Course Descriptions


English Courses

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    ENL 1000 College Writing Lab

    ENL 1000 College Writing Lab

    Credit Hours: 1

    This course provides students enrolled in ENL 1300: College Writing with additional writing instruction and structured writing time during all stages of the writing process, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Additionally, this course focuses on foundational writing skills related to grammar and mechanics and the development of fundamental habits needed to be successful in writing at the University level. The College Writing Lab will be comprised of equal time between instructor lectures, individual writing time, and focused interactions with writing center consultants. Students must be enrolled in ENL 1300 in order to register for ENL 1000: College Writing Lab. This course is normally offered every fall semester.

    Corequisites:

    • ENL 1300
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    ENL 1300 College Writing

    ENL 1300 College Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Emphasizes critical thinking and argumentation: understanding and representing multiple analytical perspectives fairly; applying analytical reasoning; engaging with college-level texts from multiple disciplines, genres, and media; and adapting writing to contexts and conventions of varied discourse communities. Completion of this course with a grade of "C" or better is required in order to enroll in ENL 1310. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • UAS 0990 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 1310 Academic Writing

    ENL 1310 Academic Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Engages students in academic inquiry, research, and argumentation: designing research questions; locating, evaluating, and synthesizing secondary research; performing primary research to construct new knowledge; employing critical thinking strategies to develop arguments with purpose, meaning, and significance. In addition to exploring the influence of traditional print-based genres and rhetorical contexts, students will develop an awareness of how these contexts are likewise affected by emerging media. Placement through SOAR or ENL 1300 (Minimum Grade of C, may not be taken concurrently). This course is normally offered every fall, winter, and summer semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1300 (Minimum Grade of C, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 2050 Introduction to Creative Writing

    ENL 2050 Introduction to Creative Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Emphasis on the valuable tension between individual creativity, attention to audience, and the traditions of various genres such as poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Students examine the work of published writers and develop practical tools for creative writing and expression. The course serves students seeking to nurture their own creative voice through drafting, workshops, and revision. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.

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    ENL 2060 Introduction to Professional Writing

    ENL 2060 Introduction to Professional Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Students explore writing practices in their anticipated careers, communicate professional information to a range of audiences, and create practical or “real-world” writing that reflects knowledge of their own and other disciplines. Assignments may include a job search portfolio, everyday communications (email, memos, letters), and digital and multi-media projects. Designed for students in all majors. This course is normally offered every winter semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 2350 Study of Fiction

    ENL 2350 Study of Fiction

    Credit Hours: 3

    Discussion and close analysis of several forms of fiction, designed to improve critical skills and increase understanding of the genre of fiction and its role as a cultural artifact. By the end of the semester, students should be conversant with the basic elements and terminology used in the study of fiction. In addition, upon completion of the course, students should have an awareness of a variety of critical perspectives. This course is normally offered every fall, winter, and summer semester.

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    ENL 2450 Study of Poetry

    ENL 2450 Study of Poetry

    Credit Hours: 3

    Discussion and close analysis of several forms of poetry, designed to improve critical skills and increase understanding of the genre of poetry and its role as a cultural artifact. By the end of the semester, students should be conversant with the basic elements and terminology used in the study of poetry. In addition, upon completion of the course, students should have an awareness of a variety of critical perspectives. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.

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    ENL 2550 Study of Film

    ENL 2550 Study of Film

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduces students to key genres, technologies, and styles of films as well as major film theories and critical approaches. Through close observation and discussion, students learn to analyze and appreciate film as an art form while investigating the role of film as a barometer of cultural values and beliefs. This course is normally offered every fall, winter, and summer semester.

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    ENL 2650 Study of Drama

    ENL 2650 Study of Drama

    Credit Hours: 3

    Discussion and close analysis of drama, designed to improve critical skills and increase understanding of plays. By the end of the semester, students should be conversant with the basic elements and terminology used in the study of drama. In addition, upon completion of the course, students should have an awareness of a variety of critical perspectives. This course is normally offered every fall semester.

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    ENL 2750 Diverse Voices in Literature

    ENL 2750 Diverse Voices in Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduces students to issues of difference, identity, and literary representation through the careful analysis of texts drawn from a wide range of voices and multiple genres. Students explore how authors negotiate the complex relationships between aesthetic, cultural, and political dimensions in their work. By the end of the semester students will demonstrate an ability to analyze literary texts and develop a critical vocabulary and set of reading and writing practices for approaching a wide range of human differences. This course is normally offered every fall, winter, and summer semester.

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    ENL 2850 African American Literature

    ENL 2850 African American Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduces students to the aesthetic traditions and cultural histories of African American literature through a critical examination of its significant authors, genres, and movements. Emphasis is given to African American identity and community and their dense interrelationship with the history, culture, politics, and art of the United States and the global African diaspora. This course is normally offered every fall semester.

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    ENL 3000 Writing Literature

    ENL 3000 Writing Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    A writing-intensive course, Writing Literature introduces students to the fundamentals of literary analysis, including generating questions that lead to strong arguments, using literary interpretation to substantiate argumentative claims, and organizing and presenting your ideas in the most effective fashion. Students perform close readings of primary literary texts and synthesize and respond to scholarship in the field of literary studies. Individual sections will have a different focus, topic, or approach. This course is normally offered every other winter semester.

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    ENL 3030 Technical Writing

    ENL 3030 Technical Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Technical Writing teaches students writing strategies and tactics that professionals will need in order to write successfully on the job. The course focuses on practical applications and asks students to consider the audience and purpose of every document they compose. Projects include common formal documents such as instructions, guides, definitions, and descriptions. Students also develop materials immediately usable for internship and job applications, such as an e-Portfolio. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3060 Research and Research Writing

    ENL 3060 Research and Research Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    This course prepares students for future research and research writing in academic and professional settings. Students learn a variety of data-gathering methods, such as surveys, interviews, ethnography, auto-ethnography, textual analysis, and case studies. The course also draws connections between rhetorical theory and qualitative and quantitative research methods used in rhetoric and writing studies.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3080 Business Writing

    ENL 3080 Business Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduction to the writing of informational and persuasive forms used in the daily activity of business. Special attention is paid to professional standards of writing, the situations business writers face, and expectations of audiences. This course is normally offered every fall and winter semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3110 American Literature to 1865

    ENL 3110 American Literature to 1865

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of American literature from the Puritan-era to the Civil War focusing on intersections between literature, culture, and history during a time of great literary experimentation. Topics may include how the rise of the novel was perceived as a threat to authority; the emergence and flowering of slave narratives; female authorship in the face of patriarchal pressures; radical social reform movements; gothic fiction and the representation of sexuality; and literature and the environmental imagination. This course is normally offered every third fall semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3120 American Literature 1865-1920

    ENL 3120 American Literature 1865-1920

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of the literature of the U.S. and the social forces that shaped it from the Civil War through the 1920s. Topics may include how notions of American identity underwent profound transformation during this period; changing depictions of gender relations; the struggles of African Americans and immigrant groups; psychological realism and bold depictions of the inner lives of characters; and aesthetic reactions to and against modernity. This course is normally offered every third winter semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3130 Medieval Literature

    ENL 3130 Medieval Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of British Literature of the Medieval period including Beowulf, Chaucer, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, drama, and mystical works, with an emphasis on historical, social, and cultural intersections. Topics may include the changing role of textuality, literacy, and authority; worship as physical and spiritual experience; the practice of masculinity; women as objects of worship and scorn; performance and spectatorship; and the Middle Ages’ continuing impact on contemporary society. This course is normally offered every third fall semester.

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    ENL 3140 Renaissance Literature

    ENL 3140 Renaissance Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of British literature of the Renaissance period, including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Donne, Wroth, and Milton's Paradise Lost, with a focus on the shifting cultural, religious, literary, and political forces influencing these authors. Topics may include self-fashioning and the shift from courtly forms of writing to prose productions; the effects of changes from old (feudal) modes of economy and social order to new (capitalist) modes; and the growing assertion of male and female subjectivity (“author-ity”) in the course of this period. This course is normally offered every third winter semester.

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    ENL 3150 18th Century British Literature

    ENL 3150 18th Century British Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of British literature of the long 18th Century, including Swift, Behn, Herbert, and Defoe, focusing on the intersections between history, social change, and literary form. Topics may include satire as social commentary; travel narratives as response to empire and colonization; the novel as a response to an expanded reading public; and the growing tension between “low” and “high” art that we have inherited from this period.

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    ENL 3160 19th Century British Literature

    ENL 3160 19th Century British Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of British literature of the long 19th century, including the Romantic and Victorian periods, focusing on aesthetic trends of the period and the interrelationship between literature, history, and culture. Topics may include revolution and reform; the social impact of urbanization and industrialization; depictions of poverty and the working classes; representations of women and gender; the changing roles of of science and faith in British society; and race, abolition, and empire. This course is normally offered every third fall semester.

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    ENL 3170 Transnational Modernisms

    ENL 3170 Transnational Modernisms

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of literary responses to globalization, industrialization, and social revolutions that emerged between the late-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Topics may include imperialism, colonialism, and anti-colonial struggle; the World Wars and their impact on notions of gender, race, and national identity; diaspora, exile, cultural hybridity, and their effects on literary discourse; avant-garde movements; challenges to Enlightenment notions of progress and subjectivity; and parallels among disparate responses to modernity from various nations and cultures. This course is normally offered every third winter semester.

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    ENL 3180 Post-1945 Literatures

    ENL 3180 Post-1945 Literatures

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of U.S. and British literatures in the second half of the twentieth century, focusing on the new literary sensibilities, genres, and voices that came to the fore during this period. Topics may include the “long shadow” of WWII; the Beats; working-class literatures; The Black Arts movement; magical realism; multicultural and postcolonial literatures; feminism; the culture wars; and postmodernism.

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    ENL 3190 Contemporary Literature

    ENL 3190 Contemporary Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    Survey of twenty-first century world literature written in or translated into English, focusing on significant intersections between literature and recent cultural shifts in national and global contexts. Topics may include the impact of new digital technologies on textuality and writing; ecocriticism; immigration and identity; the contested discourse of “post-feminist” and “post-racial” identities; dystopian fantasies; and the re-imagining of traditional gender norms.

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    ENL 3260 History of the English Language

    ENL 3260 History of the English Language

    Credit Hours: 3

    The study of the English language in various contextual and historical forms. Consideration may be given to economic, political, historical, technological, literary, linguistic, gendered, or racial usages of and influences on English.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3510 Topics in Race, Gender, and Class

    ENL 3510 Topics in Race, Gender, and Class

    Credit Hours: 3

    Examines the ways in which racial, gender, and class identities are represented in and interrogated by literary texts, as well as how language and texts influence definitions and experiences of identity. The overlapping, intersectional nature of identity categories is highlighted. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit.

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    ENL 3520 Topics in Literature, History, and Society

    ENL 3520 Topics in Literature, History, and Society

    Credit Hours: 3

    Examines literary texts in conjunction with the historical and social contexts that influence the creation, consumption, and evaluation of those texts. Emphasis is given to ways in which literary and cultural texts can shape those contexts and to how texts circulate—as well as resist—dominant ideologies. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit. This course is normally offered every third fall semester.

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    ENL 3530 Topics in Cultural Studies

    ENL 3530 Topics in Cultural Studies

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduces students to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature and/or the application of methodologies from literary studies to non-literary texts, especially texts drawn from popular and contemporary cultures. Special emphasis is given to the “textuality” of everyday life and the production of social meaning and power. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit. This course is normally offered every third winter semester.

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    ENL 3540 Topics in Language and Linguistics

    ENL 3540 Topics in Language and Linguistics

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduces students to the concepts and methods of linguistics and how language influences and is influenced by various social, cultural, and historical contexts. Approaches may include theoretical, descriptive, or applied linguistics; philosophy or psychology of language; and theories of language acquisition. Special consideration is given to economic, political, historical, technological, literary, gendered, or racialized usages of and influences on the English language. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit.

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    ENL 3750 Film Genres

    ENL 3750 Film Genres

    Credit Hours: 3

    Study and critique of popular and alternative film genres, such as Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir, Road Movies, Historical, etc. The focus is on the history, development, technique, and larger social and political functions of film genres. This course is normally offered every third fall semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3850 Intermediate Creative Writing

    ENL 3850 Intermediate Creative Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Develops a student’s understanding of, knowledge about, and facility with one or more literary genres in an intensive workshop setting. Primary focus is on the drafting and revision of creative work that hones the student’s individual talents with the goal of producing publication-worthy work. Emphasis is also placed on examining the work of published writers from a craft perspective and the specific considerations, challenges, and opportunities of a particular genre(s). This course is normally offered every winter semester.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3910 Young Adult Literature

    ENL 3910 Young Adult Literature

    Credit Hours: 3

    An interdisciplinary, transnational exploration of young adult/adolescent literatures. Genres studied include poetry, short story, novel, and film. Emphasis is placed on issues of race, class, and gender, and on the young adult reader.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 3990 Internship

    ENL 3990 Internship

    Credit Hours: 1 TO 3

    The English Internship gives students the opportunity to pursue productive work experience in a field related to their academic or career goals. The Internship helps students make connections between their classroom learning with real-world professional development and provides experience in integrating theory and practice. Students will receive regular feedback and reflect on their own development through writing. This course is normally offered every fall, winter, and summer semester.

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    ENL 4000 Directed Study

    ENL 4000 Directed Study

    Credit Hours: 1 TO 3

    Intensive study in an area chosen by the student for independent work under the direction of a specialist.

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    ENL 4050 Editorial Processes and Products

    ENL 4050 Editorial Processes and Products

    Credit Hours: 3

    Based in the established and emerging publications of the University, the course teaches students to identify and evaluate a publication's critical focus and target audience. Students then master skills that bring a publication to press: introductory design and layout, document flow, peer review processes, correspondence standards, electronic pre-press, cost-effective printing, marketing / distribution issues, and online versions of print texts. Prepares students for work in the fields of popular and academic publishing.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 1310 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)
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    ENL 4070 Grant Writing

    ENL 4070 Grant Writing

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduction to grant writing for non-profit organizations with applicability to for-profit settings. Special attention is paid to the rhetorical considerations of building a case for funding, including development of the problem or need statement, the plan, the budget and the associated narratives. Students will learn to locate appropriate foundation funders, to initiate letters of inquiry and to respond to generic requests for proposals. As often as possible, the class will engage students in real-client activities in service to selected non-profits that do not have the capacity to develop their own grant proposals. Suggested prerequisite: ENL 2040 Introduction to Business Writing or strong business/technical writing skills. This course is normally offered every third fall semester.

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    ENL 4510 Literature and Culture Seminar

    ENL 4510 Literature and Culture Seminar

    Credit Hours: 3

    Examines literary texts as cultural objects that are engaged with issues central to the societies in which they are created and consumed. Emphasis is given to ways that literature both reflects and influences its cultural context and to the interplay of literary, cultural, and political representations. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit. This course is normally offered every third winter semester.

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    ENL 4520 Rhetorical Studies Seminar

    ENL 4520 Rhetorical Studies Seminar

    Credit Hours: 3

    Examines various approaches to rhetoric and rhetorical theories and applies these concepts to historical and cultural contexts, texts, and language. Rhetorical approaches may include: Classical Greek and Roman Rhetoric, Contemporary Rhetorics, Non-Western and Alternative Rhetorics. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit. This course is normally offered every third fall semester.

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    ENL 4530 Author or Genre Seminar

    ENL 4530 Author or Genre Seminar

    Credit Hours: 3

    Utilizes and interrogates foundational categories in literary studies, author and/or genre. Topics may include intertextuality, influence, authorial intent, canon formation, reader response, and reception history. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit. This course is normally offered every third winter semester.

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    ENL 4540 Critical Approaches to Literature Seminar

    ENL 4540 Critical Approaches to Literature Seminar

    Credit Hours: 3

    Introduces students to one or more critical approaches, theories, and/or methodologies employed in modern literary studies. Emphasis is placed on students’ development as literary critics working in the field. Focus of the course varies by section. May be taken more than once for credit.

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    ENL 4850 Advanced Creative Writing Practicum

    ENL 4850 Advanced Creative Writing Practicum

    Credit Hours: 3

    Engages students in the digital and print publication of their creative writing across one or more genres. Students work closely with the instructor and classmates to create and revise original work, including work written for previous creative writing classes, and to brainstorm, design, lay out, and publish their collected work in collaboration with the Dudley Randall Center for Print Culture. Attention is also given to the study of creative writing journals, chapbooks, pamphlets, and digital publications that serve as potential models.

    Prerequisites:

    • ENL 2050 (Minimum Grade of D, May not be taken concurrently)