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English

Requirements & Courses

  • Major Requirements

    Thirty-six credits, which must include:

    1. One course of the following: ENG-120, 121, 122, 130, 131, or
    2. ENG-220, 320, and 420.
    3. One course of the following: ENG-190, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, or 296.
    4. ENG-250 or 251; and 260 or 261.
    5. Eight additional credits of upper-level literature selected from the following: ENG-340, 351, 353, 354, 355, 356, 360, 361, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 380, 381, 382, and 383.
    6. Cognate: Four credits of foreign language at or above the 112 level to help students appreciate sounds, structure and beauty of a language different from their own. 
    7. Students who meet Alma’s requirements for honors and who present a senior thesis judged to be of honors caliber are eligible for English Department honors. 
    8. Note: ENG-100, 101 and 110 do not count in the English major. No independent study counts toward the major unless it is approved as a substitute for a major requirement. 
  • Minor Requirements

    Twenty-four credits, which must include:

    1. One course of the following: ENG-120, 121, 122, 130, 131, or 132.
    2. ENG-250 or 251; and 260 or 261.
    3. Select one course from: ENG-190, 201, 220, 225, 270, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 296, or 320.
    4. Two additional 300 level literature courses chosen from: ENG-340, 351, 353, 354, 355, 356, 360, 361, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 380, 381, 382, and 383.
    5. Note: ENG-100, 101, and 110 do not count in the English minor.

    .

  • English Secondary Teaching Major

    Same requirements as the English major.

  • English Secondary Teaching Minor

    Same requirements as the English minor.

  • Language Arts Teaching Major and Minor (Elementary or PK-6 only)

    See the Education section of the catalog for list of requirements.

  • Writing Minor Requirements

    Twenty-four credits from any of the following:

    1. ENG-190, 201, 202, 203, 204, 210, 220, 270, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 370, 390, 391, 393, and 490.
    2. One 4 credit writing-intensive internship experience, ENG 385, can be included in the 24-credits with prior departmental approval.
    3. Minors are encouraged to explore one of the following optional writing tracks: 
      • Business and Professional Writing: ENG-202, 203, 204, 270, 295, or 385
      • Creative Writing: ENG-290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 390, 391, or 393
      • Journalism and Media: ENG-201, 202, 203, 204, 270, 370, or 385
      • Teaching Writing: ENG-201, 202, 203, 210, 290, or 291
    • Note: Writing minors on defined tracts may petition the department to include approved courses in COM, NMS, or BUS for one of their required writing courses.  A current list of approved substitutes is maintained by the department.
  • Program Considerations
    • Prospective majors should plan to take ENG-120 in the first year, ENG-220 in the sophomore year, ENG-320 in the junior year, and English 420 in the senior year. Note: One foreign language course at or above the 112 level is required for the English major.
    • ENG-100, 101 and 110 do not count toward the English major or minor.
    • Students considering graduate school are urged to complete more than the required number of 300-level literature classes as well as ENG-500 Senior Thesis. Students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in literature are strongly recommended to take additional modern language courses.
    • English majors may also elect a writing minor. Up to eight credits may count toward both the major and minor requirements
  • Prerequisites for advanced studies in literature (ENG 340 through 368) are ENG-220, 240, 241, 250, 251, 260 or 261.

Courses

  • ENG
    100
    .
    College Rhetoric I
    4 credits
    Development of writing as a process of thinking and communication that involves stages of generating, drafting and revising. Emphasis on writing in several forms for a variety of purposes and audiences. Review of basic paragraph, sentence and spelling skills. Regular conferences to discuss writing.
  • ENG
    101
    .
    College Rhetoric II
    4 credits
    Developing critical thinking and reading skills with emphasis on analytical, persuasive and research writing. Development of style and voice. Evaluation of writing from various disciplines and contemporary issues. Requires ENG-100 or placement.
  • ENG
    108
    .
    Introduction to College Reading
    2 credits
    Provides a brief introduction to different types of texts that students can expect to encounter in college coursework. Readings include academic, popular, and creative writings. Students respond to readings in writing and through class discussion while developing college-level reading strategies.
  • ENG
    110
    .
    Studies in Literature
    4 credits
    Thematic approach to understanding, analyzing and appreciating literature. Courses may focus on particular genres, like poetry or the short story, or focus on themes like gothic writers, environmental literature, or the Holocaust. This course is designed to be introductory and is open to students with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences with literary studies. Course does not count toward the English major.
  • ENG
    120
    .
    Literary Analysis
    4 credits
    Preparation for advanced study of literature and language, including vocabulary, critical approaches, and writing strategies employed in literary analysis. This course is required for a major or minor in English, but open to all students with a solid foundation in reading and writing.
  • ENG
    121
    .
    Tricksters and Troublemakers
    4 Credits
    In literature and myth, tricksters are powerful figures; they break rules and create them, crossing lines between sacred and profane, creation and destruction, human and animal, and male and female. At the edges of human cultures, trickster is always there. But because of the ways they break rules, tricksters-and other types of troublemakers-also help us understand culturally specific forms of social power, subversion, and resistance. Through explorations of tricksters and troublemakers in the Western, African American, and Native American literary traditions, this class explores questions about the revolutionary power of words and the subversive power of laughter.
  • ENG
    122
    .
    Bad Babes, Mad Men: Gender & Lit
    4 Credits
    Critical thinking, reading, and writing though an examination of literary texts and sociocultural constructions of gender. Examines a range of short literary pieces to discuss how power and gender intersect (with age, race, class, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation and more) to shape authorship, representation, and reception in literary studies.
  • ENG
    131
    .
    Tall Tales, Short Stories
    4 Credits
    This class explores the art and craft of the short story using a blend of analytical and creative approaches to understanding the nature of narrative. Through reading a diverse range of genres, from folk tales to metafiction, from realism to speculative fiction, we will explore how writers construct narratives and how those choices shape interpretation. Through a range of creative exercises, we will explore what it means to imagine-and write-our own fictional worlds.
  • ENG
    132
    .
    Disturbing Worlds: The Art of Drama
    4 Credits
    This course promotes an appreciation of the literature produced for the stage. It pays particular attention to the ways that drama simultaneously reflects and reshapes the traditions it inherits and the concerns of its own time. Students will read plays from a wide range of periods and cultures, and will attend multiple live performances. Finally, working in small groups, students will write and stage a brief drama that embodies their own reflections on current events.
  • ENG
    180
    .
    Studies in Literature and Language
    2-4 credits
    Studies in Literature and Language
  • ENG
    180FM
    .
    Always a River: Fishing in Literature
    4 credits
    “Always a River” will involve intensive reading and discussion about fishing in addition to writing nature essays. As a class we will also travel five different days to Grayling to fish in the Ausable under the tutelage of professional guides from Old Ausable Fly Shop. Lastly, we will spend at least one day cleaning up the river as a class. The focus of the course is thus three-fold: to explore and read about fishing in literature, especially Michigan literature, to receive hands-on instruction in the art of fly fishing and river ecology, and to require students to write several nature essays. Course fee.
  • ENG
    180M
    .
    Studies in Lit and Language
    4 credits
    Selected topics in English.
  • ENG
    181
    .
    Diversity Studies in Literature
    4 credits
    Studies of literature beyond the American and British canon: Asian American literature, Black women writers, Eastern European and non-Western world literature, and postcolonial writers. Students may register for more than one course under this number.
  • ENG
    182
    .
    Off-Campus: American Experience Experience: Literary and Cultural Voices
    4 credits
    Special emphasis on travel to develop historical and cultural awareness as it adds to the richness of the American literary experience such as writers of the Southwest in Taos, New Mexico, New England writers in Martha’s Vineyard and Key West writers in Florida. Genres, periods and authors vary.
  • ENG
    183
    .
    Off-Campus: British Literature & Culture
    4 credits
    Special emphasis on travel to develop historical and cultural awareness as it adds to the richness of the British literary experience such as Shakespeare and Company in London and Medieval Literature in England. Genres, periods and authors vary. Spring Term only.
  • ENG
    183M
    .
    Medieval & Renaissance Drama in London
    4 credits
    Special emphasis on travel to develop historical and cultural awareness as it adds to the richness of the British literary experience such as Shakespeare and Company in London and Medieval Literature in England. Genres, periods and authors vary. Spring Term only.
  • ENG
    190
    .
    Creative Writing
    4 credits
    Introduction to the creative process through an exploration of multiple genres. This course focuses on fostering creative experimentation, observation, reflection, and an understanding of the conventions and creative possibilities of different genres, including poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. No prior creative writing experience required.
  • ENG
    201
    .
    Advanced Rhetoric
    4 credits
    Exploration of how ancient rhetorical principles (such as invention, arrangement, and style) can help us to understand and to craft effective arguments. Emphasis on the development of rhetorical awareness and research-based writing.
  • ENG
    202
    .
    Digital Rhetoric
    4 credits
    Exploration of the rhetorical conventions and contexts of writing in digital contexts, as well as the intersections between textual and visual choices. Students explore writing in a variety of digital contexts and will read and discuss scholarly methods for thinking critically about the place of writing in new media.
  • ENG
    203
    .
    Professional and Technical Writing
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG 101, 201, 202, or 220
    Introduction to the rhetorical and production practices central to various professional writing contexts. These include corporate, educational, and technical settings. This course is open to students from any major interested in a practical understanding of writing in professional and technical environments.
  • ENG
    204
    .
    Design and Visual Rhetoric
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG 101, 201, 202, or 220
    Exploration of rhetoric of design in composing written texts for various professional and creative contexts. This course focuses on the role visual elements play in reading and interpretation and is designed for students interested in graphic design or New Media Studies who would like to deepen their writing abilities, as well as for writers who are interested in developing practical skills in writing in ways that make intentional, rhetorically informed use of visual and design elements as tools of persuasion.
  • ENG
    210
    .
    Teaching Writing
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG 101, 201, 202, or 220
    Overview of the major theories and critical scholarship in the teaching of composition - as well as practical experience in designing assignments, rhetorical analysis, revision processes, and giving and receiving feedback on college-level writing.
  • ENG
    220
    .
    Foundations of Literary Argument
    4 credits
    Development of the reading, writing, and research skills foundational to advanced study of literature (in English or in other languages). This course focuses on cultivating the creative and critical modes of thinking and writing used in analyzing literary, cultural, historical, and critical source material. Required for English majors and minors, this course is also designed to benefit students in related fields that depend on textual analysis in argumentation, including World Languages, History, New Media Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and American Studies.
  • ENG
    225
    .
    General Linguistics
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 201, or 202 and Sophomore standing
    Understanding the function and structure of language through analysis of its subdivisions: phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, language usage, dialect and historical development.
  • ENG
    230
    .
    Shakespeare on Film
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 120, 201 or 202
    Study of Shakespeare’s plays from the perspective of text and film. Emphasis on understanding selected plays, comparing different interpretations, and comprehending different cinematic styles.
  • ENG
    240
    .
    Children in World Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 120, 201 or 202
    A study of literature written for children and young adults. The range of texts will include Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book to the popular Hunger Games Trilogy. Lectures and discussions will attempt to describe the embedded cultural assumptions and colonial power structures implicit in children’s literature.
  • ENG
    241
    .
    Themes in World Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 120, 201 or 202
    A study of Literature from a global perspective. The course will study universal themes such as “family,” “love,” and “identity” using classics of world literature from Homer to Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (in English translation where necessary.)
  • ENG
    250
    .
    Survey of British Literature I
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 120, 201 or 202
    Exploring British literature from its beginning to the end of the 18th century, from Medieval period through the Neo-Classical period.
  • ENG
    251
    .
    Survey of British Literature II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 120, 201 or 202
    Exploring British literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, from the Romantic era to the present.
  • ENG
    260
    .
    Survey of American Literature I
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 120, 201 or 202
    Analyzing American literature from its beginnings to the Civil War, including the Puritan and Romantic periods.
  • ENG
    261
    .
    Survey of American Literature II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-101, 120, 201 or 202
    Examining American literature from the Civil War and the Realistic movement to the present.
  • ENG
    270
    .
    Writing for the Media
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG 101, 201, 202, or 220
    Introduction to the basics of writing for various mass media forms - print, broadcasting, and online media. Students gain practical experience on the particular journalistic writing skills required for the different media, along with examining related legal and ethical issues.
  • ENG
    283M
    .
    Shakespeare on Stage
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    A study of Shakespeare’s plays offering a representative survey of the major histories, comedies, and tragedies. Attention will be focused on reading the plays carefully and viewing and analyzing both stage and film productions of them.
  • ENG
    290
    .
    Poetry Workshop I
    4 credits
    Exploration of poetic form and language through writing and workshopping student work, as well as through critiquing the work of published poets. This course focuses on cultivating an inventive, playful relationship to language as well as foundational habits necessary for the creation of art.
  • ENG
    291
    .
    Fiction Workshop I
    4 credits
    Exploration of the craft of writing short fiction through writing and workshopping student work, as well as through critiquing the work of published authors. This course focuses on providing a foundational understanding of narrative forms and styles, as well as introducing students to the habits of art necessary for sustained creative writing.
  • ENG
    292
    .
    Playwriting
    4 credits
    Exploration of the craft of writing short plays through writing and workshopping student work, as well as through critiquing the work of published authors. This class is designed for writers with experience with theatre, or for theatre students with an interest in writing for the stage.
  • ENG
    293
    .
    Creative Nonfiction
    4 credits
    Exploration of the craft of writing creative nonfiction, including personal essay, memoir, and the meditative essay. Through writing and workshopping of student and professional work, this class introduces students to the observational, reflective, and aesthetic skills necessary to practicing the habit of art.
  • ENG
    294
    .
    Screenwriting I
    4 credits
    Exploration of the craft of writing screenplays for film. Through writing and workshopping student and professional work, students will explore techniques for developing characters and scenes, as well as crafting stories that will translate well to the screen.
  • ENG
    295
    .
    Grant Writing
    4 credits
    Introduction to grant writing as a genre of professional writing. This course explores grant writing from both a theoretical and a practical perspective, including the philosophy of philanthropy, the process of identifying needs, developing grant proposals, and identifying funding sources.
  • ENG
    296
    .
    Cross Genre Workshop
    4 credits
    Exploration of the craft of writing creative works that cross traditional genre boundaries, including prose poems, new media essays, and other forms of radical hybridity. Through writing and workshopping of student and professional work, this class introduces students to the observational, reflective, and aesthetic skills necessary to practicing the habit of art.
  • ENG
    299
    .
    English Independent Study
    2-4 credits
    Requires instructor permission.
  • ENG
    320
    .
    Critical Theory
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-220 and one upper level literature course
    Surveys modern literary and critical discourse with emphasis on understanding and applying different theoretical approaches to literature.
  • ENG
    340
    .
    Women’s Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Studies in the literature of women from its beginnings in Julian of Norwich through Bradstreet and Woolf to the present. Includes historically and internationally diverse authors in a variety of genres.
  • ENG
    351
    .
    Chaucer
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Study of Chaucer’s major works, including the Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde, and/or selected works of Chaucer’s contemporaries.
  • ENG
    353
    .
    The English Renaissance
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Selected study of English Renaissance texts ranging from More’s Utopia to Milton’s Paradise Lost. Includes works by authors such as Marlowe, Spenser, Donne, Herbert, Jonson and Marvell.
  • ENG
    354
    .
    Shakespeare
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Study of Shakespeare’s plays offering a representative survey of the major histories, comedies and tragedies.
  • ENG
    355
    .
    British Romantics and Victorians
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Study of the major 19th-century British writers from Blake to Hopkins. Includes such authors as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and the Brownings, and such essayists as Wollstonecraft, Hazlitt, Carlyle and Pater.
  • ENG
    356
    .
    Modern British and Irish Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Study of major British and Irish authors since 1900, including Yeats, Joyce, Eliot, Woolf and Beckett.
  • ENG
    360
    .
    Transatlantic 18th Century Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Study of the literature of “the long Eighteenth Century” from a transatlantic perspective. This course examines the emergence of the novel, as well as the impact of the slave trade and of the Enlightenment on the literature of Britain, the Americas and the Caribbean. Authors include Equiano, Wheatley, Behn, Swift, Defoe, Burney, Godwin, Brown and Foster.
  • ENG
    361
    .
    Modern American Writers to 1865
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Examines in depth selected writers from the Revolution to the Civil War, with a special focus on the struggle to define an “American” literature. Includes such authors as Brown, Irving, Poe, Douglass, Jacobs, Dickinson, Melville, Hawthorne, Whitman and Stowe.
  • ENG
    364
    .
    Studies in Drama
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Studies of issues and developments in English language drama from the Restoration to the present. Individual sections might be organized by themes, by period (i.e., Restoration or 20th-century drama), or by focusing on multiple works by playwrights such as Dryden, Behn, Farquhar, Shaw, O’Neill, Williams, Albee, Churchill, or Fugard.
  • ENG
    365
    .
    Studies in the Novel
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Studies of issues and developments in English language novel. Individual sections might be organized by themes, by periods, or by focusing on multiple works by authors as diverse as Defoe and DeLillo, Richardson and Rushdie, or Melville and Morrison.
  • ENG
    366
    .
    Modern American Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Studies of American literature from post-WWII to the present.
  • ENG
    367
    .
    African American Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Study of African American Literature as a distinct tradition beginning with the experience of enslavement and influenced by African and African American oral cultural heritage.
  • ENG
    368
    .
    American Indian Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Study of the rich and varied literary tradition’s roots in oral culture and its modern and contemporary expressions.
  • ENG
    370
    .
    Studies in Journalism
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG 270 or Permission
    Advanced study of topics in journalism and writing for the media that might include a focus on particular genres like magazine article writing, literary journalism, environmental journalism, digital journalism, or investigative reporting.
  • ENG
    380
    .
    Studies in Literature and Language
    1 credit
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    The study of various topics such as Holocaust literature, the dramas of AIDS, contemporary Scottish literature and travel literature. Students may register for more than one course under this number.
  • ENG
    381
    .
    Diversity Studies in Literature
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Studies of literature beyond the American and British canon: Asian American literature, Black women writers, Eastern European and non-Western world literature, and postcolonial writers. Students may register for more than one course under this number.
  • ENG
    382
    .
    Off Campus Studies: American Experience- Literary and Cultural Voices
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Special emphasis on travel to develop historical and cultural awareness as it adds to the richness of the American literary experience such as writers of the Southwest in Taos, New Mexico, New England writers in Martha’s Vineyard and Key West writers in Florida. Genres, periods and authors vary.
  • ENG
    383
    .
    Off-Campus: British Lit and Culture
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    Special emphasis on travel to develop historical and cultural awareness as it adds to the richness of the British literary experience such as Shakespeare and Company in London and Medieval Literature in England. Genres, periods and authors vary.
  • ENG
    383M
    .
    Shakespeare on Stage
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: Two courses in literature
    A study of Shakespeare’s plays offering a representative survey of the major histories, comedies, and tragedies. Attention will be focused on reading the plays carefully and viewing and analyzing both stage and film productions of them.
  • ENG
    385
    .
    English Practicum
    2-8 credits
    Prerequisite: Permission
    Application of concepts in language and writing through participation in journalistic, public relations and other work settings. Supervision by faculty and sponsoring organization. Includes interpretive journal and summarizing paper.
  • ENG
    390
    .
    Poetry Workshop II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-290
    Advanced workshop in the art and craft of writing poems. In-depth critiquing of student and professional writing.
  • ENG
    391
    .
    Fiction Workshop II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-190, 291 and Permission
    Advanced workshop in the art and craft of writing fiction. In-depth critiquing of student and professional writing. Creating a chapbook of fiction and giving a public reading.
  • ENG
    392
    .
    Playwriting Workshop II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-292
    Advanced workshop in the art and craft of playwriting. In-depth critiquing of student and professional writing.
  • ENG
    393
    .
    Creative Nonfiction II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-293
    Advanced workshop in writing creative nonfiction and practicing the habit of art. In-depth critiquing of student and professional writing.
  • ENG
    394
    .
    Screenwriting II
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-294
    Advanced workshop on the craft of writing film screenplays. In-depth critiquing of student and professional writing.
  • ENG
    399
    .
    English Independent Study
    2-4 credits
    Requires twenty-four completed English credits with “B” average and permission.
  • ENG
    420
    .
    Senior Seminar
    4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG-320, three upper level literature courses and senior standing
    A sustained investigation in the study of language and literature that draws upon the expertise developed in previous English courses. Topics will vary each term. Students will complete a seminar project and submit a portfolio of their writing in the major.
  • ENG
    490
    .
    Independent Writing Project
    2-4 credits
    Prerequisite: ENG 370, 390, 391, 392, 393, or 394
    Independent work on a sustained, advanced writing project that is a culminating experience of the writing minor. An emphasis on writing for publication or performance (screenplay or play) is encouraged.
  • ENG
    499
    .
    English Independent Study
    2-4 credits
    Requires 30 credits completed in the English department with ‘B’ average, and permission.
  • ENG
    500
    .
    Senior Thesis
    1 credit
    Requires instructor permission.