Detailed 300 and 400 level course description.
Full Summer Term
N/A
Term I
EN 301-050 FICTION WRITING MTWRF 10:00-11:45 Marker
In this course, we will focus heavily on the craft of fiction. We will practice drafting stories with craft in mind, and we will end the semester with a writing workshop.
EN 319-050 TECHNICAL WRITING MTWRF 10:00 -11:45 Dayton
This course will introduce the principles and practices of technical writing, including audience analysis, planning and organization, document design, and style. We will cover ethical and legal issues in technical communication as well as editing techniques. We will practice writing various kinds of professional documents, with special emphasis on memos, instruction sets, usability testing, proposals, reports, and collaboration.
EN 408-050 ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING MTWRF 10:00-11:45 Estes
Freedom & Practice (multi-genre)
Robert Frost defined the most basic need of his work as a writer like this: All I would keep for myself is the freedom of my material ”the condition of body and mind now and then to summons aptly from the vast chaos of all I have lived through”. One could do worse! This course has no grand theme or project; it is about the work of writing, but more importantly about the way of the writer. We well explore, discover, and practice what it takes for an artist to begin and then to keep going: the mental, spiritual, physical, and temporal skills needed to live a sustainable creative life. The objectives are to know yourself better, to gain permissions for artistic and personal freedoms, to write what you want how you want for as long as your life will allow. In short, to design your life on your terms and point yourself with energy and purpose toward your goals. In the midst of that education, you will propose and develop an independent writing project in line with your interests.
EN 429-050 DIRECTED READINGS TBA TBA
Prerequisite: Enrollment only by previous arrangement with a specific instructor and with the permission of the director of undergraduate English studies.
Term II
EN 455-100 ADVANCED STUDIES IN WRITING MTWRF 2:00-3:45 Fitzsimmons
The Rhetoric of Mental Health
What are we really talking about when we talk about mental health? How do we have conversations—in private or in public settings—about mental health in ways that both raise awareness and genuinely improve real people’s ability to take care of their mental health and well-being? Terms like “mental health,” “self-care,” and “well-being” are frequent buzzwords on social media, in the news, and even on campuses, and while in some ways, the prevalence of these terms and conversations are new, these conversations are also built on centuries of particular discourses around mental health. These rhetorics—patterns of talking about mental health that have developed over time—both enable the conversations we are having now and can prevent them from being effective. In this class, we will explore the ways we communicate about mental health—both in our current moment and historically. Topics will include mental health rhetorics on UA’s campus (currently and historically), mental health rhetorics online (particularly on social media), social activism around mental health and self-care, and representations of mental health in popular culture. Assignments will include scripting and producing a podcast episode as part of a class podcast, using rhetorical analysis to respond to media representations of mental health, and creating your own materials for public and/or digital advocacy around mental health-related topics. While we will engage with and use rhetorical frameworks for analysis, critique, and composition, students will have the opportunity to pursue a variety of formats for their work (creative, academic, multimodal, etc.), depending on their interests.
Study Abroad
Oxford England
EN 311 Oxford Fantasy Literature (G. Arielle),
EN 333: Shakespeare from Stage to Page (T. Sasser)
EN 308/408: Fantasy Writing (J. Kidd)
UA in France
EN 311: American Writers in France since 1919 (Love)
EN 365 (Modern Amer Fiction) (C. Love)
UA in Italy
Following Shakespeare:
EN 207/217 (World Lit I)
EN 333 (Shakespeare) (C. Reaves)
UA in Norway:
EN 208 (World Lit II)
EN 311: Adventure Literature (N. Parker).