UNDERGRADUATE

Summer 2008 Course Descriptions

Department of English
                                                       

The information printed is intended to supplement the basic descriptions printed in the UNR catalog.  Last minute changes in course content are always possible.

Mini-Term - May 19-June 6

Eng 304.E01
American Literature and Culture
M-F 9:00am-12:00pm
Turner

War Within and Without
 

This course considers American literary responses to international conflict from World War I to Vietnam.  As a way of looking at the ways in which American writers have grappled with the problems of war, we will read a wide variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, drama and autobiography.  We will look at how the texts fit within twentieth century American literary trends, but we will also consider how genre plays a part in representing the personal and political realities of war.  Readings, discussions and written assignments will ask students to attend to literary aspects of the texts, but they will also ask students to consider problems of representability—how the nature of war makes it particularly difficult to write about.  By introducing students to a broad range of cultural perspectives, the course aims to raise awareness of wartime experience and the creative responses to it.

 

Eng 307/308.E01 - NEW INSTRUCTOR - NEW DESCRIPTION & INSTRUCTIONS
Creative Writing: Poetry I & II
M-F 9:00am-12:00pm
Higginbotham

This workshop will be an intense analysis of your poems.  We will use the miniterm to write, both in and out of class.  We will combine exercises, imitations of published poems, and poems on topics of your own choosing.  In the process, we will examine a range of published poems.  We will also spend time on both whole-class and small-group workshops.  We will consider and practice a range of different revision strategies.  During the first part of the course, we will concentrate on generating new work; during the second part, we will emphasize revision.  By the end of miniterm, you will have written at least 15 new poems and revised at least 6; other writing assignments will include informal responses to poems and a review of a book of poetry and meaningful peer response.  

Admission to the course is by application.  To apply, submit 3 poems and a short essay describing why you want to take the workshop; what experience you have writing and studying poetry (please indicate when, where, and with whom you have previously studied); the names of 3 poets you read; which course you will be enrolling in (English 307, 308, 404A, 404B, 604A, or 604B), and your contact information, both phone and email.  Applications are due (by email to higginb@unr.edu or in David Higginbotham's mailbox in FH 127) no later than April 25.

 

Eng 404A/404B/604A/604B.E01 -NEW INSTRUCTOR - NEW DESCRIPTION & INSTRUCTIONS
Advanced Creative Writing: Poetry I & II
M-F 9:00am-12:00pm
Higginbotham

This workshop will be an intense analysis of your poems.  We will use the miniterm to write, both in and out of class.  We will combine exercises, imitations of published poems, and poems on topics of your own choosing.  In the process, we will examine a range of published poems.  We will also spend time on both whole-class and small-group workshops.  We will consider and practice a range of different revision strategies.  During the first part of the course, we will concentrate on generating new work; during the second part, we will emphasize revision.  By the end of miniterm, you will have written at least 15 new poems and revised at least 6; other writing assignments will include informal responses to poems and a review of a book of poetry and meaningful peer response.  

Admission to the course is by application.  To apply, submit 3 poems and a short essay describing why you want to take the workshop; what experience you have writing and studying poetry (please indicate when, where, and with whom you have previously studied); the names of 3 poets you read; which course you will be enrolling in (English 307, 308, 404A, 404B, 604A, or 604B), and your contact information, both phone and email.  Applications are due (by email to higginb@unr.edu or in David Higginbotham's mailbox in FH 127) no later than April 25.

 

Eng 427A/627A.E01
CAP: Women & Literature
M-F 12:15-3:15pm
Swingrover

The Search for the Feminine

The search for the feminine is an ancient and noble quest. Who is woman? What does she represent? Why have religions and cultures, through texts and images, alternately revered and reviled her? How do myths—ancient and modern, through writing or through art-- portray women as divine and demonic?

Through media from various time periods and cultures, we will examine women writers and the ways women have been portrayed in art, literature and culture. We will also look briefly at women's movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries and the sexual revolution and counterculture of the 1960s. Students are encouraged to engage fully in the workings of the course, therefore, regular attendance is mandatory and students are expected to come prepared to participate in lively class discussions. At the close of the course, students will present intellectually stimulating and provocative papers and projects. Join us on this intellectual and personal journey to the heart of the feminine.

 

Eng 428A/628A.E01
Children's Literature
M-F 3:30-6:30pm
Grecu

It is a comparative study of the evolution this particular subgenre of literature underwent across the world and along time.  It relates different societies’ realities and their efforts in preparing children for life through oral/written traditions based on life experiences of earlier generations.

The course is based on a wide selections of known and less known stories or fairy tales from different countries; it reveals the educational power of those selections, offers the possibility to make comparative studies, and shows how they can vary in aspect and the targeted audience; it teaches students how to read in between lines, how to create similar stories for a particular educational or entertaining objective, and how to become a children’s literature writer for those interested.

 

Eng 493A/693A.E01
CAP: American Ideas
M-F 12:15-3:15pm
Urie

Eng 493A/693A, American Ideas, is a capstone course which focuses on twentieth century African American literature, specifically the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement.

Langston Hughes, Selected Poems
James Weldon Johnson, God's Trombones
Nella Larsen, Passing

Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God Richard Wright, Black Boy (Part I) Lorraine Habnsberry, A Raisin in the Sun Amiri Baraka and the Black Arts Movement Toni Morrison, Son of Solomon

 

First-Term - June 9 - July 11

Eng 098.F01
Preparatory  Composition
M-R 8:00-10:00am
Baird

 

Eng 098.F02
Preparatory Composition
M-R 8:00-10:00am
Kmetz, R.

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at rkmetz@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 098.F03
Preparatory Composition
M-R 10:10-12:10pm
Broch

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at brochc@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 101.F01
Composition I
M-R 10:10-12:10pm
Koontz

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at mkoontz@unr.edu

 

Eng 102.F01
Composition II
M-R 8:00-10:00
Rose

English 102 is a writing and research methodologies course designed to expand and deepen critical thinking and writing skills that can then be applied across the curriculum at the University of Nevada, Reno. This course is unified through critical inquiry into the definition, theory, and practice of utopias from the classic period to the present. According to Northrop Frye, “The utopian writer looks at his own society first and tries to see what, for his purposes, its significant elements are. The utopia itself shows what society would be like if those elements were fully developed” (205). As a starting point the class will read, analyze, and then write on Thomas More’s Utopia, Henry David Thoreau's Walden & “Resistance to Civil Government,” and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. You will use the form and content from the first part of the session to develop topics for the research paper that will be the exclusive focus of the second part of the session. The class culminates in a presentation and showcase portfolio.   

 

Eng 102.F02
Composition II
M-R 10:10-12:10pm
Johnston

Origins & Inquiry

What makes people who they are? How does a culture define itself? And why is our society so obsessed with escapism?  In this class, we will consider possible responses to the above questions, and many more.  Of course, there are no hard and fast answers.  By studying a variety of texts, we will explore how to examine origins on individual, cultural, and social scales.  Among others, the topics we’ll cover include travel, gender, and even botany!

As we work with origins throughout the semester, you will extend and develop the writing skills you learned in English 101.  This class functions on the principle that writing is more of a process than a finished product.  As such, journaling; pre-writing; peer editing; teacher conferences; revision; appropriate use of resources (the Library and/or the Writing Center); and reflection, will be part of our writing practice.  Learning to integrate research and the opinions of others into your own writing will be central to our work in here.  You will also develop your skills in articulating how your experiences shape your own positions on issues connected with our theme. 

 

Eng 102.F03
Composition II
M-R 1:00-3:00pm
Plunkey

Advertising Persuasion and Informed Arguments About It

This English 102 course will challenge students to carefully consider how they interact with advertising and how they are influenced by it. Students will bring print advertisements to class, design print ads, and conduct research on specific topics of interest in advertising. Through selected course readings, group activities, discussions, and essays we will explore theories that consumers are unaware of cultural values and that advertising helps us construct our identities. The textbook, Envision: Persuasive Writing in a Visual World, will invigorate your attention to these texts and your writing about them, as will web resources compiled in tandem with the textbook. (See http://www.ablongman.com/envision to learn more about the book and the website.) Envision will also suggest questions for further research. I will encourage and motivate you to conduct research based on open-minded, curious questions, and to form opinions based on your research. As you conduct multiple research projects, you will learn the strength of forming arguments based on multiple viewpoints and facts, and the shortcomings of being persuasive based on opinions alone. At semester’s end, you will have learned that the study of advertising can make you more keenly aware of how meaning from these mediums potentially influence your values, thinking, and lifestyle.

 

Eng 102.F04
Composition II
M-R 5:30-7:30pm
Koenig

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at koenigm@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 321.F01
Expository Writing
M-R 8:00-10:00am
Bourelle

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at bourelle@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 345.F01
CAP: Literature of Ethnic Minorities in the U.S.
M-R 1:00-3:00pm
Lyndgaard

Literature of ethnic groups within the American population, such as American Indians, Blacks, Basques, and Chicanos.

We will be exploring literary representations of the American experience of "ethnic groups within the American population" across both genre and period. By reading a variety of texts over the last five hundred years, with the second half of the course devoted to contemporary writers and issues, we will discuss how relationships between ethnic identity and place are created, maintained, and changed.

Texts may include:

The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca, by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1542) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs (1861) A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry (1959) From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multi-Cultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002, edited by Ishmael Reed (2002) The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, by Sherman Alexie (2005) Locke 1928, by Shawna Yang Ryan (2007)

 

Eng 427A/627A.F01
CAP: Women & Literature
M-R 3:15-5:15
Ryan

Eng 427A investigates the ways in which women writing in the United States have used the literary arts to talk back to culture.  Readings will include short stories, novels, poems, memoirs, essays, and other types of creative nonfiction from the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries.  We will explore our readings as artistic challenges to form, content, and social constraints. 

 

Eng 472B/672B.F01
American Novel II
M-R 10:10-12:10
Knox

American novels show us how we view ourselves, what we most fear, and what we most hope we might become. We will examine these hopes and fears by examining five novels written between 1977 and 2006. Our reading list includes novels that consider how race and gender, the environment and technology, and ceremony and media shape the individuals and their cultures. We will also discuss several supplemental articles. Course work will include one 1,000-1,500 word paper and a number of shorter postings and responses in WebCampus. Students will make one short group presentation a slightly longer presentation on their long paper. Should you have any questions, please contact the instructor at knoxp@unr.edu.  

 

Second-Term - July 14-August 14

Eng 098.S01
Preparatory Composition
M-R 8:00-10:00am
Smith Barrios

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at vrs@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 098.S02
Preparatory Composition
M-R 10:10-12:10pm
Martinez

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at marti971@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 098.S03
Preparatory Composition
M-R 1:00-3:00pm
Sweeney

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at msweeney2@unr.edu

 

Eng 098.S04
Preparatory Composition
M-R 5:30-7:30pm
Jackson

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at jackso82@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 101.S01
Composition I
M-R 1:00-3:00pm
Hertweck

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at thertweck@unr.edu

 

Eng 102.S01
Composition II
M-R 8:00-10:00am
Stottlemyer

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at stottle3@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 102.S02
Composition II
M-R 10:10-12:10pm
Black

In this course students will develop and continually hone their writing, reading and research skills. Students will explore issues regarding the First Amendment before and after the events on September 11, 2001. Students will also analyze the rise of First Amendment issues in technology media including the internet, movies, television, and video games. Course work will consist of three major essays which will cumulate into a final research project. Other work included will be 25-50 pages of reading per week, short reading responses, short development essays, and reader/writer workshops. Students must be comfortable using computers and the internet for this course.

 

Eng 102.S03
Composition II
M-R 1:00-3:00pm
Hemstrom

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at hemstrom@unr.nevada.edu

 

Eng 205.S01
Creative Writing: Fiction & Poetry
M-R 10:10-12:10pm
Udall

In this introductory course, we'll begin by exploring various theories of the creative process, using hands-on exercises to free the imagination and tap creative power.  For poetry, we'll work with sound, form and vision as we read and write both traditional and experimental (e.g. "leaping") poems. For fiction, we'll focus on elements such as character, conflict, and compression, emphasizing the reading and writing of "short short" stories--also known as "flash fiction," "sudden fiction" and "micro fiction"--stories that accomplish their ambitious aims in less than five pages.

 

Eng 321.S01
Expository Writing
M-R 10:10-12:10pm
Kmetz, M.

Writing for Diverse Public Conversations

This course will explore how writers participate in public conversations and how our personal and community histories and narratives can join, contribute to, and sometimes change the form, content, and language of these conversations.

To do so, we will center our writing and reading around three concepts—"narrative," "representation," and "genre." Using these concepts, we will continually look at the way writers, ourselves included, situate themselves in their research in order to enter and intervene in ongoing public conversations. We will be engaged with the rhetorical challenges that accompany larger writing projects and the invention, revision, and reading strategies that can help us develop, organize, and complicate our writing for public audiences. We will also be experimenting with alternative genres as a means of understanding and rendering our (and our communities’) experiences and knowledges for public conversations.

 

Eng 321.S02
Expository Writing
M-R 5:30-7:30
Rendleman

For details on this course, you may contact the instructor at erendleman@tmcc.edu

 

Eng 400A.S01
Topics in Writing
M-R 1:00-3:00
Perrault

The course catalog describes English 400a as “analysis and writing practice in selected genres and themes” and this course will focus on writing about science. We will examine the disciplinary conventions of science writing and popular science writing, explore how changing a text’s audience and genre changes how it communicates, consider the role of science writing in promoting scientific and technological literacy, and consider the role of the public in helping to set science-related policies and scientific priorities. Students will write several short pieces in different popular science genres, and one article-length piece targeted at a specific publication. Specific genres and topics will be decided based on students’ majors and areas of interest.

 

Eng 475A.S01
CAP: American Autobiography
M-R 8:00-10:00am
Bishop

In this course, students will examine several American autobiographies from the second half of the twentieth century, with special attention given to the ways in which authors deal with cultural pluralism and its role in American culture. We will study texts as products of their historical moments and cultural contexts, and we will reflect upon the different strategies that authors use to tell their life stories. Larger theoretical issues include the nature of “truth” in autobiographical texts and the boundaries between fiction and autobiography. The main texts for the course are tentatively planned to be as follows: Leila Ahmed, From Cairo to America; Annie Dillard, An American Childhood; Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior; N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain; and Piri Thomas, Down These Mean Streets.