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.
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 110, ENGL 112
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.
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 111
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.
Every Fall and Spring
Previously: ENGL 200
This course considers the representation of bodies in literature from the 19th century to the present and examines how social, cultural, historical, and scientific expectations determine our responses to bodies marked by disease, trauma, gender, race, and class. Although not a scientific study itself, this course encourages students to encounter scientific thought and medical practices through the narrative imagination, introducing them to literary genres, including short fiction, novel, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and film. Students enrolled in this course should expect to gain confidence in approaching texts, thinking analytically and critically, and writing interpretively.
Occasional Interims
Previously: ENGL 207
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.
Every Summer online
Previously: ENGL 150
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.
Most Interims
Previously: ENGL 140
During World War II, American women and girls were called upon to support the war effort in the workforce, the military, and their homes in a myriad of new ways and found themselves caught in an uncomfortable dichotomy. While encouraged to take on responsibilities previously considered gender inappropriate, they were simultaneously expected to fulfill traditional pre-war feminine roles and to revert to only those roles once the war was over. This course examines this pivotal time for American women and girls via a variety of sources, including memoirs, films, trade magazines, plant newspapers, women’s magazines, comic books, and paper dolls.
Occasionally
Previously: ENGL 175
“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.
Occasional Interims
Previously: ENGL 168
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 240
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.
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 230
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 225
Reading and discussion from the 17th to the 21st century and expanding the scope further outside the European tradition.
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 226
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 203
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.
Every other Spring, odd years
Previously: ENGL 279
Special Topics in English.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 297
An intensive study of an author or of a period on a semi-tutorial basis.
Previously: ENGL 299
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.
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 320
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 330
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.
Nearly every Fall
Previously: ENGL 300
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 310
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.
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 340
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 335
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 361
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 311
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 304
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.
Occasional Interims
Previously: ENGL 305
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.
Every other Fall, even years
Previously: ENGL 306
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.
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 316
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.
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 269
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.
Every other Spring, even years
Previously: ENGL 289
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. Additional fees may apply.
Every Fall and Spring
Previously: ENGL 395
Special Topics in English.
Previously: ENGL 397
An intensive study of an author or of a period on a semi-tutorial basis.
Previously: ENGL 399
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 4912). 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.
Permission of Department Chair
Every Fall
Previously: ENGL 390
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.
Permission of Department Chair
Every Spring
Previously: ENGL 391