download a text file version
English Course Descriptions

English Course Descriptions – Fall 2006

All literature courses fulfill the College of Arts & Sciences literature requirement and MPSL culture track requirement.
Any writing course 200 or above fulfills the advanced writing requirement.

12512 EN 120 01 3 Approaches to Literature McKenna, Sandra MWF 9:00-9:50 25 none

The Approaches to Literature course offers students an opportunity to explore, discuss and write about a variety of literary genres including novels, short fiction, poetry and drama. Students learn to think critically while enhancing their understanding of the music and the power of language. As we uncover the “mysteries” of literature, students gain new insights into the creative process and into the ways literature links the reader and the writer.

12299 EN 160 01 1 Reading Roundtable: Censored Dwiggins, Mary R 3:30-4:20 15 none
Children’s Picture books

This roundtable will explore children’s picture books that have been censored for various reasons. What are the cultural implications surrounding the censorship of these books? Are they really for children? What are the myths that seem to be prevalent in these books that are manifested through both the child figures in the narratives and the adults who write these stories?

12753 EN 160 02 1 Reading Roundtable-Literary McKenna, Sandra W 3:00-3:50 15 none
Gourmet: Views of love, lust, sin and spirituality in Literature

The reading roundtable is designed to help students become familiar with close textual reading, analysis and interpretation of literature. The focus of this Fall 2006 course is to examine representations of the appetites in literature and how those representations reflect cultural views on food, love, sex, sin and spiritual ideals. Why is it some cultures embrace the appetites without guilt and recrimination and see nothing ungodly in feasting or sensuality, while other cultures view the flesh and the spirit at war with one another.

10626 EN 170 01 1 Haiku Writing Roundtable Brooks, Randy F 12:00-12:50 Lib Mac 15 none

Haiku Writing Roundtable is a one-credit haiku workshop modeled after Japanese haiku schools. Reading goals will be to become familiar with contemporary American haiku and an understanding of Zen poetics. Writing goals will be to try a wide variety of approaches to writing and editing haiku in order to find your own way to the highest quality haiku possible for you. The class will have several anonymous kukai contests. Each student will create a small chapbook of their best haiku and submit haiku to a literary journal.

Students will explore the process of turning family lore into creative works. The writing will encourage the students to look beyond mere reporting of events to enhancing their writing in a variety of creative ways. The course will encourage students who have never taken a creative writing course to use family materials to discover that truth can indeed be as entertaining as fiction!

11822 EN 200 01 3 Writing Seminar: Argumentation Zhao, Peiling MWF 11:00-11:50 20 IN 151/consent

In this writing-intensive course that takes an in-depth look at the rhetorical strategies for writing effective arguments, you will be writing different kinds of argument—definitional, categorical, causal, ethical, resemblance, and proposal arguments—to both neutral and resistant audiences. You will also be practicing both the classical argument structure and the indirect, Rogerian argument structure to address social, ethical, cultural, economic, political, racial, ideological, educational, and gender issues pertaining to your major field and to your personal life. To write effective arguments, you will be encouraged to develop critical thinking in your analysis and application of rhetorical appeals, in using research to support your arguments, and in using stylistic choices.

10633 EN 201 01 3 Intro to Creative Writing Frech, Stephen TR 3:30-4:45 20 IN151

EN 201, as the department's introductory creative writing workshop, will cover the essentials of form and structure (rhyme & meter, figurative language, narrative point of view) with an eye for improving and situating our own writing, whatever it is we wish to write. The expectations of critical writing and class presentation are limited in terms of length, but essential to our developing a vocabulary for talking about work and improving our own. We will write a few assigned creative responses to familiarize ourselves with form as a vehicle for meaning and a model for structure. Every effort in the course will focus on improving the student's own writing.

12756 EN 202 01 3 Writing About Literature O’Conner, Michael TR 12:30-1:45 20 IN151/consent

This is an entry level course to learn how to write about literature, with special emphasis on literary criticism and critical approaches. The course begins with forms of writing about literature for the general public—book and film reviews, personal essays, diaries and journals. The course then moves to careful reading and close textual analysis, with written forms to include explication and interpretation based on primary texts from a variety of authors and genres. Finally the course includes basic critical approaches to reading literature, such as feminist, formal, cultural studies, biographical, and psychological. Students compile a portfolio of writing by the end of the course. Required of all literature majors, and can fulfill one of the advanced writing requirements for all English majors. Usually taken in the sophomore year. Does not fulfill the A&S Literature requirement.

10635 EN 215 01 3 Newswriting I Meddaugh, Priscilla TR 11:00-12:15 Lib. 13 20 IN151/consent

Focused on print reporting, this course is an introduction to basic methods of news reporting and writing. The course is designed to develop skills associated with gathering and organizing information from a variety of sources and developing stories based on that information. Additionally, students develop a basic knowledge of writing techniques and story types, and learn to apply this knowledge in exercises and writing assignments. The course also examines the modern news industry and media ethics.

13206 EN 222 01 3 Contemporary Adolescent Lit: Dwiggins, Mary TR 2:00-3:15 25 IN151
My Place

Adolescent literature is literature written about and intended for adolescents and framed within a rich literary, historical, and social context. In this class we will broaden our understanding of adolescents and their “place” in society while developing criteria for evaluating adolescent literature. Through reading, writing, and class discussions, students will also come to a better understanding of different literary genres highlighting this theme. We will examine critical theories about the function and purpose of literature for adolescents while reading some wonderfully written texts with which you might already be familiar.
Fulfills the English core Literature in the 20th Century requirement. Recommended for English Education majors.

10657 EN 231 01 3 American Lit through Twain Mihm, Brian TR 2:00-3:15 20 IN151
11903 IN 250 3 American Lit through Twain Mihm, Brian TR 2:00-3:15 5 sophomore

American Literature Through Twain is a study of major American writers, ideas, and literary trends from Puritan literature through the work of Mark Twain. The course provides cultural background for the readings, and it emphasizes writers of the 19th century including Poe, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Stowe, Melville, Douglass, Whitman and Dickinson. Recurring themes include freedom and restraint, self and civilization, reason and madness, society and the individual.
Fulfills the English core American Literature to 1900 requirement.

13032 EN 234 01 3 US Multicultural Literature Matthews, Anne MWF 2:00-2:50 10 sophomore
10421 IN 250 US Multicultural Literature Matthews, Anne MWF 2:00-2:50 15 sophomore

Through reading stories, poems, plays, and essays by American writers from diverse backgrounds about home, family, heritage, language, and other topics, we will explore not only the distinctiveness of cultural experiences and responses, but also the elements, problems, and joys they have in common. The course may include such authors as Amy Tan, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, Max Apple, Louise Erdrich, Li-Young Lee, Leslie Marmon Silko, Toni Morrison, August Wilson, James Seilsopour, Sandra Cisneros, Bharati Mukherjee, Pat Mora, Helena Maria Viramontes, N. Scott Momaday, Cathy Song, Alice Walker, and Philip Roth.

13209 EN 235 01 3 Methods Secondary Lang. Arts O’Conner, Michael MWF 10:00-10:50 20 IN151/consent

This three-credit course is required for English Education majors. It is intended to prepare prospective secondary educators with methods and materials for teaching listening, speaking, reading, and writing with an emphasis on language development across the curriculum It also is designed to help students combine theory, research and practice into sound strategies for teaching English in middle, junior, and senior high schools. Students will begin to develop a philosophy of secondary Language Arts teaching and learn how to plan instruction that is consistent with that philosophy and with various national, state, and school district standards and guidelines. Content typically includes examination and evaluation of textbooks and other curriculum materials; planning of lessons and units; discussion of issues involving professional educators; development of means to assess learning, and discussion of methods to teach English language arts, including both reading and speech. The English segments of the Education Portfolio will also be initiated within this course, enhanced by course assignments.

10662 EN 241 01 3 Classical Traditions George, Michael TR 11:00-12:15 Lib 13 25 IN151

This section Western Classical Traditions: Literature, Rhetoric, and Culture is a basic introduction to classical rhetoric, from its beginnings through the Middle Ages. Readings will include Plato’s Gorgias, Phaedrus, and excerpts from other works; Aristotle’s Poetics and Rhetoric; excerpts from other ancient Greek rhetoricians such as Gorgias and Longinus, Cicero’s De Inventione, Rhetoric, and Topics; and Geoffrey of Vinsauf’s Poetria Nova. By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of the major concepts and debates involving classical rhetoric, recognize how those advanced rhetorical thought in the Middle Ages, and be able to relate their own writing and writing instruction to classical rhetoric. Fulfills the English Department Classical and Medieval Traditions requirement.
Fulfills the English major core requirement in Classical Traditions includes Classical Rhetoric requirement for writing majors. 

10663 EN 270 01 3 Computer-Aided Publishing George, Michael TR 9:30-10:45 Lib Mac 20 IN151

This course is an introduction to layout and design as well as computer tools that assist designers in their tasks. The course will revolve around Adobe InDesign 2.0. In addition, you will work with image software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. By the time you finish this course you will be able to:

· Use InDesign to design a variety of professional materials
· Know the key concepts of layout and design
· Know more than you every wanted about type
· Know how to manipulate images for your publications
· Know how to adapt rhetoric for a business-oriented audience
· Have fun doing all of the above
Fulfills a publishing requirement for English majors, but does not fulfill advanced writing requirement.

11413 EN 280 01 1 Journalism Workshop Meddaugh, Priscilla TBA 20 EN215/consent

Staff members of the Decaturian, Millikin's campus newspaper, receive credit for writing and other staff responsibilities. This course can be repeated each semester for up to eight credits. If you have not completed EN 215 please contact Dr. Meddaugh for possible consent.

12303 EN 300 01 3 Scriptwriting Braniger, Carmella R 5:00-7:30 20 EN201

EN 300 is an invitation to explore specialized topics and genres in creative writing at the advanced level. This semester, you will have the opportunity to script for the screen. At the heart of any good film is story. As a class, we will study the fundamentals of storytelling and learn techniques and strategies for screenwriting. We will begin the course with a theoretical discussion of Aristotle’s Poetics, which lays the groundwork for scriptwriting of all kinds. As we study specific practical techniques and strategies for screenwriting, we will look to successful traditional and contemporary screenwriters as examples for our own writing. Scripts and films we may read and view include but or not limited to Martin Scorsese’s Boxcar Bertha, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, the Cohen brothers’ Miller’s Crossing and Kill Bill (Vols. 1 & 2) and Wes Anderson’s Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums.

Critical and theoretical projects for the course will include: 1) a review of a contemporary film and 2) a critical analysis and response to Aristotle’s Poetics. Creative projects leading up to the major project for the course will include: 1) a synopsis for a short or full-length film 2) a treatment of a short or full-length film and 3) character sketches for a short or full-length film. You will experiment with image, setting, character, and dialogue as you work to develop the major project of the course, which will be the full development of a short film or the invention and creation of several scenes for a full-length feature film. Because screenwriters often work together, and not in a vacuum, you will be encouraged to collaborate with others in developing your major project.

13210 EN 301 02 3 Contemplation Writing: Braniger, Carmella T 5:00-7:30 20 sophomore
Self-Writing and Correspondence

EN 301 offers a space for cultivating and contemplating self/other relationships. Keeping in mind the intimate relationship between reading and writing, we will learn about and engage in the contemplative practices of self-writing (a kind of journal keeping) and correspondence (letter-writing). We will observe, remember, imagine. We will broaden our notion of what it means to think. As we contemplate and call into question the way one apprehends oneself and others, our goal is to come to recognize the potential for reading, writing, listening and speaking to help us construct identity and transform the way we interact with others. As we engage in our own contemplative writing, we will read the self-writing and correspondence of others such as Lao-Tzu, Seneca, Saint Augustine, Vincent Van Gogh, Rainer Maria Rilke and Frida Kahlo. Major writing projects include journal keeping, letter writing and reflective writing. 

13211 EN 301 03 3 Web Design Brooks, Randy MWF 9:00-9:50 Lib Mac 20 none

Web Publishing is a workshop on writing and publishing web sites. Are you ready to expand your mind into cyberspace? Will computer screens shape your thoughts? Or will you shape computer screens to create and project your cyber-self into the virtual world of the web? This workshop examines web publishing and takes you from reflective interaction to critical creation of new hypertexts. You will learn how to critique web site designs and how to create web pages for campus and off-campus clients. This is an advanced writing course, with extended individual projects ranging from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, literary criticism, bibliographical web resources, technical writing, educational resources and web reference collections. Fulfills advanced writing or publishing requirement.

10665 EN 321 01 3 Major English Authors 1 staff MWF 12:00-12:50 25 IN151 & 1 lit course

Reading and analysis of major writers of English literature from the beginnings to the end of the 18th century. In a typical semester, students will read such works as Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the sonnets and at least one major play of Shakespeare, Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Boswell’s Life of Johnson. Students will also trace the evolution of the English language and the major cultural and political events of each period.
Fulfills the English core in British Traditions to 1700 requirement.

12404 EN 325 01 3 Studies in Shakespeare staff TR 9:30-10:45 25 IN151 & 1 lit course

Studies in Shakespeare offers specialized topics in Shakespeare studies from both literary and theatrical perspectives. Topics and readings vary from semester to semester and include a historical perspective of the early modern period of Shakespeare’s life, drama, and poetry. A minimum of five plays will be covered each semester.
Fulfills the English core in Shakespeare requirement.

13212 EN 340 01 3 The Romantic Sublime: Frech, Stephen TR 12:30-1:45 20 IN151
British Romantic Poetry

The world nearly glowed in the late 18th, early 19th century with revolution. Romanticism takes shape in that climate not so much as an organized movement, but as an irresistible re-evaluation of man and beauty and the function of the mind and imagination – essentially, a philosophic and aesthetic revolution to accompany the political ones. While all poetry of the west has moved forward from Romanticism, none has fully left its orbit, its magnetic sense of the artist as seer, an intimate with the world’s own organic forces and process. The Romantic genius who dies young: Keats. The Romantic exuberance that burns itself out: Byron. The Romantic “noble savage”: Clare. And the Romantic sublime, beauty so great, so over-whelming it terrifies with its threat of obliterating us: Shelley. This class will read the six major British Romantic poets (Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron, and Keats) and John Clare, their too often over-looked contemporary, dismissed because of his raw, unschooled poetics and his madness. Fulfills the Brit-Lit 1700 to present traditions requirement or Advanced Studies in Poetry requirement.

12305 EN 360 02 3 Women in & of Victorian Novel Banerjee, Purna MW 5:00-6:15 20 IN151 & 1 lit course

In 1840 Thomas Carlyle proclaimed that although in previous ages the priest, prophet, or king constituted the source of the community’s values, in his own time the “Man-of-Letters Hero must be regarded as our most important modern person. . . . What he teaches, the world will do and make.” But what happens when the Man-of-Letters is not a man at all but a woman, or when the Man-of-Letters takes woman for his subject? In this course, students will examine a variety of constructions of gender in the Victorian era, focusing primarily on novels (both canonical and non-canonical) but supporting their inquiry with poems, essays, and modern critical works.
Fulfills the Literature major requirement Studies in Fiction and the English core Literature in the 20th Century requirement . 

13214 EN 366 01 3 Global Women’s Writings: Dr. Peiling Zhao   MWF       1:00-1:50      5 IN 151
Feminist Rhetoric
13245 IN 350 3 Global Women’s Writings Dr. Peiling Zhao MWF 1:00-1:50 20 IN 151
Feminist Rhetoric
In this course, you will read brilliant women writers who have been persistently silenced and recently “discovered” in the mainstream literary and rhetorical traditions of America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Feminist scholars urging for a reevaluation of these writers will also be on the reading list. Through reading, class discussion, watching movies, and writing about these women’s writings in such diverse genres as poetry, fiction, and essays, you are learning to understand how their writings have both contributed to and challenged the Western and non-Western literary and rhetorical paradigms; meanwhile, you are also encouraged to reflect on and revise your own preconceived notions about literary and rhetorical traditions and eventually to develop a more complicated understanding about writing and literature.

13213 EN 382 01 1-3 Art of Publishing Module Brooks, Randy MWF 1:00-1:50 Lib Mac 15 consent only

EN 382, Art of Publishing Module is a learning practicum in publishing. Students learn by working as an editor or student leader carrying out specific responsibilities for Bronze Man Books, Millikin University’s student publishing company. Students may enroll by consent only, following applications and interviews for needed positions in the publishing house. Interviews will be conducted on advising day or the day before advising day. Watch for campus posters promoting this opportunity. Possible student positions include: editor, acquisitions editor, assistant editor, legal research, production manager, art director, designer, sales manager, marketing manager, marketing research, publicist, and advertising manager. For questions contact co-teachers, Randy Brooks or Ed Walker.

10672 EN 410 01 3 Senior Writing Portfolio Brooks, Randy MWF 2:00-2:50 Lib Mac 20 senior

EN 410, Senior Writing Portfolio focuses on matters of process and production, theory and practice, related to the construction of writing portfolios. After an overview of these matters, students will identify and study the type of portfolio they are creating in depth, revise past work and create new work as necessary, and construct professional writing portfolios for presentation to their intended audiences. The class is a combination of lecture, discussion, and workshop. Students must be senior writing majors or minors to take the class; each participant should be prepared to use the knowledge and skills they have gained as writing majors to contribute to the course in significant ways. Prerequisites: senior.

10673 EN 470 01 3 Internship: Teaching Writing O'Conner, Michael T 4:00-4:50pm 20 consent

In this course, students work with a faculty member in an IN150 course, helping to design assignments, tutor students and read about and discuss various composition theories. Students will also have in-depth discussions with a wide range of English professors on issues of theory and best practices. This course is required for English Education majors and encouraged for English majors planning to attend graduate school.
Signature of the Director of English Education required.

EN 480 50 1-3 Intern: Professional Writing Brooks, Randy TBA 10 consent

The professional writing internship is an opportunity to learn from writing and publishing experiences in the workplace. Students are placed in a variety of organizations depending on personal or professional interests. This internship fulfills the off-campus learning requirement. A learning contract specifying the task goals, learning goals and professional expectations is required.
Signature of chair on internship form required. Fulfills an advanced studies writing requirement for English majors and/or off-campus learning requirement.