An introduction to the English language: its nature, structure, and development.

Consideration of fundamental issues in the teaching of writing and the major approaches to composition instruction. Specific topics include teaching invention and revision, diagnosing errors, teaching style and organization, making assignments, and evaluating student writing.

Practical teaching of composition, current theories and policies.

The conditions and assumptions of studying English, with emphasis on criticism and research on a culturally and historically diverse range of texts.

W507 is a workshop in the craft of creative non-fiction, with special attention given to defining the genre and its craft, as well as looking at, analyzing and imitating works in specific subgenres of creative non-fiction such as memoir and travel writing.

Either ENG W511 or ENG W513 may be taken twice for the M.A.

Poetry writing workshop on the study of prosody and form (including formal elements of free verse) in the context of writing by class members. Course may be taken twice for M.A. credit.

Topics in applied English linguistics, intended for English teachers at all levels.

Survey of the evolution of the English language from its earliest stages to the present, with reference to its external history and to its phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary.

A survey of the history of literary criticism and theory from the late Enlightenment or early Romantic periods to 1960, including a variety of modern literary critics and theorists.

Critical analysis of The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, and selected shorter poems.

Examines techniques for analyzing and constructing arguments for different disciplines and professions, especially the use of proofs, evidence, and logic.  Considers major issues of argument, such as the ethics of persuading audiences and the use of style. 

Extensive reading in poetry and nonfictional prose.

Extensive reading in poetry and nonfictional prose.

Extensive reading in all genres.

Intensive historical and critical study of all genres from John Smith through Charles Brockden Brown.

Intensive historical and critical study of all genres from Washington Irving through Frank Norris.

A survey course in American and British sociolinguistics, this course investigates the theoretical bases, the major works, and the methodological approaches of current sociolinguistics.

Study of American literature and culture from the turn of the century to 1945.

Survey of traditional and linguistic approaches to the study of prose and poetic style. Attention will center on the description of the verbal characteristics of texts, what those characteristics reflect about the author, and how they affect the reader.

Survey of literature written for children and adolescents from the medieval period to the present.

Readings in sociological, political, psychological, and other approaches to literature.

Elements of poetic prosody or the major fictive techniques or both: nature of stress, concepts of meter, nature of rhythm, prosodic use of syntax, theories of fictive realism, nature of fictive romance, point of view, etc. Students will do some writing. Open also to graduate students not in the creative writing program.

Studies in periods, such as contemporary American children’s literature or Victorian fantasies for children; or genres such as picture books or children’s poetry.  Topics will vary.

Variable topics in rhetoric and composition.