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Fall 2025

FYEN 102: Facing It: Confronting American History Through Song And Story

This First-Year Seminar proposes that we are most empowered to live authentically and to realize our values when we first face the truth of our personal, cultural, and national stories. This course invites students to become fully present in their lives, while studying the underbelly of American history through poetry, story, music, and film. As Americans, we frequently grow up with a myth of exceptionalism that says that the United States is the greatest nation on earth. While the US certainly boasts extraordinarily rich cultural and political traditions, it also carries a history of injustice and even genocide that is often denied or whitewashed. In this course, we will insist on 鈥渇acing鈥� this difficult history, with particular focus on the experience of Black and Indigenous peoples, while we also apply the idea of 鈥渇acing it鈥� to our individual lives and contemporary challenges. Key questions include: How do we realize the ideals of America in an authentic way that acknowledges and repairs its history? How do we realize our own values in our own lives? 
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ENGL 198: English Careers Seminar (8-Week, first Session Course)

MW 9:30-10:30 [CRN 14471]
Instructor: Dr Francis X Connor 

This one-credit seminar is designed to help students at the start of their English, Creative Writing, or Applied Linguistics major. The course will introduce students to all of the possibilities that these degrees have to offer. We鈥檒l work closely with the Shocker Career Accelerator to understand the skillset that these degree instill in their majors and how to find meaningful experiences 鈥� from campus involvement to future job prospects 鈥� that best align with those skills. We鈥檒l practice building a portfolio of professional materials that can grow with you through the major, and learn ways to find applied-learning and internship opportunities during your time at WSU. The goal of this seminar is to equip English, Creative Writing, and Applied Linguistics majors with a clear and productive pathway through the degree that best aligns with each student鈥檚 interests and aspirations.

ENGL 210: Composition: Business, Professional, and Technical Writing

Multiple sections and instructors

This course provides instruction and practice in writing the kinds of letters, memos, emails, proposals,
and reports required in the professional world of business and industry. It emphasizes both formats and
techniques necessary for effective and persuasive professional communication. We will also discuss job
application materials such as resumes and cover letters. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 101, 102 or instructor's
consent. May be taken as part of the Professional Writing and Editing Minor. [WC]

ENGL 230: Exploring Literature

MW 11:00-12:15 [CRN 14173]
Instructor: TBD

TR 12:30-1:45 [CRN 14174]
Instructor: TBD

Online [CRN 21304]
Instructor: Melinda DeFrain

Online [CRN 22974]
Instructor: TBD

General education humanities course. This course is a general education class meant to guide students in critical reading of period- and genre-specific literature, including and specifically drama, fiction, and poetry. The class will focus in part on your reception and engagement of literature using critical reading strategies and discussions with classmates. Reading stories lets the audience step out into a different environment without responsibilities or anything on the line. You become a 3rd party entity that gains insight into a world and situations that aren鈥檛 your own. Hopefully, after reading and engaging with a piece, the audience walks away with new perspective that can transfer to life outside of the pages. [TA, CL]

ENGL 232K: Images of Insanity

Online [CRN 14306]
Instructor: Lael Ewy

General education humanities introductory course. You wake to the sound of screams. You are immobilized, the covers of your bed cinched down so tight that you can barely breathe. Craning your neck in the half-light, you can make out a room full of white lumps on bed frames鈥攜our co-inhabitants in a world of clinical white. Here, somehow, you must begin to heal. Images of Insanity uses the work of some of America鈥檚 greatest writers to bring students the realities of overwhelming emotional experiences and extreme states of mind. Together, we challenge stereotypes and break stigma to see how creating and engaging in the literary arts can bring us deeper understanding and greater compassion for what we face when we face madness. General education introductory course. Pre- or corequisite: ENGL 102. [TA]

ENGL 232R: Horror and the Supernatural

Welcome! To all things that go BUMP in the night! In this class, we'll be exploring American Literature with a somewhat darker and more ominous twist, and we will examine classical and contemporary works of horror and the supernatural--particularly themes and ideas common to the genre. Sometimes the elements are obvious and overt; sometimes they are sinister and subtle. We'll also try to explore just what makes this genre of literature so popular. What draws readers to the macabre, the fantastic, the grotesque, and (sometimes) the truly terrifying? Why do people keep coming back for more? Our authors this semester will include Poe, Hawthorne, Henry James, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, Octavia Butler and many more! Films will be included this semester, and may include Dracula, The Haunting, Rosemary鈥檚 Baby, and The Shining.[TA]

ENGL 234: Young-Adult Literature

Online [CRN 14308]
Instructor: Melinda DeFrain

The course will explore a variety of young adult literature, from classics such as the Sandra Cisneros novel, The House on Mango Street and Harper Lee鈥檚 To Kill A Mockingbird to more contemporary work such as Jesse Andrews鈥� Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, and Walter Dean Myers鈥� work, Monster as well as others. Students will be asked to explore themes common in young adult literature as well as rarer themes such as youth incarceration and its correlation to race. Students will be asked to develop a multimodal final project.

ENGL 273: Science Fiction

Online [CRN 14310]
Instructor: John Jones

General education humanities introductory course. Survey of key classic and contemporary works of science fiction and speculative literature, emphasizing themes and ideas common in the genre and its subgenres. Prerequisites: ENGL 101, 102. [TA]

ENGL 276: The Literature of Sports

TR 9:30-10:45 [CRN 14311]
Instructor: Clinton Jones

Unlock the drama of sports through literature and film by joining us this spring in the Literature of Sports! Dive into compelling stories with featured books such as The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, a gripping tale of rebellion and peer pressure; Bleachers by John Grisham, a reflective story about small-town football and confronting past mistakes; and The Fight by Norman Mailer, an unforgettable chronicle of the legendary Ali vs. Foreman boxing match. Alongside these literary works, we鈥檒l explore iconic sports films like the Rocky and Creed series, the classic underdog boxing stories; Remember the Titans, a powerful film about racial unity through football; Hoosiers, depicting Milan High School's journey to the Indiana state basketball championship; and Miracle, capturing the 1980 U.S. hockey team鈥檚 remarkable Olympic victory. This course is perfect for sports fans who love great storytelling, literature, and film, and for anyone eager to examine the intersection of sports and culture. It鈥檚 also ideal for those interested in how sports reflect personal and societal challenges. Students will engage in thought-provoking discussions, improve critical thinking and writing skills, and gain new perspectives on competition, teamwork, and triumph. All majors welcome!!! [TA]

Upper-Level Courses

ENGL 285: Introduction to Creative Writing

MW 9:30-10:45 [CRN 14175]
Instructor: Dr Adam Scheffler

Typically, students practice literary writing, both poetry and fiction. In poetry, students will write five (5) poetry kick-starts and three (3) poems, each at least 12 lines, practicing specific technical skills (a poem which uses enjambment throughout, a poem in iambic pentameter, and a poem that uses slant rhyme). Poems will be discussed by the class with fellow students offering suggestions for revision. Students revise the three poems for the poetry portfolio. In fiction, students will write five (5) fiction kick-starts and two (2) stories, each 500-750 words, and each story featuring a character or plot reversal. Stories will be discussed by the class with fellow students offering suggestions for revision. Students revise the 2 stories for the fiction portfolio. [WC, TA]

TR 11:00-12:15 [CRN 14176]
Instructor: TBD

ENGL 285 introduces the practice and techniques of imaginative writing in its varied forms 鈥� primarily literary fiction and poetry. Within your own fiction you will explore and develop skills concerning key craft elements, including: setting, description, characterization, dialogue, voice, and point of view; and in your poetry you will develop an array of skills as you work within a variety of forms. We will also read published works and discuss them through the lens of a writer. Some of these works may serve as examples of techniques to explore or styles to emulate. A large portion of the semester will be devoted to workshopping your creative writing and providing feedback to your peers, and then delving into revision of your work.  [WC, TA]

ENGL 301: Fiction Writing

MW 2:00-3:15 [CRN 14177]
Instructor: Dr Jason Allen

This workshop-based course emphasizes storytelling through well-crafted scenes. We will focus on all of the key elements and techniques employed by published fiction writers, and students will write numerous short pieces, some which are spawned from in-class writing prompts. During in-class workshop sessions, students offer constructive criticism in order for the author to substantially improve their work. Close reading and discussions of selected published works further enable students to improve their own creative writing craft skills. We鈥檒l use Orange World by Karen Russell, Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, and Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy.

Prerequisite: English 285 with a grade of B- or better [WC, TA]

ENGL 303: Poetry Writing

MW 12:30-1:45 [CRN 14175]
Instructor: Dr Adam Scheffler

 鈥淔or me, always the delight is the surprise,鈥� writes poet Louise Gl眉ck, but we might not believe her. Poetry can seem unappealing to people who are not used to reading it鈥攊t can, for instance, seem overwrought, antiquated, or overly difficult to understand. Yet poetry can also be intensely meaningful. When people fall in love or get married, or when they have a funeral, or experience a national political trauma, they often read poems out loud as if only poetry can do justice to the full scope of our joy and grief. This course explores some of the surprising delights of both reading and writing poems. We read a variety of contemporary poets, and students write and submit their own poems for discussion in weekly workshops. In so doing, we consider poetry鈥檚 capacity to be funny, wise, wild, and heartbreaking鈥攊ts ability to offer a kind of pleasure available nowhere else. Books will include The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. [WC, TA]

ENGL 307: Narrative in Literature and Film

TR 2:00-3:15 [CRN `4`79]
Instructor: Clinton Jones

Experience the films that transformed Hollywood and American Culture! This course examines the evolution and influence of American cinema from the late 1960s to the present, analyzing how iconic and groundbreaking films have both shaped and reflected cultural, political, and demographic shifts. From In the Heat of the Night to The Godfather, Shaft to Star Wars, and Apocalypse Now to Enter the Dragon, we will explore how these films redefined storytelling, challenged social norms, and captured the complexities of a changing nation. Key topics include the impact of shifting Hollywood demographics, the rise of the blockbuster era, the expansion of the American suburb, the emergence of mall culture, and cinema鈥檚 role in contemporary social movements and ideological changes. Through film screenings, critical readings, and discussions, students will engage with these films鈥攁longside complementary literary works鈥攖o examine evolving notions of identity, authority, consumerism, and rebellion in American society. All majors welcome!!!

ENGL 310: The Nature of Poetry

TR 9:30-10:45 [CRN 14181]
Instructor: Dr Mary Waters

If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way? -- Emily Dickinson

No one has put it better. Poetry has a profound effect on those who appreciate it. This course is designed to help you become comfortable with the major concepts and vocabulary used to discuss and analyze poetry. Being able to see what poets are up to and why will improve your ability to understand and accurately interpret the poems you read. At the same time, to experience a sampling of the rich variety in poetic expression, we will read poetry from across the Anglophone tradition (British, American, and the English-speaking world), including both major and less well-known writers. Topics may include work, home, and the family; nature; faith and doubt; youth, age, sickness, and death; class; gender, desire and sexuality; race; national identity, empire, postcolonialism, and war; social and political protest; and more. If you lack confidence in your ability to understand poetry, this course will help you develop the skills you need to overcome those fears. If you already enjoy poetry, you will love the selections we read here.

Prerequisite(s): . [TA, CL]

ENGL 315: Introduction to English Linguistics

Online [CRN 14181] [Cross-listed as LING 315]
Instructor: TBD

The main goal of this course is to introduce students to the basic methodology, linguistic principles, including phonological and grammatical concepts used in modern linguistics. A secondary goal of this course is to teach analytic reasoning through the examination of linguistic phenomenon and data from
English.

ENGL 323: World Literature

TR 3:30-4:45 [CRN 21952]
Instructor: Dr Michael Behrens

Dr Behrens didn't give us a course description鈥搕his is his first time offering World Lit for us鈥揵ut I'm sure it will be more exciting than the generic description, which is as follows: This course surveys major works of European, African, Asian and South American writers. It aims to deepen appreciation and understanding of individual works, to examine their relationship to other literature in their tradition, and to achieve a sense of each work as an expression of the culture that originated it. [TA, CL]

ENGL 325: Introduction to English Studies

TR 11:00-12:15 [CRN 14184]
Instructor: Dr TJ Boynton

English 325 will train you in the fundamental skills required for the more advanced studies you will undertake as English students. Perhaps its foremost purpose is to instruct you in the rudiments of literary interpretation鈥攐f analyzing works of literature not merely as entertaining or beautiful but as complex artifacts containing a world of deeper significance. You will learn to uncover this significance through familiarization with the key terms and definitions of the literary tradition, through extensive 鈥渃lose reading鈥� and discussion of works of fiction, drama, and poetry, and through journal writings and essays. In addition to these core skills, the course will introduce you to the rudiments of parallel topics such as 鈥渓iterary theory,鈥� as well as the basics of academic research, the construction of research papers, and professional presentations. By the conclusion of the course you will be familiar with the fundamental components of our discipline; you will have acquired significant practice with the tasks later coursework will demand of you; and you will have also begun to understand the numerous, exciting real-world applications and value the field of English  provides. [TA, CL]

ENGL 330: The Nature of Fiction

MW 11:00-12:15 [CRN 14185]
Instructor: Dr Jason Allen

Dr Allen did not send us a course description, but no doubt you're going to read some wild fiction in his course. It should be a blast.  [TA]

Online [CRN 14313]
Instructor: Kerry Jones

What makes 鈥渁 story鈥�? What are the important elements of a story, and why? This course is designed to acquaint students with fiction in a variety of forms, from the short story to the novella and novel. We will cover stories from a variety of cultures (although Western literature will be the primary focus) and historical periods, giving some attention to the historical development and theories of fiction, and we will examine various techniques used by different authors. In addition to our anthology, our novels may include A Prayer for the Dying, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Color Purple, and Nickel Boys. [TA]

ENGL 340: Shakespeare

MW 11:00-12:15 [CRN 14186]
Instructor: Dr Francis X Connor

Shakespearean Text Technologies: Stage, Print, Film, Digital

William Shakespeare was a flesh-and-blood mortal human who lived in England (born Stratford-Upon-Avon, 1564) almost five centuries ago. He lived in the midst of a massive revolution in media: the printing press was less than a century old, public commercial theatres were founded in England only during his lifetime, and the capitalist structures that underpinned both were works in progress.

The text technologies Shakespeare used to write his work鈥損ens, ink, paper鈥揳re still around us, albeit in very different forms. Similarly, the means he used to publish his work鈥損rint and theatre鈥搑emain, although, particularly over the last century, these have been radically transformed by the emergence of mass media (radio, television, film) and digital innovations (word processing, the internet, social media). To experience Shakespeare in our period, then, means engaging the social and material circumstances in which Shakespeare worked in conjunction with the social and material circumstances in which we work. Ben Jonson, a frenemy of Shakespeare, would claim that Shakespeare was 鈥榥ot for an age, but for all time鈥�; however, this is only true because his plays and poems have proven adaptable throughout the social, technological, and media revolutions of his lifetime and beyond.

Our work in this class is fundamentally twofold: 1) this is an introduction to Shakespeare, and we will read a representative sampling of his work and develop some reading and writing skills and strategies, along with its historical background, that will allow you to continue to read all of Shakespeare鈥檚 work deeply and creatively, whether for upper-level coursework, theatrical productions, professional development, or personal edification; 2) we will experience Shakespeare in a variety of media, considering both the media environment in which he produced his work, and the contemporary environment in which we currently read, stage, teach, and re-imagine his writing. This means that we will look at old and new reproductions of Shakespeare鈥損rinted, theatrical, and film鈥揳nd we鈥檒l talk about how, in the words of the media theorist Marshall McLuhan, 鈥楾he Medium is the Message鈥�; that is, how our understanding of literary work is shaped by the media with which we engage it.

The works we'll study will (probably) include some heavy hitters like Macbeth, Hamlet, Henry V, and Shakespeare's Sonnets, but we'll also (certainly) make room for some lesser-known masterpieces like Titus Andronicus ('a killing gallery where the characters speak in poetry', according to Roger Ebert), Timon of Athens (one individual decides, out of spite, to wreck a nation's economy), and Arden of Faversham (a 16th-century true crime story).

One top of this, we have a pretty boss classroom in Woolsey Hall, and we'll probably hold a few sessions in the English Department's new Book Technologies Lab.  [TA, CL]

ENGL 346: American Multicultural Literature

TR 9:30-10:45 [CRN 14187]
Instructor: Dr Jean Griffith

One recent preoccupation of American writers and readers has been history: not the past, but the story of the past. While backward glances have always been popular in fiction both as subject and theme, the treatment of history in recent, postmodern texts arguably differs from earlier ones because new theoretical frameworks have called into question both the epistemological underpinnings of history鈥攈ow do we know what we know about the past?鈥攁nd the form it takes, that of narrative. Rather than being fiction鈥檚 opposite, history can be viewed as being subject to the same conventions that fiction is because it is told in the form of a story. Our class will explore why retelling history is so interesting to writers and readers in contemporary America and examine what forms that retelling takes. Our readings will cover a range of ways to narrate the past--from the historical novel to stories of time travel and 鈥渨hat if鈥� tales--and our discussions will scrutinize the ways narrative time echoes and/or disrupts historical time. Texts may include Art Spiegelman鈥檚 Maus, Octavia Butler鈥檚 Kindred, Tommy Orange鈥檚 There There, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia鈥檚 Mexican Gothic. [TA]

ENGL 361: Major British Writers II

TR 12:30-1:45 [CRN 14188]
Instructor: Dr Mary Waters

The second half of the British literature survey, covering the period from 1789 through the twentieth century, includes some of the most important and best loved of all British writers, many of them writing about some of the most contentious issues in British history鈥攊ssues such as women鈥檚 rights, labor reform, the abolition of the slave trade, social responsibility, technological progress, gender relations, nationalism and patriotism, and the possibilities for a spiritual life. We will read works in all major literary genres鈥攑oetry, fiction, drama, essay, autobiography鈥攂y writers such as William Wordsworth, Olaudah Equiano, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Keats, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, and many others. Face to face class discussions are required, but recorded lectures will substitute for some face to face classes some weeks.[TA]

ENGL 363: Major American Writers II

Online [CRN 14189]
Instructor: Dr Jean Griffith

This course will survey the major trends in American literature from the end of the nineteenth century to the present, focusing on realist, modern, and postmodern short fiction, poetry, drama, and the novel. Since our course will begin with the period in which the United States emerged as a world power, we will pay attention to the cultural conditions that made the twentieth century 鈥渢he American Century鈥� and how the writers of the period have responded and, in the twenty-first century, continue to respond to that context. We will read poetry by Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Adrienne Rich, for example, and prose by such writers as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Toni Morrison. [TA]  

ENGL 375C: Speculative Fiction [NEW COURSE, NEW FACULTY!!!]

MW 9:30-10:45 [CRN TBD]
Instructor: Dr Vanessa Aguilar

Students will dive deep into multiverses, magic systems, futuristic, dystopic, and apocalyptic worlds. This course examines 20th and 21st century sci-fi, speculative fiction, and fantasy texts. The course explores themes of identity, language, class, species and/or race, colonialism, infection, and gender. Texts for this course may include Tomi Adeyemi鈥檚 Children of Blood and Bone, Alex Rivera鈥檚 film The Sleep Dealer (2008), Pumzi (2209), and Catherine Ram铆rez鈥檚 鈥淎frofuturism/Chicana Futurism: Fictive Kin鈥� (2008). 

ENGL 377: Graphic Novels

MW 3:00-3:15 [CRN 14190]
Instructor: Dr Darren DeFrain

Graphic novels are one of the most influential storytelling forms today, blending visuals and text to create powerful narratives. In this class, you'll learn how to read and analyze graphic novels critically, exploring visual linguistics, visual literacy, and the conventions of the genre. Along the way, you'll also create your own comic鈥攏o drawing skills required! Whether you're a fan of comics or new to the medium, this course will deepen your appreciation for how images and words work together to tell compelling stories. May be taken as part of the Text Technologies Minor.

ENGL 401: Fiction Workshop

TR 2:00-3:15 [CRN 14191]
Instructor: Margaret Dawe

We鈥檒l read short stories, practice fiction writing skills through exercises, and read and discuss the fiction manuscripts of fellow students in this advanced course in literary writing aiming to develop skills in writing, rewriting, and polishing literary fiction. The coursework is designed to help students make their writing concrete, precise, and compelling. In addition to regular exercises and two or three complete short stories, students will revise one story for a final portfolio which includes exercises done toward that revision. The books we鈥檒l use are What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, third edition, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone. This course is repeatable for credit. Repeatable for credit. Prerequisite: . [WC, TA] 

ENGL 403: Poetry Workshop

MW 12:30-1:45 [CRN 14192]
Instructor: Sam Taylor

This Poetry Workshop for intermediate and advanced students will guide you as you continue your artistic quest and refine your poetry beyond the skills you learned in ENGL 303. In the company of serious peers and an experienced poet-mentor, we will discuss your work, the work of your classmates, and poems by diverse, established poets that can serve as models and inspiration for your own work. The poem will be presented as a field in which a vision of the world is enacted and a space in which anything can happen. Over the course of the semester, you will work toward developing and assembling a chapbook of your work, a short booklet that features your strongest work in an aesthetic presentation that you can share with friends or family. [TA]

ENGL 526: Romantic Literature

The novel has long been recognized as a genre that responds to and influences a wide range of cultural practices, but it has less often been recognized for the vital role it played in Romantic-era British politics and aesthetics. This course will study the Romantic novel, a genre that alternately expressed a rollicking sense of humor, deep-rooted psychological fears, subversive political views, scientific skepticism, and newly emerging understandings of Great Britain as a nation of people with a shared cultural heritage. We will read several types of novels that first emerged during the Romantic period, including the Gothic, the Jacobin, the Historical novel, and the regional novel, examining them through the lens of selections from various theories of the Romantic novel. [TA]

ENGL 533: Contemporary Literature

Online  [CRN 14194]
Instructor: Margaret Dawe

We鈥檒l read American short stories and novels written since 1945 focusing on how writers craft action, character, setting, language, and theme, applying aesthetic concepts Aristotle describes in Poetics and those developed in The Scene Book. We鈥檒l read stories written after 1970 in The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction. Novels we鈥檒l read include: All the King鈥檚 Men by Robert Penn Warren; The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith; In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler.

ENGL 580AK: Latine/x Literature [NEW COURSE, NEW FACULTY!!!!]

MW 12:30-1:45  [CRN 14530]
Instructor: Dr Vanessa Aguilar

How do we witness? What does it mean to faithfully witness? What witness in Latine/x Literature? Through the frame of reference: witnessing, we will explore themes of (im)migration, exile, displacement, race, class, gender, social justice, etc.  This is a literary and writing-intensive course in Latine/x literature with substantial attention to novels, poetry, drama, and narrative prose, drawing broadly on texts taken from more than one perspective of the Latinx/e identity by authors such as Christina Henriquez, Daniel Jos茅 Older, Gabby Rivera, and Elisabet Velasquez. Cross-listed with SPAN 633.

ENGL 590: Senior Seminar

Senior Seminar will provide a space for each student to craft an individualized culmination to their work at WSU. Instead of a traditional course with assigned texts/readings, students will forge their own path throughout the semester, and in so doing will demonstrate their readiness for the world after graduation. Among the tasks students will be asked to design and execute along this path are: the 鈥渂ucket list book鈥� challenge, in which each student will read a book they have always wanted to read and perform a series of small response assignments documenting that experience; a 鈥減eer revision workshop,鈥� in which each student will select a major piece of writing from their previous coursework to share with their peers and refine/improve (potentially with an eye toward submission for departmental awards or conference proposals); and the final project itself, which can take several different forms/genres based upon the student鈥檚 interests and post-graduation plans, but which will concretize and put on display their particular passions and attainments in the discipline of English. [OC]

ENGL 680: Theory and Practice in Composition

W 4:30-7:00  [CRN 14196]
Instructor: Dr Carrie Dickison

This course is designed especially for prospective and practicing teachers. It will introduce you to theories of rhetoric and writing, major research questions in the field of composition studies, and best practices for teaching writing in schools and colleges. We will investigate writing processes, analyze varieties and examples of student writing, and hone our own writing skills by drafting, revising, and evaluating our own and others鈥� work. As we read significant publications in the field, we will continually consider the relationship between theory and classroom practice. Assignments will give you experience reading challenging pedagogical and theoretical texts; posing complex and worthwhile questions about the teaching of writing; performing research and synthesizing your findings; drafting course materials for current or future writing classes; and responding effectively to student writing. Topics of discussion will include teaching the writing process; developing writing assignments; teaching sentence structure and grammar; and responding to and assessing student writing. [WC]