Courses in English

Fall 2022 Courses

Below are descriptions of the courses at Penn State Altoona for the fall 2022 semester that can count to satisfy the requirements of the English major and minor, as well as the Professional Writing minor. Many of them also fulfill the requirements of the Secondary Education/English major, the Multidisciplinary Studies major, and the Integrative Arts major. Some fulfill general education and B.A. Humanities or Arts requirements. Or you might find them interesting enough to take as electives.

Note: These are not the standard course descriptions you'll find on the Penn State website. These were written by the faculty members themselves and will give you a much better idea of what to expect in each course.

ENGL 050 Introduction to Creative Writing (Davis)

If you like to write stories and poems, then this is the class for you. We’ll read the work of some of the best contemporary authors, and then try our hand at the craft of turning the material world into words. This workshop will focus on fiction and poetry and will involve a great deal of drafting and critiquing before a final creative writing portfolio is prepared. (A Gen Ed—Arts course.)

ENGL 050 Introduction to Creative Writing (Sherrill)

Two, count ’em two, genres here! We’ll dive first into the spooky world of poetry and swim right through into fiction writing. What’s the difference? Come and see. This class will be about the process of writing, and about you producing poems and stories. I’ll challenge you, work you hard, but make sure you have fun as well. (A Gen Ed—Arts course.)

ENGL 050 Introduction to Creative Writing (Wesley)

This is a class where learning is fun, where you will work on your own writing in a circle of student writers, where the major text is your own work. The course will focus on two genres of the creative process: poetry and fiction writing. It is a student-centered workshop or seminar course that will both inspire you and help shape you into a better writer. The course should test your ability to make words do what no words have ever done before. You will be required to come up with your own original poetry and one short story while at the same time critiquing fellow students’ poetry. There will be immediate feedback, mentoring, and tutoring. You will have a new opportunity to see writing as craft and as art by carving up your own images, using all of the tools you need to write with the passion that makes good literature enjoyable. (A Gen Ed—Arts course.)

ENGL/INART/AFAM 141N African American Read-in Engaged Learning Experience – Theme: Banned Black American Books (Reese)

This course allows students to study African American literature in connection with an annual public two-day event held during Black History Month at Penn State Altoona. The African American Read-In (AARI) is a celebration that promotes both literacy and a wider appreciation for African American literature, culture, and art. Students enrolled in the 2-credit Fall AARI course will study materials related to the annual theme and create original projects to present at the Spring AARI. As this year’s theme is banned books, students will explore, discover, and discuss why certain books by African American authors continue to be banned by libraries, school boards, even local and state officials every day. Many of these books are written by some of the greatest American literary minds. We will explore some of the most famous examples of books that have been censored and discover why they have been challenged or banned. We will come to understand the importance of continuing to read these books, understand their messages, and celebrate their themes. Students will complete all 3 credits by also enrolling in the 1-credit 5-week Spring AARI course, which concludes with the presentation of the AARI events in mid-February. As shapers of the program, class members will also have a voice in designing and delivering the program as well as a stake in its overall success. (2 credits, plus 1 in spring 2023; spring course is only 5 weeks)

ENGL 194/WMNST 194 Women Writers (Petrulionis)

As is true for all literary artists, women have throughout history used the written word to tell the stories of their lives. In this class, we’ll read poems, stories, essays, political pamphlets, memoirs, and novels to examine the attitudes, vision, intellectual scope, coming of age, politics, and creative power of women—from a Puritan held captive by Native Americans for three months in what she called the “howling wilderness” to an adolescent girl besieged by her enslaver in North Carolina, to political demands for equal rights, to gothic thrillers and other tales. This class will familiarize you with the variety of genres, subjects, and historical eras in which women writers have depicted their life stories in English and American literature; it will also introduce you to the rich unpublished archive of writings still being unearthed (A Gen Ed – Humanities and US or IL course)

ENGL 200 Introduction to Critical Reading (Stoyanoff)

This course is designed as an introduction, or “gateway,” to advanced literary studies at the beginning of the English major. You will learn about critical approaches that can be applied to any work of literature, including historicism, formalism, gender studies, queer theory, critical race theory, and Marxism, among others. We will practice applying several approaches to each work of literature on the syllabus and keep track of the interesting issues that emerge from these discussions. You will choose one of these issues to pursue further in a substantial research paper, and as you work on this project, we will cover the strategies and skills needed for research in English in class. We will then move into the conventions of writing essays and planning oral presentations that engage and contribute to the critical discourse surrounding a text or texts. You will also develop an oral presentation on your work and give it for the class in November. Through this class, you will gain tools to analyze literary texts more deeply and make informed, original arguments about them. For this iteration of this course, the primary texts through which we will engage theory and criticism include the Middle English poem Pearl (in Modern English), Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. This is a required course for the English major and is typically offered only in the fall semester.

ENGL 209 Journal or Magazine Practicum: Hard Freight Literary Magazine (Murphy and Lang)

Have you always wanted to see your name on a masthead? Then join the staff of Hard Freight! This 1-credit experiential course offers students hands-on experience in the development and production of the campus online literary magazine. Students will participate on editorial boards, in the advertising and marketing of the magazine, in the design of the online magazine, and in coffee-house events created to celebrate the artistic efforts of students on campus. This is an asynchronous web class. Students may take this course up to eight times in their career. Counts toward the Professional Writing minor and English major electives.

ENGL 212 Introduction to Fiction Writing (Sherrill)

In this course, we will identify and explore the fundamentals of Fiction Writing from the ground up: fear, hope, rage, lust, love, want, need, honesty, and dishonesty. Along the way, we’ll develop skills in narration, plot development, characterization, etc. Telling stories is one of the ways we carry our humanity from generation to generation. Creating compelling and entertaining stories is the artist’s challenge. This class is about Art; the art of looking at the world around us and rendering that vision, with bravery and honesty, in words. (A Gen Ed – Arts course for non-English majors. Counts toward Professional Writing minor. Students interested in eventually taking a 400-level creative writing class must take one 200-level creative writing class first. Meets concurrently with ENGL 412.)

ENGL 214 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing (Murphy)

In Fall 2022, ENGL 214 will be offered as a hybrid course through the Digital Learning Cooperative to students at multiple Penn State campuses.] “KER-POW! I was knocked into the present, the unmistakable now, by Joni Friedman’s head as it collided with the right side of my jaw.” This is the first sentence of Lucy Grealy’s memoir, Autobiography of a Face, an excellent example of the creative nonfiction genre. Though based on fact, creative nonfiction employs elements of fiction and poetry. In this class, you’ll write essays in various forms, read published works of creative nonfiction, respond to and create generative exercises, and “workshop” each other’s writings. (A Gen Ed – Arts course for non-English majors. Counts as an English major elective and toward Professional Writing minor. Meets concurrently with ENGL 415.)

ENGL 234 Sports, Ethics, Literature (King)

What do your favorite athletes and competitions reveal about your worldview? How have sports shaped you into the person you are today? Is sport a mirror that reflects society? Can we use sport to imagine the world differently? This course asks these questions and enlists you to answer them by reading novels, poetry, and journalism and watching television, films, and documentaries about the importance of sports for individuals and communities in the U.S. and around the world—from immigrant communities playing weekend cricket in New York City to Friday night and Saturday afternoon football cultures in (fictional) Dillon, Texas, and (real) Penn State University. Throughout the semester, you will respond to those visions about what sports means to others, but you will also have opportunities to speak and write about your own relationship to sports, as well. We will focus on how sport allows us to build and refine an ethical imagination, especially as depicted in literary texts across a variety of media and genres. This course will cover a wide range of athletic events, from football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and mixed martial arts to tennis, cricket, poker, dog sledding, and professional wrestling. (A Gen Ed – Humanities course)

ENGL 237N Reading and Writing Documentary Poetry (Peterson)

Documentary poetry or "poetry of witness" is a kind of poetry that engages the personal but also the historical and public. This specific poetic form offers a unique way to discover the human voice within the headlines and to move beyond our own self-concern into a wider sense of purpose. In this class we will explore topics ranging from family history, labor and migration, the attacks on September 11th and broad areas such as war and climate change. Using a variety of sources material, including documentary photographs, films, historical and archival texts and other objects, we will look at examples of documentary poetry while practicing simple yet effective methods to experiment with writing poems of our own. Course does not fulfill inter-domain requirement for English majors but can count as English elective at any level. Also counts toward the Professional Writing minor.

ENGL 250 Peer Tutoring in Writing (Lang)

Students enrolled in this course will study theories of peer tutoring in order to prepare to work as paid Writing Consultants in the Writing Commons. If you are contemplating a career in education or as a professional writer, or if you are simply a strong writer and would like to help others, consider enrolling in this course. This course counts toward English major elective credits as well as toward the Professional Writing Minor. Instructor’s signature required for enrollment; email Professor Lang at [email protected].

ENGL 262 Reading Fiction (Petrulionis)

Why do human beings make up and tell stories? Which skills do we gain by poring over them? Why do we argue, sometimes vehemently, about what they “mean?” How do the important choices authors make about point of view, characterization, and setting (among others) impact the way we read their invented stories? In this class, we’ll read fiction that celebrates and questions the world of the literary imagination; and we will try to determine what, for you, makes a “good” or a seriously flawed story. Learn the range of answers to these and other profound questions: Why is a good man hard to find? Whose heart is dark, and why? Does someone live behind the yellow wallpaper? When is winning a lottery not necessarily a good thing? (A Gen Ed – Humanities course)

ENGL 412 Advanced Fiction Writing (Sherrill)

This advanced fiction writing course will meet concurrently with ENGL 212. Counts toward the English major 20th Century requirement and toward the Professional Writing minor. Students may take this course twice in their career. Prerequisite: at least one 200-level creative writing class. Instructor’s signature required for enrollment.

ENGL 415 Advanced Nonfiction Writing (Murphy)

NOTE: In Fall 2022, ENGL 415 will be offered as hybrid course through the Digital Learning Cooperative to students at multiple Penn State campuses. “KER-POW! I was knocked into the present, the unmistakable now, by Joni Friedman’s head as it collided with the right side of my jaw.” This is the first sentence of Lucy Grealy’s memoir, Autobiography of a Face, an excellent example of the creative nonfiction genre. Though based on fact, creative nonfiction employs elements of fiction and poetry. In this class, you’ll write essays in various forms, read published works of creative nonfiction, respond to and create generative exercises, and “workshop” each other’s writings. Course counts toward Professional Writing minor. Students may take this course twice in their career. Meets concurrently with ENGL 214. Prerequisite: at least one 200-level creative writing class.

ENGL 417 The Editorial Process (King)

In Fall 2022, ENGL 417 will be offered remotely through Zoom as part of Penn State's Digital Learning Cooperative to students at multiple campuses. If you have any intention of making a living in a writing-oriented profession, this course is for you. Future journalists, teachers, editors, copy editors, staff writers, freelancers, public relations professionals, and communications experts must develop the ability to edit—to improve—written work. Don’t think of this work as boring, inessential, or superficial. Instead, think of this course as helping to foster and hone a genuine interest in and enjoyment of language, a skill that is central to communicating effectively (and, hopefully, cashing some checks). At the same time, this course will serve as an introduction to the inner workings of the publishing/editorial world. Expect this course to be a combination of skill-building and skill-sharpening practice; lively conversation and writing responses about relevant issues in the historical and contemporary world of writers and language; and professional development, including by interacting with guest speakers from various professional writing fields. A reading list for the course might include texts such as Einsohn and Schwartz, The Copyeditor’s Handbook and The Copyeditor’s Workbook; Sarah Harrison Smith, The Fact Checker’s Bible; and Cecelia Watson, Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark. We might also look at excerpts from Amanda Montell, Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language; Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language; and John McPhee, Draft No. 4. Students will write responses to readings, share a few short presentations, work together on copy-editing quizzes, and create a writer-editor relationship with classmates to produce a polished piece of feature journalism. Depending on student interest, we may try to create a sites.psu.edu website to house our final projects. ENGL 417 counts as a 300/400-level elective for English majors and toward the Professional Writing minor. E-mail Kyle King at [email protected] with any questions.

ENGL 424 Creative Writing and the Natural World (Davis)

If you like to hike in the woods, learning the names of plants and animals, then this is a class for you. We’ll be reading the work of such important figures in contemporary nature writing as Mary Oliver, Galway Kinnell, and Rick Bass. Then we’ll be writing our own poems and stories about our experiences in the natural world. Be prepared to get your feet muddy and to fill your journal with all you’ve seen! (Cross-listed with ENVST 424)

ENGL 444 Shakespeare: “Transgression and Tragedy in Shakespeare” (Stoyanoff)

“I Write Sins Not Tragedies” (said by Shakespeare, probably). William Shakespeare is often hailed as the most important figure in English literature. The mystery and mythology surrounding the human Shakespeare only add to the ways in which his works have captivated audiences and readers alike. This course is titled thus because we will study Shakespeare’s plays that explore transgression and tragedy, which will obviously include Shakespeare’s Tragedies but will allow us to investigate these themes in his other poetic and dramatic genres, too. For each text, we will explore Shakespeare’s engagement of transgression and tragedy in relation to the genre considering how the genre might (mis)represent tragic actions. Throughout the semester we will consider what it means to read a play v. seeing a play performed, and to aid our discussions, we will watch clips of productions and/or film adaptations. Additionally, students will produce mini-productions of scenes from the plays in the semester-long “Sixty Second Shakespeare'' assignment using TikTok. As an upper-division English class, students will be expected to craft original, research-informed arguments. Potential texts include Othello, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Venus and Adonis, Antony and Cleopatra, and various sonnets.

ENGL 452 The Victorians: “Widening the Stories, Widening our Worlds” (Rotunno)

This course meets concurrently with ENGL 487W. Think gender and power relations are volatile in our time? They are, but we’ll look at a time in which women’s and men’s roles were changing, when a middle class was emerging, when an Empire expanded and contracted, when England saw a population influx from their colonies, in short, a time in which excitement and anxiety dominated this population’s psyche. Examining a wide array of Victorian non-fiction, novels, and poetry, we’ll see what we can learn about what influenced these sociopolitical changes that inspired so much hope and angst. Importantly, we’ll probe our readings to uncover what voices have been silenced in them, yet still wielded an influence over them. This class, subtitled “Widening the Stories, Widening our Worlds,” will not only expand your understanding of the Victorian period, but also exercise your ability to critically evaluate texts within their historical contexts, a task that should empower us to evaluate our own sociopolitical world more critically. This course can be used as a prerequisite for a 1-credit study abroad trip to London that would occur—circumstances allowing—in late May 2023.

ENGL 487W Senior Seminar in English: Widening the Stories, Widening our Worlds (Rotunno):

This course meets concurrently with ENGL 452. Think gender and power relations are volatile in our time? They are, but we’ll look at a time in which women’s and men’s roles were changing, when a middle class was emerging, when an Empire expanded and contracted, when England saw a population influx from their colonies, in short, a time in which excitement and anxiety dominated this population’s psyche. Examining a wide array of Victorian non-fiction, novels, and poetry, we’ll see what we can learn about what influenced these sociopolitical changes that inspired so much hope and angst. Importantly, we’ll probe our readings to uncover what voices have been silenced in them, yet still wielded an influence over them. This class, subtitled “Widening the Stories, Widening our Worlds,” will not only expand your understanding of the Victorian period, but also exercise your ability to critically evaluate texts within their historical contexts, a task that should empower us to evaluate our own sociopolitical world more critically. Those taking the course as a Senior Seminar will be given the option of working with a Victorian text or a text from another period for their capstone project. (NOTE #1: ENGL 487W is a required course for senior English majors and is offered only in the fall semester, so students planning to graduate in 2022-23 must take it in Fall 2022. In order to register, email Professor Rotunno at [email protected] with your name, student ID number, and planned graduation semester/year. NOTE #2: This course can be used as a prerequisite for a 1-credit study abroad trip to London that would occur—circumstances allowing—in late May 2023.)

ENGL 491/INART 420W Capstone Course in Professional Writing/Portfolio Matters (Latterell)

This is a writing-intensive course designed for students working toward the Professional Writing minor, but it will be equally valuable to all students in English nearing graduation. In this course, we will identify and explore the rhetorical styles and design practices of a writers, designers, and visual artists. The goal is for students to find connections between what you've studied as a student earning your degree and where your next steps will lead you. We will investigate career questions and reflect on how writing and visual design will matter in your careers. Students can expect assignments that include seminar-based discussions, self-reflection exercises, research in careers involving writing and visual communication, individual presentations that will include visual, written, and video elements—all with a focus on developing your resume and ePortfolio. ENGL 491 is cross-listed with INART 420W Portfolio Matters, which is the capstone course for the Integrative Arts degree. (Prerequisite: ENGL 202A, B, C, or D)

ENGL 496 Topics in American Literature: African American Read-in Engaged Learning Experience – Theme: Banned Black American Books (Reese)

(2 credits, plus 1 in Spring 2023; Spring course is only 5 weeks). Advanced students interested in joining the African American Read-In Engaged Learning Course for 400-level course credit while completing an individual or small group project related to the theme are encouraged to contact Professor Reese at [email protected]. Students enrolled in the independent study option will meet concurrently with ENGL 141N. Description: This course allows students to study African American literature in connection with an annual public two-day event held during Black History Month at Penn State Altoona. The African American Read-In (AARI) is a celebration that promotes both literacy and a wider appreciation for African American literature, culture, and art. Students enrolled in the 2-credit Fall AARI course will study materials related to the annual theme and create original projects to present at the Spring AARI. As this year’s theme is banned books, students will explore, discover, and discuss why certain books by African American authors continue to be banned by libraries, school boards, even local and state officials every day. Many of these books are written by some of the greatest American literary minds. We will explore some of the most famous examples of books that have been censored and discover why they have been challenged or banned. We will come to understand the importance of continuing to read these books, understand their messages, and celebrate their themes. Students will complete all 3 credits by also enrolling in the 1-credit 5-week Spring AARI course, which concludes with the presentation of the AARI events in mid-February. As shapers of the program, class members will also have a voice in designing and delivering the program as well as a stake in its overall success.

Also of interest to English majors:

CMLIT 003 Introduction to African Literature (Wesley)

This course provides students an opportunity to visit Africa through literature in the comfort of their classroom. You will explore the incredible variety of African literary production, including fiction, and theater (drama), videos (Movies), from YouTube, and other media forms as tools in understanding how Africans tell stories. Instead of reading long fiction and poetry pieces, we will explore the connections between plays and movies, between movies and fiction, using contemporary African movies to understand African literature. This course is going to be a fun class because you will have an opportunity to see a variety of African drama, the ordinary, exaggerated version of contemporary African life against the backdrop of the more formal movies of everyday life in Africa. The fun part is the comparison of what we see on the screen against African plays and the short fiction pieces we will read. In this YouTube, Netflix age, Africa has come to your world on the screen, in your classroom, and we will explore this Africa while examining how literature portrays and examines everyday life anywhere. We will read a cross section of short fiction, plays, and watch a few movies, videos, and clips, and nothing else could be more fun. Prepare to laugh, to be surprised, to have fun, and yes, come with your popcorn, too. You will connect to works by the best as well as emerging African writers from precolonial to postcolonial day, and to the contemporary. You will read, analyze, and critique these different genres of literature, write journals about your readings or the movies, and videos. Sit back and relax into a fun semester and join me in the Africa you thought you knew from the comfort of our classroom. Prepare to be surprised. (A Gen Ed – Humanities course)