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Departmental Honors Program

Outstanding students are eligible for admission to the English honors program at the end of their sophomore year. The program consists of independent reading, research, and writing with tutorial instruction. During the junior year, the honors candidate typically takes one junior honors seminar (L399) and appropriate course work in an area of concentration. During the senior year, students follow individual programs of study culminating in an honors thesis (L499) and participate in an honors colloquium.

Interested students should consult the chairperson of the department's honors committee.

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Course Descriptions

Composition
Students who earn credit in W110, W131, W143, or W170 may not receive or retain Indiana University special credit in composition.
W101 Critical Literacy (2 cr.) Offers instruction and practice in the kinds of critical reading strategies students will be expected to practice in college, with an emphasis on the connection between academic reading and writing skills.
X101 Pre-Composition (3 cr.) An introduction to the writing process. No credit will be given toward a major in English.
W110 Writing Across the Curriculum (3 cr.) An alternative to W131 recommended for Collins students but available to non-Collins students. Offers instruction and practice in the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills required in college. Emphasis is on academic writing assignments involving synthesis, analysis, and argument based on sources that address issues and problems students commonly encounter in their introductory psychology or biology courses. Requires concurrent enrollment in PSY P101 or BIOL L111. Credit given for only one of the following: W110, W131, or W170. I Sem.
W131 Elementary Composition (3 cr.) Offers instruction and practice in the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills required in college. Emphasis is on written assignments that require synthesis, analysis, and argument based on sources. Credit given for only one of W131 and W170.
W143 Interdisciplinary Study of Expository Writing (1 cr.) The study of writing in conjunction with a discipline outside English language and literature. Credit for this course will be available to students who enroll in special sections of non-English introductory courses that include a writing component. May be repeated once for credit.
W170 Projects in Reading and Writing (3 cr.) An alternative to W131, this freshman composition course offers a challenging sequence of projects in reading and writing. Topics and approaches will vary by section; the focus, however, will be on projects that encourage sustained inquiry into complex problems or significant issues. Credit given for only one of W170 and W131.
W231 Professional Writing Skills (3 cr.) P: W131 or equivalent. To develop research and writing skills requisite for most academic and professional activities. Emphasis on methods of research, organization, and writing techniques useful in preparing reviews, critical bibliographies, research and technical reports, proposals and papers.
W270 Argumentative Writing (3 cr.) P: open only to students who have completed the English composition requirement. Offers instruction and practice in writing argumentative essays about complicated and controversial issues. The course focuses on strategies for identifying issues, assessing claims, locating evidence, deciding on a position, and writing papers with clear assertions and convincing arguments.
W350 Advanced Expository Writing (3 cr.) P: completion of the English composition requirement. Advanced writing course focuses on the interconnected activities of writing and reading, especially the kinds of responding, analyzing, and evaluating that characterize work in many fields in the university. Topics vary from semester to semester.

Creative Writing
W103 Introductory Creative Writing (3 cr.) P: satisfactory completion of the English composition requirement. Introduction to the art of creative writing. Short assignments, independent work, and classroom discussion of the fundamentals of writing fiction, poetry, and drama.
W203 Creative Writing (3 cr.) Exploratory course in the writing of poetry and/or fiction. I Sem., II Sem., SS.
W240 Community Service Writing (3 cr.) P: W131 or equivalent. Integrates service with learning to develop research and writing skills requisite for most academic and professional activities. Students volunteer at a community service agency, write an assignment for public use by the agency, and perform course work culminating in a research paper on a related social issue.
W301 Writing Fiction (3 cr.) P: submission of acceptable manuscript to instructor in advance of registration. R: W103 or W203. May be repeated once for credit.
W303 Writing Poetry (3 cr.) P: submission of acceptable manuscript to instructor in advance of registration. R: W103 or W203. May be repeated once for credit.
W311 Writing Creative Nonfiction (3 cr.) P: submission of acceptable manuscripts to instructor in advance of registration. R: W103 or W203. Writing workshop in such modes as personal essay, autobiography, and documentary. May be repeated once for credit.
W381 The Craft of Fiction (3 cr.) P: W103, W203, L204, or permission of the instructor. Designed primarily for the creative writing student: the study and practice of the techniques used in the writing of fiction, including point of view, narrative distance, plot, characterization, setting, and tone.
W383 The Craft of Poetry (3 cr.) P: W103, W203, L205, or permission of the instructor. Designed primarily for the creative writing student: the study and practice of the techniques used in the writing of poetry, including meter and other rhythmic structures more commonly relied on in non-metrical or free verse, such as rhyme, alliteration, and stanza structures.
W401 Advanced Fiction Writing (3 cr.) P: W301 or permission of instructor, plus submission of acceptable manuscript to instructor in advance of registration. May be repeated once for credit.
W403 Advanced Poetry Writing (3 cr.) P: W303 or permission of instructor, plus submission of acceptable manuscript to instructor in advance of registration. May be repeated once for credit.
W410 Indiana Writing Workshop (2 cr.) P: acceptance to the Indiana Writers' Conference. Intensive training in various forms of writing. May be counted as part of the major. May be repeated once for credit.

English Language
G205 Introduction to the English Language (3 cr.) Acquaints the student with contemporary studies of the nature of language in general and of the English language in particular. Required of students preparing to teach English in secondary schools. I Sem.
G302 Structure of Modern English (3 cr.) P: G205 or LING L103. Linguistic analysis of present-day spoken and written English, with attention to its phonemic, morphemic, and syntactical systems and its system of expressive features. II Sem.
G405 Studies in English Language (3 cr.) P: G205 or equivalent. Topics will vary from semester to semester.

Literature
E301 Literatures in English to 1600 (3 cr.) AHLA The historical study of literature in English for the period 450 to 1600.
E302 Literatures in English, 1600-1800 (3 cr.) AHLA Representative study of British and American literature of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries in the context of transatlantic cultural developments.
E303 Literatures in English, 1800-1900 (3 cr.) AHLA Representative study of nineteenth- century British and American literature in the context of transatlantic cultural developments.
E304 Literatures in English, 1900-Present (3 cr.) AHLA Representative study of the various literatures written in English in the twentieth century. Focus on themes associated with shared cultures and concerns.
L141-L142 Introduction to Writing and the Study of Literature I-II (4-4 cr.) AHLA P: for L142: L141 or equivalent in another department. Texts selected thematically in the first semester and according to genre or mode (comedy, tragedy, prose fiction, satire, epic, romance, fantasy, etc.) in the second semester provide a subject for expository writing of increasing complexity. Course meets four periods per week; at least five essays are written each semester.
L198 Freshman Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Basic survey of literary masterpieces, open only to students who have received advanced placement in literature.
A202 Literary Interpretation-Advance College Project (3 cr.) AHLA For high school students capable of college-level work. Development of critical skills essential to participation in the interpretive process. Through class discussion and focused writing assignments, introduces the premises and motives of literary analysis and critical methods associated with historical, generic, and/or cultural concerns. Note: Advance College Project A202 will not count toward the English major or satisfy the intensive writing requirement.
L202 Literary Interpretation (3 cr.) AHLA Development of critical skills essential to participation in the interpretive process. Through class discussion and focused writing assignments, introduces the premises and motives of literary analysis and critical methods associated with historical, generic, and/or cultural concerns. May be repeated once for credit by special arrangement with the Department of English.
L203 Introduction to Drama (3 cr.) AHLA Representative significant plays to acquaint students with characteristics of drama as a type of literature. Readings will include plays from several ages and countries.
L204 Introduction to Fiction (3 cr.) AHLA Representative works of fiction; structural techniques in the novel. Novels and short stories from several ages and countries.
L205 Introduction to Poetry (3 cr.) AHLA Kinds, conventions, and elements of poetry in a selection of poems from several historical periods.
L206 Introduction to Nonfictional Prose (3 cr.) AHLA Genre, structure, or other literary aspects of selected works of nonfictional prose.
L207 Women and Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Issues and approaches to the critical study of women writers and their treatment in British and American literature.
L208 Topics in English and American Literature and Culture (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA Selected works of English or American literature in relation to a single cultural problem or theme. Topics will vary from semester to semester. May be repeated once for credit.
L210 Studies in Popular Literature and Mass Media (3 cr.) AHLA Popular literary modes in England and America, such as detective, western, fantasy; history and theories of "mass" or "popular" culture; uses of literacy. Literary analysis of particular mass media forms, including television drama. Topic varies.
L213-L214 Literary Masterpieces I-II (3-3 cr.) AHLA Literary masterpieces from Homer to the present. Aims at thoughtful, intensive reading; appreciation of aesthetic values; enjoyment of reading.
L220 Introduction to Shakespeare (3 cr.) AHLA Rapid reading of at least a dozen of Shakespeare's major plays and poems. May not be taken concurrently with L313 or L314.
L230 Science Fiction (3 cr.) AHLA Study of the kinds, conventions, and theories of science fiction. Course may include both literature (predominantly British and American) and film.
L240 Literature and Public Life (3 cr.) AHLA A study of literary works that feature situations, issues, and problems of values or ethics in public life as seen from a variety of viewpoints. Discussion and writing will be directed to the works themselves and to the questions they raise for contemporary life.
L241 American Jewish Writers (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA Introduction to the works of selected American Jewish writers, such as Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, and Philip Roth.
L249 Representations of Gender and Sexuality (3 cr.) AHLA A study of literary and cultural presentations of gender and sexuality that traces their historical evolution, illuminates issues and problems, or studies the conventions of their depictions.
L295 American Film Culture (3 cr.) AHLA Film in relation to American culture and society. Topic varies. Works of literature may be used for comparison, but the main emphasis will be on film as a narrative medium and as an important element in American culture.
L305 Chaucer (3 cr.) AHLA Chaucer's work, with special emphasis on The Canterbury Tales.
L306 Middle English Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Selected works such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Pearl, mystery and morality plays, and religious lyrics, read in Middle English.
L308 Elizabethan Drama and Its Background (3 cr.) AHLA English drama to 1642, including principal dramatists of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline periods.
L309 Elizabethan Poetry (3 cr.) AHLA Major Elizabethan poets, with special attention to Spenser.
L313 Early Plays of Shakespeare (3 cr.) AHLA Close reading of at least seven early plays of Shakespeare. May not be taken concurrently with L220.
L314 Late Plays of Shakespeare (3 cr.) AHLA Close reading of at least seven later plays of Shakespeare. May not be taken concurrently with L220.
L317 English Poetry of the Early Seventeenth Century (3 cr.) AHLA Major poets in England, 1600-1660.
L318 Milton (3 cr.) AHLA Poetry and prose of John Milton, with special attention to Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.
L320 Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Major poetry and prose, 1660-1730, with emphasis on Dryden, Swift, and Pope.
L327 Later Eighteenth-Century Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Major poetry and prose, 1730-1800, with emphasis on Johnson and Boswell.
L332 Romantic Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Major romantic writers, with emphasis on two or more of the following: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats.
L335 Victorian Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Major poetry and prose, 1830-1900, studied against social and intellectual background of period.
L345 Twentieth-Century British Poetry (3 cr.) AHLA Modern poets, particularly Yeats, Eliot, Auden; some later poets may be included.
L346 Twentieth-Century British Fiction (3 cr.) AHLA Modern fiction, its techniques and experiments, particularly Joyce, Lawrence, and Woolf; some later novelists may be included.
L347 British Fiction to 1800 (3 cr.) AHLA Forms, techniques, and theories of fiction as exemplified by such writers as Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne.
L348 Nineteenth-Century British Fiction (3 cr.) AHLA Forms, techniques, and theories of fiction as exemplified by such writers as Scott, Dickens, Eliot, and Hardy.
L350 Early American Writing and Culture to 1800 (3 cr.) AHLA Examination of a range of literary and cultural communications from the period of exploration and colonization of the Americas through the Revolutionary era. Special attention paid to the interactions between rhetoric and history, and to religious, scientific, political, racial, and literary discourses.
L351 American Literature 1800-1865 (3 cr.) AHLA American writers to 1865, with emphasis on Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, and Whitman.
L352 American Literature 1865-1914 (3 cr.) AHLA American writers, 1865-1914: Twain, Dickinson, James, and two or three additional major writers.
L354 American Literature since 1914 (3 cr.) AHLA American writers since 1914: Faulkner, Hemingway, Eliot, Frost, and two or three additional major writers.
L355 American Fiction to 1900 (3 cr.) AHLA Survey of representative nineteenth-century American novels, with emphasis on works of Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, James, and Dreiser.
L356 American Poetry to 1900 (3 cr.) AHLA Includes the work of Bradstreet, Taylor, the fireside poets, Poe, Emerson, Whitman, Dickinson, and Crane.
L357 Twentieth-Century American Poetry (3 cr.) AHLA American poetry since 1900, including such poets as Pound, Eliot, Frost, Stevens, Williams, and Lowell.
L358 Twentieth-Century American Fiction (3 cr.) AHLA American fiction since 1900, including such writers as Dreiser, Lewis, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Bellow.
L360 American Prose (Excluding Fiction) (3 cr.) AHLA Major non-fictional prose forms, including the essay, the journal, the sermon, as well as the literary aspects of biography, criticism, and historical writing.
L363 American Drama (3 cr.) AHLA Main currents in American drama to the present.
L364 Native American Literature (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA A survey of traditional and modern literature by American Indians, especially of the high plains and southwest culture areas, with particular attention to the image of the Indian in both native and white literature.
L365 Modern Drama: Continental (3 cr.) AHLA Special attention to Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett, and the theater of the absurd.
L366 Modern Drama: English, Irish, American, and Post-Colonial (3 cr.) AHLA Shaw, Synge, O'Neill, and other significant dramatists, such as Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, August Wilson, Athol Fugard, and Wole Soyinka.
L367 Literature of the Bible (3 cr.) AHLA Hebrew Bible and New Testament with emphasis on questions of reading and interpretation.
L369 Studies in British and American Authors (3 cr.) AHLA Studies in single authors (such as Wordsworth and Melville), groups of authors (such as minority writers), and periods (such as American writers of the l920s). Topics will vary from semester to semester. May be repeated once for credit.
L371 Introduction to Criticism (3 cr.) AHLA P: L202. Study of and practice in using contemporary critical methodologies; consideration of the history and institutional conditions of the study of English.
L373 Interdisciplinary Approaches to English and American Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Social, political, and psychological studies in English and American literature, 1890 to the present. Topics may vary and include, for example, Freud and literature, responses to revolution, and the literature of technology.
L374 Ethnic American Literature (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA Literature about the American ethnic experience, selected from works by African American, Jewish American, Italian American, Irish American, Native American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and other ethnic authors.
L375 Studies in Jewish Literature (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA Jewish authors, such as I. B. Singer and Elie Wiesel; groups of authors, such as Holocaust writers and writers about the immigrant experience; or genres and themes. Topic will vary from semester to semester.
L378 Studies in Women and Literature (3 cr.) AHLA British and American authors such as George Eliot, Gertrude Stein; groups of authors, such as the Brontė sisters, recent women poets; or genres and modes, such as autobiography, film, and criticism. Topics will vary from semester to semester.
L380 Literary Modernism (3 cr.) AHLA Phenomenon of modernism in early twentieth-century transatlantic literature, with emphasis on such writers as Joyce, Pound, Eliot, Stein, Lawrence, and Faulkner, studied in relation to social and artistic movements.
L381 Recent Writing (3 cr.) AHLA Selected writers of contemporary significance. May include groups and movements (such as black writers, poets of projective verse, new regionalists, parajournalists and other experimenters in pop literature, folk writers, and distinctly ethnic writers); several recent novelists, poets, or critics; or any combination of groups. May be repeated once for credit by special arrangement with the Department of English.
L383 Studies in British or Commonwealth Culture (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA Study of a coherent period of British or Commonwealth culture (such as medieval, Elizabethan, or Victorian England, or modern Canada), with attention to the relations between literature, the other arts, and the intellectual milieu.
L384 Studies in American Culture (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA Study of a coherent period of American culture (such as the Revolution, the Progressive Era, the Great Depression), with attention to the relations between literature, the other arts, and the intellectual milieu.
L389 Feminist Literary and Cultural Criticism (3 cr.) AHLA Selected critical approaches to the issue of gender over time and in various cultural settings. Topics vary including feminist criticism and popular culture, the history of feminist expository prose, deconstructionism and feminism.
L390 Children's Literature (3 cr.) AHLA Historical and modern children's books and selections from books; designed to assist future teachers, parents, librarians, or others in selecting the best in children's literature for each period of the child's life.
L391 Literature for Young Adults (3 cr.) AHLA Study of books suitable for junior high and high school classroom use. Special stress on works of fiction dealing with contemporary problems, but also including modern classics, biography, science fiction, and other areas of interest to teenage readers.
L395 British and American Film Studies (3 cr.) AHLA Intensive study of specific topics related to film narratives; emphasis on American or British film as a cultural phenomenon. Topic varies.
Y398 Professional Practice in English (1-6 cr.) (S/F grading) P: major standing, 12 credit hours in English at 200 level or above, including L202, good academic standing, approval of Department of English. Supervised, career-related work experience in cooperating institution, agency, or business. Evaluation by employer and Department of English. Does not count toward distribution or English major requirements. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credits.
H399 Junior Honors Seminar (3 cr.) P: approval of departmental honors committee. May be repeated once for credit.
L450 Seminar: British and American Authors (3 cr.) Intensive study of a major author or a school of closely related authors.
L460 Seminar: Literary Form, Mode, and Theme (3 cr.) Study of texts written in several historical periods united by a common mode or form (narrative, romanticism, lyric, etc.), or by a common theme (bildungsroman, the city and the country, the two cultures question, the uses of literacy, etc.).
L470 Seminar: Literature and Interdisciplinary Studies (3 cr.) Study of a body of English or American literature in relation to another discipline (philosophy, art history, linguistics, psychology, etc.), or in light of critical theory (structuralist, psychoanalytic, genre theory, etc.).
L480 Seminar: Literature and History (3 cr.) Study of a body of literature in relation to a period of history, to a theory of history, or to a historical theme.
L495 Individual Reading in English (1-3 cr.) P: consent of instructor and departmental director of undergraduate studies. May be repeated once for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
L498 Internship in English (1-3 cr.) (S/F grading) P: major standing, minimum GPA of 3.0, 12 credit hours in English at 200 level or above (including L202) prior arrangement with faculty member or editor. Supervised experience in teaching undergraduate English course or in editing departmentally based journal or allied publication. May be repeated once for a maximum of 6 credit hours; only 3 credit hours may count toward the major.
L499 Senior Independent Study for Honors Students (2 cr.) P: approval of departmental honors committee. May be repeated once for credit.

Related Courses
One of the following courses may be included in the English major.

Afro-American Studies
A379 Early Black American Writing (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA
A380 Contemporary Black American Writing (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA
A479 Contemporary Black Poetry (3 cr.) AHLA
A480 The Black Novel (3 cr.) AHLA, CSA

Folklore
F430 Folklore and Related Disciplines (3 cr.) SHSI Topic approval by director of undergraduate studies required.

Linguistics
L103 Introduction to the Study of Language (3 cr.) SHSI

Theatre and Drama
T453-T454 Playwriting I-II (3-3 cr.)

Any course at the 300 level or higher in ancient or modern literature in another language or in English or American history.

Double majors, not already counting any of the above-mentioned classes, may petition to have 3 credit hours of their other major included as part of their English major.

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