement over, and fear of the momentous changes that daily racked their lives. In this course we'll be reading some of the most important literary works of the last two centuries, looking particularly at how writers address social change and fear of the unknown. Physical and metaphorical monsters--from the machines of the industrial revolution to continental vampires--will guide us as we wend our way through two hundred years of British literature as we explore how writers and the cultures they inhabit respond to social and individual change.
223-001
American Literature to 1870
Lee Schweninger
TR 11:00-12:15
MO 201
This course will offer you an overview of American literature from its very beginnings through the late Romantics in the nineteenth century. We will read this literature in its literary, political, and social contexts, looking at literature of the European explorers, at some American Indian responses to encounters with Europeans, at the colonial era including Puritan poets and historians, at the writings of some of the founding fathers and mothers, and at the Romantic era writers such as Poe, Irving, Stowe, Hawthorne, Dickenson, and Whitman.
You will be asked to keep an informal reading response journal, to write formal short response essays, to be responsible for the readings and class discussions, to take occasional reading quizzes and a mid-semester and a final essay exam. As this will be a discussion based class, attendance and attention to the readings will of course be required.
223-800
American Literature to 1870
Ashley Bissette
Online
Note:
On-campus students will be charged an additional rate for this course based on Distance Education, tuition and fees.
In this course, we will study American Literature from the Colonial era to the Romantic era, including the works of writers such as Paine, Emerson, Hawthorne, Poe, Melville, and Dickinson. We will consider the ways in which these writers have shaped American Literature as we know it, as well as how the literature reflects the history of early America.
This is a fully online course. Assignments may include weekly online discussion board items and reading journal entries, short essays, and a final exam.
Required text: Cain, American Literature (Volume 1).
224-001
American Literature since 1870
Tiffany Gilbert
TR 12:30-1:45
MO 210
This course covers literature of the late-nineteenth century through the current moment. It will challenge us to grasp the meanings and possibilities of literature in a global environment entangled in cultural “clutter.” In many ways, ENG 224 is a course in self-recognition as we encounter our literary and cultural “grandparents” amid the violence and shifts of the last hundred years. Some authors we will discuss may include Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Allen Ginsberg, Alice Walker, and Jhumpa Lahiri. Assignments may include several critical essays, an individual presentation, and a final exam.
224-002
American Literature since 1870
Bill Atwill
TR 11:00-12:15
MO 205
This course surveys the diversity of American literature from about 1870 to the present. In addition to reading texts for their formal, "literary" qualities, we will also examine representative works in their cultural, political, and social contexts. Literature is often most powerful when it "speaks from the margins" of a society, that is, when it provides a voice for those who often go unheard. Among the topical issues we will discuss are emerging feminism, critical response to racism, the literature of propaganda, alienation and literary experiment, and the why some writers get represented in anthologies and others do not. At times selections will be lengthy, so allocate enough time to complete readings. Text: Baym, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th ed., vols. c, d, e.
226-001
World Literature since 1600
Joyce Hollingsworth
MWF 12:00-12:50
MO 201
Guari Viswanathan, writing about religious conversion in India, defines “crosscurrent” as a “current of air or water moving across a main stream; a conflict of feeling or opinion.” She explains, “Reading works from metropolitan and colonial cultures together, or reading them contrapuntally is . . . to experience not only the interdependence of histories and cultures . . . but also the ripples and currents that interrupt, retard, reverse, or accelerate what would otherwise be an undisturbed flow of history. Such a reading strategy produces discordances where there might be a will to hear only tonality and harmony” (Outside the Fold 4). We’ll read in translation fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and folklore from diverse traditions in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas, diving into the crosscurrents. Texts include: Norton Anthology of World Literature, vols. d, e, and f; Aidoo, Our Sister Killjoy.
230-001
Women in Literature
Meghan Sweeney
MW 2:00-3:15
MO 201
Temptress and tart, goddess and angel: in this class we will begin to deconstruct some of the common myths of womanhood. Throughout the semester, we will read stories, poems, and essays written by women from the late nineteenth century to today. We will encounter the usual suspects (Woolf, Hurston, Plath, and more), but we will also study less familiar authors. You¹ll need to be intellectually rigorous, historically aware, and willing to challenge yourself. Be prepared to read and write critically and take part in vigorous class discussions.
230-002
Women in Literature
Barbara Waxman
TR 2:00-3:15
MO 201
How are women depicted in literature written by women during the 20th and 21st centuries? We find out in this discussion class as we look at literary portrayals of girls, wives, mothers, crones, and women who live beyond the confines of conventionality. We look at interconnections among sexism, racism, classism, and ageism in characters’ relationships and the fates imagined for them by women writers. We view a film about later life for a man and a woman, Away from Her, and read the Alice Munro story that is its basis. Students write a couple of short essays, a midterm essay exam, and a final essay exam. Texts include: Martin. More Stories We Tell; Gibbons. Ellen Foster; Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf; Shields, The Stone Diaries; Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban; Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying; Wasserstein, The Heidi Chronicles.
230-300
Women in Literature (Honors)
Tiffany Gilbert
TR 11:00-12:15
MO 210
This course focuses on twentieth and twenty-first century literature by and about women. Our readings will focus on “the bad and beautiful” representations of women in such works as Daphne DuMaurier’s suspense classic Rebecca, James M. Cain’s noir novels The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, Rita Dove’s stunning poetry collection Mother Love, Tennessee Williams’ heartbreaking The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, and recent wonders Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife and Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones. Assignments may include several critical essays, an individual presentation, and a final exam.
232-001 MWF 10:00-10:50 MO 106
232-002 MWF 1:00-1:50 MO 210
African American Literature
Marlon Moore
This survey course introduces students to major themes and writers in the African American literary tradition. Requirements: regular attendance and participation in class discussions, weekly content quizzes, one group presentation, and a 5-7pg final essay. Required text includes: Gilyard and Wardi, African American Literature; Butler, Kindred, (the novel is also available as audio cd and download for the visually impaired).
290-001
Themes in Literature: “Laughing Matters: Contemporary American Humor”
Mike Wentworth
MWF 12:00-12:50
MO 104
“Many native traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any contact with the sacred. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees from rigid preconception. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies lest they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. The trickster in most native traditions is essential to creation, to birth.” (Professor Byrd Gibbens, Professor of English, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. From a letter to George Carlin.)
Regardless of the expression “laughing like a hyena,” laughter is supposedly unique to the human species. So it would seem, if only in terms of the human condition, that “laughing matters.” Come to think of it, we all enjoy a good laugh, whether the source of such voluble risibility is an off-color limerick, another befuddling day in the life of Homer Simpson, Cosmo Kramer’s latest “brilliant brain scheme,” the “funny papers,” or, in the case of our course, the manic adolescent escapades of Paul Feig, George Carlin’s irreverent rants on everything under the sun (and moon, for that matter), the assorted true-life misadventures of David Sedaris and Beth Lisick, Bill Bryson’s hilarious account of hiking the Appalachian Trail, and Dave Barry’s reflections on the absolutely worst American pop lyrics ever written—all of which should confirm beyond a doubt that, indeed, “laughter is the best medicine.” Texts include: Feig, Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence; Sedaris, Naked; Rivenbark, We’re Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle; Bryson, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail; Lisick, Everybody into the Pool; Barry, Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs; Carlin, Napalm and Silly Putty; Keillor, Lake Woebegone Days; Bronner, Piled Higher and Deeper: The Folklore of Campus Life—Legends, Beliefs, Songs, Games, Jokes, Festivals, Slang, Ghost Stories and Other Traditions from American Colleges and Universities.
290-002
Themes in Literature: Pulitzer Prize Drama
Kathleen Gould
TR 12:30-1:45
MO 201
We will be examining 14 plays in all, considering how they embody values and concerns of America at the time of their production and what qualities in them merit the Pulitzer Prize. Some attention will be given to staging. Texts for Wilder, Miller, and Williams must be purchased through the campus bookstore to ensure correct edition, but all will be available through bookstore. Daily reading responses, two papers, group project, extra points film viewing arranged outside of class. Enrollees should look for emails from instructor regarding texts not listed here. Texts include: Wilder, Our Town; Saroyan, The Time of Your Life; Miller, Death of a Salesman; Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross; Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Albee, A Delicate Balance.
290-003
Themes in Literature: Appalachian Literature
Diana Ashe
TR 2:00-3:15
MO 106
This course will explore and analyze the rich and varied literature and culture of southern Appalachia. A region with a troubled past and a fraught present, contemporary Appalachia has been influenced by the factors that make great literature: dramatic settings, colorful people, shocking events, and all of the seven deadly sins. Through film, histories oral and written, literacy narratives, novels and excerpts of novels, short stories, and technical documents, we’ll see how much we can learn by beginning where the stereotypes end. Texts include:Smith, Fair and Tender Ladies; Still, River of Earth; Giardina, Storming Heaven; Norman, Kinfolks; Walker, Affrilachia; Pancake, Given Ground.
290-004
Themes in Literature: The American South in 20th-Century Novels
Marlon Moore
MWF 11:00-11:50
MO 205
We will examine southern culture(s) and character through their depiction in novels by major authors from the south. The focus of our analysis will be on five key aspects: language, class relations, landscape, gender, and race relations. Regular attendance and participation in class discussions are essential for success in this course. Every alternate Monday beginning week 3, students will respond in a 2 typed pages to focus questions posed by the instructor. Texts include: Beck, Southern Culture: An Introduction 2nd ed.; Faulkner, Sanctuary; Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
302-001
Journalism Workshop
Lewis Beale
TR 3:30-4:45
BR 160
Prerequisite: English 202. Students will learn the ins and outs of beat reporting, including how to establish sources, how to write enterprise journalism, breaking news and features. The course will require each student to cover a specific beat involving the university, the city of Wilmington or the region. Subject to availability, guest lecturers from local media outlets will discuss their beats.
303-001
Reading and Writing Arguments
Don Bushman
MWF 9:00-9:50
MO 102
A course in critical reading and writing exploring such concepts as "argument," "persuasion," and "rhetoric." We will study readings from popular periodicals which focus mainly on contemporary social and political issues, and we will critique these readings for the authors’ argumentative strategies. Students will write argument-based essays on topics of their own choosing. Required will be a portfolio of five polished essays (the last of which will require significant research). Texts include: Gage, The Shape of Reason, 4th ed.; Vesterman, Reading and Writing Short Arguments, 5th ed.
304-001
Writing for Teachers
LuEllen Huntley
MWF 9:00-9:50
MO 202
Making the process of writing accessible, meaningful, and compelling to students--from middle school through secondary school and beyond--is not simple. It is, however, fascinating work. This required course for students working toward teacher licensure in English promises to be one that students in the course will not forget as it challenges cultural notions about “teaching writing.” “Comprehensive, contemporary, and practical” describe textbooks we will study written by reputable educators who lead the way. Class members will write often, self-assess writing processes and products, and put into practice theories we examine. Connecting to the professional mission of the UNCW Watson School of Education, this course establishes a platform for future professionals to develop as competent leaders in the field of English Education. Expect to keep a writer’s notebook, complete 2 professional essays and a project based on an unfamiliar genre of choice. Educators we will study include Linda Rief, Penny Kittle, and Cathy Fleisher.
304-002
Writing for Teachers
Ele Byington
Online
This course is designed for students who'll be teaching writing in public schools.The general format for this online course is workshop. You'll participate in both reading and writing workshops and analyze the effectiveness of such workshops for student writers in acquiring and improving writing skills. You'll also examine the effectiveness of portfolio assessment of writing assignments. You'll have ample opportunities to discuss issues related to teaching writing and your own writing, in small group and class discussions. Texts include: Fletcher and Portalupi, Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide; Mahoney, Power and Portfolios: Best Practices for High School Classrooms; Raimes, Keys for Writers. Coursepack of Readings on reserve at Randall Library.
Note: You will need access to high-speed internet connections to complete the work in this course.
306-001
Essay Writing
Don Bushman
MWF 10:00-10:50
MO 102
A writing course focusing on the genre of the personal essay. The text, which provides a sampling of work from contemporary essayists, will serve as the focus of class discussion and as the springboard for the essays students will write. Required will be five original essays, a reflective reading journal, participation in peer reviews of written work, and individual conferences. Text: Atwan. The Best American Essays, 5th college ed.
306-002
Essay Writing
Dan Noland
TR 8:00-9:15
MO 102
Our job in this class is thinking, writing, reading and discussing essays. To succeed, we'll all need the open, active minds of literate adults. The verb essay, in its earlier form assay, means roughly "to make an attempt" or "put to the test." Our readings will range from classical to contemporary, mostly public in nature, but essays always involve a good deal of the essayist’s voice as well. Our writings will allow us to challenge the definition of what counts as an essay by adding various current media and technologies to the traditional, still maximally flexible form. Our discussions will highlight rhetorical considerations. Text: Lopate, Art of the Personal Essay.
Note: This course will be a hybrid, meaning we will be online instead of in the classroom for some of our classes.
309-001
Technical Editing
Colleen Reilly
MW 2:00-3:15
MO 204
Students in this course will work on the fundamentals of writing in order to develop the language and analytical skills necessary to edit technical documents, which include the forms, manuals, policy handbooks, websites, and other texts used in business, academic, and non-profit organizations. Students will study conventional aspects of writing from the level of the sentence to the document to determine if texts are optimally written and structured for their audiences and contexts of use. This course will empower students to identify how documents can be improved and to clearly articulate their recommendations orally and in writing.
310-001 MWF 9:00-9:50
310-002 MWF 10:00-10:50
Theory and Practice of Editing
Shirley Mathews
BR 160
Instruction in strengthening the backbone of writing. Course work includes extensive practice in the fundamentals of punctuation and grammar, editing, copyediting and rewriting, all done with an eye to preparing work for publication. Privacy and libel law are examined. Texts include: Creative Editing; Media Writer's Handbook; the Associated Press Stylebook.
311-001
Professional Magazine Writing
Janis Chakars
TR 9:30-10:45
BR 160
Magazine writing requires mastery of both reporting and creative writing skills. The emphasis of this course is on making engaging journalistic storytelling that can appear in magazines in print or online. It will address narrative conventions typical of magazine writing as well as the peculiarities of the magazine market. In addition to improving writing skills, students will prepare and submit professional quality stories for publication. The goals of the course are to understand mass circulation and specialized magazines and generate publishable story ideas and articles.
312-001 MWF 9:00-9:50
312-002 MWF 10:00-10:50
Writing for Business
Jane MacLennan
BR 202
For all students wishing to maximize career potential by utilizing effective workplace communication. Students will discuss business writing theory as well as rhetorical approaches to business communication. Coursework includes audience analysis and production of letters, memoranda and email, resumes, various reports and proposals. Collaborative writing and presentation skills are addressed. Writing for clarity, effectiveness, and suitability of format is emphasized. This course is valuable for students in all majors. Text: Locker, Business and Administrative Communication, 7th ed.
314-001
Writing and Technology
Jeremy Tirrell
MWF 1:00-1:50
MO 204
Students in this course will explore how digital technology shapes composing practices through critical engagement with new media formats. Students will have the opportunity to use a variety of software applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Docs to analyze and produce multimedia works including interactive maps and online community advocacy networks. Much class interaction will take place through a companion website that supplements class meetings with blog, comment, and wiki features. This course includes both individual and group projects, and some student work will take place in public online formats. Most reading materials will be provided online.
315-001
Topics in Writing and Rhetoric: Radio Revival: Audio Journalism and Media Convergence
Janis Chakars
TR 2:00-3:15
MO 204
New digital technology has increased the relevance of audio journalism in today’s media environment. The World Wide Web has liberated radio from time and space. No longer does a dial need to be tuned at a particular time to catch a radio broadcast. Subsequently, radio has seen a rival of interest and become a popular and creative medium. This course will explore the development of radio and media convergence. Students will also learn to report, write, and edit their own digital audio journalism stories.
316-001
Analyzing Style
Dan Noland
W 3:30-6:15
MO 207
This course focuses on analytical writing about other writers' styles, in order to be able to speak with specificity about what makes an effective prose style. We will begin by addressing grammatical and stylistic principles and concepts and applying them in shorter writings, readings and discussions. We will then move to looking in detail at various authors, both contemporary and historical. Grades assigned from class discussion, analyses and a final project. Texts include: Corbett and Connors, Style and Statement; Hale and Gordon, Sin and Syntax.
Note: This course will be a hybrid, meaning we will be online instead of in the classroom for some of our classes.
317-001 TR 3:30-4:45
317-002 TR 5:00-6:15
Writing about Film
Nicholas Laudadio
MO 201
In this course we will begin with the basics of film language/terminology and move through several genres of film writing: reviews, journal responses, critical essays, and research projects. We will discuss the mechanics of and practice writing in most of these formats, but there will be a particular focus on the critical/analytical essay and review. While much of this class concerns itself with film studies and history, it is at heart (and in practice) a writing course, and therefore a writing intensive course. Text: Corrigan, a Short Guide to Writing About Film, 7th ed.
317-003
Writing about Film
J. Kreul
T 12:30-3:15
KI 104
318-001
Writing and Activism
Diana Ashe
TR 11:00-12:15
MO 204
This course considers the rhetorical power of a wide variety of forms of writing done in the name of social change. We will examine the genres most widely adopted for activist writing, the ways in which context influences and constrains writing, and the impact of motives and audiences upon activist writing. Our primary goal is to discern and analyze rhetorical principles and practices at work in activist writing. Texts include: Stewart, Smith, and Denton, Jr., Persuasion and Social Movements, 5th ed.
319-001
Document Design
Colleen Reilly
MW 3:30-4:45
MO 204
This course involves students in document design as a contextual and rhetorically situated process. Building on skills learned in ENG 204, students will learn approaches to design that involve research into contexts of use and audience-document interactions. Students will analyze the design of existing texts and graphics and produce appealing and effective print and electronic texts and graphics for a variety of purposes, contexts, and audiences. Projects include developing business cards, logos, product labels, and instructions.
320-001
320-002
Introduction to Linguistics
Ele Byington
Online
In this online course, you'll mostly examine your language systems--written and spoken. To begin with, you'll review what you know intuitively about language and how and when you learned to communicate more or less effectively with one another. A major goal of the course is to add conscious knowledge of how language works to your intuitive knowledge. Another is to enable you to articulate that knowledge to yourself and others. At the sentence level, you'll examine different approaches to describing grammar, from prescriptive systems (rules for correct usage) to descriptive systems (rules internalized by speakers of a common language). You'll learn to describe sound, dialects and difference. You'll discuss identity issues connected with language use, the power of words, language and gender, evolving systems of communication, and much more. Text: Coursepack of readings on electronic reserve in Randall Library.
You will need access to high-speed internet connections to complete the coursework online.
323-001
History of the English Language
Dan Noland
TR 11:00-12:15
MO 207
This course, an introduction to the history of the English Language, will investigate both the internal (sound and structures) and external (social and political) components of that history. Our first task is to acquire a common vocabulary in order to describe and discuss English in its various stages, including the Indo-European background. We will spend roughly two-thirds of the semester on Old English, since in it we will be able to see and hear many of the linguistic characteristics that have remained surprisingly constant for 1500 years. Through a familiarity with Old English, we will be in a better position to understand the dramatic changes that created Middle and then our Modern Englishes. Grading on daily preparation and recitation, a short paper or two and some modest evaluative opportunities. Text: Mitchell, a Guide to Old English.
Note: This course will be a hybrid, meaning we will be online instead of in the classroom for some of our classes.
333-001
Shakespeare’s Later Plays
Lewis Walker
TR 8:00-9:15
MO 201
This course covers eight plays selected from the second half of Shakespeare’s career, including representative comedies (Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure), tragedies (Macbeth, Othello), classical plays (Antony and Cleopatra), and romances (The Tempest). Reading quizzes, informal response papers, midterm exam, oral presentation, final exam.
342-00l
Studies in Non-Canonical Literature: The Food Memoir: Tales of Family and Culture
Barbara Waxman
TR 9:30-10:45
MO 106
The food memoir is an increasingly popular genre because it contains: stories of family life and communities; depictions of relationships between the generations; vivid food metaphors and symbols; identity constructions using culture-specific foods; themes linking food to sexuality; food as expressions of religious beliefs. This genre also frequently describes the experience of dwelling in more than one culture, the transcultural individual. We begin with the grande dame of the food memoir, M.F.K. Fisher (a lover of France), and move on to cultural icon and francophile Julia Child. We also discuss memoirs about African American cuisine and community as well as the cuisines and cultures of India, China, Italy, and Jordan. Students write analytical essays about the memoirs, also researching the cultures represented. In addition, students pen their own brief food memoirs. We even sample some of the recipes in the memoirs and experience cooking them together. Texts include: Fisher, The Gastronomical Me; Child, My Life in France; Butler, Cleora’s Kitchens: The Memoir of a Cook; Reichl, Tender at the Bone; Jaffrey, Climbing the Mango Trees; Schenone, The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken; Li, Daughter of Heaven: A Memoir with Earthly Recipes; Abu-Jaber, The Language of Baklava.
351-01
American Realism
Christopher Gould
TR 9:30-10:45
MO 104
Today, the words real and reality rarely appear in print without quotation marks. Though American writers of the late nineteenth century are sometimes said to have operated out of a more simplistic notion of what is real, recent criticism of the Realists and Naturalists view them as having undertaken an effort to broaden and complicate their readers' understanding of realities outside the Anglo Saxon middle class "norm." ENG 351 surveys major fiction writers from 1880 to 1910. Students are asked to keep a journal (20% of semester grade) and to submit more formal responses to course readings in the form of two research-based essays (30% each). There will also be a final examination (20%). Texts include: Alger, Ragged Dick; Chopin, The Awakening, 2nd ed; Crane, The Portable Stephen Crane, ed. Joseph Katz; Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham, ed. Don L. Cook; James, Tales of Henry James; Norris, McTeague; Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
356-001
American Indian Literature
Lee Schweninger
TR 3:30-4:45
MO 207
This course will offer you an in-depth look at several American Indian writers from the 20th (as well as into the 21st) century. We will look at a couple early century writers such as Luther Standing Bear and Charles Eastman and at writers of the so-called American Indian Renaissance: Momaday, Welch, Vizenor, and Erdrich. We will also read some of the younger, more recent writers such as Sherman Alexie and Aaron Carr. We will also consider the very important historical and political contexts of the writings and look at the other arts, especially American Indian painting of the same era.
For this class, you will be asked to keep an informal reading response journal, to write formal short response essays, be responsible for the readings and class discussions, and to take occasional reading quizzes and a mid-semester and a final essay exam. You will also be asked to lead class discussion at least once during the semester. As this will be a discussion-based class, your contributions are critical and thus attendance and attention to the readings will be required.
361-001
Studies in Short Fiction: The Contemporary Story
John Clifford
TR 2:00-3:15
M0 205
An exploration of contemporary American short fiction since 1945. After study of a score of significant stories, we will look in depth at the work of a few masters including Raymond Carver and Tim O'Brien. Three short papers, a midterm, and final. Texts include: O'Brien, the Things They Carried; Carver, Cathedral.
362-001
Studies in the Novel: Rise of the American Novel
Mark Boren
MWF 10:00-10:50
MO 201
This course will look at the evolution of the American novel from its strange gothic conceptions to its mature modern incarnations, focusing for the most part on key works of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century that defined and shaped the trajectory of the novel as we know it today. Most of the works we’ll study were experimental works at the time they were written, although they’ve often been canonized since.
363-001
Studies in Nonfiction: Rural Places
LuEllen Huntley
MWF 11:00-11:50
MO 207
Taking a cue from Alice Walker to venture “to find [our] planet,” this course takes up a journey to rural localities through study of nonfiction prose. One aim is to uncover distinctive qualities about rural communities providing contrast to urban conditions. Even more, class members will experience intimate portraiture of people who--by rural connection--mark and define landscapes. The current move “to buy local”--as this refers to food, goods, and services--supports a belief in harmonious sustenance. Along these lines, organic products are in demand as such commodities reject unnatural production as less healthy to sustaining life on earth. “Rural Places” builds upon the notion of “buying local,” extending literal meanings to encompass beauty existing in places unglamorous. The nonfiction we study will take us to rural outposts compelling us to think about our relationship with those places “nobody notices on their way to somewhere else.” Some of the writers whose work we will read include the following: Alice Walker, William Fiennes, Greg Mortensen, Terry Tempest Williams, Linda Flowers, among others. Class members will keep a writer’s notebook, produce 3 short essays, and a final multimedia project.
375-001
American and British Poetry since 1945: Visions and Confessions
Kathy Rugoff
TR 11:00-12:15
BR 281
American and British poetry written since the Second World War to the present reflects intense visions of the human experience. Some poets delve into their personal emotions, others make political statements, and some do a combination of both. This is a period of experimentation in poetry. Our reading includes remarkable poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, Gwendolyn Brooks, A. R. Ammons, Seamus Heaney, Yusef Komunyakaa, Derek Walcott, and Geoffrey Hill. The class includes lecture and discussion. Previous courses in poetry are not necessary. The main requirements are several short papers and exams. Text: Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, vol. 2.
380-001
Literature for Children
Meghan Sweeney
MW 3:30-4:45
MO 201
In this course, we will become acquainted/reacquainted with a variety of children¹s literature of different genres. By engaging with topics such as family strife, playfulness, and the extraordinary, we will scrutinize not only our notions of a literature for children but also our (often romanticized) notions of what it means to be a child. While the course is useful for educators, it is intended for all those who are interested in both a rigorous examination of literature and the cultures of childhood. Since this is an upper-level English course, writing proficiency and critical thinking are expected.
381-001 TR 11:00-12:15
381-002 TR 12:30-1:45
Young Adult Literature
Katie Peel
MO 104
This course explores constructions of both young adult literature and the young adult. We will look at the history of young adult literature from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century conduct books, to the post-war phenomenon of the American teenager, to the explosion of young adult lit in the 1970s, to current young adult authors and texts. We will consider the goals of young adult literature, especially when it comes to identity formation, and pay special attention to how it handles issues of otherness, for example in depictions of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, and age. While we will focus on print narrative, we will consider the conversations created with media like film and the internet.
383-001
Classics Reconsidered
LuEllen Huntley
MWF 8:00-8:50
MO 210
The idea of “classic” literary works raises questions for which there are no easy answers. For example, why and how does a literary work reach classic status? Once literature is deemed “classic,” what does this mean? How are we as English majors and teachers to define classic literature? What are the implications and consequences of our definitions? These questions guide our journey in this course. Expect to keep a reading journal, complete two essays based upon course texts, select a literary classic you have never before read and conduct a study resulting in a written book talk to be presented to class, and a final cumulative exam. Texts include: Bronte, Jane Eyre; Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Woolf, A Room of One’s Own; Jago, Classics in the Classroom, among others.
386-001
Critical Theory and Practice
Meghan Sweeney
MW 6:30-7:45
MO 201
ENG 386 will introduce you to some of the major critical and theoretical texts that have influenced our perception of literary and cultural studies since the late nineteenth century. Throughout the semester, we will explore notions of intertextuality, difference, ideology, and more, as we read authors like Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, and Edward Said. This is a challenging class, but it can be rewarding if you are willing to immerse yourself in the material. Active, engaged classroom participation is expected.
389-001
Rhetorical Theory since 1900
Kristen Seas
TR 2:00-3:15
MO 101
How can there be writing without authors? Is gender a natural fact or an argument we make? What happens when communication goes digital? Why do we try to communicate at all? Such questions would not have occurred to the ancients who first developed rhetoric as an art of persuasion. Yet in our postmodern world, such questions are pressing as we discover a new appreciation for the power of language to shape human society, action, and even identity. In this course, we will attempt to answer such questions by tracing certain issues – such as the author’s agency and the construction of gender – that have been critical to the development of late modern and postmodern theories of language, discourse, and persuasion. Although our focus will be on rhetorical theory, we will also be drawing on some theorists and philosophers of language in the areas of literary criticism, linguistics, and communication as well. Required Text: Course Pack.
390-001
The Beat Generation and American Culture
Mike Wentworth
MW 2:00-3:15
MO 207
One of the most legendary drivers in American fiction at one point turns to his traveling companion and declares, “O man, I have to tell you NOW I have IT.” And you will, too, once you’ve got a ticket to ride far into the endless American night in the bad company of such notorious tour guides as Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, “Wild Bill” Burroughs, Allan Ginsberg, John Clellon Holmes, Herbert Huncke, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, and other of their equally disaffected “beat” confederates. Spend some time with “the Holy Goof,” a veritable “Don Quixote of tenderness,” a “demon of fantastic anarchy,” the “cool man,” the “prelate of junk,” and “a real realist with a real tale to tell” and discover who gave away his last $2.27 on January 17, 1956 and to whom, who intends to retire to the Lake Isle of Manisfree before it’s too late, and what you’d serve Jack Kerouac for dinner. Or imagine you’re walking down the street on your way to clinch an important business deal when, anxious about the time, you check your watch only to find to your utter dismay that your Rolex has stopped. You notice a stranger, who just happens to be Neal Cassady, and you nervously ask him for the time. Find out what, exactly, Cassady’s response would be. Texts include: Burroughs, Junky; Ferlinghetti, A Coney Island of the Mind; Ginsberg, “Howl” and Other Poems; Kerouac, On the Road and Dharma Bums; Kotzwinkle, The Fan Man; Johnson, Minor Characters: A Young Woman’s Coming-of-Age in the Beat Orbit of Jack Kerouac; Snyder, “Riprap” and “Cold Mountain Poems.”
495-001
Senior Seminar: "Nineteenth-Century Forms and Femininity"
Katherine Montwieler
R 3:30-6:15
MO 102
Within this course, we’ll explore how femininity changes through the nineteenth century. Beginning with Wollstonecraft’s polemical Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a fierce indictment of convention, we’ll meet Jane Austen’s “angriest heroine” (Fanny Price) and Mary Shelley’s weepiest (it’s not who you think). In Villette, Charlotte Bronte will show us the strange fate of English women who travel abroad, and in The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole, Mary Seacole will offer her own history as a working woman of color in Great Britain and the Crimea. Rossetti, Barrett Browning, and Michael Field will offer surprising perspectives on the connections between femininity and spirituality, politics, and sexuality, as we consider how studying nineteenth-century depictions of gender illuminates our understanding of the constructions of our present moment.
495-002
Senior Seminar: Spies and Fundamentalists
Cara Cilano
TR 2:00-3:15
MO 202
Starting with Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, a gold standard colonial adventure story, this course will trace the figure of the government operative and his counterpoint, the fundamentalist (be he Indian nationalist, communist, Islamist, what have you), through the colonial adventure story through to American spy thrillers (fiction and film) to arrive at an understanding of the central role India and Pakistan have played in the Western literary imaginary’s representations of colonial, Cold War, and post-9/11 global politics. Against this backdrop, students will then encounter the figure of the spy and his counterpoint in the South Asian literary imaginary. The contemporary fiction by Indian and Pakistani writers at times calls into question the ‘interference’ by foreign powers in the subcontinent’s domestic affairs while it also examines in finer detail the on-the-ground consequences of India’s and Pakistan’s respective relations with global powers and with each other. Novels and films include Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, Ron Howard’s Charlie Wilson’s War, Colin MacKinnon’s The Contractor, Stephen Gaghan's Syriana, Mohammed Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes, Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown, and Tariq Ali's A Banker for All Seasons: Crooks and Cheats, Inc.
496-001
Senior Seminar: Writing and Ethics
Don Bushman
MWF 12:00-12:50
MO 102
A writing course investigating the intersection of language and ethics. Part of the course will be devoted to exploring the way writing can assist in self-understanding and hence help us figure out where we stand on complicated ethical issues. A more sizable amount of the course will focus on reading and analyzing texts that investigate the relationship between language and ethics: discussions of the persuasive power of rhetoric and on the uses (and abuses) of persuasion; analyses of the language of advertisers, the government, and other institutions; explorations of the concept of plagiarism; and so forth. Required will be two lengthy, researched essays, several short, informal papers, and an oral report. Texts: Online and reserve readings.
496-002
Senior Seminar: Writing in a Networked World
Kristen Seas
TR 3:30-4:45
MO 204
Writing in the 21st century is not only about mastering new technologies, but about making sure that your writing gets noticed in a world drowning in information. More and more people are clamoring for a reader’s attention (both online and off) than ever before. So after you’ve learned how to write well and use the technology at your disposal, how do you make sure that your message gets out there and “sticks” in the minds of readers? How can you take advantage of social networks and digital technologies to circulate your message and make an impact? This section of the Senior Seminar in Rhetoric and Writing will look at concepts and practices behind communicating in a networked age as well as what it means to be an effective author/designer of texts that have staying power in a world of short attention spans and rapid change. Students will maintain their own blogs, complete a research paper, and conduct a client-based project that will apply the principles covered in class to a real world situation. Texts include: Gladwell, The Tipping Point; Heath and Heath, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
