Major:
English (B.A.)
The B.A. in English requires basic coursework in literature, writing, and language theory, and provides flexibility to students in pursuing additional courses that match their areas of interest and career goals. It can lead to graduate study in English, creative writing, law, or other academic or professional areas.
Foreign language study is strongly encouraged for all English majors.
Each student graduating with a major in English will participate in a senior exit interview, normally in conjunction with ENG 4990 Senior Workshop. This review will provide a means of self-assessment for each student and program assessment for the department.
Departments/Programs:
Experiential Learning | 1 hour |
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Select one course from:
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Electives | 18 hours |
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Select from any English or Journalism course. Six hours must be upper level (3000-4000 level). May also include THTRE 2000 Play Reading, for up to three credit hours, and THTRE 2810 Playwriting I, or may include the following Education courses: ENG 2690/EDUC 2690 Young Adult Literature, EDUC 3390 Methods for Teaching Reading and Writing in 7-12, and EDUC 3600 Student Teaching for English Language Learning). Only one Topics in World Literature course (ENG 2200, ENG 2210, ENG 2220, ENG 2230, ENG 2240, ENG 2250, ENG 2260, ENG 2270, ENG 2280) may be counted towards the English major. |
Capstone Courses | 6 hours |
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ENG 4980 Ways of Reading: Theory and Practice | 4 hours |
ENG 4990 Senior Workshop | 2 hours |
Each student graduating with a major in English will participate in a senior exit interview, normally in conjunction with ENG 4990. This review will provide a means of self-assessment for each student and program assessment for the department. |
Foreign language study is strongly encouraged for all English majors.
First-year writing courses (ENG 1010FYW, ENG 1020FYW, ENG 1030FYW, ENG 1040FYW, ENG 1050FYW, ENG 1060FYW, ENG 1070FYW, ENG 1080FYW, and ENG 1090FYW) may not count toward an English major.
Students who wish to meet Nebraska certification regulation for the teaching of English in secondary schools may include ENG 2690 Young Adult Literature and ENG 3260 Greek Drama as electives within the major. Students should consult the Department of Education regarding additional Nebraska certification requirements.
**An English major customarily earns a B.A. degree. However, if a student has a first major that is associated with a different baccalaureate degree, the English major may serve as a second major for the degree associated with the first major (B.S., B.FA., B.M., B.S.N.).
This course will introduce new English majors and minors to the critical methodologies, concepts, and terminology needed for the analysis and discussion of literature and other cultural texts and to the kinds of research and scholarship they will be asked to do in their later coursework. Students will also learn about a range of career paths open to those with a background in English.
(Normally offered every spring semester.)
Students study principles of linguistic analysis and survey various theories of English grammar. Topics include: English phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and subfields of linguistics.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or instructor permission.
(Normally offered alternate fall semesters.)
An introductory course in the historical and grammatical development of Modern English from Old English and Middle English.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or instructor permission.
(Normally offered alternate fall semesters.)
Students will study the early history of rhetoric, drawing upon the Greek and Roman traditions and those of at least one additional culture. Students will focus on the major tenets of these rhetorical traditions, enabling them to analyze a variety of texts from multiple cultural perspectives.
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or instructor permission.
(Normally offered alternate spring semesters.)
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Power Thread
A course in which students will concentrate in depth on one subfield or topic in the domain of linguistics. The particular subject will be determined each time the course is offered.
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or instructor permission.
(Normally offered every other year.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Diversity Instructive: U.S.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Power Thread
A course in which students will concentrate in depth on one topic within the domain of rhetoric. The particular subject will be determined each time the course is offered.
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or instructor permission.
(Normally offered every other year.)
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Humans in the Natural Environment Thread
A survey of British literature that provides a historical perspective to British writers and genres, from the middle ages to the present.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing.
(Normally offered every fall semester.)
A survey course providing a historical perspective on the culture of the United States through the study of its literature from its historical beginnings to the present.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing
(Normally offered every spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Democracy Thread
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Diversity Instructive: U.S.
This course will proceed from the premise that Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby Dick, encapsulates the story of America and that the book's whaling ship, the Pequod, serves as a floating embodiment of American democracy. The course will situate Melville's novel within the context of mid-nineteenth century American political history and explore what the book suggests are the achievements and limitations of American democracy.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing course.
(Normally offered alternate spring semesters.)
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Democracy Thread
A systematic study of the outstanding literary artist of the English language: comedies, tragedies, and historical plays.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing, ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies or THTRE 1020 Script Analysis and Junior standing.
(Normally offered spring of odd-numbered years.)
A course in the literature of the medieval period in England, emphasizing the period's linguistic diversity and focusing on texts featuring situations or characters that in some way transcend ordinary experience.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies and junior standing.
A course on the work of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, his London dialect of Middle English, the different genres and subject matter of his major poetry, and that poetry's cultural and literary context.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies and junior standing
This course will study the 19th century Boston- based movement known as American Transcendentalism, a movement that was equal parts literary, philosophical, religious, and reformist. Writers studied will usually include Emerson, Fuller, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Whitman, Melville, and Dickinson.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered fall of odd-numbered years.)
A course devoted to literary modernism in English-- the revolutions in poetry and fiction undertaken on both sides of the Atlantic after World War I. William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf will be among the writers studied in the first course, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner among those studied in the second. This course is designed in two linked but free-standing two-credit, eight-week courses.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies or junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered spring of odd-numbered years.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
This course will examine the influential artistic and philosophical movement known as postmodernism. Although the main focus will be on literary postmodernism, students will be encouraged to explore the application of postmodern theory to consumer culture, architecture, film, music, and other fields.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and Junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered fall of odd-numbered years.)
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Chaos Thread
In this course, students will read a selection of plays by ancient Greek playrights: the comedies of Aristophanes and the tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. For a semester project, students will work as a collaborative team to write and perform a dramatic work (along with related documents) to demonstrate their understanding of the genre, period, and culture.
Cross listed with THTRE 3260.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and Junior Standing.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Chaos Thread
A course devoted to literary modernism in English -- the revolutions in poetry and fiction undertaken on both sides of the Atlantic after World War I. William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf will be among the writers studied in the first course, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner are among those studied in the second. This course is designed in two linked but freestanding two-credit, eight-week courses.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies or junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered spring of odd-numbered years.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
Since its publication in 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America has remained a classic text in sociology, political science, and American cultural studies, both as a document of what the United States was like in the half-century before the Civil War and as a dissection of our national character. The course will be devoted to reading, discussing, analyzing, and writing about Tocqueville's influential study.
Prerequisite(s): POLSC 1000/POLSC 1000FYW United States Government and Politics and junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered fall of even-numbered years.)
A course in the historical and political contexts of modern Irish literature, including the work of William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Seamus Heaney, and others.
Prerequisite(s): IDS 1200/IDS 1200FYW/IDS 1210 Identity: An Introductory Exploration or ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies or junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered fall of odd-numbered years.)
This course in the development of the novel since the end of World War II, uses examples drawn primarily from Great Britain, the United States, and the Anglophone world.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2000 Introduction to Textual Studies and junior standing.
(Normally offered spring of even-numbered years.)
An introduction to the contemporary Chicano novel, generally including (but not limited to) the work of Sandra Cisneros, Rudolfo Anaya, Helena Maria Viramontes, Ana Castillo, and Dagoberto Gib.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered spring of odd-numbered years.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Diversity Instructive: U.S.
Fiction and essays by women from various cultures (including the U.S., Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean) will be the focus of this course. The multicultural, international reading list will provide students insight into the lives and experiences of women most likely very different from themselves; thus they can appreciate and learn from the differences and make connections across cultures.
Cross listed with GEND 3410.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and sophomore standing.
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Gender and Sexuality Thread
A thematic course designed to complement the more traditional offerings in British and American literature. The emphasis will be on the shock of colonization, the oppression of imperialism, and the struggle for independence. Attention will also be paid to the encounter of the individual with the questions of God, family, love, war, work, change, and death.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and Sophomore standing.
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Power Thread
This course supplements the basic American survey course. Its aim is to acquaint students with representative autobiography, fiction, drama, poetry, literary criticism, and essays by African-American writers from Frederick Douglass to Toni Morrison.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing and Sophomore standing.
(Normally offered spring of even-numbered years.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Diversity Instructive: U.S.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Identity Thread
An introduction to the writing of fiction with an emphasis upon a variety of forms, techniques, and narrative voices. Discussion of student writing will take place in a workshop setting.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered every spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
An introduction to the writing of poetry with an emphasis upon a variety of forms and techniques. Discussion of student writing will take place in a workshop setting.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered every fall semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
The focus of this course is on the writing process and its product, as applied to a particular genre (scriptwriting, risk fiction, risk poetry, creative nonfiction, the essay, biography) or concept (writing the body), which will vary from semester to semester. The course is conducted as a workshop in which students read their own compositions to the class and respond to the compositions of their classmates. Students may request Chair approval to repeat this course for credit with a different genre.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Foundational Literacies: Creative and Performing Arts
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Chaos Thread
The focus of this course is on the writing process and its product, as applied to a particular concept (writing the body). The course is conducted as a workshop in which students read their own compositions to the class and respond to the compositions of their classmates.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing.
(Normally offered every other spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Foundational Literacies: Creative and Performing Arts
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Diversity Instructive: U.S.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Gender and Sexuality Thread
An advanced writing workshop covering rhetorical principles (invention, arrangement, style, presentation) of various disciplines. Students will complete writing projects related to their professional and civic interests.
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing.
(Normally offered fall of even-numbered years.)
An advanced course in the writing of fiction within a continued emphasis on a variety of forms, techniques, and narrative voices. Discussion of student writing will take place in a workshop setting. Specific topics will vary by semester. Course may be repeated for credit with the permission of the instructor.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2170 Introduction to Fiction Writing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Diversity Instructive: U.S.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Democracy Thread
An advanced course in the writing of poetry with a continued emphasis on a variety of forms and techniques. Discussion of student writing will take place in a workshop setting. Specific topics will vary by semester. Course may be repeated for credit with the permission of the instructor.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 2190 Introduction to Poetry Writing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Writing Instructive
An introductory course in journalism concentrating upon basic techniques of news gathering and writing, including a basic history of news media.
(Normally offered every fall semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Democracy Thread
Analysis of and practice in writing news feature stories for a variety of publications. The course will stress audience appraisal, interviewing, and research.
(Normally offered alternate spring semesters.)
A diagnostic view of all elements pertinent to teaching English in middle and secondary schools. Strong practical emphasis will be placed on the proportional and organized development of middle and secondary English courses, realistic presentation of materials, and the practical and varied methods of testing appropriate to such courses.
Prerequisite(s): Acceptance into the Teacher Education Program or permission of the department chair.
(Normally offered each semester.)
Students work with one or more regular teachers in a secondary school. They attend the student teaching seminar and conference with their college supervisor as directed.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of preliminary student teaching requirements or approval of the department chair.
An on-the-job experience oriented toward the student's major interest (e.g., writing, editorial, The Flintlock, literacy instruction, textual analysis, research). The student is to secure a position in an organization that satisfies the mutual interests of the instructor, the sponsor, and the student. P/F Only.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the department chair.
An on-the-job experience oriented toward the student's major interest. The student is to secure a position in an organization that satisfies the mutual interests of the instructor, the sponsor, and the student. P/F Only.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the department chair.
Working session during which staff members produce the weekly newspaper, The Yip. May be repeated for a maximum of 4 hours. Pass/Fail only.
An on-the-job experience oriented toward the student’s major interest. The student is to secure a position in an organization that satisfies the mutual interests of the instructor, the sponsor, and the student. P/F Only.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the department chair.
An on-the-job experience oriented toward the student’s major interest. The student is to secure a position in an organization that satisfies the mutual interests of the instructor, the sponsor, and the student. P/F Only.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the department chair.
This course is designed to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities that are unique to language-learning abroad, to engage students in meaningful activities while abroad, to maintain a connection with students while abroad, and to foster continued development of skills and knowledge following the study abroad period. Students will be introduced to specific strategies in language and culture learning in the target culture to help students achieve an experience in the host culture that is meaningful and productive. Students take this course concurrently with their first-semester study-abroad experience.
*Registration at 0 hours available with permission of the department chair for students studying abroad through non-ISEP exchange program.
Student instructors work closely with faculty instructors in the Archway Seminars planning seminar sessions, facilitating class discussion, and responding to seminar assignments. In addition, student instructors will meet as a group to discuss and evaluate their experiences, and to participate in student development activities. Three hours of lecture per week (the meeting of the Archway Seminar). One hour of discussion per week or as needed.
Pass/Fail oriented.
May be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours.
Prerequisite(s): Selection as a student instructor for an Archway Seminar (approved by the Associate Provost for Integrative and Experiential Learning) and junior or senior standing.
Play reading is a course that focuses on the reading, discussion, and interpretation of dramatic texts. Its aim is to provide a concentrated study of both content and form of selected texts in an effort to broaden knowledge of dramatic techniques genre, and strategies for interpretation. Dramatic texts will vary each semester with the goal that students will gain knowledge of a large quantity of plays during a four-year period. This course may be repeated for credit up to eight times for Theatre Arts majors and up to three times for Theatre Arts minors.
Playwriting 1 is a course introducing students to the principles of dramatic construction and formal devices of playwriting. Students will write individually and collaboratively in large groups, small groups, and pairs. Emphasis is given to creative writing exercises exploring monologue, dialogue, character in text, language as action, scene structure, exposition, and conflict. Students will have the opportunity to share writing in class and receive feedback in a supportive workshop environment. Students will critically reflect on what they've written and assemble a portfolio of their writing.
Students may not receive credit for both THTRE 1810FYW Playwriting I and THTRE 2810 Playwriting I.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Foundational Literacies: Creative and Performing Arts
A survey study of instructional materials of special interest to the junior and senior high school age. Examination of various sources of print and nonprint materials. Includes bibliotherapy, book-talk techniques, notable authors/producers, and prize winning materials. Discussion of censorship, controversial issues, selection criteria, and the tools to keep abreast of the field.
Cross-listed with EDUC 2690 Young Adult Literature.
(Normally offered alternate fall semesters.)
See ENG 2690 Young Adult Literature.
A course focusing on the methodology, processes, and content of reading and writing at the secondary school level. Particular attention is given to strategies effective in teaching developmental reading and writing, content area reading and writing, and basic skills in diagnosis and remediation. Laboratory experiences are provided. No P/F.
Prerequisite(s): Acceptance into the Teacher Education Program or permission of the department chair.
(Normally offered each fall semester.)
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Cross listed with GEND 2200.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
(Normally offered every fall and spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Gender and Sexuality Thread
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Identity Thread
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Democracy Thread
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Chaos Thread
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Human Health and Disease Thread
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Science and Religion Thread
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Humans in the Natural Environment Thread
Each course in the Topics in World Literature group will study a selection of literary works that engage the chosen topic--texts of different genres, from historical eras, and from different cultural traditions. The selected readings will present both abstract principles involved in the topic and its immediate, lived realities.
Prerequisite(s): Any First Year Writing course.
A course in the theory and development of literary criticism including a general overview of theories of literary criticism before the 20th-century and 20th-century critical theories.
Prerequisite(s): Senior standing.
A senior-level research and writing seminar. In this course students produce a research paper of approximately 20 pages or an original work (e.g., a short story) supplemented with a 10-page essay that explains their work critically. At the end of the term, students make panel presentations about their work to the entire department, and each paper is read by two faculty chosen by each student.
Prerequisite(s): Senior standing.
Archway Curriculum: Essential Connections: Speaking Instructive
Students in this composition course will develop their skills in academic writing as they learn about topics drawn from the study of language, such as the history of language, language and gender, linguistic diversity and language policies in government and education.
(Normally offered every fall and spring semester.)
Students in this composition course will develop their skill in academic writing as they respond to and analyze literature.
Student in this multi-genre composition and writing course will develop their skill in both academic and creative writing as they explore what it means to be creative across multiple written mediums.
(Normally offered annually in fall or spring semester.)
Archway Curriculum: Foundational Literacies: Creative and Performing Arts
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: UC Reflected Self Thread
Students in this composition course will develop their skill in academic writing as they explore the relationship between academic discourse and the evolution of identity.
Archway Curriculum: Integrative Core: Identity Thread
Students in this composition course will develop their skill in academic writing as they use writing to process the concepts in a particular academic discipline.
Students in this composition course will critically examine and analyze aspects of mass media and popular culture in order to explore how the media are used to construct meaning and/or to persuade.
Students in this composition course will explore how digital technology shapes composing practices through critical engagement with new media formats in order to produce multimedia works of their own.
Students in this composition course will develop their skill in academic and professional writing as they seek to understand, and use writing to act upon, complex social issues.
Students in this composition course will study and practice the verbal representation of quantitative thought.