Department of English

ENG 803 – Descriptive Linguistics     3 credit hours

An introduction to descriptive linguistics with emphasis on phonology, syntax, and morphology, as they apply to the study of English as a language.

ENG 804A – History of the English Language     3 credit hours

Development of English language as reflected in the language of writers from the Anglo-Saxon time to the present.

ENG 804P – History of the English Language     3 credit hours

Development of English language as reflected in the language of writers from the Anglo-Saxon time to the present.

ENG 805 – The Teaching of Composition     3 credit hours

Study of topics and issues related to rhetorical theory and the teaching of expository writing in college classrooms.

ENG 806 – Principles of Literary Criticism     3 credit hours

Covers methods and principles of literary criticism with special attention to critical vocabulary and the various strategies of reading literary texts.

ENG 808 – English around the Globe     3 credit hours

An exploration of the role of English as the dominant language of international business, politics, and communication. Topics to be covered include: the factors that led to the establishment of English as a "global language," the social and political implications of global English, the development and features of unique world "Englishes," and the future of English on a global scale.

ENG 809 – Theory of Rhetoric and Composition     3 credit hours

An overview of the history and major theories of the related disciplines of rhetoric and composition studies.

ENG 814 – Writing Seminar     3 credit hours

Individual or group seminar focusing on macro elements of discourse, including but not limited to aims and purposes; argumentation and categories of argument; strategies of arrangement and emphasis; coherence and cohesion. The seminar primarily serves the needs of students working on written projects, especially theses and publications

ENG 822 – Poetry Writing     3 credit hours

An opportunity for students to write their own poetry and investigate what it means and how it works. Students will enhance their analysis skills as they critique each other's poems and explore the writings of contemporary published poets. Repeatable with permission.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 822P – Poetry Writing     3 credit hours

An opportunity for students to write their own poetry and investigate what it means and how it works. Students will enhance their analysis skills as they critique each other's poems and explore the writings of contemporary published poets. Repeatable with permission.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 823 – Fiction Writing     3 credit hours

The study, writing, and reading of contemporary prose fiction, with focus on students composing and workshopping their own writing and analyzing elements of fiction in published writing. Class particularly examines forms of miniature fictions, linked stories, and the novel. Repeatable with permission.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 823P – Fiction Writing     3 credit hours

The study, writing, and reading of contemporary prose fiction, with focus on students composing and workshopping their own writing and analyzing elements of fiction in published writing. Class particularly examines forms of miniature fictions, linked stories, and the novel. Repeatable with permission.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 825 – Creative Nonfiction     3 credit hours

This course examines the concept and contemporary forms of creative nonfiction, including memoir, biography, essay, letter, journal, prose poetry, and combined forms, as well as crossover with fiction in both writing techniques and content shaping. Students will be expected both to critically examine and to write nonfiction.

ENG 826 – Prosody: The Music of Poetic Form     3 credit hours

A course devoted to the art of versification, including a study of metrical structure, rhyme, stanza forms and their relationship with the ideas of poems.

ENG 827 – Colloquium: Creative Writing     3 credit hours

An in-depth study of creative writing. Topic and approach may vary from semester to semester and may include workshop-exclusive classes in fiction, poetry, or nonfiction; intensive studies of particular subgenres or creative forms; or themed creative writing classes.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 832 – Colloquium: World Literature     3 credit hours

A colloquium of a selected period, movement, or motif from western and/or nonwestern literature. The topic and approach may vary from semester to semester.

ENG 838 – Colloquium in Language, Composition, and Rhetoric Studies     3 credit hours

The course will focus on varying topics related to language, composition, and rhetoric, depending on the instructor. Topics may include linguistic theory, history of English, sociolinguistics, literacy studies, writing histories and technologies, genre studies, history of rhetoric, or contemporary rhetorical theory.

ENG 847 – Children's Literature     3 credit hours

A study of texts recommended to or popular among children, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on childhood.

ENG 847P – Children's Literature     3 credit hours

A study of texts recommended to or popular among children, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on childhood.

ENG 848 – Literature for Adolescents     3 credit hours

A study of texts recommended to or popular among teens and young adults, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on adolescence.

ENG 848P – Literature for Adolescents     3 credit hours

A study of texts recommended to or popular among teens and young adults, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on adolescence.

ENG 849 – Children's Adolescent Lit     3 credit hours

A study of texts recommended to or popular among children and adolescents/young adults, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on childhood and adolescence.

ENG 851A – Literature of Puritanism and Early American Nationalism     3 credit hours

A study of the emergence and development of American national literature from the Colonial period to the early nineteenth century. Selected authors and works may differ from semester to semester in accordance with specific instructional emphases

ENG 851P – Literature of Puritanism and Early American Nationalism     3 credit hours

A study of the emergence and development of American national literature from the Colonial period to the early nineteenth century. Selected authors and works may differ from semester to semester in accordance with specific instructional emphases.

ENG 852A – Literature of the American Renaissance     3 credit hours

A study of American literature from the early nineteenth-century to the pre-Civil War period. Authors and works under study may change from semester to semester depending on the organizational design of the course.

ENG 852P – Literature of the American Renaissance     3 credit hours

A study of American literature from the early nineteenth-century to the pre- Civil War period. Authors and works under study may change from semester to semester depending on the organizational design of the course.

ENG 853A – Literature of American Realism     3 credit hours

A study of American Literature from the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth century. Authors and works may vary according to instructional emphasis.

ENG 853P – Literature of American Realism     3 credit hours

A study of American Literature from the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth century. Authors and works may vary according to instructional emphasis.

ENG 854A – Modern American Literature     3 credit hours

The seminar covers the literature of the period roughly from the turn of the century through World War II, focusing on the later development of realism and naturalism and the rise of modernism. Authors, genres, and approaches may vary from term to term.

ENG 854P – Modern American Literature     3 credit hours

The seminar covers the literature of the period roughly from the turn of the century through World War II, focusing on the later development of realism and naturalism and the rise of modernism. Authors, genres, and approaches may vary from term to term.

ENG 855A – Contemporary American Literature     3 credit hours

The seminar examines American literature from World War II to the present. Authors, genres, and approaches may vary from term to term.

ENG 855P – Contemporary American Literature     3 credit hours

The seminar examines American literature from World War II to the present. Authors, genres, and approaches may vary from term to term.

ENG 856 – Literature of the Great Plains and American West     3 credit hours

Examines folklore, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry by Western and Plains writers selected from a time period beginning with pre-settlement literature to contemporary writings and including works by Native American, Latinx, and women writers. Several Great Plains writers will be included. The class focuses on the distinctive features of each genre as well as their similarities of theme and symbol, especially those myths based on the frontier experience and the Sense of Place.

ENG 857 – Colloquium: US Literature through 1855     3 credit hours

Seminar offers students intensive study in different genres in early American literature which spans from pre-Columbian narratives to mid nineteenth century authors. Authors, genres, and approaches may vary from term to term.

ENG 859 – Colloquium: US Literature 1855-Present     3 credit hours

This colloquium investigates major themes, literary cultures, writers, and works in American literature from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Individual authors, works, and topics are subject to change each semester.

ENG 861 – Fairy Tales & Folklore     3 credit hours

This course will cover popular culture historically associated with young people, including fairy tales (from oral, written, and pictorial sources), nursery rhymes, legend, ethnography, childlore, and games.

ENG 863 – The Graphic Novel     3 credit hours

Course will focus on the broad genre of art-writing known as "visual narrative" in comic strips, art books, collage novel, silent film, graphic journalism, single-panel cartoons, comic books, picture books, and graphic novels, including heroic, saga, adaptation, and memoir.

ENG 864 – Critical Approaches to Children's Literature & Culture     3 credit hours

This class explores the unique critical and methodological questions that scholars of literature for juvenile readerships grapple with, in both classic theoretical texts and contemporary criticism.

ENG 865 – American Environmental Literature and Theory     3 credit hours

Course explores questions such as what is environmental literature in the US canon? How can the study of environmental literature forge relationships with other disciplines? In order to answer these questions, students will study major trends in environmental literature. The course focuses on literature and scholarship on the environment humanities and on ecological criticism.

ENG 866 – Global Environmental Literature and Theory     3 credit hours

Course will focus on major trends in global environmental literature. In addition, the course will focus on ecological criticism and environmental humanities with a particular focus on global environmental problems. Readings may include primary texts in biology, history, and literature.

ENG 871A – Language & Composition in the Secondary School     3 credit hours

Study of topics and issues in rhetorical, linguistic, and literacy theory as related to the teaching of language arts.

ENG 871P – Language and Composition in the Secondary School     3 credit hours

Study of topics and issues in rhetorical, linguistic, and literacy theory as related to the teaching of language arts.

ENG 872A – English Literature to 1500     3 credit hours

Study in-depth of a variety of texts written in the period, to be chosen by the professor. The texts studied will change from semester to semester.

ENG 872P – English Literature to 1500     3 credit hours

Study in-depth of a variety of texts written in the period, to be chosen by the professor. The texts studied will change from semester to semester.

ENG 873A – Literature of the English Renaissance     3 credit hours

Study in-depth of one or more major British authors and genres of the period, to be chosen by the professor. The authors studied may change from semester to semester.

ENG 873P – Literature of the English Renaissance     3 credit hours

Study in-depth of one or more major British authors and genres of the period, to be chosen by the professor. The authors studied may change from semester to semester.

ENG 874A – The Literature of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century     3 credit hours

A study in-depth of one or more major British authors of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century, 1660-1780. The authors studied will change from semester to semester.

ENG 874P – The Literature of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century     3 credit hours

A study in-depth of one or more major British authors of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century, 1660-1780. The authors studied will change from semester to semester.

ENG 879A – Literature of the Romantic Period     3 credit hours

A study of the poetry and/or prose of English and/or Continental writers in the Romantic period from 1789-1830. The course may be organized by author, theme, or genre, and the authors and works may change from semester to semester.

ENG 879P – Literature of the Romantic Period     3 credit hours

A study of the poetry and/or prose of English and/or Continental writers in the Romantic period from 1789-1830. The course may be organized by author, theme, or genre, and the authors and works may change from semester to semester.

ENG 880A – Literature of the Victorian Period     3 credit hours

This course investigates one or more British writers and/or genres from about 1830-1900. The texts and artists studied may change from semester to semester.

ENG 880P – Literature of the Victorian Period     3 credit hours

This course investigates one or more British writers and/or genres from about 1830-1900. The texts and artists studied may change from semester to semester.

ENG 881A – Modern British & Commonwealth Literature     3 credit hours

This seminar investigates the modernist movement in British and Commonwealth literature, covering the period from 1890-1940. Emphasizing self-conscious and non-representation as modes of both style and content, this aesthetic and historic movement is marked by its persistent experimentalism. Course content might focus on individual writers, political or historical influences, or genre study.

ENG 881P – Modern British and Commonwealth Literature     3 credit hours

This seminar investigates the modernist movement in British and Commonwealth literature, covering the period from 1890-1940. Emphasizing self-conscious and non-representation as modes of both style and content, this aesthetic and historic movement is marked by its persistent experimentalism. Course content might focus on individual writers, political or historical influences, or genre study.

ENG 882A – Contemporary British and Commonwealth Literature     3 credit hours

While the scope of this course will be on literature from 1950-present, the major emphasis will be on living authors and works produced within the last decade. Individual authors, works, and topics will alter each semester.

ENG 882P – Contemporary British and Commonwealth Literature     3 credit hours

While the scope of this course will be on literature from 1950-present, the major emphasis will be on living authors and works produced within the last decade. Individual authors, works, and topics will alter each semester.

ENG 883 – Colloquium: British Literature through 1700     3 credit hours

This colloquium investigates literary cultures, writers, and works from the medieval through the early modern periods. Individual authors, works, and topics are subject to change each semester.

ENG 884 – Colloquium: British Literature: 1700-Present     3 credit hours

This course examines a variety of British and British Commonwealth literary works from the eighteenth century to the present day. A variety of genres, authors, and periods will be considered within the British literary tradition.

ENG 885 – Narrative Strategies     3 credit hours

Creative fiction writing course offering in-depth study and practice of the narrative strategies needed to produce high-quality literary fiction, including style, pacing, structure, point of view, imagery, dialogue, setting, character, and plot. Aim is for students to demonstrate mastery of techniques in their own writing and identify them in the literary works of others.

ENG 886 – Poetic Strategies     3 credit hours

Understanding the poetry writing process as a series of choices with consequences, this course encourages students to expand and develop their skills with a variety of poetic techniques. While courses such as ENG 822, Poetry Writing encourage students to write in their preferred styles, this course requires students to study and apply a range of (perhaps unfamiliar) methods to develop particular skills.

ENG 887 – Theory and Practice of Digital Rhetoric     3 credit hours

This course explores the theoretical and pedagogical implications of digital media for writing, reading, and communicative action. Print is no longer the standard medium of literacy. The majority of reading and writing now occurs on networked multimedia interfaces that facilitate new literate practices just as they complicate traditional ones. The course re-theorizes literacy and communicative action in light of the nearly universal shift from print to screen.

ENG 889 – Creative Writing Thesis Workshop     3 credit hours

Plan and compose the beginning of a creative writing thesis in prose or poetry while reading and analyzing selected texts and class members' writing. Aim is for students to develop a cohesive plan for a longer manuscript of literary quality, define their artistic goals in the context of the larger literary landscape, and gain constructive feedback from the instructor and a small group of writing students on their writing. Students must submit a creative writing sample for admittance into this course.
Department Consent Required

ENG 895 – Directed Readings     1-3 credit hours

Individual research under the guidance of a graduate faculty member. Proposals for Directed Readings must be approved in advance by the Graduate Director and Department Chair.
Total Credits Allowed: 3.00

ENG 896 – Thesis     3-6 credit hours

Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 897A – Topics in Film Studies     3 credit hours

A study of film with regards to aesthetic and/or historical dimensions. Specific film-related themes, genres, and approaches are subject to change from term to term.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 898 – The Art of Adaptation     3 credit hours

A study of the transformation of texts from one historical period or medium to another. The topic and approach may vary from one semester to another. This course is repeatable with permission.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 899 – Special Topics     1-3 credit hours

This course is intended to provide opportunity for the offering of literary topics not covered by the regular curriculum. Topics are not limited to but can include the study of a single author, a particular genre or theme, and/or comparative or world literature.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00