Graduate Catalog - Shippensburg University

Shippensburg UniversityENG465 Seminar in Creative Nonfiction (3 crs.)Examines prose that claims to be a factual representation of the truthin a narrative form. Genres that may be studied include autobiography,memoir, biography, history, documentary writing, essay, travelwriting, nature writing, and writing about culture. Works by morethan one author will be read; may emphasize determining characteristicsof the genre rather than the chronological period in which it appears.Expect to write at least one lengthy analytic paper. Prerequisite:ENG107 or permission of the department.ENG466 Seminar in Literary Theory (3 crs.)In-depth study of one or more theoretical perspectives in literarycriticism. Particular theories and authors studied varies according tothe instructor. May focus on a theoretical movement (e.g., deconstruction,reader-response) or the works of one or more importanttheorists (e.g., Fredric Jameson, Stanley Fish). May also be organizedaround a particular set of issues or concerns relevant to theories ofliterary criticism (e.g., race in postmodern theory, the meaning of theauthor in literary theory). Expect to write at least one lengthy analyticpaper. Prerequisite: ENG107 or permission of the department.ENG467 Seminar in Drama (3 crs.)Examines drama’s fundamental components (plot, character, andwhat Aristotle calls thought [every effect produced in speech]) withinthe spatial context of a stage. Concerned, in particular, with performanceof drama. Attendance at relevant area stage performancesand viewing films and video tapes augment textual study. Requiresthoughtful critical reading and critical writing beyond requirementsof lower level courses. Both activities done in terms of a non-chronologicalcluster of significant dramatists, e.g., Marlowe, Ibsen, O’Neill,which may vary from instructor to instructor. Enables in-depth understandingof the components of drama and their various utilizationsregardless of a dramatist’s time period or individual style. Expect towrite at least one lengthy analytic paper dealing with one or more ofthe components in a work or works read for the seminar. Prerequisite:ENG107 or permission of the department.ENG468 Seminar in Fiction (3 crs.)Examines fiction’s fundamental components—plot, character, andnarrative point-of-view. Requires thoughtful critical reading and criticalwriting beyond requirements of lower level courses. Both activitiesdone in terms of non-chronological cluster of significant fictionwriters, e.g., Sterne, Bronte, Faulkner, which may vary by instructor.Enables understanding of in-depth the components of fiction andtheir various utilizations, regardless of a fiction writer’s time periodor individual style. Expect to write at least one lengthy analytic paperdealing with one or more of the components in a work or works readfor the seminar. Prerequisite: ENG107 or permission of the department.ENG469 Seminar in Poetry (3 crs.)Examines poetry’s fundamental components — image, sound, andthe interplay of concepts. Requires thoughtful critical reading andcritical writing beyond requirements of lower level courses. Bothactivities done in terms of a non-chronological cluster of significantpoets, e.g., Milton, Tennyson, Moore, which may vary by instructor.Enables understanding of in-depth the components and their variousutilizations, regardless of a poet’s time period or individual style.Expect to write at least one lengthy analytic paper dealing with oneor more of the components in a work or works read for the seminar.Prerequisite: ENG107 or permission of the department.ENG490 Selected Topics in English (1-3 crs.)Opportunity to offer courses in areas of departmental interest notcovered by regular course offerings.ENG505 Seminar in Poetry (3 crs.)Provides in-service teachers and certification students with advancedstudy of poetry and poetics. Course may focus on a movement orschool of thought (e.g. the Romantics, the Harlem Renaissance), anhistorical period, the poetry of a defined social group (e.g. HispanicAmerican poetry, African women’s poetry), and/or a thematicconcern. Helps teachers understand current critical and theoreticalapproaches to poetry. Specific topic will vary according to instructor.ENG506 Seminar in Fiction (3 crs.)Provides in-service teachers and certification students with advancedstudy of fiction. Course may focus on an historical period (e.g. 19thcenturynovel, short fiction of the 1940s), a movement or school ofthought (e.g. modern novel, postmodern narratives), the fiction of asocially defined group (African-American novels, Native-Americannarrative), and/or a thematic concern. Helps teachers understand currentcritical and theoretical approaches to fiction. Specific topic willvary according to instructor.ENG507 Seminar in Drama/Film (3 crs.)Provides in-service teachers and certification students with advancedstudy of drama and/or film. Course may focus on an historical period(e.g. Elizabethan tragedy, modernist drama), a movement or schoolof thought (e.g. French New Wave cinema), the drama and/or filmsof a socially defined group (African-American cinema, gay/lesbiantheater), a particular genre (e.g. tragedy, film noir), and/or a thematicconcern. Helps teachers understand current critical and theoreticalapproaches to drama and/or film. Specific topic will vary according toinstructor.ENG511 Seminar in Cultural Studies (3 crs.)Examines textual media (literature, film, etc.) in relation to othercultural practices and to social and historical structures. Mightinvolve, for example, studies of film noir in relation to the postwaranticommunist hysteria; race in Renaissance literature and the riseof colonialist economy; gay “camp” style, postmodern poetics, andperformance art. Introduces students to important theories andmethodologies of cultural study and relates them to study of literarytexts. One or more critical papers required. Specific content variesaccording to instructor.ENG512 Seminar in Composition and Rhetoric (3 crs.)Introduces the field of composition and rhetoric, the area of Englishstudies specifically concerned with methods, implications, andchallenges of teaching writing. Depending on the instructor and theinterests of the students, course may focus more or less on the followingareas: historical contexts in classical rhetoric, such as the revival ofSophistic rhetoric; current theories as applied in composition studies,such as social constructionism; major movements in compositionpedagogy, such as collaborative writing or computers and composition.One or more researched essays and class presentations required.ENG515 Seminar in American Literature (3 crs.)Provides in-service teachers and certification students with advancedstudy of American literature. Course may focus on an historical period(e.g. the American Renaissance, Realism, Naturalism), a movementor school of thought (e.g. American Transcendentalism, theImagist poets), a particular genre (e.g. the novel, American drama),a socially defined group (e.g. slave narratives, Latino/a novels), and/or a thematic concern. Helps teachers understand current critical andtheoretical approaches to fiction. Specific topic will vary according toinstructor.ENG516 Seminar in British Literature (3 crs.)Provides in-service teachers and certification students with advancedstudy of British literature. Course may focus on an historical period(e.g. the Renaissance, the Victorian Age), a movement or schoolof thought (e.g. fin de siecle aestheticism, the Bloomsbury group), aparticular genre (e.g. the lyric, the novel), a socially defined group(e.g. working class fiction, black British poetry), and/or a thematicconcern. Helps teachers understand current critical and theoreticalapproaches to fiction. Specific topic will vary according to instructor.90