ENG: English
How to Read Course Descriptions
ENG 199. English Transfer Credits. 1-10 Credits.
Transfer Credits
Repeatable for credit.
ENG 201. Introduction to English Studies. 3 Credits.
This course is an introduction to the English Studies discipline and its many sub-fields of inquiry. It emphasizes interpretation and production of textual genres. Students examine how their reading and writing strategies affect their interpretation and production of texts.
ENG 201 Prerequisite: English majors only.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
ENG 202. Research Methods for English Studies. 3 Credits.
This course teaches core research skills using exciting and varied real research topics by practicing scholars in the department. Students will consider the ethics of responsible research and analysis, and they will learn the fundamentals of library and internet research, document analysis, and rigorous evidence-based writing, including their grasp of academic writing in English. English scholars draw upon a wide range of fields and disciplines and embrace various research methodologies, and research in English is more than just locating and synthesizing peer-reviewed scholarship. Students will therefore also be introduced to at least one other method of research, for example archival, ethnographic, or digital humanities methods. They will also be taught the moves that writers of academic research writing often make. As students synthesize research into their writing, they will negotiate those moves to develop further their academic voices.
ENG 202 Prerequisite: English majors only.
ENG 206. Black Critical Theory. 3 Credits.
This course explores the political, social, cultural, and historical factors that influenced the development of twentieth century Black Critical Theory. Students will develop an awareness of critical, theoretical, and rhetorical approaches to textual analysis that are central to the field of English Studies as they learn about crucial moments in African American and Diasporic history and culture such as The Harlem Renaissance, The Realist/Protest Movement, The Civil Rights Era/Black Arts Movement, and The Feminist/Womanist Movement.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
ENG 215. Views on Literacy. 3 Credits.
The historical and social contexts of English literacy. Emphasis on writing.
Gen Ed Attribute: Interdisciplinary
ENG 240. Language, Gender, and Sexuality. 3 Credits.
This course introduces students to the study of language as a resource for the production of gender and sexuality. Discussion of popular beliefs and scholarly theories about language and communication.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diverse Communities, Writing Emphasis
Distance education offering may be available.
ENG 270. Book History: Introduction. 3 Credits.
This course studies the history of the creation, production, distribution, circulation, and reception of the written word. As it traces how authorship, reading, publishing, and the physical properties of texts have altered over time, the course examines, both historically and analytically, the intellectual, social and cultural impact of changing communications technologies against the backdrop of our current digital age.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
ENG 280. Introduction to Digital Humanities. 3 Credits.
An introduction to new media, digital humanities, and computational approaches to literature and writing, with a survey of theories, methodologies, and current critical practices.
ENG 280 Prerequisite: Successful completion of WRT 120 or WRT 123.
ENG 295. Histories and Texts. 3 Credits.
This course focuses on history and its influences on the reception and production of texts. Students will be asked to engage critical historical and literary materials in order to develop insight into how cultural historical circumstances enable the production of texts and influence how readers respond to them. Second of three majors' core courses.
ENG 296. Theory & Criticism in English Studies. 3 Credits.
Students will examine major theoretical approaches to working with texts with an emphasis on how the relationship between meaning and text is conceived by different critical theories. This course also provides students with an overview of the intellectual lineage that subtends modern and postmodern theory in the humanities, highlighting the ways in which postmodern theory came to challenge earlier aesthetic and philosophical movements, such as pre-sophist, Greco-Roman, Medieval, Modern, Romantic, and Enlightenment traditions in Western European cultures. The course helps students to both understand and challenge the dominance of Western Culture in English Studies altogether by exploring comparative non-western aesthetic and philosophical movements.
ENG 296 Prerequisite: English majors only.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
ENG 310. Environmental Rhetoric and Advocacy. 3 Credits.
The focus of this course will be environmental rhetoric and advocacy. Environmental rhetoric refers to the intersection of language and thought about the ecological environment, including how nature and environmental have historically been constructed in human culture, how the environmental issues we face today are bound to those historic constructions, and how we can use language to advocate for healthier and more sustainable environment futures through writing. The course is organized into three units that reflect this focus: environmental past, environmental present, and environmental future(s). Students will draw from analytic and methodological traditions in the humanities and English Studies to understand environmental history. They learn to apply rhetorical framing, including narrative framing and metaphoric framing as a lens for interpreting contemporary environmental texts, and we will learn genres of advocacy writing to participate in creation of a more sustainable environmental future.
ENG 310 Prerequisite: Successful completion of WRT 200.
Gen Ed Attribute: Sustainability Pathway, Writing Emphasis
ENG 320. Usability & User Experience. 3 Credits.
Introduction to usability and user experience in the development and revision of websites, including issues of accessibility.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
ENG 325. Stylistics: The Language of Literature. 3 Credits.
This course examines the interface between language and literature, exploring the language of literary texts through linguistic methodologies. Students will address two central questions: “What is style?” and “How do texts mean?” Students will learn to identify and analyze specific linguistic features and use them to interpret the meaning of texts. Topics include cohesion, transitivity, modality, point of view, speech and thought representation, and metaphor. Students will study a range of literary texts, including drama, poetry, and prose from various literary periods, and draw connections to the analysis and understanding of contemporary media. Discussions will also cover how advertisements persuade audiences, the characteristics of strong versus weak writing, and the use of persuasive language in political and media discourse.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
Equivalent courses: ENG 250
ENG 331. Structure of Modern English. 3 Credits.
A detailed analysis of the modern descriptive approach to the study of English grammar and how it compares with the traditional approach.
ENG 335. History of the English Language. 3 Credits.
Review of the influences on the development of the English language.
ENG 339. Dialects of American English. 3 Credits.
Development of the English language in America since colonial settlement. Pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar of the regional and social dialects of American English.
ENG 339 Prerequisite: Successful completion of LIN 230.
Gen Ed Attribute: Speaking Emphasis
ENG 340. Sociolinguistics. 3 Credits.
This course offers an introduction to sociolinguistics, the field of linguistics that examines language in its social context. Students will explore topics such as linguistic variation and its relationship with social factors like identity, class, and power; the phenomena of language birth and death; multilingualism and code choices in bilingual/bi-dialectal communities; and the intersections between language and gender. Throughout the course, students will critically examine language as a stylistic practice and consider how societal attitudes towards specific language varieties can have profound social and political consequences, often marginalizing and disempowering speakers of those varieties. A key component of the course will involve engaging with the ethical dimensions of these topics. Students will discuss the role of language in perpetuating inequality and the responsibilities of linguists in studying and representing linguistic diversity.
ENG 340 Prerequisite: Successful completion of LIN 230.
Gen Ed Attribute: Ethics Requirement
ENG 345. Women Writing: Autobiography. 3 Credits.
A writing seminar directed toward the reading of women's autobiographies and the writing of personal autobiographical narratives.
ENG 368. Business and Organizational Writing. 3 Credits.
The nature of communication within business and organizations. Theoretical basis and practical application.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
Distance education offering may be available.
ENG 371. Technical Writing. 3 Credits.
Instruction in the forms and techniques of written, oral, and visual communication currently practiced in the scientific and technical professions. A series of coordinated assignments leads to a final project in the student's field of professional study.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
ENG 375. Strategies for Writing in the Workplace. 3 Credits.
Strategy and politics of client-centered and competitive writing that achieves objectives for the professions and organizations.
Gen Ed Attribute: Community Engagement Pathway, Writing Emphasis
ENG 395. Internship. 3-12 Credits.
Intensive practical experience with selected businesses, media, and public agencies. Limited to qualified students who have earned a minimum of 80 credit hours. See Handbook for English Majors for specific requirements.
Repeatable for credit.
ENG 397. Writing Tutoring. 3 Credits.
Theory and practice of writing tutoring, especially for those who plan a career in teaching or who are focusing on the remediation or development of language and writing skills.
Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
ENG 400. Research Seminar. 3 Credits.
This course is a variable-topic research seminar. Students will do advanced work in many topics in English studies, including literature, rhetoric, film, cultural studies, composition, aesthetics, theory, individual authors. This course may be repeated for credit.
ENG 400 Prerequisite: English majors or minors only.
Distance education offering may be available.
Repeatable for credit.
ENG 410. Independent Study. 1-3 Credits.
Directed readings and projects in English studies.
Repeatable for credit.
ENG 414. Tutoring Practicum. 1 Credit.
Contact department for more information about this course.
ENG 499. English Capstone. 3 Credits.
Students will complete two projects (portfolio and capstone project) to demonstrate proficiency in the skills and methods they have acquired in the major. Taken in the student's final year.
ENG 499 Prerequisite: Successful completion of ENG 201; ENG 202 or ENG 295; and ENG 206 or ENG 296; and 90 completed credits. English majors only.
Gen Ed Attribute: Speaking Emphasis
