Undergraduate Study
Writing Concentration
The Writing Concentration builds on Departmental strengths in composition and nonfiction writing, as well as in technology-based writing and writing instruction. It is designed for students who wish to pursue the study of writing from a humanities perspective and particularly for those students who wish to combine the study of writing with the study of literature. The Writing Concentration offers students
- The ability to study writing in a department that takes a humanistic approach to learning
- The ability to study writing without sacrificing the study of literature
- The ability to study a wider range of writing and writing theory than is possible in the Department's Creative Writing concentration
In addition to the common requirements for the English major, students pursuing the Writing Concentration take the following courses:
- E305 Principles of Writing and Rhetoric
- CO401 Advanced Composition
- Writing Elective: CO300, CO301, CO302, E311C, or E403
- E406 Topics in Literacy (capstone course)
- Lower or upper division elective
- Major Author (E460 Chaucer, E463 Milton, or E470 Individual Author)
- Open Electives: Three courses in writing, literature, or language
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Recent Undergraduate Topics Courses in Writing
The following course descriptions are taken from recent issues of the Rambler, the Department's student newsletter. They describe some of the topics courses (courses not regularly offered) taken by students in the Writing concentration.
E403 Nature Writing
This class has a double focus. Half is reading nature writing: we'll read some of the more interesting and powerful contemporary nonfiction writers about nature and the environment, and we'll talk about what they're doing with their texts, how they do it, and what issues their work deals with and raises. The other half is writing nature writing: we'll experiment with kinds of nature and environmental writing ourselves, work on style, organization, effectiveness, complexity, and so on, and share our work as a class. Much, but not all, of your writing will be in the form of a journal about a local "natural" place; we'll probably read the equivalent of one book every two weeks. The work-load will be spread over the term in roughly equal weekly amounts.
E465 American Wilderness Narratives
In this class, we'll look at nonfiction narratives written by travelers in the vast landscapes of North America--from the first Spanish explorers, through Lewis and Clark, to our own contemporaries. We'll focus on mountain, desert, and arctic landscapes, and we'll consider such questions as how these travelers think about these landscapes (as settled or empty, as threatening wastelands or places of beauty), how they conduct themselves, how they understand their role in the natural world. If you like to read and also to think about or spend time in wild places, this class is for you.
E480 Language in America
This course will explore the great linguistic complexity of North America, particularly the following topics: Native American languages as they were in pre-Columbian times; languages brought by the early European colonists, including Dutch, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish; languages of 19th and early 20th century immigrants to the United States, such as Italian, Yiddish, Norwegian, Chinese, Japanese; later 20th century immigrant languages such as Haitian Creole, Korean, and Vietnamese; the development of American English and some of its more important dialects; Black English and the controversies surrounding its origins and its use in schools; pidgin and creole languages and the contributions of West African languages to American English; bilingualism and the controversies surrounding it; languages currently spoken in the US and their likely fates; language death. There are no pre-requisites. This class is recommended by CASAE and American Studies Program. Open to everyone.
E480 Technology and Literacy
This course examines the effect of writing technologies on the nature of literacy. Beginning historically with the influence of writing itself and then, the printing press, the course focuses on how new computer technologies--e-mail, synchronous conferencing, hypertext, interactive fiction, the "web," and so on--affect and seek to change this definition of literacy emerging from print. The primary goal is to develop a definition of literacy that takes into account recent technological developments. To do so, we will not only read about the new technologies but read and write with/in them as well.
For information about course offerings and registration procedures for the upcoming semester or summer session, please view the Rambler, the Department's student newsletter.
This information is not intended to replace your advisor or the information in the CSU General Catalog, the Class Schedule, or the Department Checksheets.
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