Fall 2010 Undergraduate Courses
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Download the Fall 2010 Undergraduate Course Booklet
Note that the courses listed here represent many but not all the courses taught during this particular quarter. Those courses taught by graduate students and part-time instructors are not listed.
Eng 151 - Writing & Rhetoric I
Instructor: David Bruce
Description:
Rhetoric and Composition. Rhetoric is the use of language to persuade or please.
Readings:
The main textbook is my Student Study Guide to ENG 151, which will be available at Copy Catz Notes on Union Street.
Exams/Papers:
No exams. We will write several kinds of papers in this course, including a research paper that uses the MLA format, a personal narrative, and a review/evaluation. All students are expected to write their own papers. Plagiarism or other academic misconduct may result in a failing grade for the course plus referral to OU Judiciaries
Eng 151 - Writing & Rhetoric I
Instructor: Mara Holt
Course Goals:
English 151 is designed to help you to write effectively for the university academic community, which involves demonstrating critical reading, thinking, researching, and writing skills. Because academic writing often builds upon ideas from other writing, this class will focus particularly on writing that integrates and responds to sources we read.
Writing Assignments:
Summary/Strong response Essay, Visual Analysis, Annotated Bibliography, Researched Argument or Informative Essay
Textbook:
The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing by Ramage, Bean, and Johnson; Concise edition, 2008, Longman Publishing.
Eng 151 - Writing & Rhetoric I
Instructor: David Sharpe
Description:
In this class, you will practice and experiment with clarity, structure, fluency, and rhetorical control as we compose, critique, and revise expository essays.By looking carefully at style, you will improve your writing in ways that will help the rest of your university career.To do so, we will blend traditional classroom discussion and exercises with computer-based writing, interaction, and rewriting. You will be learning some valuable computer skills, but only as a bonus.Your abilities at the computer will not be graded! For a colorful, energetic source of ideas and content, we will turn to movies. Movies are not only a treasured part of our culture, but they are also a native language that has a special appeal to our ideas and emotions.As we uncover the ways in which film affects us, we will discover that they are often the same methods that writing uses to move and influence a reader.As a result, we can use this familiar art to illuminate and improve our writing skills.At all times, the discussion and treatment of movies will be a means to a greater end - the ability to express yourself well in writing as your ideas become deeper and richer.
Course Readings:
The Everyday Writer, Andrea Lunsford, Cion, Zakes Mda, Film Art: An Introduction, David Bordwell [or] Looking at Movies, Richard Barsam
Course Exams and Assignments
During the quarter, you will produce twenty pages of strong, clear, polished writing in four formal projects and several in-class activities. Rewriting of each project is expected, though formal grading of those rewrites won't take place until the end of the quarter. In addition, you'll be writing short memos, and adding suggestions to papers by other students in the class. A final rewrite takes the place of a final exam.
Eng 151 - Writing & Rhetoric I
Instructor: John Bullock
Description:
Topics are developed from reading and discussion of fiction, poetry, and/or drama. This particular class will focus on the short story, past and present. Students will be required to do a lot of reading and writing; therefore, an interest in the short story or in fiction generally would be useful.
Readings:
Primary text: Fiction: A Pocket Anthology. 5th ed, edited by R. S. Gwynn (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007). We will also watch documentary clips, read interviews and analyze essays by writers on the craft of fiction
Assignments
Essays, reading responses, creative writing exercises, presentations, journal-keeping.
Eng 253: American Lit Survey
Instructor: Paul Jones
Description:
This course is a broad survey of American literature from its beginnings to the present. We will explore the changing modes of American writing through periods and genres, beginning with sixteenth-century narratives of exploration, surveying some of the major movements in the literature (Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, and Postmodernism), and ending up with the diverse voices found in fiction and poetry of the late Twentieth and early Twenty-First Century. The course will meet each week for two 2-hr. lectures and one 1-hr. smaller discussion section.
Readings:
Nina Baym, The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Seventh Edition)
Exams/Papers:
Midterm and Final exams, weekly quizzes/short writing assignments
Eng 254 - Res and Writ in Eng Studies
Instructor: Mara Holt
Description:
This course is designed to acquaint English majors with the practices of researching and writing prevalent in English studies. You will learn strategies of reading, researching, writing, and presenting work professionally. The thematic approach of the course is to explore issues of difference. Toward that end, the class will read visual, literary, and rhetorical texts. The computer classroom enables us to easily access databases to find citations and even whole text sources. A critical approach to the sources we find will include the following issues: How reliable is a source? What is useful, compelling, and enriching in the source? What is good academic writing? (What is worth imitating?) How might you approach difficult texts? How do you (legitimately) summarize arguments from sources? How will you present your research? Writing will include informal writing, annotated bibliographies, summaries, researched arguments, and power-point presentations.
Eng 297T: Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature
Instructor: Josie Bloomfield
Description:
Intensive study—through reading, writing, discussion, and tutorial conferencing—of the poetry, prose, drama, and cultural worlds of Anglo-Saxon and Medieval England. We will examine these texts and worlds through the lens of big questions that they evoke, such as, What is authority? What is the sacred? What is the relationship of love to war? How are humans connected to the land? What is a human? What is creation? There will be a particular focus on “others” in the period--women, Jews, Muslims, heretics--and we will examine cultural texts (such as proceedings of ecumenical councils) in addition to our literary texts to see how these “others” figure in the Anglo-Saxon and medieval world.
Possible Texts:
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, trans. Richard Green (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Macmillan, 1962); Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis (selections), online; Gregory of Nyssa, Hexameron (selections), online. Proceedings of the Council of Nicea (online); Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (New York: Random House, 1989); The Rule of St. Benedict in English, ed. Timothy Fry (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1982) (also available online); Howell D. Chickering, trans., Beowulf: A Dual Language Edition (New York: Anchor, 2006); Proceedings of the Fourth Lateran Council (online); Inquisition Proceedings (online); James Winny, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (facing-page edition) (Lewiston, NY: Broadview, 1992); Pearl: facing page translation (online); Marsha Dutton, ed., Lawrence Braceland, trans. Aelred of Rievaulx : Spiritual Friendship (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2010); Elaine Traherne, Old and Middle English c.890-c.1400: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004); Larry Benson, ed., The Riverside Chaucer (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1986); Julian of Norwich, Showings, trans. Edmund Colledge and James Walsh (New York: Paulist Press, 1978)
Eng 306J: Women & Writing
Instructor: Valorie Worthy
Description:
As a junior/senior composition course this class will emphasize writing and meet in the computer lab to self expression and persuasion there will be a research component to this class and the lab provides us with the opportunity to pursue this.
Readings:
Women's Lives Phyllis Rose (Norton) will be from Little Professor book store or you buy a used copy from Amazon or Alibris.
Assignments:
There will be group work and individual work, and written Midterm response essay (25%), Presentation and critical essay response, brief annotated bibliography (25%),and Cover letter (25% revisable). A style essay(25%),due during finals' week. Attendance is required but 2 cuts will permitted for university sanctioned reasons or personal issues. I hope you will enjoy this class and find yourself enriched by.
Eng 306J: Women & Writing
Title: Twisted Sisters: Three Nineteenth-Century Women's Novels and Their Twentieth-Century Counterparts
Instructor: Nicole Reynolds
Description:
In this class we'll read three pairs of women's novels: each pair features a nineteenth-century "classic" and a twentieth-century counterpart. Through a variety of writing assignments (both formal and informal, academic and personal) we'll explore the connections between these novels and consider such over-arching questions as the relationship between gender, sex, and writing, and the politics of women's literary history. What issues seem to remain relevant for women over time? What makes these nineteenth-century novels so appealing to twentieth-century authors? A junior composition course, specific objectives this quarter include developing your prose style, improving your writing skills in various academic and informal genres, reviewing basic elements of grammar, and becoming familiar with MLA style.
Texts:
: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. (1813).Broadview Edition, 2002.; Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847).Norton Critical Edition, 2001.; Helen Fielding. Bridget Jones's Diary.Penguin, 1996.; Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966). Norton Critical Edition,1999.; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818).Norton Critical Edition, 1996.; Fay Weldon, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983). Ballentine, 1985.
Assignments:
Peer revision exercises, Short essays, Reading quizzes, Annotated bibliography, Essay proposal, and Final project.
Eng 306J: Women & Writing
Instructor: Jane Denbow
Description:
This course will focus on improving your writing skills and learning to apply those skills in different situations and for various types of audiences. Since all writing is persuasive to some extent, we’ll study persuasive techniques throughout the quarter. You will begin by writing to a general audience on a topic of concern to you. Next, you’ll do some typical academic writing. Finally, you’ll apply your skills to examining and writing about workplace issues. Class will also analyze the relationship between writing and speaking. Oral presentations, both formal and informal, will be an integral part of class.
Assignments:
Three 4-5 page papers. A final paper, requiring research, due the day the final is scheduled. A journal, which focuses on techniques demonstrated in the readings, and a group oral presentation.
Eng 306J: Women & Writing
Instructor: David Bruce
Description:
ENG 308J is Advanced Rhetoric and Composition; therefore, it should not be merely a rehash of ENG 151 (although it can cover some of the same material), but should instead introduce new kinds and topics of writing. Of course, our emphases are on informing, persuading, and (sometimes) entertaining the reader. All students are expected to write their own papers. Plagiarism or other academic misconduct may result in a failing grade for the course plus referral to OU Judiciaries.
Readings:
The main textbook is my Student Study Guide to ENG 308J, which will be available at Copy Catz on West Union Street.
Exams/Papers:
No exams. Five projects, plus several short memos as homework. Of course, we will write a research paper; in addition, we will write a persuasive problem-solving letter, as well as three other projects.
Eng 309J: Writing in the Sciences
Instructor: Christine Freeman
Description:
The primary purpose of this course is to provide students in the sciences with an opportunity to practice writing within their majors. Students are expected to have a knowledge base within the life or physical sciences (physics, chemistry, geology, biology, etc.), since most examples used in the class require more than a layperson's understanding of the field. The course focuses on how to review prior research, how to propose research projects, how to incorporate research results into final reports, and how to write clearly and concisely.
Readings:
A course pack and several research articles about nanotechnology.
Course Work:
Papers – abstract, proposal, literature review, and poster presentation. Tests – two exams and several reading quizzes.
Eng 361: Creative Writ: Fiction
Instructor: John Bullock
Description:
This class will focus on the art and craft of fiction writing. Be prepared for a lot of great reading and, hopefully, fun writing. We'll cover the basic mechanics of storytelling and apply what we've learned to a range of writing exercises. These exercises will culminate in students writing a fully developed story plus a revision. Anyone with a serious interest in storytelling is welcome. Expect to be active.
Eng 362: Creative Writ: Poetry
Instructor: Mark Halliday
Description:
In this introductory poetry workshop, students will try composing many different kinds of poems, always looking for fresh ways to capture truths about human experience. Students will write at least one poem each week; often these will spring from exercises we've designed in class. Also, we will discuss books by four contemporary poets:Douglas Goetsch, Barbara Hamby, Tim Seibles, and C. K. Williams. There will be two or three sets of homework questions on the reading, calling for paragraph-long answers.
Eng 365: Literary Editing
Instructor: Dinty Moore
Description:
This course offers an introduction to literary publishing and an opportunity to think critically about the nature of editing creative work. will examine the history (briefly) and the current practices of literary presses and publishers of literary magazines, and will look as well at innovations in delivery (podcasts, blogs, web-based magazines, Kindle, etcetera). Students will sample a variety of literary publications; become familiar with the vocabulary of literary editing and publishing; understand the varieties of editorial purposes and processes; distinguish and understand what editors consider publishable literary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction; and attempt to understand the real-world circumstances of literary (primarily not-for-profit) publishing and editing.Requirements include reading assignments and written responses, comparative analyses of literary magazines, and a mid-term exam.The course will culminate in literary projects designed by individual students or student teams.
Eng 393: Creative Wrtg Wrksp: Short Story
Instructor: Kevin Haworth
Description:
This intermediate short story workshop will focus on developing and extending each writer's fictional voice.In this intermediate stage, we will try to identify your strengths as a writer -- is plot? characterization? narrative voice? -- and build on those strengths while developing new skills in other areas.
Texts:
: Josip Novakovich's Fiction Writers Workshop, plus at least two short story collections to be determined.
Assignments:
At least three new short stories.
Eng 393: Creative Wrtg Wrksp: Non-Fiction
Instructor: Dinty Moore
Description:
This is an advanced workshop in the reading and writing of nonfiction literary prose – commonly called creative nonfiction.The course will begin by exploring the short short form in nonfiction, including essays found in the web-based journal Brevity. Students will read widely and develop their own guidelines for extreme brevity – what can and cannot be done in less than 1,000 words – and write a number of their own brief essays. Then we will move on to longer works, mostly likely focusing on immersion techniques and literary journalism.
Eng 399: Literary Theory
Instructor: Robert Miklitsch
Description:
The aim of this course will be to offer an introduction to contemporary literary and cultural theory. Specifically, we will review various, now “classical” theories such as structuralism, deconstruction, Marxism, and psychoanalysis as well as a number of more recent critical approaches such as post-colonial and gay/lesbian theory. The task in this introductory course will be achieve a working understanding of the above theories by, in part, applying them to a specific work of literature and a number of exemplary films.
Readings:
Texts will include one secondary overview of literary-cultural theory (or excerpts from one), a critical readings (on electronic reserve), and an illustrative work of fiction (i.e., Ian Fleming’s Doctor No).
Quizzes, Exams, Etc.:
There will be regular quizzes on the reading assignments. (If, for whatever reason, you do not like to read and/or do not intend to do the reading, please do not take the class.) With respect to written work, participants will be asked to write--in the course of the quarter--three short papers (3-4 pp.) on the assigned material. A final, formal paper (6-9 pp.) will be due at the end of the quarter. Papers that are grammatically incorrect or that are not sufficiently proofread will receive a half-grade deduction; papers that do not cite the criticism will receive a half-grade deduction. As this class will be taught as a seminar, attendance and participation are mandatory. After two "skips," your final grade will be reduced a third, two-thirds for the fourth skip, and a full grade for each additional skip. NB: Those people who choose not to participate may also have their grades reduced.
Eng 460: Literary Topics
Special Topics in English Studies: Eco-English Studies
Instructor: Albert Rouzie
Description:
In this senior seminar we will explore areas of English Studies that focus on texts, issues and rhetoric on the environmental crisis, human/nature relations and considerations of ‘place’. Three sub-areas have emerged: eco-criticism focuses on literary and cultural texts; eco-rhetoric uses rhetorical theory to analyze environmental writing; and eco-composition, the newest area to emerge, brings these issues into the composition classroom as topics for writing and research. Eco-composition also proposes the complex inter-networked connections of ‘ecology’ as a model for how discourses both construct and challenge human relationships and human/nature relationships. The texts we will ‘read’ are diverse, from nature writing by Thoreau to documentary and narrative films (Food Inc and Michael Clayton, e.g.). We will read poetry, manifestos, essays (‘creative’ and analytic), environmental blogs, academic articles, and fiction. We will screen short YouTube videos and discuss the rhetorical strategies we see. We will explore themes such as ‘place’, ‘globalism,’ ‘nature,’ ‘risk,’ and ‘ecology,’ ‘environmental justice,’ and ‘eco-feminism.’ We will explore relevant major cultural tropes (apocalypse, e.g.), and the ways that eco-critics, rhetoricians, and compositionists categorize and critique environmental discourses.
Possible Texts:
American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Ed. Bill McKibben, 2008. Food Inc, dir. Robert Kenner, 2008. The Ominvore’s Dillemma by Michael Pollan. Michael Clayton. Dir. Tony Gilroy. 2007. A novel, TBA. Excerpts from Food Inc.: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer—And What You Can Do About It, Ed. Karl Weber; Ecocriticism by Greg Garrard; Ecocomposition, Eds. Dobrin and Weisser, and more, TBA.
Assignments, Etc.:
Bi-weekly reader response journaling (some assigned, some open-ended) posted in individual blogs, with commenting on others’ posts, plus reflection essay on blog writing (20%), Group web ‘handout’ on two weeks of course texts (posted to main course blog) (20%). Two one hour exams on course readings (20%). Seminar essay (involves research) within course topic areas (40%)
Hum 107/307: Great Books: Ancient
Instructor: Valorie Worthy
Description:
We will explore literature and ideas of the worlds of ancient Greece and Rome. This covers a vast period which sweeps from 850BC through the first century AD. We will study epic poetry, lyric poetry and tragic drama.
Readings:
Homer’s Odyssey, Sappho’s poems, Sophocles’ drama Antigone, poetry of Theocritus, Catallus, Ovid and Vergil including his Aeneid. There will be a few other supplementary texts and all will be available at the Little Professor book store.
Assignments:
Regular reading quizzes, essay midterm and final, and group presentation. Attendance is required. I hope you will enjoy this class and find yourself enriched by it.