MWCC College Catalog 2008-2009 — English
A grade of C or higher must be achieved in ENG099 and ENG100 before a student can enroll in the next higher level English class.
ENG099 WRITING READINESS
3 credits
This course is designed to develop the student’s skills in writing, focusing
upon vocabulary development, standard English grammar, spelling, and usage.
Student strengths and weaknesses in these areas are determined through initial
testing. Upon completion of this course, the student will possess spelling
and vocabulary development skills, use grammatically correct sentence structures,
punctuate sentences correctly, use appropriate word choice, and develop a basic
comprehensive essay. Prerequisite: None. Institutional credit only. Courses
that earn institutional credit do not apply toward graduation. Fall and spring.
ENG100 FUNDAMENTALS OF WRITING
3 credits
This course helps students develop the skills necessary to write
at the college level. Students receive individualized instruction and practice
in the writing skills necessary for clear, effective expression. Credits
are not applicable toward a degree. Prerequisite or Corequisite: FYE101. Institutional credit only. Courses that earn institutional credit do not apply toward graduation. Fall and spring.
ENG101 ENGLISH COMPOSITION I
3 credits
Students will develop college-level writing skills through the practice of
composition with an emphasis on the writing process and models of rhetorical
modes. Through class assignments, students will demonstrate an understanding
of grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and library research. Reading selections
will foster improved writing skills and critical and analytical thinking.
Prerequisites: ENG100, RDG100, or placement. Fall and spring.
ENG102 ENGLISH COMPOSITION II
3 credits
This course emphasizes reading and writing about literature. Writing
assignments encourage careful reading and provide the student with such important
rhetorical skills as marshalling evidence, formulating generalizations and
making interpretive judgments. The various genres: short story, novel, poetry,
and drama engage curiosity, stimulate imagination, and provide pleasurable
reading. Prerequisite: ENG101. Fall and spring.
ENG106 TECHNICAL WRITING
3 credits
This course focuses on the study of basic writing patterns likely to be of
use to the report/technical writer: summary, definition, explanation of a
process, description and analysis, classifying data, designing effective
formats and supplements, researching information, writing and documenting
the research report, proposal writing, and the use of visual aids. The development
of an effective reportorial style is emphasized. Overall, the course is designed
to improve the students’ powers of creative observation and develop
accurate and concise writing skills. Prerequisite: ENG101. Fall and spring.
ENG201 HONORS ENGLISH
3 credits
This course is designed to improve the student’s ability to think through
writing. A range of intellectual tasks, appropriate to honors-level students,
including close textual analysis, interpretation and evaluation of literary
works (both fiction and non-fiction) will form the core of the course. A research
project is required. Prerequisites: ENG101, ENG102, and permission of the Honors
Program coordinator. Fall.
ENG203 TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN AUTHORS
3 credits
This course is designed to explore American views of war, race, alienation,
assimilation, family, and social change in the 20th century. A variety
of critical approaches will be applied to novels, short stories, poetry,
plays, and essays. Some of the authors studied may include Hemingway,
Faulkner, O’Connor, Vonnegut, Morrison, and Erdrich. Prerequisite:
ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall and spring.
ENG205 SHAKESPEARE
3 credits
This course surveys plays from each of the periods of Shakespeare’s work: history, comedy, tragedy, and romance. Readings include The First Part of King Henry the Fourth and The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth from the histories; A Midsummer Night’s Dream from the comedies; Hamlet, Prince of Denmark from the tragedies, and The Tempest from the romances. The course emphasizes textual analysis with a focus on thematic issues raised by the plays. Prerequisite: ENG102. Spring.
ENG210 LITERATURE OF THE SIXTIES
3 credits
This course will be a study of selected works of literature in America between
approximately 1960 (except for Catcher in the Rye and some Beat readings)
and 1975. In reading, discussing, researching, analyzing, and writing about
the works selected, the class will attempt an understanding of the complex
spirit of the country as it passed through this epoch of upheaval and change,
hope and disappointment. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division
dean. Fall.
ENG213 AMERICAN LITERATURE I
3 credits
This course surveys significant American writings from 1620 through the 19th century. The course emphasizes textual analysis and the examination of the relationship of representative works to historical, social, and intellectual developments. Included are works by such authors as Bradford, Rowlandson, Jefferson, Franklin, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Dickinson. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall.
ENG214 AMERICAN LITERATURE II
3 credits
This course surveys significant American writings from 1890 to the present. The course emphasizes textual analysis and the examination of the relationship of representative works to historical, social, and intellectual developments. Included are works by such authors as Twain, Fitzgerald, Frost, Stevens, Hemingway, Miller, Faulkner, Pynchon, and contemporary poets. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean. Spring.
ENG221 WOMEN’S LITERATURE
3 credits
This course will consider the essential issues raised in literature concerning
the role and image of women in society. Included will be essays, short stories,
and novels by authors such as Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf,
and Toni Morrison. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division
dean. Fall.
ENG224 MYSTERY FICTION
3 credits
This course studies the history and nature of the mystery story from the works of Poe to such present day masters as Agatha Christie and Tony Hillerman. Students will examine both the relationship of mystery fiction to the culture of its time and the changing role of the detective hero. Students will study the techniques of the mystery writer and the relationship between mystery fiction and "serious" literature. Works by such authors as Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Hammett, Chandler, Christie, and Hillerman are included. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall.
ENG227 ENGLISH LITERATURE I
3 credits
This course is a study of selected works by major writers in English literature
through the Restoration and the 18th century. Emphasis is placed on a responsive
and critical reading as well as on literary and historical background. Includes
works by such authors as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, and Johnson.
Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall.
ENG228 ENGLISH LITERATURE II
3 credits
This course is a continuation of ENG227 with selections from such authors as
Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Tennyson, Yeats, and Eliot. Prerequisite: ENG102
or permission of instructor/division dean. Spring.
ENG233 SCIENCE FICTION
3 credits
Students evaluate science fiction literature as an indication of a society’s
values and goals. The course also deals with the use of the imagination as
a vehicle to express new ideas and values. This course includes works by such
authors as F. Bacon, N. Hawthorne, H.G. Wells, R. Heinlein, R. Bradbury, and
I. Asimov. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean.
Spring.
ENG235 CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
3 credits
This course considers the nature and variety of children's literature and its
history and current significance, with an emphasis on illustrated books.
Students examine selected illustrated works for visual artistry and literary
merit. Evaluative criteria applicable to all levels of literature are applied.
Students also explore related issues, such as education, censorship, and
the changing views of childhood. Course concepts are acquired primarily through
reading and writing, with some discussion and lecture. Prerequisite: ENG102
or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall and spring.
ENG236 MODERN DRAMA
3 credits
This course is a survey of European and American dramatic literature from 1879
to the present, encompassing such theatrical and literary movements as Realism,
Expressionism, and Absurdism. Although the course includes some attention
to production values (staging, performance, etc.), the emphasis is primarily
on dramatic works as literary texts. Both primary and secondary texts will
be assigned so that students become familiar with important works of criticism
as well as the plays themselves. Readings include works by Ibsen, Chekhov,
O’Neill, Brecht, Williams, Beckett, Hansberry, and Miller. Prerequisite:
ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall.
ENG237 SPECIAL TOPICS: QUEER AMERICAN DRAMA
3 credits
Queer: once a derogatory word used against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgendered people has been reclaimed by social activists, writers, artists,
educators, and scholars to describe all non-normative sexualities and identities,
all that is considered by the dominant paradigms to be alien, strange, transgressive,
odd in short, queer. This course will explore queer themes in American dramatic
literature from mid-twentieth century to the present. Emphasis will be on
how images of gays, lesbians, and other sexual minorities have changed over
the past half-century beginning with plays that precede the gay liberation
movement, continuing with work from the early years of the AIDS pandemic,
and ending in the present day. Authors studied may include Lillian Hellman,
Tennessee Williams, Mort Crowley, Jonathan Larson, David Henry Hwang, and
Tony Kushner. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/dean. This
course may be used by LAT students as a substitute for Modern Drama. Fall
and spring.
ENG239 CREATIVE WRITING I
3 credits
This course is an introduction to writing fiction, poetry, and drama. Students
will experiment with various literary genres, learn to give and receive feedback
in a workshop setting, and have the opportunity to read published authors.
While students will be encouraged to write in all three genres, particular
attention will be placed on the art of fiction with lectures and workshops
that introduce students to such strategies as point of view, dialogue, plot,
setting, and characterization. Prerequisite: ENG101. Fall.
ENG240 CREATIVE WRITING II
3 credits
This course is an introduction to writing fiction, poetry, and drama. Students
will experiment with various literary genres, learn to give and receive feedback
in a workshop setting, and have the opportunity to read published authors.
While students will be encouraged to write in all three genres, particular
attention will be placed on drama and poetry with lectures and workshops
that introduce students to various literary forms such as free verse and
formal verse for poetry and realistic and experimental theater for drama.
Prerequisite: ENG101. Spring.
ENG241 JOURNALISM I: NEWS REPORTING AND WRITING
3 credits
This course addresses the basic skills of journalism: observing, researching,
reporting, interviewing, thinking, and writing with precision, clarity, and
ethics. Assignments range from basic reporting (obituaries, fires, accidents,
crime), local “beat” coverage (government, schools, and courts),
and more in-depth reporting through profiles, interviews, and feature stories.
Prerequisite: ENG101 or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall and
spring.
ENG242 JOURNALISM II: ADVANCED NEWSWRITING
3 credits
Continuation of ENG241 Journalism I: News Reporting and Writing, this course
is designed to further students’ mastery of such journalistic techniques
as idea development, news gathering, newsroom operation, editing and layout.
Emphasis will also be placed on writing for other sources (online publications
and non-profit newsletters), investigative reporting, and in-depth discussions
of ethics and media law. Prerequisite: ENG241 or permission of instructor/division
dean. Fall and spring.
ENG245 FILM APPRECIATION
3 credits
Through selected reading in film and literary theory and the screening of
high quality films, the class examines and develops a greater awareness of
basic film techniques, practices, and aesthetics. Emphasis is placed upon
the relationship between film and literature (i.e., narrative structure,
figurative language, problems of adaptation, criticism, genre) and film as
a unique twentieth-century art form that incorporates a number of other media
and arts. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean.
Fall.
ENG259 LITERARY MASTERPIECES I
3 credits
This course is a study of representative literary masterpieces of Eastern and
Western Civilization for moral, philosophical, social and psychological insights
into the nature of modern man. Readings are taken from such sources as Aristotle,
Greek drama, Plato, Milton, Chaucer, Machiavelli, Dante, and Shakespeare.
The course complements courses in western civilization, art, and music history.
Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean. Fall.
ENG260 LITERARY MASTERPIECES II
3 credits
This course is a continuation of ENG259 Literary Masterpieces I, with selections
from Renaissance to contemporary culture, this course emphasizes western
heroes and anti-heroes from the works of such authors as Voltaire, Tolstoy,
Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Camus, Pope, and Mallarme. The course complements courses
in western civilization, art, and music history. Prerequisite: ENG102 or
permission of instructor/division dean. Spring.
ENG261 THE SHORT STORY
3 credits
This course traces the development of the short story as a distinct literary
genre since its origins in the early 19th century to the present. Emphasis
is on close reading and analysis of texts by international writers. The course
covers the major literary movements of the 19th and 20th centuries: Romanticism,
Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Readings include stories
by Poe, de Maupassantt, Chopin, Hemingway, Kafka, Joyce, O’Connor,
and Carver. Prerequisite: ENG102 or permission of instructor/division dean.
Spring.