Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Spring  2026

FYEN 102: Facing It: Confronting American History Through Song And Story

This First-Year Seminar proposes that we are most empowered to live authentically and to realize our values when we first face the truth of our personal, cultural, and national stories. This course invites students to become fully present in their lives, while studying the underbelly of American history through poetry, story, music, and film. As Americans, we frequently grow up with a myth of exceptionalism that says that the United States is the greatest nation on earth. While the US certainly boasts extraordinarily rich cultural and political traditions, it also carries a history of injustice and even genocide that is often denied or whitewashed. In this course, we will insist on “facing” this difficult history, with particular focus on the experience of Black and Indigenous peoples, while we also apply the idea of “facing it” to our individual lives and contemporary challenges. Key questions include: How do we realize the ideals of America in an authentic way that acknowledges and repairs its history? How do we realize our own values in our own lives? 
.

ENGL 198: English Careers Seminar (8-Week, first Session Course)

TR 11:00-11:50 [CRN 22877]
Instructor: Dr Francis X Connor 

This one-credit seminar is designed to help students at the start of their English, Creative Writing, or Applied Linguistics major. The course will introduce students to all of the possibilities that these degrees have to offer. We’ll work closely with the Shocker Career Accelerator to understand the skillset that these degree instill in their majors and how to find meaningful experiences – from campus involvement to future job prospects – that best align with those skills. We’ll practice building a portfolio of professional materials that can grow with you through the major, and learn ways to find applied-learning and internship opportunities during your time at WSU. The goal of this seminar is to equip English, Creative Writing, and Applied Linguistics majors with a clear and productive pathway through the degree that best aligns with each student’s interests and aspirations.

ENGL 210: Composition: Business, Professional, and Technical Writing

Multiple sections and instructors

This course provides instruction and practice in writing the kinds of letters, memos, emails, proposals,
and reports required in the professional world of business and industry. It emphasizes both formats and
techniques necessary for effective and persuasive professional communication. We will also discuss job
application materials such as resumes and cover letters. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 101, 102 or instructor's
consent. May be taken as part of the Professional Writing and Editing Minor. [WC]

ENGL 230: Exploring Literature

Online [CRN 22983]
Instructor: TBD

General education humanities course. This course is a general education class meant to guide students in critical reading of period- and genre-specific literature, including and specifically drama, fiction, and poetry. The class will focus in part on your reception and engagement of literature using critical reading strategies and discussions with classmates. Reading stories lets the audience step out into a different environment without responsibilities or anything on the line. You become a 3rd party entity that gains insight into a world and situations that aren’t your own. Hopefully, after reading and engaging with a piece, the audience walks away with new perspective that can transfer to life outside of the pages. [TA, CL]

ENGL 232D: Literature In the Jazz Age

Online [CRN 22984]
Instructor: Kerry Jones

ENGL 273: Science Fiction

Online [CRN 22985]
Instructor: John Jones

General education humanities introductory course. Survey of key classic and contemporary works of science fiction and speculative literature, emphasizing themes and ideas common in the genre and its subgenres. Prerequisites: ENGL 101, 102. [TA]

Upper-Level Courses

ENGL 285: Introduction to Creative Writing

MW 11:00-12:15 [CRN 22880]
Instructor: Dr Adam Scheffler

Typically, students practice literary writing, both poetry and fiction. In poetry, students will write five (5) poetry kick-starts and three (3) poems, each at least 12 lines, practicing specific technical skills (a poem which uses enjambment throughout, a poem in iambic pentameter, and a poem that uses slant rhyme). Poems will be discussed by the class with fellow students offering suggestions for revision. Students revise the three poems for the poetry portfolio. In fiction, students will write five (5) fiction kick-starts and two (2) stories, each 500-750 words, and each story featuring a character or plot reversal. Stories will be discussed by the class with fellow students offering suggestions for revision. Students revise the 2 stories for the fiction portfolio. [WC, TA]

TR 2:00-3:15 [CRN 22881]
Instructor: Kerry Jones

ENGL 285 introduces the practice and techniques of imaginative writing in its varied forms – primarily literary fiction and poetry. Within your own fiction you will explore and develop skills concerning key craft elements, including: setting, description, characterization, dialogue, voice, and point of view; and in your poetry you will develop an array of skills as you work within a variety of forms. We will also read published works and discuss them through the lens of a writer. Some of these works may serve as examples of techniques to explore or styles to emulate. A large portion of the semester will be devoted to workshopping your creative writing and providing feedback to your peers, and then delving into revision of your work.  [WC, TA]

ENGL 301: Fiction Writing

MW 2:00-3:15 [CRN 22822]
Instructor: Margaret Dawe

Prerequisite: English 285 with a grade of B- or better [WC, TA]

TR 9:30-10:45 [CRN 22822]
Instructor: Jason Allen

This workshop-based course emphasizes storytelling through well-crafted scenes. We will focus on all of the key elements and techniques employed by published fiction writers, and students will write numerous short pieces, some which are spawned from in-class writing prompts. During in-class workshop sessions, students offer constructive criticism in order for the author to substantially improve their work. Close reading and discussions of selected published works further enable students to improve their own creative writing craft skills. We’ll use Orange World by Karen Russell, Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, and Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy.

ENGL 303: Poetry Writing

MW 3:30-4:45 [CRN 14175]
Instructor: Sam Taylor [WC, TA]

ENGL 310: The Nature of Poetry

TR 2:00-3:15 [CRN 14181]
Instructor: Dr TJ Boynton

[TA, CL]

ENGL 315: Introduction to English Linguistics

Online [CRN 24082] [Cross-listed as LING 315]
Instructor: Dr Mythili Menon

The main goal of this course is to introduce students to the basic methodology, linguistic principles, including phonological and grammatical concepts used in modern linguistics. A secondary goal of this course is to teach analytic reasoning through the examination of linguistic phenomenon and data from
English.

ENGL 323: World Literature

TR 11:00-12:15 [CRN 24076]
Instructor: Dr TJ Boynton

 [TA, CL]

ENGL 325: Introduction to English Studies

TR 9:30-10:45 [CRN 22886]
Instructor: Dr Vanessa Aguilar

English 325 will train you in the fundamental skills required for the more advanced studies you will undertake as English students. Perhaps its foremost purpose is to instruct you in the rudiments of literary interpretation—of analyzing works of literature not merely as entertaining or beautiful but as complex artifacts containing a world of deeper significance. You will learn to uncover this significance through familiarization with the key terms and definitions of the literary tradition, through extensive “close reading” and discussion of works of fiction, drama, and poetry, and through journal writings and essays. In addition to these core skills, the course will introduce you to the rudiments of parallel topics such as “literary theory,” as well as the basics of academic research, the construction of research papers, and professional presentations. By the conclusion of the course you will be familiar with the fundamental components of our discipline; you will have acquired significant practice with the tasks later coursework will demand of you; and you will have also begun to understand the numerous, exciting real-world applications and value the field of English  provides. [TA, CL]

ENGL 330: The Nature of Fiction

TR 12:30-1:45 [CRN 22887]
Instructor: Dr Jean Griffith

Dr Allen did not send us a course description, but no doubt you're going to read some wild fiction in his course. It should be a blast.  [TA]

Online [CRN 14313]
Instructor: Kerry Jones

What makes “a story”? What are the important elements of a story, and why? This course is designed to acquaint students with fiction in a variety of forms, from the short story to the novella and novel. We will cover stories from a variety of cultures (although Western literature will be the primary focus) and historical periods, giving some attention to the historical development and theories of fiction, and we will examine various techniques used by different authors. In addition to our anthology, our novels may include A Prayer for the Dying, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Color Purple, and Nickel Boys. [TA]

ENGL 332: Young Adult Fiction [New Course, New-ish FACULTY!!!]

MW 2:00-3:15 [CRN 22888]
Instructor: Dr Vanessa Aguilar

ENGL 333: Literature and Law

TR 12:30-1:45 [CRN 22889]
Instructor: Clinton Jones, Esq.

ENGL 360: Major British Writers I

MW 11:00-12:15 [CRN 22890]
Instructor: Dr Francis X Connor and Dr Katie Lanning

THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS!

ENGL 362: Major American Writers I

TR 9:30-10:45 [CRN 22891]
Instructor: Dr Rebeccah Bechtold

 [TA]  

ENGL 365: African-American Literature

TR 11:00-12:15 [CRN 22892]
Instructor: Dr Jean Griffith

ENGL 378: Technologies Of The Book

MW 12:30-1:45 [CRN 22893]
Instructors: Dr Katie Lanning and Dr Francis X. Connor

 May be taken as part of the Text Technologies Minor.

ENGL 401: Fiction Workshop

TR 3:30-4:45 [CRN 22894]
Instructor: Jason Allen

Repeatable for credit. Prerequisite: ENGL 301. [WC, TA] 

ENGL 403: Poetry Workshop

MW 3:30-4:45 [CRN 22895]
Instructor: Sam Taylor

This Poetry Workshop for intermediate and advanced students will guide you as you continue your artistic quest and refine your poetry beyond the skills you learned in ENGL 303. In the company of serious peers and an experienced poet-mentor, we will discuss your work, the work of your classmates, and poems by diverse, established poets that can serve as models and inspiration for your own work. The poem will be presented as a field in which a vision of the world is enacted and a space in which anything can happen. Over the course of the semester, you will work toward developing and assembling a chapbook of your work, a short booklet that features your strongest work in an aesthetic presentation that you can share with friends or family. [TA]

ENGL 503: American Literature I

[TA]

ENGL 504: American Literature II

TBD [CRN 22896]
Instructor: Dr Jean Griffith

ENGL 505: Creative Non-Fiction

TR 12:30-1:45  [CRN 22896]
Instructor: Dr Jason Allen

Prerequisite: ENGL 285

ENGL 516A: Jane Austen

T 4:30-6:45  [CRN 22897]
Instructor: Dr Mary Waters

ENGL 524: Restoration and 18th Century Lit

M 4:30-6:45  [CRN 22989]
Instructor: Dr Katie Lanning

ENGL 536A: British Women Writers 

Online [CRN 22988]
Instructor: Dr Chineyre Okafor

ENGL 540: Intro To Critical Theory

Online  [CRN 22989]
Instructor: Dr Vanessa Aguilar

ENGL 565: Multimodal Compositon

MW 12:30-1:45  [CRN 22990]
Instructor: Dr Carrie Dickison

May be taken as part of the Professional Writing and Editing Minor.

ENGL 590: Senior Seminar

Senior Seminar will provide a space for each student to craft an individualized culmination to their work at WSU. Instead of a traditional course with assigned texts/readings, students will forge their own path throughout the semester, and in so doing will demonstrate their readiness for the world after graduation. Among the tasks students will be asked to design and execute along this path are: the “bucket list book” challenge, in which each student will read a book they have always wanted to read and perform a series of small response assignments documenting that experience; a “peer revision workshop,” in which each student will select a major piece of writing from their previous coursework to share with their peers and refine/improve (potentially with an eye toward submission for departmental awards or conference proposals); and the final project itself, which can take several different forms/genres based upon the student’s interests and post-graduation plans, but which will concretize and put on display their particular passions and attainments in the discipline of English. [OC]

ENGL 665: History of the English Language

Online  [CRN 22091]
Instructor: Dr Mythili Menon

ENGL 680: Theory and Practice in Composition

Online  [CRN 22992]
Instructor: Melinda DeFrain

This course is designed especially for prospective and practicing teachers. It will introduce you to theories of rhetoric and writing, major research questions in the field of composition studies, and best practices for teaching writing in schools and colleges. We will investigate writing processes, analyze varieties and examples of student writing, and hone our own writing skills by drafting, revising, and evaluating our own and others’ work. As we read significant publications in the field, we will continually consider the relationship between theory and classroom practice. Assignments will give you experience reading challenging pedagogical and theoretical texts; posing complex and worthwhile questions about the teaching of writing; performing research and synthesizing your findings; drafting course materials for current or future writing classes; and responding effectively to student writing. Topics of discussion will include teaching the writing process; developing writing assignments; teaching sentence structure and grammar; and responding to and assessing student writing. [WC]