Department of English

ENG 100A – English for Academic Purposes     3 credit hours

An introduction to the challenge of reading and writing academic prose. The course encourages students to become more analytical, interpretative, and self-conscious of the persuasive motives of writing. Students learn to develop, organize, and express complex ideas that are appropriate for the academic context. Study of the writing processes will include multiple drafts, revision, invention, and critical thinking strategies.

ENG 101 – Introduction to Academic Writing     3 credit hours

A study of the art of composition with special emphasis on the writing process and academic genres. Students study methods of invention and arrangement, develop basic research knowledge, and hone their stylistic and grammatical skills as appropriate to varying audiences and contexts.

ENG 102 – Special Topics in Academic Writing and Research     3 credit hours

A continuing study of composition with emphasis on intertextuality. Students learn to read texts in a variety of ways, to respond to those texts, to integrate voices from multiple sources into a single paper using standard citation conventions, and to find pertinent information through library research or interviews and to use it to create coherent and well-developed papers.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or Department Permission

ENG 126 – First Year Seminar     1 credit hour

The First-Year Seminar provides students with a multidisciplinary experience in which they approach an issue or problem from the perspective of three different academic differences. The First-Year Seminar will consist of three 1-credit hour courses taken as co-requisites in a single semester. The successful completion of all three courses satisfies the General Studies LOPER 1 course requirement. Students may take the First-Year Seminar in any discipline, irrespective of their major or minor. Students admitted as readmit students or transfer students who transfer 18 or more hours of General Studies credit to UNK are exempt from taking a LOPER 1 course.

ENG 153 – Democratic Vistas     3 credit hours

This course focuses on two questions: WHAT IS AN AMERICAN? WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN AMERICAN? Students will read selected writings of major American cultural figures who have investigated and questioned American identities.

ENG 211 – Introduction to Creative Writing     3 credit hours

This course is an introduction to the four creative genres: poetry, fiction, screenwriting, and non-fiction. In addition to demonstrating the creative elements of writing and the process of revision, students will develop their critical skills from a writer's perspective.

ENG 214 – Beginning Fiction Writing     3 credit hours

In this course, students study the techniques and materials of prose fiction and write their own works of fiction. Course readings primarily include fiction written by the class members, though some published contemporary stories are included to provide models and help students read fiction well.

ENG 215 – Introduction to Creative Writing for the Stage/Screen     3 credit hours

In this course, students learn the technique and materials of writing drama. The aim is to allow students to develop the skills necessary to create finished pieces of work for theatre, film, or television and to give students the critical tools to read and assess dramatic scripts.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 217 – Beginning Poetry Writing     3 credit hours

In this course, students study the techniques and materials of poetry and write their own works of poetry. Course readings primarily include poetry written by the class members, though some published contemporary poems are included to provide models and help students read poetry well.

ENG 218 – Literature and Language of Medicine and Caring     3 credit hours

In this course, students will explore a variety of literary texts dealing with some major concerns in modern medicine from the early 20th century to the present. We'll consider how writers convey experiences of illness and disability that often elude language, how language itself affects social attitudes toward certain diseases and treatments, and how literature might offer us some valuable perspectives as we seek to understand current conversations around physical and mental health.

ENG 220 – Introduction to Film Studies     3 credit hours

Introduction to Film Studies is designed to introduce thinking and writing about the cinema by means of film theory and history. The course aim is to study films and essays that have proved central to ways of thinking about the cinema.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 234 – Reading and Writing about Literature     3 credit hours

An introduction to the principles of close reading, the interpretation, and the criticism of literary texts. Prerequisite for all 300 and 400 level courses intended to count toward the major. Required of all undergraduate English majors.
Prerequisite: ENG 102

ENG 235H – American Studies     3 credit hours

In this General Studies course for Honors students, students will employ the techniques of interdisciplinary studies to arrive at an understanding of American culture. They will focus on problem(s) in American life, which may range from local to international and may deal with any or all time periods. Subject matter from a variety of disciplines will help illuminate the problem being studied.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 240H – Literary Classics of the Western World     3 credit hours

In this General Studies course for Honors students, students will be introduced to major works of literature ranging from classical antiquity to the present. Authors, genres, and periods will vary. Emphasis will be placed on close reading and comparative analysis, as well as the question of how to define a classic.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 250 – Introduction to Literature: British Literature     3 credit hours

This course offers students the opportunity to read, discuss, and write about carefully selected British literary texts. As they engage with the readings, students will hone their powers of perception and analysis to support any area of further study. They will also acquire the skills necessary for clearly articulating the greater insights into the human condition that a study of selected British authors provides.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 251 – Introduction to Literature: American Literature     3 credit hours

This course offers students the opportunity to read, discuss, and write about a diverse array of American literature. As they engage with the readings, students will hone their powers of perception and analysis to support any area of further study. They will also acquire the skills necessary for clearly articulating the greater insights into the human condition that a study of selected American literary texts, backgrounds, and perspectives provides.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 252 – Introduction to Literature: Western Civilization     3 credit hours

This course offers students the opportunity to read, discuss, and write about Western literature. As they engage with the readings, students will hone their powers of perception and analysis to support any area of further study. They will also acquire the skills necessary for clearly articulating the greater insights into the human condition that a study of representative literary works from the ancient to the modern Western world provides.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 253 – Intro to Literature: Non-Western Civilization     3 credit hours

This course offers students the opportunity to read, discuss, and write about an exciting range of World literature from Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, or Oceania. As they engage with the readings, students will hone their powers of perception and analysis to support any area of further study. They will also acquire the skills necessary for clearly articulating the greater insights into the human condition that a study of literary works which have either shaped or reflect contemporary thought provides.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 254 – Introduction to Literature: Special Topics     3 credit hours

This course offers students the opportunity to read, discuss, and write about literary texts that address a particular theme. As they engage with the readings, students will hone their powers of perception and analysis to support any area of further study. They will also acquire the skills necessary for clearly articulating the greater insights into the human condition that a thematic study of literary works provides.
Total Credits Allowed: 12.00
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 255 – Introduction to Children's Literature     3 credit hours

This course engages in a study of culturally diverse texts from varied historical contexts that have been recommended to and/or are popular among children, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on childhood.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 260 – Images of Women in Literature     3 credit hours

An introduction to the study of images of women in various genres of literature. Works of fiction, poetry, and drama written by women will be studied and discussed.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102

ENG 280H – Special Topics     3 credit hours

In this General Studies course for Honors students, students will examine a question from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to develop critical thinking and analytical writing skills. Readings may range from novels and short stories to movies, songs, poems, and/or graphic novels.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 or ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 303 – Introduction to Linguistics     3 credit hours

This course is designed to study language in the manner of the structuralists. It includes introductory phonology, morphology, and syntax, together with an introduction of topics such as regional and social dialects, semantics, and discourse analysis.

ENG 304 – Grammar I     3 credit hours

The purpose of the course is to develop the ability to observe, analyze, and articulate the structure of language, including the morphological character of individual words, syntactic relations among words, and the grammatical and/or social acceptance of linguistic constructions. The course also examines approaches to the study of grammar, from the prescriptive tradition to transformational-generative theories and beyond.

ENG 311 – Advanced Writing     3 credit hours

In this course, students will study writing processes as they have been described by professional writers and rhetoricians. The purposes of this course are to familiarize students with various conceptions of the writing process, to introduce them to composition research methods, and to give them ample opportunity to investigate and experiment with various writing strategies.
Prerequisite: ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 312 – Technical and Science Writing     3 credit hours

Technical and Science Writing explores written communication in technical and scientific contexts through the study of genres and audiences commonly encountered in professional situations. Students will study articles and books on theoretical and applied sciences, then compose a research article or feasibility report.
Prerequisite: ENG 102

ENG 320 – Creative Play/Script Writing     3 credit hours

Formal differences of the drama and screenplay are studied extensively while writers also concentrate on the methods and principles of dramatic adaptation of literary narratives.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 322 – Narrative Medicine: Creative Writing for the Medical Community     3 credit hours

In this course, students study the creative works of writers whose essays, poems, and stories explore their relationship to the medical field and/or to memory. Students will have the opportunity to visit a local memory care center and to spend time with the residents there. This course fulfills the experiential learning requirement.

ENG 330 – European Literature in Translation     3 credit hours

This course features the texts of European writers in translation who have had an impact on world literature. These may range from classic to contemporary artists. Its focus may be that of a specific artist, movement, or literary tradition.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 333 – Postcolonial Literature in a Global Context     3 credit hours

This course will examine the writing of postcolonial authors writing in English and translated from other languages. Often, these authors dramatize the conflicts between traditional cultural practices and beliefs and the effects of colonialism, migration, climate change, and globalization. The texts selected represent a wide range of peoples and cultures from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or instructor permission

ENG 336 – Ancient Literature     3 credit hours

This course examines influential literature from the ancient world, including the Homeric epics, drama, and mythology, with attention to cultural contexts, literary elements, and artistic afterlives.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or instructor permission

ENG 337 – Special Topics in Popular Literature     3 credit hours

This course promotes an understanding of the term "popular literature" through a study of texts, genres, or traditions that have enjoyed broad and continuous audience appeal. It may focus on a genre (fantasy, the detective story, science fiction) or a particular myth or legend that enjoys widespread recognition in popular culture. It may be taken twice provided the topic offered is different each time.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00
Prerequisite: ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 338 – Studies in a Literary Genre     3 credit hours

Students will engage in a historical and/or critical study of a selected genre such as poetry, drama, the novel, autobiography, and the short story. A variety of representative works in the literary genre will be examined.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 352A – Survey of US Literature I     3 credit hours

This course will provide a historical and critical study of major American writers to the mid-nineteenth century.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 352B – Survey of US Literature II     3 credit hours

This course will provide a historical and critical study of major American writers from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 358 – Literature of the American West     3 credit hours

Students will be introduced to Western writers selected from a time period extending from the Native American oral tradition to contemporary poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama. Several Nebraska authors will be studied as well as works by women, Chicano, and Native American writers.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 359 – Contemporary American Multicultural Lit     3 credit hours

This course will examine multiculturalism and how it has impacted American literature. Readings will include philosophical, historical, and political approaches to multiculturalism. Students will read a wide variety of contemporary American ethnic literatures, including writings by Native American, African American, Hispanic American, and Asian American authors.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 360 – American Women Writers     3 credit hours

The American Women Writers course will survey American women's writings from early captivity narratives to contemporary avant-garde poetry.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 361A – Reading Nebraska     3 credit hours

This course examines literary and cultural representations of Nebraska and their place in American literary history. Students will read a variety of genres with a focus on multiculturalism, environmental humanities, and poetry. Emphasis will also be placed on the legacy of Willa Cather.
Prerequisite: ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 361B – Nebraska Life Writing     3 credit hours

This course will engage students in active research and writing about the people of Nebraska and their relationships to place and memory with special emphasis on Nebraska writers, environmental humanities, and oral history. Students will develop skills in field and archival research methods. This class satisfies the university's experiential learning requirement.
Prerequisite: ENG 102

ENG 362A – Survey of British and Commonwealth Literature I     3 credit hours

Students will complete a historical and critical study of major British and Commonwealth writers through the seventeenth century.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 362B – Survey of British and Commonwealth Literature II     3 credit hours

Students will complete a historical and critical study of major British and Commonwealth writers beginning with the Restoration and eighteenth century.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 373 – Film Genre     3 credit hours

Students in this course will study various film genres, such as the Musical, the Western, the Gothic, and Film Noir, from their inception in the early twentieth century to the present day. This course concentrates on a particular genre depending on the semester. Course material will include weekly film screenings.
Prerequisite: ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 374 – History of the Motion Picture     3 credit hours

This course traces the development of the motion picture through various stages (silent cinema, Classic Hollywood, and post-Classic Hollywood) and approaches it from differing perspectives; artistic, technological, economic, and cultural. What makes the motion picture distinctly modern; that is, what did it inherit from earlier entertainment (literature and the stage, for instance) and how does it benefit from innovations in technology?
Prerequisite: ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 404 – History of the English Language     3 credit hours

This course explores the origins and development of the English language, using a combination of linguistic, literary, cultural, and historical methodologies.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or ENG 303 or ENG 304 or instructor permission

ENG 406 – Principles of Literary Criticism     3 credit hours

Students will study the methods and principles of literary criticism. Special attention will be paid to critical vocabulary and the various strategies of reading literary texts.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 408 – Medicine and Disability in Narrative and Writing     3 credit hours

In this course, students will explore a variety of literary texts dealing with some major concerns in medicine past and present while developing their own voices as medical humanities and disability studies scholars. Critical thinking, close reading, and academic research skills will be developed through class discussions and writing projects. Genres, topics, and emphases will vary by semester and instructor.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 411 – Advanced Writing II     3 credit hours

A study of writing as a social act. Students study theoretical descriptions of rhetorical genre, audience, and situation. Besides writing papers that discuss these theories, students also practice writing in a situated rhetorical context and may be asked to work collaboratively.
Prerequisite: ENG 102

ENG 415 – Advanced Fiction Writing     3 credit hours

This course will provide a further study of the techniques of prose fiction, concentrating on stylistics. Student manuscripts, written for the course, will provide most of the examples for study. Contact department for permission to register.
Prerequisite: ENG 211 or ENG 214 or ENG 215 or ENG 217

ENG 419 – Advanced Poetry Writing     3 credit hours

This is an advanced course in writing lyric poetry. Students concentrate upon their own style and subject matter.
Prerequisite: ENG 211 or ENG 214 or ENG 215 or ENG 217

ENG 424 – Teaching Secondary School English     3 credit hours

Students will explore the content and methods of teaching language, literature, and composition in the secondary school.

ENG 425 – Children's Literature     3 credit hours

This course offers a study of texts recommended to and/or popular among children, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on childhood.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or ENG 235H or ENG 240H or ENG 250 or ENG 251 or ENG 252 or ENG 253 or ENG 254 or ENG 255 or ENG 280H or instructor permission

ENG 426 – Literature for Adolescents     3 credit hours

Students will study a number of texts recommended to and/or popular among adolescents and young adults, informed by readings of literary criticism and historical discourses on youth.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or ENG 235H or ENG 240H or ENG 250 or ENG 251 or ENG 252 or ENG 253 or ENG 254 or ENG 255 or ENG 280H or instructor permission

ENG 427 – Electronic Literacy     3 credit hours

Students will explore ways of teaching English in the new electronic environment and examine the implications of the electronic environment on traditional curriculum and pedagogy.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 429 – Theory and Pedagogy of Writing     3 credit hours

Theory and Pedagogy of Writing addresses the theory and teaching of writing as a social act. The course will focus on theories of composition and rhetoric, rhetorical genre studies, language and language conventions, writing technologies, workshop techniques, and strategies for feedback and assessment.
Prerequisite: ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 435 – Creative Writing Professionalism     3 credit hours

Creative writing students engage professionally with the larger literary world by researching publishing venues, submitting their writing, and planning, advertising for, and participating in a public reading of their creative work. Additional professional opportunities and resources will be discussed as well. This class satisfies the university's experiential learning requirement. Prereq: one advanced course in creative writing.
Prerequisite: ENG 415 or ENG 419 or ENG 485

ENG 436 – Critical Writing Professionalism     3 credit hours

Critical writing students will workshop and revise scholarly essays for publications and presentations, research appropriate publishing and conference venues, work through the basics of conference proposals and article submissions, and converse with editors, reviewers, and peers with conference and publication experience. This course will focus on critical writing in the areas of literature, language, rhetoric, film studies, or composition studies, so it is recommended that students take an upper-division course specifically in one of these areas prior to enrolling in ENG 436. This course satisfies the university's Experiential Learning requirement.
Prerequisite: Any 300 or 400 level English course

ENG 442 – Colonial/Early American Literature     3 credit hours

This course explores the emergence and development of Colonial and early U.S. national literature, from approximately 1620-1820, by examining the evolution of ideas about U.S. culture, society, and national identity as expressed in early American writers' fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, essays, and journals.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 443 – Seminar in the American Renaissance     3 credit hours

This seminar will examine selected literary issues from the early Nineteenth Century to the rise of realism.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 444 – Seminar in American Realism     3 credit hours

Seminar in American Realism examines works of literary realism, focuses on literary responses to contemporary issues, and explores the intersection of art and social conscience.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 445 – Seminar in Early 20th Century American Literature     3 credit hours

This seminar focuses primarily on American literary texts representative of late realism and early modernism, focusing on the growing awareness of indeterminacy and the role imaginative works might play in ordering reality. Students will develop an in-depth project applying particular critical methodologies to a body of works representative of the American literary culture of the first half of the twentieth century.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 447 – Seminar in Post-World War II American Literature     3 credit hours

This seminar focuses primarily on American literary texts representative of late modernism and postmodernism and focusing on the growing awareness of America as a multivalent, multiracial, multiethnic society. Students will develop an in-depth project applying particular critical methodologies to the selected works.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 450 – Seminar in World Literature     3 credit hours

Students will study a selection of works in translation. Works will vary from semester to semester.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 455 – The Graphic Novel     3 credit hours

This class will focus on the broad genre of art-writing called "visual narrative" in comic strips, single-panel cartoons, wordless novels, graphic journalism, superhero comics, saga, adaptation, and memoir. We will be discussing such technical issues as the relationship between image and text, their interdependent potential for unique literary expression, word adaptation to image, and graphic novel adaptation to film as well as thematic issues that vary by semester.
Prerequisite: ENG 102 or instructor permission

ENG 458 – Great Plains Studies     1-3 credit hours

Offers the opportunity to reflect on life through the literature and other lore of the Great Plains. Through a different subject focus each offering, the course integrates literary, historical, and paleontological investigations around issues affecting the plains, with a special focus on prairie.
Total Credits Allowed: 3.00

ENG 460 – Topics: Women's Literature     3 credit hours

This course investigates in-depth topics and issues related to literature by and about women. Specific authors will vary each semester.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 462 – Early/Middle English Literature     3 credit hours

In this course, students will read examples of the earliest literature written in English through literature of the age of Chaucer. Readings may include heroic epics and sagas, medieval romance, travel narratives, and drama, allowing students to consider how medieval conquests, crusades, cultural developments, and religious movements are reflected in the literature of the time.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 463 – Seminar in Shakespeare     3 credit hours

This is an advanced course in Shakespeare's dramatic works focused on genre, language, characterization, and theater. Criticism, film analysis, and reader's theater will enhance students' readings of the plays.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 464 – Seminar in the Renaissance     3 credit hours

Seminar in the Renaissance is an advanced course in English Renaissance literature with some attention given to Continental influences. This course will cover various genres and authors and will include both Renaissance and modern criticism.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 466 – Literature of the English Restoration and Eighteenth Century     3 credit hours

This course is designed to study the rise and decline of neoclassicism in non-dramatic literature from Dryden to Burns.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 467 – Seminar in Romanticism     3 credit hours

This course provides readings in special topics drawn from the Romantic literature of Western cultures. Emphasis can be on particular writers, genres, or critical issues.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 468 – Seminar in Victorian Literature     3 credit hours

Students in this course will explore a selection of British prose and poetry from approximately 1830 to 1900.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 469 – Seminar in Modernism     3 credit hours

The scope of this seminar is literature of transatlantic modernism (c. 1891-1950) written in English. Specific topics will vary at each offering and will be based on specific author(s), themes/motifs, etc.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 471 – Seminar in Rhetoric     3 credit hours

This is a capstone seminar in rhetoric designed to introduce students to rhetorical criticism, to familiarize students with recent developments in the field of composition and rhetoric, and to give them opportunities (1) to do research in the field by writing either a theoretical paper or a rhetorical criticism, or (2) to produce a professional-level document.
Prerequisite: ENG 102 and ENG 234 and an upper division writing course or department permission

ENG 474 – Postmodern/Contemporary British Literature     3 credit hours

This course offers a study of the major, international postmodernist texts written in English (exclusive of the U.S.). Students will focus on the transnational and cross-genre postmodern elements of the texts. At each offering, a specific genre will be emphasized.
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission

ENG 483 – Film Institute     1-3 credit hours

A study of the film in both its aesthetic as well as historical dimensions. Students will examine the development of film as both art and mass entertainment in addition to studying the various critical methods of interpreting the film.
Total Credits Allowed: 3.00

ENG 484 – Classic Literature of Childhood     3 credit hours

This is a historical and critical study of major writers for children and youth. Topics may vary from "Golden Age" children's literature of the nineteenth century (e.g, Carroll, Barrie, Burnett, Stevenson, Kipling) to more modern established texts (e.g., C.S. Lewis, L'Engle, Dahl, Seuss, Milne).
Prerequisite: ENG 255 or instructor permission

ENG 485 – Narrative Strategies     3 credit hours

This course will provide a study of language, structure, point of view, imagery, dialogue, setting character, and plot in works of fiction, including fiction written by class members. Students will aim to demonstrate mastery of techniques and identify them in the literary works of others.
Prerequisite: ENG 211 or ENG 214 or ENG 215 or ENG 217

ENG 486 – 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. Within this craft and practice course, students learn "tricks of the trade" and try them out. Topics may include strategies for finding subject matter, received forms, and craft elements relevant to free verse.
Prerequisite: ENG 211 or ENG 214 or ENG 215 or ENG 217 or instructor permission

ENG 490 – Special Topics     1-3 credit hours

Specific topics in literature which are not covered in other departmental offerings will be examined. The format of the course will vary according to topic, instructor, and needs of the students.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00

ENG 499 – Individual Research     1-3 credit hours

This course is designed as an independent study under the supervision of a major professor of language or literature.
Total Credits Allowed: 18.00
Prerequisite: ENG 234 or department permission