English Undergraduate Schedule and Course Descriptions Spring 2010

Introduction to the skills necessary for clear, effective communication of ideas through careful attention to the writing process, critical analysis, and argumentation. The course emphasizes a variety of rhetorical practices. Designed for non-English majors. Introductory course in creative writing. Practice in the writing of poetry, fiction autobiography, and other literary forms. May be taken only by freshman and sophomores. Introduction to reading literature, with emphasis on developing critical skills and reading strategies through the study of a variety of genres, themes, historical periods, and national literatures. Recommended for first and second year students. This course is an introduction to Shakespeare, with emphasis on developing critical skills and reading strategies through detailed study of the plays, from early comedies to later tragedies and romances. Recommended for first-year students and non-English majors. No prior knowledge of Shakespeare is required. This course is an introduction to the forms and strategies of writing and close reading in English studies. The course emphasizes the relationship between writing and disciplinary context, and such concepts as genre, audience, and evidence. This writing intensive course offers English majors an introduction to the conventions and expectations of writing in the discipline of English studies. To focus our work-from course readings to individual research projects-we will ponder the uncanny relationship between monsters and their makers as it operates in a diversity of cultural texts and contexts over time. We will practice close reading and analysis skills on a broad range of works, from Anglo-Saxon poetry to a Hollywood blockbuster, and consider what a number of thinkers, from Sigmund Freud to Jeffrey J. Cohen, have had to say about monstrosity. Most importantly, we will develop strategies for formulating and situating our own ideas in relation to other, more established voices, and practice marshalling evidence in support of our own arguments. Expect to work carefully through numerous writing exercises, and multiple drafts of each paper, from prewriting to revision. Relying on the tools of experienced writers—library databases, writer's handbooks, peer feedback, and monstrous perseverance—we will establish a method for hunting down, assessing, and documenting sources ethically and effectively. A survey of key texts (literary, philosophical, historical) within the discipline of English studies, specifically those that trace its history and signal its changing place in the Humanities. The course introduces the nature and scope of English studies. Required of all English majors. After 9/11, Katrina and the market crash, the figures of terror, …