Fall 2024 English Courses

Enroll for the Fall on GothicNet, or contact your advisor.

COMPOSITION COURSES

ENGL 100 Critical Reading and Writing. This is the new first-semester composition course for all (non-transfer) NJCU students. It's a dynamic introduction to reading and writing for academic purposes. You'll meet fellow first-year students and discuss issues that matter. 3 credits. Multiple sections. 

ENGL 101 English Composition I. This course refines your ability to analyze texts and compose clear, thoughtful essays. Multiple sections. Offered only as a 4-credit course in Fall 24. Multiple sections. 

ENGL 102 English Composition II. This course focuses on academic research and writing; it's your gateway to writing well in your discipline. (Pre-req: 101.) Offered only as a 4-credit course in Fall 24. Multiple sections. 

ENGL 200 Writing for Business. A specialized course in professional writing for students in business-oriented programs. (Pre-req: 101.) Online. 

 

GENERAL EDUCATION COURSES (Pre-req or co-req: ENGL 100 or 101)

ENGL 125 Stories of the University GE: Civic Engagement. How did universities begin? How have they evolved? Who benefits from university, and who pays? What explains the peculiar traditions, status, and structure of universities? And how will they change in the future? Students will explore the history, culture, and politics of higher education through fiction, essays, and other texts. (Sections 1477, 1478: Online, Prof. Michael Basile.)

ENGL 130 Reading the Environment GE: Global and Cultural Awareness. How do we understand our relationship to nature as individuals and as a species? Can a growing environmental awareness save the planet for future life? This course explores these and other urgent questions facing humanity, through the lens of literature. (Section 1479: TR 5:30-6:45, Prof. Jim Broderick.)

ENGL 133 Dark Stories for Young Adults GE: Civic Engagement. In this course, students will analyze dystopian literature for young adults. These dark and edgy works explore repressive societies and contemporary challenges like environmental disasters, technological dependency, bioengineering catastrophes, and social inequality. Students will use these texts to cultivate their own ideas about social change and responsible citizenship. (Section 1480: Online. Prof. Audrey Fisch. Section 1481: MW 9:55-11:10. Prof. Adrian Versteegh.)

ENGL 147 Effective Speaking GE: Oral Communication. This course focuses on the principles of effective public speaking. Students will study, and put into practice, the elements of speech that comprise successful message delivery, including speech composition, preparation, and presentation. Students will showcase their mastery of these skills through delivery of in-class speeches with specific and distinct objectives. (Section 1484: TR 9:55-11:10, Section 1483: TR 11:20-12:35. Prof. Josh Fausty. Section 1482: MW 4:00-5:15. Prof TBA.)

ENGL 150 From Game Playing to Creative Writing GE: Information and Technological Literacy. Students compose original works by experimenting with language's visual and sonic qualities, modifying literary and non-literary forms (sonnet, cookbook, list), and utilizing non-traditional compositional techniques: cut-up, content scraping, n+1 aggregation. Because experimental writing often adheres to rules/formal procedures, students adopt rule-bound, constraint-driven forms that have affinities with literature and gaming. (Section 1485: MW 12:45-2:00. Prof. Ethan Bumas.)

ENGL 235 Reading Hip Hop GE: Humanistic Perspectives. This course introduces students to the study of hip hop as a literary genre that is rooted in the vernacular languages and cultural practices of the African diaspora. Students will engage literary and critical works and examine the genre's connection to movements such as the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Movement. (1494: Online MW 5:30-6:45, Prof. Dasharah Green.)

ENGL 344 Creative Writing in a Digital Age GE: Capstone. Students compose original works prompted by the emergence of digital platforms for the creation, consumption and dissemination of textual matter. Students adopt modes of writing - online journaling, texting, content scraping, appropriation, and remixing of found materials and study how such practices have emerged from the blog, SMS, social media, and wikis. (1501: Online, Prof. Tan Lin. 1502: TR 9:55-11:10, Prof. John Trigonis.)

 

COURSES IN THE ENGLISH MAJOR
(courses marked * can also be taken for GE credit)

ENGL 204 Modern American Literature. *GE: HU. This course studies literary production from the turn of the twentieth century to the present in America. Find out what created an explosion of literary innovation in this period, by reading significant writers such as Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, William Faulkner, William Carlos Williams, or Toni Morrison. (1487: MW 12:45-2:00, Prof. Adrian Versteegh.)

ENGL 209 Children's & Young Adult Literature. *GE: HU. Read a variety of literature for children and young adults, from different cultures and in various genres, including poetry and fiction. What can we learn from this literature about childhood and the journey to adulthood? How does it reflect the societies that produced it? (1488: R 7:00-9:45, Prof. Navdeep Dhillon.)

ENGL 226 Women in Literature. *GE: HU. Consider the tradition of writing by, for, and about women over the centuries and in different societies. How does the characterization and role of women in literature reflect their lives and their contributions to society? (1492: TR 4:00-5:15, Prof. Edi Giunta.)

ENGL 228 Survey of Dramatic Literature. *GE: HU. Examine the major plays and the theatrical movements of the 20th century and beyond, including works by influential playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht, Eugene O'Neil, Samuel Beckett, Susan Glaspell, or Athol Fugard. (1493: MW 11:20-12:35, Prof. Michael Basile.)

ENGL 247 Literature of the City. Examine literary representations of urban life, space, culture, and history, within a variety of traditions and forms. (1496: MW 11:20-12:35, Prof. Michael Rotenberg-Schwartz.)

ENGL 316 Topics in British Literature *GE: HU. This course examines literature in the British tradition through a thematic or topical organizing principle. Through close engagement with works of fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism representative of at least three distinct literary periods, the course offers an advanced understanding of changes and continuities in British cultural history. Pre- or co-req: 213. (1497: W 7:00-9:45 pm, Prof. Jim Broderick.)

ENGL 317 Literature and Philosophy This course, cross-listed with PHIL 317, examines intersections between literature and philosophy as distinct modes of interrogating and explaining the human condition, the mind, the natural world, language, aesthetics, and reality. Literary and philosophical works are read in light of one another. Readings range from ancient philosophy and poetry to contemporary thought and fiction. Pre- or co-req: 219. (1498: TR 2:10-3:25, Prof. TBA.)

ENGL 321 Topics in World Literature *GE: HU. In this course, students examine literatures from cultures outside the United States and Great Britain. Through close engagement with works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism from at least three distinct regions of the world, we explore literary history within the specific social and cultural contexts of these regions. Pre- or co-req: 213. (1499: TR 5:30-6:45, Prof. Chris Cunningham.)

ENGL 332 Shakespeare: Later Works This course focuses on selected plays from the second half of Shakespeare's career (from approximately 1601 to 1612). Fulfills the "single author" requirement for majors. Pre- or Co-Req: 219. (1500: MW 9:55-11:10, Prof. Michael Basile.)

ENGL 349 Special Topics in Creative Writing. The topic of this creative writing course in Fall 24 is "Writing the City." From a rooftop, a city looks the same to everyone. But we all walk our cities in different combinations of streets, making our own observations, and making cities our own. We will write the city that we, and our characters, walk. Some projects will concern how we live in relation to the city. We'll not just create worlds made up of words, but words made up of worlds. Enrollment limited to 15. Pre- or Co-Req: 219. (1503: W 4:00-6:45, Prof. Ethan Bumas.)

ENGL 376 Poetry Workshop. This workshop is for students interested in writing poetry and understanding its various forms and elements. Enrollment limited to 15. Pre- or Co-Req: 219. (1504: TR 12:45-2:00, Prof. Ann Wallace.)

ENGL 386 Memoir Workshop. *GE: HU. Designed as a process-oriented workshop on memoir writing, the course explores the differences between memoir and autobiography writing. It also examines strategies for memoir-writing, the creative process underlying the genre, and the contexts in which the contemporary memoir has emerged. Enrollment limited to 15. Pre- or Co-Req: 219. (1505: TR 2:10-3:25, Prof. Edi Giunta.)

ENGL 395 Creative Nonfiction Workshop. Creative nonfiction includes personal essay, interview, travel writing, nature writing, and biography. This class covers the historical dimension and contemporary ramifications of creative nonfiction for students writing their own creative nonfiction. We will read a mixture of canonical and contemporary writers to understand the tradition in which students are participating. Enrollment limited to 15. Pre- or Co-Req: 219. (1506: M 4:00-6:45, Prof. Tan Lin.)

ENGL 400 Writing Internship. This internship provides an opportunity for qualified students to receive training and practice in tutoring other students who seek help with their writing. Take this course if you'd like to work in the Writing Center or in the Embedded Tutors Program. Contact Writing Center Director Ann Wallace for more info. (1507: TR 2:10-3:25, Prof. Ann Wallace.)

ENGL 410 Thematic Studies. This specialized literature and language course changes topic each time it is offered. In Fall 24, the topic will be "Writing Studies": a look at the history and theory of how we write, why we write, and how we teach writing, from clay tablets to multimedia presentations. Pre- or co-req: 219. (1508: TR 11:20-12:35, Prof. Caroline Wilkinson.)

ENGL 412 Capstone Seminar: Current Issues in the Discipline of English. The capstone is a research-intensive culminating seminar that affords students in the last semester of the English Major the opportunity to examine a critical issue current in the discipline of English studies and to participate in a rigorous exchange about this issue with their peers and with published scholars. In Fall 24, the topic will be "Digital Editions." Most students take the capstone in their final semester, and you must have already completed 30 credits toward the English major. (1509: M 4:00-6:45, Prof. Michael Rotenberg-Schwartz.)