Spring 2008 Honors CWRRII Course Descriptions

Critical Writing, Reading and Research II, Honors Section
IN151, Sec 1, MWF 8:00 - 8:50, Lib29
Professor Judi Crowe
"Horror in Film and Fiction: Daring the Nightmare"

This course explores the genre of horror in fiction and film, its historical, social, political, and cultural underpinnings, and what is at stake in the genre as a whole in terms of issues of religion, psychology, science, ethics, gender, race, and culture. We will read, examine, and discuss a variety of scholarly, historical, literary, and pop culture sources as well as view films representative of various subgenres (monster, vampire, slasher, psychological, etc.) of horror. Core texts by Noel Carroll and Stephen King offer diverse grounding of a topic that continues to disturb, sometimes disgust, yet ever intrigue us. Indeed, as King points out, we do so like to dare the nightmare……..

Critical Writing, Reading and Research II, Honors Sections
IN151, Sec 2, MWF 9:00 - 9:50, Lib29
IN151, Sec 3, MWF, 10:00 - 10:50, Lib29
Dr. Carmella Braniger
" Knowledge is Power: But How Can We Know?"

This section of Honors IN151 explores major paradigms for creating relationships between self and other, for the purpose of enriching and broadening ourselves as writers, readers and researchers. In studying the questions “what is knowledge?” and “how can we know?,” we will examine various ways of gaining knowledge and consider diverse and even contradictory definitions of what the word means. In our examination, we will consider interdisciplinary research related to multiple intelligences, knowledge as information vs. knowledge as design and will focus on newly emerging scholarship on Emotional Intelligence (EI). You will have the freedom to choose your own research focus.

Critical Writing, Reading and Research II, Honors Section
IN151, Sec 4, TR 2:30 - 3:45, Lib29
Dr. Purna Banerjee
"The World and US"

In this section of IN 151, we will explore the major paradigms for questioning and creating self/other relationships, for the purpose of enriching and broadening ourselves as writers, readers and researchers. The course focuses on developing your ability to ask questions, find and use source materials, and to invent and present your own conclusions, understandings, insights, arguments and points of significance. As you learn how to conduct academic inquiry, and to critically read and evaluate texts, you will develop a better understanding of “how you can know.” You will also develop an understanding of “what you should do” by conducting an extended research project. You will focus on the analysis and production of arguments in a variety of media— print, visual, oral, and digital. In the course, you will work both individually and in groups to read, write, and research arguments about issues of local and national importance. This semester, we will explore possible answers to the question “What difference does writing (argument) make?” We shall be focusing in particular on argumentative writing about global issues—gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, class and cultural orientation etc. The expectation is that the your papers will be written in both local and global light—moving from personalized encounters with cultures to analytical and argumentative treatment of topics. You would be encouraged to move across cultures and continents, interrogating and assessing texts that are being generated in transnational societies. The ultimate purpose of theme for this course is inspired by the Millikin University Mission statement that indicates that vows to deliver on the promise of education by encouraging individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global Community.