English

ENGL 0803 – ESL: Listening & Speaking – 3 credit hours

For speakers of English as a second language. Focuses on improvement of oral English skills in daily life and, especially, in academic contexts. Grading: Credit/No Credit. Students are not allowed to withdraw from this course as it is a developmental course. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 0804 – ESL: Reading & Writing – 4 credit hours

For speakers of English as a second language. Focuses on improving the skills of reading and writing. Includes work on increasing active and passive vocabulary, improving reading comprehension, and strengthening the skills of expression and coherence when writing in English. Grading: Credit/No Credit. Students are not allowed to withdraw from this course as it is a developmental course. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 0854 – ESL: College-Level Skills – 4 credit hours

For speakers of English as a second language. Focuses intensively on developing all four language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) to college-level proficiency. Grading: Credit/No Credit. Students are not allowed to withdraw from this course as it is a developmental course. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 0903 – Introduction to Writing Studies – 3 credit hours

Introduces students to college-level writing, with emphases on writing as process, critical thinking, and strategies for successfully addressing writing assignments in a variety of genres. By the end of the semester, students will be able to produce well-organized, thoughtful writing of various types that may include personal narratives, rhetorical analyses, argument essays, literary responses, short stories, and book reviews. Students will learn what it means to be a writer and to think critically about texts. Grading: Credit/No Credit. Note: Some sections of ENGL 0903 will be identified as ESL. These sections are recommended for international students. Course rotation: All semesters.

ENGL 0904 – Introduction to Writing Studies with Lab – 4 credit hours

Same as ENGL 0903 but with a scheduled lab component. Designed for developmental writers designated for intensive tutoring. Course rotation: Fall and spring.

ENGL 1013 – Writing Studies I – 3 credit hours

Familiarizes students with the expectations of college-level writing, with emphases on writing as a process, critical thinking, and fundamentals of research. Focus may be divided among the standard features of academic writing that may include personal narratives, rhetorical analyses, argument essays, literary responses, and short, researched essays. Students will begin to develop sophisticated analytical skills to complement a broadened understanding of the writing process and what it means to be a writer. Topics, subject matter, and approaches will vary depending upon individual instructors. Prerequisite: 18 or above ACT English sub-score or equivalent, or successful completion of ENGL 0903 or ENGL 0904. Course rotation: All semesters.

ENGL 1023 – Writing Studies II – 3 credit hours

Builds on knowledge developed in Writing Studies I and provides comprehensive instruction on incorporating research in academic writing assignments. Students learn how to summarize, synthesize, and document sources using MLA documentation style. Using researched material for support rather than as the primary content of an essay will be encouraged and emphasized. Students will exhibit sophisticated analytical skills to complement a broad understanding of the writing process and what it means to be a writer. Topics, subject matter, and approaches will vary depending upon individual instructors. Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C in ENGL 1013 or minimum ACT English sub-score of 25. Course rotation: All semesters.

ENGL 2103 – Literary Interpretation – 3 credit hours

Introduces students to the fundamental terminology and methodology for understanding and interpreting the literary genres of fiction, drama, and poetry. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Open to all students, this course is required for English majors. Prerequisite: ENGL 1013. Course rotation: All semesters.

ENGL 2203 – World Literature – 3 credit hours

Introduces and examines selected works of literature from countries around the world in order to demonstrate the rich diversity of national and regional literatures and, through those readings, to arrive at a more informed appreciation of human experiences. The basic terminology and methodology used in literary study of fiction, drama, and poetry will also be presented. All works are read in modern English translations. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 1013. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 2503 – Mythology & Folklore in Literature – 3 credit hours

Introduces and examines selected works of literature that represent mythology and folklore from a specific ethnic or cultural tradition. Focus varies by instructor but may include Native American mythology and folklore, African American folklore, Caribbean and West African mythology and folklore, and ancient Greek and Roman mythology. The course demonstrates the rich diversity and influence of mythology and folklore on literature. Through the course readings, students arrive at a more informed appreciation of human experience. The basic terminology and methodology of literary study will be presented. All works are read in modern English translations. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 1013. Course rotation: All semesters.

ENGL 2703 – Introduction to Modern English Grammar – 3 credit hours

An examination of contemporary grammar as it pertains to Standard English. Students will become aware of language varieties, familiar with grammar terminology, and better able to recognize the structure of English sentences. This awareness will, in turn, assist students in strengthening their own language use and working with language users from various backgrounds. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, and cultural literacy. Prerequisite: ENGL 1023 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 3053 – Major Authors Seminar – 3 credit hours

Study of one, sometimes two, major authors from the ancient world to the present. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 3063 – Ethnic Literature – 3 credit hours

Study of the literature of ethnic cultures such as African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Native American, and the Caribbean. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission.  Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 3103 – Creative Writing – 3 credit hours

Provides students the opportunity to learn and practice the essentials of writing poetry, fiction, drama, or creative nonfiction in a workshop setting. This course emphasizes intellectual development and cultural literacy. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 3113 – American Literature I – 3 credit hours

Study of American literature to 1865, which will include Early, Colonial, and Romantic authors. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, and cultural literacy. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 3123 – American Literature II – 3 credit hours

Study of American literature since 1865, which will include Naturalist, Realist, Modernist, and Contemporary authors. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, and cultural literacy. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 3163 – Women Writers – 3 credit hours

Study that examines the works of women writers within the contexts of gender, history, society, politics, writing, literature, and literary theory. Content and variety of authors will vary by instructor. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course is also an elective for the Women’s & Gender Studies major and minor programs and emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. May be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 3213 – British Literature I – 3 credit hours

Study of British literature to 1798, which will include Old, Middle, Renaissance, and Enlightenment authors. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 3223 – British Literature II – 3 credit hours

Study of British literature since 1798, which will include Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist authors. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 3363 – Modern Critical Theory – 3 credit hours

Examines the basic principles and moves to advanced application of literary and modern critical theories, which may include feminist and gender studies, reader-response theory, new historicism, deconstruction, and post-colonialism. By semester’s end, students will have the opportunity to develop their own critical positions. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 and junior standing or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 3373 – Literary Cultures – 3 credit hours

Study of particular literary cultures and their works as both separate from and a part of larger cultures. Literary cultures might include the Metaphysical or Cavalier Poets, American Transcendentalists, Southern Writers, the Harlem Renaissance, the British War Poets, the Irish Renaissance, the Beats, the Confessional Poets, the Black Arts Movement, the Existentialists, Kentucky/Appalachian Writers, or Nature and Environmental Writers. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches will vary depending upon the instructor. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 3413 – Studies in Genre – 3 credit hours

Study of poetry, drama, or narrative (broadly defined and which may include film and memoir). Readings will include theoretical studies of the genre and readings within the genre. Effective use of secondary sources and research-supported writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and when applicable, global awareness. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 3553 – Transnational Literature – 3 credit hours

Study of literary works and traditions from various parts of the world, through a comparative framework. Attention will be paid to cross-cultural exchanges that occur when literary works and movements cross nation-state boundaries. Exploration of phenomena such as globalization, exile, diaspora, border-crossing, print circulation, and migration may be emphasized. Focus varies depending upon instructor but may include Transnational Modernism(s), the Postcolonial, the black Atlantic, Chicano/a literature, border studies, Transatlantic literature, Trauma and Terrorism, and literature of the Americas. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and intercultural and global awareness. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Alternate fall.

ENGL 3563 – Critical Issues in Literature & Writing – 3 credit hours

Study of literature and writing that engages such issues as class, gender, ethnicity, education, ethics, nation and citizenship, crime, violence, and war. Reading in the course will include a variety of authors of both nonfiction and literature. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisites: ENGL 1023 and ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 3603 – Shakespeare – 3 credit hours

Study of the comedies, histories, and/or tragedies of William Shakespeare. Contextual matters such as the Elizabethan stage, Renaissance thought, performance questions, modern adaptations, and critical commentary and controversy will be explored. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and global awareness. Prerequisite: ENGL 2103 or ENGL 2203 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring..

ENGL 3633 – Writing & Technology – 3 credit hours

Examines literate cultures’ use of technology as a method of communication, encouraging detailed rhetorical analyses of common technologies including blogs, social networking websites, email, online gaming, and class management applications such as Blackboard. This course focuses on affordances of such technologies and theories of technology that consider accessibility, usability, and design, alongside issues of class, gender, and ethnicity. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 1023 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Alternate spring

ENGL 3733 – Writing & Culture – 3 credit hours

This course is designed to help students think and write critically about varying aspects of culture. Encourages students to engage in rhetorical analyses of the ways various cultures use writing and conceive literacy and to investigate the ways cultural norms shape writing and visual media. Explores developments of trends in areas such as film, television, and the internet. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 1023 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 4003 – Modern Rhetorical Theory – 3 credit hours

Structured on the following assumptions: 1) language shapes reality; 2) by analyzing texts, power relations can be identified, researched, and challenged; 3) everything is a text which can be analyzed; and 4) it is part of civic responsibility to analyze and engage with texts that we are exposed to on a daily basis. Through the lens of late modern and postmodern theories of language, discourse, and persuasion, students will foster an appreciation for the power of language to shape human society, action, and identity. Intellectual development, critical analysis, and cultural literacy will be emphasized. Prerequisite: ENGL 1023 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Alternate spring.

ENGL 4203 – Advanced Creative Writing – 3 credit hours

Builds on and enhances students’ skills in the writing of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction in a workshop setting. Special attention is given to the essentials and mechanics of submitting creative work for publication. This course emphasizes intellectual development and cultural literacy. Prerequisite: ENGL 3103 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 4353 – The History & Literature of Empire – 3 credit hours

Intensive study of the history and literature of imperialism, spanning the 16th to 20th centuries. This course utilizes an interdisciplinary methodology, adopting a dual focus on the historical, sociological, and political conditions of empire and the literature representing such contexts. Students critically analyze the intersection between historical events and the individual experience of European colonialism in various parts of the world, including Africa, South America, the Indian subcontinent, and the Caribbean. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and intercultural and global awareness. The course can either be team-taught or be taught solely by English or history faculty members. Also listed as HIST 4353. Prerequisite: ENGL 2203 or HIST 2233 or HIST 2243 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Alternate spring.

ENGL 4503 – Advanced Writing – 3 credit hours

This course enhances students’ abilities to think critically and write effectively through exposure to current and ongoing scholarly conversations about the theory and practice of writing. Students will have multiple opportunities to join the conversation (both orally and in writing) and to communicate in various forms and styles (formal as well as informal). This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, and cultural literacy. By the end of the course, students will be not only more effective writers and critical thinkers but also more flexible and thoughtful users of the English language. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 1023 and junior standing or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.

ENGL 4703 – Topics in Writing & Rhetoric – 3 credit hours

Advanced study of a specific research area or sub-discipline of writing studies and rhetoric. Students will gain a working knowledge of current scholarship, engage in scholarly critiques, and move toward making a contribution of their own in the specific subject area. Topics may include feminism and writing studies; ethnography and writing studies; classical rhetoric; rhetoric of science; film studies; or methods of assessment. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, and cultural literacy. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: Senior standing or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Spring.

ENGL 4803 – Special Topics – 3 credit hours

Advanced, in-depth study of a selected topic, sometimes suggested by students, related to the field of English. Use of secondary sources and research writing will be included. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: Senior standing or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: As needed.

ENGL 4903 – English Majors Seminar – 3 credit hours

The English program’s capstone course that provides students further opportunities to explore literature, writing, and language topics and ideas, culminating in a substantive, research-supported writing project. This course emphasizes intellectual development, critical analysis, cultural literacy, and, when applicable, global awareness. Topics, subject matter, and approaches may vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisites: ENGL 3363 or instructor’s permission. Course rotation: Fall.