An introduction to academic writing in college. Emphasis is placed on the composition process: a well-put thesis, clarity and orderliness, sound development, the ability to relate careful analytical reading to effective writing, and elimination of major grammatical errors. By the end of the course students should be able to express their ideas persuasively, clearly, and correctly.
This composition and conversation course is designed specifically to help students learning English as a foreign language succeed in rigorous academic coursework at Augustana University. We will use the topic of modern American culture—specifically customs, traditions, art, and literature—to the end of writing polished academic papers on topics that fall under this umbrella. We will emphasize the writing process throughout the course, and we will engage in both formal and informal speaking activities to complement the work of written communication. We will also study and practice writing in different academic areas, including literature, history, social sciences, and the natural sciences.
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This course will focus on skill building: from writing correctly worded sentences and taking effective notes to developing well-organized paragraphs, summaries, expository essays, and literary analyses. The writing process will involve generating ideas, framing concise thesis statements, analyzing information, prewriting, drafting, revising/editing/proofreading, and composing final projects. Students will learn the importance of including specific details as support for thesis statements and will work to eliminate grammatical errors through written practice.
English 112 will be an introductory course to college-level composition, as was English 110, and will serve incoming students whose ACT scores indicate that they will benefit from a foundational writing course.
Students will focus on the theory and practice of reporting and writing news and feature stories for print media. Additional emphasis will be placed on multi-media components, including but not limited to the production and/or use of videos, blogs, photo galleries, and various interactive on-line elements.
This course develops an aesthetic and critical appreciation of film by examining artistic trends and critical theories in contemporary cinematography. The course focuses on visual imagery, sound, story, acting, and directing to develop a critical framework for appreciating the artistic aspects of film. Students are challenged to think about how filmmakers use these elements of the motion picture to create films of enduring worth in what is perhaps the most popular medium of fine art in the twenty-first century.
This course combines a study of fundamental filmmaking techniques with a historical survey of American film from 1920 to 2000. In addition to developing an aesthetic appreciation for the art of American cinema, the course will examine the economic, social, cultural, and historical contexts in which that art form has been shaped.
“Criminals and Their Nemeses in Literature and Media” explores detective fiction from the amateur detectives of the 19th century to the private eyes of the early 20th century to the law enforcement officers of present day. Students will examine literary works and films, viewing them from historical, analytical, ethical, and literary perspectives. Students will also investigate the criminal activity and the perpetrators of each era, as well as the evolution of crime solving methods.
An intensive study of an author or of a period on a semi-tutorial basis.
An introduction to major literary types including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. Course themes and readings vary by section. The writing component consists of three to five essays of analysis and an emphasis on the writing process.
FYS 110 or a transfer Composition I course
In this course, students will learn the fundamental principles that underpin the creation of literary art. What does it mean to think like a writer? How do you create stories and poems that reach out and grab a reader? Through the study of four different genres—poetry, fiction, drama, and nonfiction—students will write their own work while also exploring issues of craft that include, character development, dialogue, plot, point of view, stanza formation, line breaks, scene setting, and narrative voice. Through lectures, class workshops, and reading assignments, students will learn the basics of creative writing.
Bodies house the essence of identity and represent that identity to the world. Bodies are also written on by that world; they are marked by such things as disease, trauma, and societal expectations of gender, race, and class—the symptoms of life’s circumstances. In this course, we will consider the representation of bodies in literature from the 19th century to the present and examine how social, cultural, historical, and scientific expectations prescribe our responses to the marked body. Although not a scientific study itself, this course will encourage students to encounter scientific thought and medical practices through the narrative imagination.
Because this is a 200-level literature course, it is also an introduction to major literary types including short fiction, novel, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and film. We will consider works in each of these categories, paying particular attention to the ways in which they intertwine with and inform one another as well as to how they distinguish themselves from each other. Throughout the term you should expect to gain confidence in your approach to a literary text—and, therefore, any text—as well as in your analytical and critical thinking and writing skills.
Conducted as a workshop, this course considers the theory and practice of sports writing for print media. Students will learn how to write a variety of sports stories while studying and critiquing sports writing at a local and national level.
A survey of world literature from 2500 BC to 1650 AD, with special emphasis given to the Mediterranean region. Texts will include drama, fiction, and both narrative and lyric poetry.
Reading and discussion from the 17th to the 21st century and expanding the scope further outside the European tradition.
An introductory overview of British literature and authors. Emphasis is placed on issues of literary history. Students become familiar with the standard scheme of periodization and learn to think about literature in relation to the currents of history. In addition, they explore such subjects as literary influence, changes in literary technology and the consumption of the written word, changes in identity and colonialism and changing theories about the nature and value of literature.
This course will consider public affairs through coverage of events such as school board and city council meetings. Additional emphasis will be placed on beat reporting, including but not limited to in-depth coverage of issues emerging from areas such as government, science, and health, the economy, religion, and the legal system. Emphasis will be given to creating and using multi-media components to deliver information. Students will advance their philosophy of freedom of the press through the study of various philosophical orientations.
An overview of the literatures written in the region we now know as the United States from the time of European colonization until the present. Course readings will represent literary periods and movements from the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, to contemporary Postmodernism. Lectures and discussion will consider both the development of American literary traditions and the connections between literature and social phenomena such as first contacts between Native Americans and Europeans, slavery, industrialization, social reform, and the women's movement.
In this course students will study the principles of a theory of empathy and will cultivate and practice an ethic of empathy. In order to live fully and deeply human beings must bring all of their human capacities to bear in their daily lives, professional and personal. As students gain a deeper understanding of empathy as an innate human ability, they will find ways to understand better both themselves and others. Students will read and discuss works of nonfiction and will practice empathy through the act of interviewing individuals whose lives or ways of being they believe significantly different from their own.
An in-depth study of how English sentences are constructed and how that knowledge can aid in other endeavors such as writing or the study of literature. Structural grammar will be emphasized with comparison to traditional and transformational grammars. The history of the language, morphology, and semantics are included.
This course introduces students to the historical development of the English language from its origins in Anglo-Saxon to its current incarnations around the globe. Students will learn basic principles of linguistic description and analysis, including phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. In addition, students will examine the role of key literary figures such as Chaucer and Shakespeare in establishing standard dialects and developing vocabulary and syntax.
ENGL 200
What happens when we read literature? How does a literary work come to "mean"? What do literary texts tell us about the nature of language? What do they tell us about the culture they're part of? Many literary critics and theorists have pondered these questions lately, and we'll explore them too, by studying primary texts in 20th- and 21st- century criticism and theory. The particular focus of the course will vary but will typically involve discussion of structuralism and post-structuralism, feminist criticism, and cultural studies.
Special Topics in English.
An intensive study of an author or of a period on a semi-tutorial basis.
This seminar will consider special topics in British literature from the 6th to the 18th century. Each course will be organized by a theme, by a central critical question or questions, or by a genre, literary movement, period, or major figure.
Conducted primarily as a writers' workshop, this course explores strategies for developing narrative voice as well as creating plot, setting, character, and dialogue. We explore different sub-genres, from the "short-short" story to the novel, and read both contemporary and classic writers to determine what constitutes excellence in fiction.
Conducted as a writers' workshop, this course explores the art and craft of poetry writing in both traditional forms and free verse. While reading work by a variety of outstanding poets - mostly modern and contemporary - we work to develop our own poetic voices and at the same time strive for the highest standards of poetry writing.
Conducted as a writer's workshop, this course explores the specific skills and knowledge necessary to the working playwright, including the fundamentals of stagecraft. Basic elements of screenwriting will also be considered.
This seminar considers special topics in British and Irish literature from the late 18th century to the present. Study may include not only writers from the United Kingdom and Ireland but also colonial/postcolonial writers from the former British Empire.
Students in this advanced writing course develop their abilities as writers of non-fiction prose. Emphasis is on developing voice and perfecting style whether for composing personal essays or for presenting research. Students can expect to participate in class writing workshops as well as experience a short review of grammar and mechanics.
Conducted as a workshop, this course emphasizes a step-by-step approach to the business of freelance writing. Students will learn how to select topics and study potential markets in an effort to sell research articles and first-person essays. Students will read, analyze, and study a wide range of articles and writers as they develop their writing style.
Conducted as a workshop, this course considers the theory and practice of writing reviews and opinion pieces. Students will review a variety of popular art forms, and will develop skills in writing editorial and opinion pieces. The study and critique of local and national reviewers and opinion writers will also be included.
This course is designed to serve students from across the University to the end of equipping them with the tools to adapt to a diverse set of writing situations. We will analyze the dialects and style conventions used in medicine, engineering, business, law, government, education, and marketing. The more writing dexterity we have in different fields, the more options we have after graduation. In addition to bringing in professionals from each of these fields to speak to the writing situations they face, we will practice these forms of writing from Amazon's Blue Papers to engineering reports to legal memos, etc. as part of the course. Relevant fields may be adjusted based on student interest.
This seminar considers special topics in American literature from colonial settlement through the Civil War. Each course is organized by a theme, central critical questions, or by a genre, literary movement, period, or major figure.
This seminar considers special topics in American literature from the Civil War to the present. Each course is organized by a theme, central critical questions, or by a genre, literary movement, period, or major figure.
This course is designed to situate students in the critical conversation surrounding Young Adult Literature: when did it appear as a genre, who were/are the critical players, what are the major themes, literary devices, and motifs that define YA lit., who should be reading it, what is the value of reading it, and what is its place in the literary canon? As such, the course will examine texts that provide a historical perspective, such as J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, alongside contemporary texts, such as Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give and Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, to explore the debates surrounding this increasingly popular genre and to challenge the criteria that establish texts as young adult literature and the assumptions about the genre itself. To help us uncover these topics, we will explore a variety of secondary sources that both critique and praise young adult literature. Course topics may include misperceptions of YA literature, the presence of violence and dystopia in YA lit., trigger warnings, the YA gender divide, and future YA trends. We will also discuss common themes in YA literature: adolescent angst, sexuality, familial relationships, race, class, difference, gender, and a range of other social and psychological themes.
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This course is designed to situate students in the critical conversation surrounding Young Adult Literature: when did it appear as a genre, who were/are the critical players, what are the major themes, literary devices, and motifs that define YA lit., who should be reading it, what is the value of reading it, and what is its place in the literary canon? As such, we will examine texts that provide a historical perspective, such as J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, alongside contemporary texts, such as Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give and Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, to explore the debates surrounding this increasingly popular genre and to challenge the criteria that establish texts as young adult literature and the assumptions about the genre itself.
This seminar will consider literature from outside the mainstream of American, English, and Western European literary traditions. Each course will be organized by a theme, central critical questions, by a genre, literary movement, period, or major figure.
A critical study of the major plays of Shakespeare, their place in the development of English drama, and their current performances on stage and screen.
This is the first semester of a year-long commitment to an academic or creative project designed by a student. Under the guidance of a professor in the English and Journalism department, students will spend one semester researching a topic of their choice and then, in a following semester, they will construct a formal paper (ENGL 391). Projects may be academic or creative in nature. Students will present their Senior Honors Thesis before a board of professors in an oral defense known as Viva Voce. Successful completion of a Senior Honors Thesis will allow the student to graduate with "Departmental Distinction in English". This component of the Senior Honors Thesis is begun in fall semester. ENGL 390 and ENGL 391 cannot be taken concurrently.
Permission of Department Chair
This is the second semester of a year-long commitment to an academic or creative project designed by a student. Under the guidance of a professor in the English and Journalism department, students will spend one semester writing about a topic of their choice. Projects may be academic or creative in nature. Students will present their Senior Honors Thesis before a board of professors in an oral defense known as Viva Voce. Successful completion of a Senior Honors Thesis will allow the student to graduate with "Departmental Distinction in English." This component of the Senior Honors Thesis is begun in spring semester. ENGL 390 and ENGL 391 cannot be taken concurrently.
Permission of Department Chair
Work in a professional setting appropriate for English majors, in an area of interest to the student, involving part-time or full-time employment by a cooperating business, office, or agency. Arranged on an individual basis.
Special Topics in English.
An intensive study of an author or of a period on a semi-tutorial basis.