¸£Àû±ÆÕ¾

¸£Àû±ÆÕ¾ Catalog 2025-2026

English

The M.A. is a 33-hour program offered in four concentrations: literature, rhetoric and composition, linguistics and film studies. Regardless of which path you choose, you'll select from a broad array of courses that will help you meet your personal and professional goals.

Requirements for MA in English

We offer four areas of concentration that represent distinct dimensions of our discipline. Focus Tracks are as follows:

Degrees earned will be distributed as "Master of Arts in English" or "Master of Arts in English" with the concentration specified.

While all options share an emphasis on research and critical thinking, each provides diverse pathways for exploring culture and language. You'll hone your expertise through each concentration's core and elective curriculum. At the end of the 33-hour program, you'll fine-tune and showcase your knowledge through a capstone project.

Student Financial Support

Teaching assistantships are available for a limited number of promising students. Assistantships are awarded upon admission and are only available for full-time students who begin their graduate work in the fall semester. These students will work with an experienced faculty member during their first year in the program before teaching classes during their second year. Most TAs will teach composition in the First-Year Writing Program while a few others may teach linguistics or film studies. 

More Information

Admissions Requirements

Students must submit a personal statement, writing sample, and two letters of recommendations, with an optional third letter. The application deadline is June 15 for fall semester admission and November 15 for spring. The application deadline to be considered for a teaching assistantship is February 1. Students are admitted for either the fall or spring semesters.

Applicant Information

  • Delivery Method: On Campus
  • Entrance Exam: None
  • Interview Required: None

Application Deadlines

  • Fall: June 15; February 1 (Aid)
  • Spring: November 15

Faculty

Professors

  • Christopher M. Anson
  • Barbara A. Bennett
  • Belle McQuaide Boggs
  • Helen Jane Burgess
  • Kirsti Karra Cole
  • Huiling Ding
  • Robin M. Dodsworth
  • Marc K. Dudley
  • Marsha Gabrielle Gordon
  • Jorge Mari
  • Jeffrey Ingle Mielke
  • Jason Miller
  • James S. Mulholland
  • Miriam E. Orr
  • Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi
  • Stacey L. Pigg
  • Jeffrey Leo Reaser
  • David M. Rieder
  • Laura Ruth Severin
  • Jason Swarts
  • Erik R. Thomas
  • Walter A. Wolfram

Associate Professors

  • Zachary Charles Beare
  • Agnes Bolonyai
  • Christopher James Crosbie
  • Casie J. Fedukovich
  • Paul Camm Fyfe
  • Andrew Robert Johnston
  • Jennifer Anne Nolan
  • Margaret Simon
  • Timothy Linwood Stinson
  • Douglas M. Walls
  • Rebecca Ann Walsh

Assistant Professors

  • Alok B. Amatya
  • Diamond Forde
  • Chris Lindgren
  • Michelle McMullin
  • LaTanya Denise McQueen
  • Yasheng She
  • Carter Sickels
  • John Paul Stadler
  • Anu Thapa

Teaching Associate Professor

  • James Robert Knowles

Teaching Assistant Professor

  • Anna Marie Gibson-Knowles

Courses

·¡±·³ÒÌý505ÌýÌýWriting Program Administration: Theory, Practice, and ResearchÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Seminar designed to focus on current theories, research, and practices of writing program administration, including curricular design and assessment, faculty development, assessment of student achievement, budget oversight, the politics of administration in higher education, and historical studies of writing program administration. Designed for all interested MA, MFA and PhD students, but particularly valuable for those considering administrative work in first-year writing programs, writing centers, or WAC/WID/CAC programs at a range of institutions (community colleges, small liberal arts colleges, and large research universities). Course involves the study of an existing program through contact with its director(s).

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý506/°ä°¿²ÑÌý506ÌýÌýVerbal Data AnalysisÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Research strategies for understanding how spoken and written language shapes activities (e.g., design, instruction, counseling, gaming interactions, e-commerce, etc.). Tracking patterned uses of language as verbal data (e.g., grammatically topically, thematically), formulating research questions, and designing studies to answer those questions through quantitative descriptive means. Sampling, collecting and managing data, developing coding schemes, achieving reliability, using descriptive statistical measures, and reporting the results.

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate odd years

·¡±·³ÒÌý507ÌýÌýWriting for Health and Environmental SciencesÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Readings, on-site research, document gathering, and analysis of writing in health and environmental science fields. Students study, practice, and present major forms of writing in their profession. Professional portfolio due at the end of the semester. Intended for students interested in exploring or pursuing writing careers in medicine, pharmaceuticals, nutrition, agriculture, ecology, or other health and environmental science-related industries, or professionals who wish to improve knowledge and skills.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing, Doctoral student, Master's student

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate odd years

·¡±·³ÒÌý508ÌýÌýUsability Studies for Technical CommunicationÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Advanced study of usability inspection, inquiry, and testing theories and practices related to instrumental and instructive texts (i.e., computer-related, legal, medical, pharmaceutical, financial, etc.). Practical experience testing a variety of texts using several testing methods, including completion of a substantial, lab-based usability test. For students planning careers in technical communication, human factors, software design, and multimedia design.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý517

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý509ÌýÌýOld English LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Study of Old English language with selections from important poems including Beowulf. Examination of the poetry in the light of various modern critical approaches.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý510ÌýÌýMiddle English LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Study of major works of medieval English literature (exclusive of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales) in historical context, as reflections of and influences on social and cultural change. Includes works such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Langland's Piers Plowman and Malory's Morte d'Arthur.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý511ÌýÌýTheory and Research In CompositionÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Research and scholarship in composition and the teaching of writing. Major theoretical perspectives (such as expressive, social, cognitive, feminist), current issues (such as audience, invention, revision, evaluation) and various research methods.

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý512ÌýÌýTheory and Research In Professional WritingÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Introduction to research and scholarship in professional writing and writing in the workplace. Major theoretical perspectives for studying writing; current issues (such as usability, readability, collaboration, gender, authorship); and various research methods.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý513ÌýÌýEmpirical Research In CompositionÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Reading and evaluation of empirical research in written composition; guided practice in qualitative and quantitative methods. Basic principles of research; problem definition, research design and statistical analysis, description and assessment of written products and processes.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý514/°ä°¿²ÑÌý514ÌýÌýHistory Of RhetoricÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Historical development of rhetorical theory with attention to contemporaneous rhetorical practice and philosophical trends. Major focus on the classical period with briefer coverage of medieval, Renaissance, 18th-century, and 19th-century developments. Implications for contemporary theory and practice, including pedagogical practice.

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate even years

·¡±·³ÒÌý515ÌýÌýRhetoric Of Science and TechnologyÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

The relationships among rhetoric, scientific knowledge and technological development and of changes in how these relationships understood historically. Practice in critical analysis of scientific and technical discourse. Consideration of scientific and technical language and of public controversy concerning science and technology.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý516/°ä°¿²ÑÌý516ÌýÌýRhetorical Criticism: Theory and PracticeÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Development, achievements, limitation of major critical methods in the 20th century, including neo-Aristotelian, generic, metaphoric, dramatistic, feminist, social-movement, fantasy-theme and postmodern approaches. Criticism of political discourse,institutional discourse, discourses of law, medicine, religion, education, science, the media. Relations between rhetorical and literary criticism and other forms of cultural analysis.

Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or the equivalent of COM/·¡±·³ÒÌý321 or COM/·¡±·³ÒÌý411

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý517ÌýÌýAdvanced Technical Writing, Editing and Document DesignÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Advanced study of technical communication practice, including content management, document design, and technical editing and usability. For students planning careers as technical communicators.

P: ·¡±·³ÒÌý314 or graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý518ÌýÌýPublication Management for Technical CommunicatorsÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Advanced study of publication and team management issues such as staffing, scheduling, cost-reduction and subcontracting. For students planning careers as technical communicators.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý517

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý519ÌýÌýOnline Information Design and EvaluationÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Concepts and practices related to multimedia information design, information architectures, human-computer interaction, and genre for complex websites.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý517

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý520ÌýÌýScience Writing for the MediaÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Coverage of three areas: how to write science articles for a variety of mass media, how to think critically about how mass media cover science, and how to think critically about science itself. Preparation for careers not only in mass media, but also in scientific and technological organizations.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý522ÌýÌýWriting in Nonacademic SettingsÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Directed work experience for English Department graduate students including work-site mentoring and evaluation and concurrent academic assignments. Academic component includes reading and discussing articles relevant to the day-to-day practice of writing in nonacademic settings and completion of a project that connects academic and nonacademic components. Graduate Standing in an English Department graduate program required. Modest liability insurance fee required. Students must provide their own transportation to the practicum site.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate even years

·¡±·³ÒÌý523ÌýÌýLanguage Variation Research SeminarÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Field-initiated research. Group and individual research topics focused on current sociolinguistic issues related to language variation and changes. Ethnographic and quantitative methods of analysis.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý525

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý524ÌýÌýIntroduction to LinguisticsÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Introduction to theoretical linguistics, especially for students in language, writing and literature curricula. Phonology, syntax, semantics, history of linguistics; relation of linguistics to philosophy, sociology and psychology; application of theory to analysis of texts.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing or 12 hrs. in ENG

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý525ÌýÌýVariety In LanguageÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Language variation description, theory, method and application; focus on regional, social, ethnic and gender varieties; sociolinguistic analysis, basic discourse analysis.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing or 12 hrs. in ENG

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý527/·¡±·³ÒÌý727ÌýÌýDiscourse AnalysisÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Overview of major issues, theories, and research methods in contemporary discourse analysis. It explores how language as a form of social practice regulates social actions, relations and identities; how ways of speaking construct and are constructed by social order, cultural practice, and individual agency. Texts/discourses are analyzed to examine how speakers create meaning through formal linguistic choices; what the micro-organization of talk reveals about social order; how critical understanding of discourse helps to interpret complex processes of social life.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý528ÌýÌýSociophoneticsÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

A survey of sociophonetics: the study of language variation using modern phonetic techniques. Acoustic analysis of consonants, vowels, prosody, voice quality. Speech perception experiments and how they can be applied to a variety of issues. Applications to theoretical issues in sound change, sociolinguistics, phonetics and phonology, and cognition of language. Graduate standing required.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý529ÌýÌý16th-Century Non-Dramatic English LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Prose and poetry of the English Renaissance, excluding drama. Special attention to major authors, including Spenser and Sidney, and to intellectual, cultural and literary backgrounds and developments. Introduction to pertinent methods and issues of scholarly inquiry and critical interpretation.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý530ÌýÌý17th-Century English LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

A close examination of the literature of England from 1600 to 1660 with emphasis on major literary figures and movements, development of important literary forms and genres and relationship between literary texts of this period and their philosophical, political and theological contexts. Some bibliographical and textural assignments. Content and focus varies according to instructor's emphasis, but writers covered usually include Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Marvell and Browne.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý531ÌýÌýAmerican Colonial LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Survey of American literature and thought from the beginning to adoption of the constitution. Representative works such as travel and exploration reports, Indian captivity narratives, diaries, journals, auto biographies, sermons and poetry.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý532ÌýÌýNarrative AnalysisÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Introduction to theories concerning the structure, use, and interpretation of narratively organized discourse; application of methods of narrative analysis to both spoken and written narratives.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate even years

·¡±·³ÒÌý533ÌýÌýBilingualism and Language ContactÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Linguistic, cultural and socio-political aspects of bi- and multilingualism in a global context. Issues and implications of bilingualism from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Topics include: language maintenance and shift; child and adult bilingualism; relationship between language, culture and identity in bi- and multilingual situations; psycholinguistic aspects and linguistic outcomes of bilingual contact, such as code-switching, convergence and language attrition; language ideology, the politics of language choice and language policy; globalization and intercultural communication. Must hold graduate standing or get consent of instructor for advanced undergraduate students.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý534ÌýÌýQuantitative Analysis in SociolinguisticsÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

The quantitative methods specific to sociolinguistic variation are examined in detail, focusing both on gaining experience using quantitative analysis software and on understanding fundamental concepts underlying the quantitative analysis of language variation. This course takes students beyond the basic familiarity with quantitative analysis gained in ·¡±·³ÒÌý523, both in depth of investigation and in attention to the link between method and theory.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý536ÌýÌýResearch Methods in PhonologyÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

This course explores laboratory and computational tools for investigating linguistic sound systems (e.g., speech perception experiments, speech production tools such as ultrasound imaging, and computational tools such as automated transcription and acoustic measurement). Requires enrollment in the Sociolinguistics MA or PhD program or permission of instructor.

Requisite: Enrollment in the Sociolinguistics concentrations of the MA English or PhD Sociology programs or permission of instructor.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý539/°Â³¢Ìý539ÌýÌýSeminar In World LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Rotating topics in world literature, including treatment of the subject's theoretical or methodological framework. Possible subjects: colonialism and literature; orality and literature; the Renaissance; the Enlightenment; translation; comparison ofNorth and South American literatures; African literary traditions; post-modernism and gender. Readings in English (original languages encouraged but not required).

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý540ÌýÌýHistory Of Literary CriticismÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Survey of the history of literary criticism from Antiquity to early Modern period. Introduction to major theoretical definitions of literature and modes of practical criticism. Close study of Aristotle's Poetics, Sidney's Apology for Poetry, Pope's Essay on Criticism, Coleridge's Biographia Literaria, Eliot's essays and other landmark works in development of literary criticism.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing or PBS status

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý541ÌýÌýLiterary and Cultural TheoryÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

A survey of literary theory in the 20th century from New Criticism to postmodernism. Examines the virtues and pitfalls of these approaches to the study of culture and literature. A course on issues, concepts, theorists and the sociohistorical and political context in which the theorists are writing. Taught in English. No formal pre-requisites. However, students who have not had advanced literature will be disadvantaged.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý543ÌýÌýIntroduction to Digital HumanitiesÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

This course invites students of all technical abilities to explore the ongoing digital transformation of resources, tools, and methods in the humanities. As an introduction, this course is a gateway into a variety of representative subfields in digital humanities. It is designed to generate curiosity about how this emerging arena of scholarly activity might intersect with students' own disciplines, research interests, and pedagogies. It aims to provide a working knowledge of: 1) backgrounds of new media and humanities computing, 2) debates and outlooks for the digital humanities today, as well as 3) hands-on experience collaborating on, creating, and critiquing digital humanities projects.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý548/´¡¹ó³§Ìý548/·¡±·³ÒÌý448/´¡¹ó³§Ìý448ÌýÌýAfrican-American LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Survey of African-American literature and its relationships to American culture, with an emphasis on fiction and poetry since 1945. Writers such as Bontemps, Morrison, Hurston, Baldwin, Hayden, Brooks, Naylor, Harper, and Dove.

Requirement: Junior Standing

GEP Humanities

Typically offered in Fall and Summer

·¡±·³ÒÌý549ÌýÌýModern African LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

The works of the most important writers shaping modern African literature in English (and English translation). Selections from East, West, North and South Africa, spanning colonial through post-colonial Africa--from literature of protest and culture conflict to that of disillusionment, reappraisal and feminism.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý550ÌýÌýBritish Romantic PeriodÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

A study of British literature during the Romantic era (1780s-1830s), including poetry, periodicals, novels, drama, and criticism as well as their political and cultural contexts.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý551/·¡±·³ÒÌý451ÌýÌýChaucerÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Introduction to the study of Chaucer through an intensive reading of The Canterbury Tales.

R: Sophomore standing and above

GEP Global Knowledge, GEP Humanities

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý554/°ä°¿²ÑÌý554ÌýÌýContemporary Rhetorical TheoryÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Contemporary rhetorical theory covering the 20th and 21st centuries. Conceptual connections with and disruptions of the classical tradition and its, successors; relationship between rhetorical theory and philosophical trends, institutional histories, socioeconomic circumstances, and pedagogical needs. Attention to current issues such as the revival of invention, rhetorical agency, and ethics.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate odd years

·¡±·³ÒÌý555ÌýÌýAmerican Romantic PeriodÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

The literary culture of the United States from 1820s through 1860s, setting works of transcendentalists and other romantic writers within sociohistorical contexts. Consideration of writing by women, slave narratives and popular fiction as well as such major figures as Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau and Melville.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý558ÌýÌýStudies In ShakespeareÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

An intensive study of a particular phase of the Shakespeare canon. Emphasis will normally be on one dramatic genre (tragedy, comedy, history), but occasionally the focus may be more limited.

Typically offered in Fall and Summer

·¡±·³ÒÌý560ÌýÌýBritish Victorian PeriodÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Explore how writers represented the tumultuous Victorian era (1837-1901), spanning responses to industrialization, political reform, religion, colonialism, class, gender, and race at home and abroad. The course covers an array of literary forms and seeks to include perspectives from within the British Isles as well as from across the British empire.

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý561ÌýÌýMiltonÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

An intensive reading of Milton with attention to background materials in history and culture of seventeenth-century England.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý562ÌýÌý18TH-Century English LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

British writers of the period 1600-1790 studied in historical and cultural contexts. Usually includes works by Dryden, Swift, Pope, Defoe, Mandeville, Boswell and Johnson, but addition of other significant writers possible.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý563ÌýÌý18TH-Century English NovelÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Selected British novels of the Restoration and eighteenth century from a variety of contemporary critical perspectives. Such writers as Fielding, Richardson, Sterne, Burney, Smollett and Austen.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý564ÌýÌýVictorian NovelÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Study of selected British novels published between 1837 and 1901 in contexts of the development of the genre, historical period and current literary theory. Such writers as Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte, Trollope, Eliot, Meredith and Hardy.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý565ÌýÌýAmerican Realism and NaturalismÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Study of literary culture of United States from 1860s to early 1900s with emphasis on fiction by such realists and naturalists as Twain, Howells, Chesnutt, James, Crane, Wharton, Dreiser and Norris. Inclusion of prose of writers such as Adams and DuBois possible.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý570ÌýÌý20TH-Century British ProseÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Examination of British fiction of this century and relationship of significant intellectual, historical and political issues. Inclusion of such writers as Joyce, Conrad, Woolf, Lawrence, Beckett and Murdoch possible but also post-colonial novelists as well.

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý571ÌýÌý20TH-Century British PoetryÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Development of English poetry from its late Victorian phase through Modernism to present post-war scene. Inclusion of such writers as Hardy, Yeats, Eliot, Smith, Auden, Larkin, Heaney, Wolcott and Hill possible.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý572ÌýÌýModern British DramaÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Survey of modern British drama from its beginnings at turn of the century to present.

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý573ÌýÌýModern American DramaÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

A survey of modern American drama centering on major figures.

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý575ÌýÌýSouthern WritersÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Introduction to literary culture of "the South," tracing the roots of the twentieth-century "Southern Renaissance" in such ante-bellum genres as plantation fiction, Southwestern humor, fugitive-slave narration and pastoral elegy. Examination of persistence of "Southern" writing within increasingly standardized culture of the United States.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý576ÌýÌý20TH-Century American PoetryÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Development of modern American poetry from rebellion against the romantic and genteel verse of the 1890's; special attention to Robinson, Frost, Pound, Williams, Stevens and Ransom.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý577ÌýÌý20th-Century American ProseÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

An examination of representative American writers of novel and short fiction.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý578ÌýÌýEnglish Drama To 1642ÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Elizabethan and Jacobean drama from 1580 to 1642, excluding Shakespeare. Coverage of such writers as Marlowe, Jonson, Webster, Beaumont and Fletcher, Heywood, Tourneur and Ford.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý261 and upper division or Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý579ÌýÌýRestoration and 18th-Century DramaÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Representative British plays of the period 1660-1780 studied in cultural, social and ethical contexts. Usually includes works by Etherege, Wycherley, Behn, Dry-den, Otway, Vanburgh, Farquhar, Congreve, Lillo, Gay, Goldsmith and Sheridan.

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý580ÌýÌýLiterary PostmodernismÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Post-1945 literary theory in relationship with representative avant-garde writers. Theoretical and argumentative essays in such areas as chaos theory, deconstruction, feminism and the limits of fiction. Fiction readings by Calvino, Pynchon, Barthelme, Cortazar and others.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate years

·¡±·³ÒÌý581/°ä°¿²ÑÌý581ÌýÌýVisual Rhetoric: Theory and CriticismÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Application of visual theory to rhetoric and of rhetorical theory to visual forms of communication. Discussion and analysis may include advertising, photography, news and informational media, political communication, instructional material, scientific visualization, visual arts, public commemorative artifacts, internet and other digital media.

R: Graduate Students Only

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate even years

·¡±·³ÒÌý582ÌýÌýStudies in LiteratureÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Variation in content. Selected problems and issues in literature.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý583ÌýÌýStudies In Rhetoric and WritingÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Variation in content. Selected problems and issues in rhetoric and writing.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý584ÌýÌýStudies In LinguisticsÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Variation in content. Selected problems and issues in linguistics.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý585ÌýÌýStudies In FilmÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Variation in content. Selected problems and issues in film.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý586ÌýÌýStudies In TheoryÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Variation in content. Selected problems and issues in theory.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý587ÌýÌýInterdisciplinary Studies in EnglishÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Content varies. Selected topics and issues that cross disciplinary boundaries in English Studies. May be repeated for credit with different topics. Graduate standing is required.

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý588ÌýÌýFiction Writing WorkshopÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Advanced work in techniques of writing fiction for students with substantial experience in writing. Workshop sessions with students commenting on each other's work.

Restriction: Graduate Standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý589ÌýÌýPoetry Writing WorkshopÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Advanced work in techniques of writing poetry for students with substantial experience in writing. Workshop sessions with students commenting on each other's work.

Restriction: Graduate Standing

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý590ÌýÌýStudies In Creative WritingÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Techniques special to a particular kind of writing within the traditional genres of prose, poetry or drama, such as "Speculative Fiction" or "The Long Poem or Poetic Sequence." Various subjects.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý588 or 589

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý591ÌýÌýStudies in National CinemasÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Aesthetic develpments and historical importance of national cinema traditions in specific cultural contexts. Focus on the relation between cinema and linguistic, literary and artistic develpments within a national setting or in regional or international contexts. Topics, which change each year, may include Italian Neorealism, French New Wave, and British Social Realism.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý592ÌýÌýSpecial Topics in Film Styles and GenresÌýÌý(1-6 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Critical approaches to focused film topics involving film genres, directorial styles, or trends within a national cinema. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Students cannot obtain credit for both ·¡±·³ÒÌý492 and ·¡±·³ÒÌý592.

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý610ÌýÌýSpecial Topics EnglishÌýÌý(1-6 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

·¡±·³ÒÌý624ÌýÌýTeaching College CompositionÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Preparation for teaching college composition. Introduction to pedagogical principles and practices. Practice in setting course goals, designing writing assignments to meet those goals, developing instructional activities to support assignments, andevaluating student writing. The course is scheduled as a 5-day workshop before classes begin, followed by weekly meetings and mentoring during the fall semester.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý511 and mentored assistantship in ·¡±·³ÒÌý101

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý626ÌýÌýAdvanced Writing for Empirical ResearchÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

A seminar and workshop for graduate students in empirical research fields working on grant proposals, theses and dissertations, papers for professional journals, conference proposals, and other significant research texts. Intensive practice and feedback on writing, grounded in an introduction to theory and research on writing processes, products, and contexts. Requirements include three major writing projects designed by the student, review and discussion of drafts written by other workshop members, analysis and presentation of discipline-specific communication patterns and practices.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý636ÌýÌýDirected ReadingsÌýÌý(1-6 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Intensive study of a specific topic from various specializations of the English faculty. Negotiation between the student and the director for variable credit and approved by Director of Graduate Studies.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

·¡±·³ÒÌý669ÌýÌýLiterature, Methods, and the ProfessionÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

This course initiates students into ways of thinking and practicing in English literary studies. We will explore critical traditions, research methods, and emerging approaches, including literary criticism and theory, globalization, transnationalism, and postcolonialism in literature, together with introductions to cultural studies, rhetoric, composition, film studies, and media studies as they influenced literary criticism and theories. The course also prepares students to begin formulating their own academic and professional pathways with attention to practical considerations of how to become a professional in graduate school. You will become familiar with faculty from the department, develop research plans, and discover resources to start trajectories that include careers in writing, media, and teaching.

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý675ÌýÌýProjects in Technical CommunicationÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Capstone course for M.S. in Technical Communication. Students engage in major semester-long individual project under direction of instructor.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý518

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý676ÌýÌýMaster's Project in EnglishÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Individual capstone project in English Studies. Topic and mode of study determined in consultation with faculty project advisor. For students in the final semester of the English MA program.

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý685ÌýÌýMaster's Supervised TeachingÌýÌý(1-3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Teaching experience under the mentorship of faculty who assist the student in planning for the teaching assignment, observe and provide feedback to the student during the teaching assignment, and evaluate the student upon completion of the assignment.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý688ÌýÌýNon-Thesis Masters Continuous Registration - Half Time RegistrationÌýÌý(1 credit hours)ÌýÌý

For students in non-thesis master's programs who have completed all credit hour requirements for their degree but need to maintain half-time continuous registration to complete incomplete grades, projects, final master's exam, etc.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Fall only

·¡±·³ÒÌý690ÌýÌýMaster's ExaminationÌýÌý(1-9 credit hours)ÌýÌý

For students in non thesis master's programs who have completed all other requirements of the degree except preparing for and taking the final master's exam.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Fall, Spring, and Summer

·¡±·³ÒÌý693ÌýÌýMaster's Supervised ResearchÌýÌý(1-9 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Instruction in research and research under the mentorship of a member of the Graduate Faculty.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý695ÌýÌýMaster's Thesis ResearchÌýÌý(1-9 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Thesis research.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý696ÌýÌýSummer Thesis ResearchÌýÌý(1 credit hours)ÌýÌý

For graduate students whose programs of work specify no formal course work during a summer session and who will be devoting full time to thesis research.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Summer only

·¡±·³ÒÌý699ÌýÌýMaster's Thesis PreparationÌýÌý(1-9 credit hours)ÌýÌý

For students who have completed all credit hour requirements and full-time enrollment for the master's degree and are writing and defending their theses.

Prerequisite: Master's student

Typically offered in Summer only

·¡±·³ÒÌý722ÌýÌýLinguistics and LiteracyÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Focus on two-way relationship between linguistic theory and literacy. Metalinguistic awareness and acquisition of literacy, orthography and phonology, oral vs. written language, oral vs. literate cultures, and metalinguistic assumptions in linguistic theory.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý525

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý727/·¡±·³ÒÌý527ÌýÌýDiscourse AnalysisÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Overview of major issues, theories, and research methods in contemporary discourse analysis. It explores how language as a form of social practice regulates social actions, relations and identities; how ways of speaking construct and are constructed by social order, cultural practice, and individual agency. Texts/discourses are analyzed to examine how speakers create meaning through formal linguistic choices; what the micro-organization of talk reveals about social order; how critical understanding of discourse helps to interpret complex processes of social life.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý729ÌýÌýLanguage Variation and Social TheoryÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Although the field of sociolinguistic variation has developed its own body of theory, its central questions continue to call for engagement with theory in related socio-cultural disciplines. This course examines sociolinguists' explicit and implicit incorporation of social theory into the analysis of language variation; it also explores the many ways in which social theory could yet enrich, and be enriched by, empirical sociolinguistic analysis.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý523

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate even years

·¡±·³ÒÌý730ÌýÌýEthnolinguistic VariationÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

This course examines the nature of ethnolinguistic variation in the English-speaking diaspora, with particular attention to the ethnic varieties in the United States, including African American English, Hispanic English, and Native American English.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý525

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate odd years

·¡±·³ÒÌý731ÌýÌýApplied SociolinguisticsÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

This course will introduce the main research concentrations and methods in Applied Sociolinguistics, including first language acquisition and teaching, second language learning, bilingualism, and clinical assessment and treatment of communication disorders. Students will be introduced to the basic foundations of language variation from linguistic and sociocultural/historical perspectives and learn how sociolinguistic variation affects clinical and educational processes and organizations.

Prerequisite: ·¡±·³ÒÌý525

Typically offered in Spring only

This course is offered alternate odd years

·¡±·³ÒÌý783ÌýÌýResponsible AI and SocietyÌýÌý(3 credit hours)ÌýÌý

The course examines the applications of artificial Intelligence systems in multiple domains of society and the fundamental challenges and concerns introduced by such AI tools, which include but are not limited to accountability, biases, explainability, fairness, liability, privacy, and transparency. To tackle these challenges, we will take an interdisciplinary approach by first obtaining a non-programmer's overview of AI and data science before delving into the life cycle of AI systems, ethics, social justice, and rhetorical theories. Then, we will apply these interdisciplinary lenses to critically examine AI applications in multiple sectors to examine how AI can deepen racial and economic inequalities. We will explore how AI systems should be held accountable to communities and application contexts and how interdisciplinary research can be done to encourage public engagement, inform public discourses about the social impacts of AI, and help create more responsible AI.

Typically offered in Spring only

·¡±·³ÒÌý798ÌýÌýSpecial Topics in English StudiesÌýÌý(3-6 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Intensive exploration of specialized or emerging topics in an area of language, literature, rhetoric, film, or other aspect of English studies. Emphasis on student research and writing. May be used to test and develop new courses. May be repeated for credit.

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

This course is offered alternate odd years

·¡±·³ÒÌý810ÌýÌýDirected Readings in English StudiesÌýÌý(1-6 credit hours)ÌýÌý

Intensive study of a specific topic from various specializations of the English faculty. Negotiation between the student and the director for the variable credit and approved by the director of Graduate Studies. May be repeated for credit.

Typically offered in Fall and Spring

·¡±·³ÒÌý896ÌýÌýSummer Dissert ResÌýÌý(1 credit hours)ÌýÌý