Advice to New Students
The English department offers an exciting array of small, seminar-style classes, each focused upon a compelling theme, to introduce students to the study of literature. First-year students will find that the reading, thinking, and writing skills taught through close instruction in these intensive introductory English courses will serve them well in many different disciplines throughout their college careers. We therefore encourage all entering students to consider enrolling in ENGL 103 (fall) or ENGL 104 (spring) their first year.
Each section of ENGL 103 and ENGL 104 is writing-intensive and discussion-centered. Each will introduce students to texts from a range of historical periods and to genres including the epic, the novel, drama, lyric poetry, film, and the short story. Here is the list of courses available this fall (see below for full descriptions and scheduling information):
- ENGL 103.01: Animals in Literature (Carson)
- ENGL 103.02: Literature and Representation (Mason)
- ENGL 103.03: Metapoetics and Metafiction (Hawks)
- ENGL 103.04: Seductions (Lobanov-Rostovsky)
- ENGL 103.05: Imaginary Homelands (McMullen)
- ENGL 103.06: Writing the Mind (Matz)
- ENGL 103.07: All About Eve (Mankoff)
- ENGL 103.08: Stories and Storytellers (Klein)
- ENGL 103.09: Writing the Race (Schoenfeld)
- ENGL 103.10: Theft and Imitation (McAdams)
- ENGL 103.11: The Writer in the Text (Davidson)
- ENGL 103.12: The Confidence Game in America (Hyde)
- ENGL 103.13: What's Love Got to Do With It? (O'Neill)
- ENGL 103.14: Dirt and Disorder (Fernando)
- ENGL 103.15: Human Rights and Global Literature (Lewis)
- ENGL 103.16: Piracy: Captains to Copyrights (Balachandran Orihuela)
Students may proceed to the 200-level after taking ENGL 103 (or ENGL 104). Pre-med students should be sure to enroll in ENGL 103 or ENGL 104 in their first or second year, since these courses are typically not open to juniors and seniors. Students who intend to complete their humanities distribution requirement in English during their first year of study may do so by taking two courses at the 100 level or one course each at the 100 and 200 levels. Potential English majors should take a 100-level course (required for the major) right away. Students hoping to take ENGL 103 or ENGL 104 should list two alternates along with their first choice on their enrollment forms. Spring-semester creative-writing courses are open to first-year students by application (see "Creative Writing Courses" below).
Students who wish to begin or to continue study in English at the 100-level in the spring may choose to enroll in one of the following sections of ENGL 104:
- ENGL 104.01: Metapoetics and Metafiction (Hawks)
- ENGL 104.02: Legacy of Slavery (Schoenfeld)
- ENGL 104.03: What's Love Got to Do with It (O'Neill)
- ENGL 104.04: Dirt and Disorder (Fernando)
- ENGL 104.05: Human Rights and Global Literature (Lewis)
200-Level Courses
Students exploring English as a possible major should consider enrolling in one of the intermediate-level courses designated ENGL 210-299 as soon as they have completed ENGL 103 or ENGL 104. 200-level English courses are small, discussion-centered and writing-intensive literature classes that may focus on particular formal or generic studies, on individual historical periods and national traditions, or on specific critical problems. Future English majors are especially advised to consider enrolling in ENGL 291: Texting: Reading Like an English Major, which will introduce them to key skills, methods, and critical approaches in the study of literature.
200-level courses offered in Spring 2011:
- ENGL 220: Shakespeare (Lobanov-Rostovsky)
- ENGL 243: Satire, Sensibility, Enlightenment (Carson)
- ENGL 254: Nineteenth-Century Literary Women (Mankoff)
- ENGL 263: Writing the Modern City (Hawks)
- ENGL 265: Introduction to Postcolonial Literature (Fernando)
- ENGL 288: Introduction to African-American Literature (Mason)
- ENGL 291.01: Texting: Reading Like an English Major (Lobanov-Rostovsky)
- ENGL 292.02: Texting: Reading Like an English Major (McMullen)
- ENGL 291.03: Writing Medieval Women (O'Neill)
Creative Writing Courses
Since entrance to creative writing courses is by submission and permission only, enrollment in fall-semester creative writing courses is not possible for first-year students. However, first-year students may apply for admission to spring-semester creative writing courses in mid-October by submitting a three-page writing sample in the appropriate genre. Watch your email for specific instructions from the department's administrative assistant about submitting samples and getting permission to enroll in creative writing courses.