Course Directory

Lit Beg To 1800

Surveys English literature and its historic, intellectual, and cultural contexts beginning with Beowulf and extending through the works of such writers as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Swift, Dryden, and Johnson, and provides highlights of thedevelopment of modern English. Fall, annually.

Eng Lit 1800 To Present

Surveys English literature from circa 1800 and includes selected works of such major writers as the Wordsworths, Coleridge, the Shelleys, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Woolf, Joyce, Eliot, and Lessing. Spring, annually.

Us Lit Beg To 1860

Surveys major periods and writers of American literature from its beginnings to 1860. Enables students to understand the continuities and discontinuities of American literature. Includes writings by traditional male and female authors, as well as minority authors. Instructors may use historical and/or thematic approaches. Fall, annually.

Us Lit 1860 To Present

Surveys major periods and writers of American literature from 1860 to the present. Enables students to understand the continuities and discontinuities of American literature. Includes writings by traditional male and female authors, as well as minority authors. Instructors may use historical and/or thematic approaches. Spring, annually.

World Lit:Backgrd & Trad

Examines some of the world's most influential literature, providing an overview of literary history from antiquity into the 19th century. Considers Asian, Middle Eastern, and pre-colonial American literatures as well as works from the European tradition. Fall, annually.

Modern Contemp World Lit

Surveys international literature from the past 150 years, with a focus on the fiction, drama, and poetry of significant authors. Studies national literatures within their respective social, historical, and geographical contexts, with an effort to identify cross-cultural developments. Spring, annually.

Intro Afri-Amer Lit

Provides insight into the African-American experience through the reading and discussion of the works of African-American writers who have made significant contributions to literature. Includes various genres: poetry, short fiction, drama, film, the novel, autobiography. No prerequisite.

Intro Asian-Amer Lit

Provides an overview of Asian-American literature, introducing students to representative authors from its various periods of development, emphasizing contemporary works in different genres. No prerequisite.

Intro To Native Am Lit

This course features Native American folktales and narratives, literature and contemporary films in order to discuss the Native American experience in relation to and independent of Europeans. The course will involve plotting an American history timeline and mapping reservations, as well as featuring moments in Native American history in conjunction with the literature under examination. External American and African American authors will also be used to fully understand the value of Native American literature.

Voices In Canadian Lit

Introduces major English-Canadian writers, presented in their cultural and historical contexts. Selected French-Canadian works in English supplement the core offerings. No prerequisite.

Intro To Amer Folklore

Introduces the major genres of American folklore: legend, tale, folk belief, song and ballad, and material folk culture; and various folk groups in America: occupational, gender, ethnic, age, regional, and their traditions. Analyzes examples of American literature and American popular culture through an examination of their American folk elements. Provides students with fieldwork experiences and methods of analysis of oral, customary, and material traditions. No prerequisite. Fall, annually.

English Bible As Lit

This course offers a literary, historical and folkloric approach to the Bible in English. We will read much of the Bible, using a modern English translation of the King James version. We will place these readings in their literary, cultural, historical and geographical contexts, approaching the Bible as an anthology of sorts, containing writings of considerable literary merit and literary and cultural interest.

Spec Topics

Focuses on themes and topics of universal and/or current interest as embodied in literature. The special subject of Each semester's offerings will be announced in pre-registration. Suitable for both English and non-English majors and may be taken up,"to three times for credit, provided different topics are offered. On demand.

Satire

Provides an understanding of what satire is, what it accomplishes, and how it is related to other literary modes. Students will analyze subjects often targeted by satirists, such as racism, sexism, etc., and satiric techniques in such forms as fiction (which will include short stories by women and minority writers), poetry, art, music, films, and television satire. No prerequisite. Fall, annually.

Western Mythology

Concentrates on Greco-Roman myth and legends to demonstrate the systematic nature and recurrent patterns of mythology. Designed to give students a thorough knowledge of content and to clarify questions of form. No prerequisite. Spring, annually.

Movie Studies

Explores how movies mean through readings of various classic and popular texts, how movies construct viewers, and how they simultaneously mirror and create the cultures of which they are a part.Prerequisite: Successful completion of Gen. Ed. writingrequirement. Each semester.

Intro To Eng Lang

Deals generally with the nature of language and specifically with the grammatical structures of modern English, its regional and social varieties, and certain highlights of its historical development. Each semester.

Eng Grammars & Eng Usage

Provides an intensive study of English grammar and problems in usage. Emphasizes differences between prescriptive and descriptive approaches to usage, and between traditional and generative approaches to grammar. Each semester.

Survey Of Women's Lit

Surveys women writers from the Medieval period to the present. The contributions of these women to a distinctly female literary tradition provides the focus of study, but critical issues regarding women's literature will also be discussed and explored. Pedagogical techniques will include lecture, discussion, film, and collaborative learning, among others. Fall, annually.

Trng For Writing Ctr Tut

In conjunction with weekly staff meetings throughout the semester, tutors learn methods of responding to student writing, implementing corrective measures, and teaching as well as using word processing. Tutors are accepted by invitation only on the basis of performance in writing courses; minimum 3.0 QPA. Venango Campus only. Each semester.

Writing & Visual Argument

Provides instruction in composing a visual, rhetorically driven argument based on an alphabetic text traditionally taught in composition classrooms. Elements of composition instruction such as planning, organization, rhetorical choices, audience awareness, purpose, and argument provide the foundation for written and visual assignments. Prerequisite: Successful completion of ENG 111.

Read & Writ Argmt & Persuasion

Offers advanced practice in analyzing and creating argumentative and persuasive texts, both written and visual. Students will analyze, write about, and produce written and visual arguments and persuasive texts in popular, political,legal, and academic fields. Includes readings, writing, research, and presentations. Prerequisite: Exemption from or successful completion of the general education writing requirement.

Writing Non-Fict Prose

Provides experience in writing non-fiction. Focuses on any of several types of non-fiction, including formal essay, autobiography, and creative non-fiction. Students will also study published examples of the genre under consideration and will critique examples presented by peers. Prerequisite: Exemption from or successful completion of the general education writing requirement. Each semester.

Craft Of Fiction

Provides extensive practice in writing fiction. Student work receives intensive group critique. Course standards roughly approximate those of commercial fiction editors. Prerequisite: ENG 202 or permission of instructor, based on examination of writing samples. Spring, even-numbered years.

Craft Of Poetry

Provides the advanced writer intensive practice in the writing of poetry. Students must produce a portfolio of high-quality poetry by the end of the course. Prerequisite: ENG 202 or permission of instructor based on examination of writing samples. Sp,"ring, annually.

Scien And Tech Writing

Provides experience in writing practical prose in a variety of scientific and/or technical settings for a broad spectrum of readers. Involves techniques of writing documents of definition, mechanism, and process description; sets of instructions; proposals and reports; and the use of appropriate document and graphic designs. Especially useful to majors in biology, chemistry, computer science, laboratory technology, nursing, physics, and others. Prerequisite: Junior standing. Spring, odd-numbered years.

Business Writing

Uses specialized formats and the composing process to introduce the unique type of writing used in the business and organizational world. Emphasizes identifying and addressing diverse audiences with the specific messages needed. Students critique all," types of communications, use collaborative learning techniques, and develop skills needed to communicate in a pluralistic society. Requires students to compose letters, memos, persuasive messages, and reports. All documents must be typewritten. Prerequisite: Exemption from or successful completion of the general education writing requirement. Each semester.

16th Century Prose/Po

Examines the non-dramatic literature of the 16th century and focuses on such figures as Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Spring, odd-numbered years.

17th Century Eng Lit

Provides critical examination of the works, genres, and contexts of such figures as Bacon, Browne, Jonson, Donne, Herbert, Marvell, and Milton. Fall, odd-numbered years.

18th Cent Eng Lit

Provides a critical examination of the words, contexts, and genres of such representative writers as Dryden, Pope, Swift, Defoe, Johnson, Boswell, and Gray, and traces the rise of the modern novel from Defoe through Austen and the role of women as authors and audience. Spring, even-numbered years.