Department of English

Department Head: Dr. Andrea Porter, aporter@jsu.edu

Graduate Coordinator: Dr. Randy Davis, rdavis@jsu.edu

The Department of English offers courses leading to the Master of Arts (MA) degree with a major in English and supporting courses for the Master of Arts (MA) degree with a major in Integrated Studies. For students majoring in Secondary Education with a teaching field in English Language Arts, supporting courses are offered for the Master of Science in Education (MSE) degree.

The Department of English also offers courses leading to Graduate Certificates and Microcredentials in Teaching College Literature and Teaching College Writing.

Mission Statement:
Using innovative teaching approaches, the Department of English empowers students to write and communicate across numerous current and emerging fields, to think critically, and to solve problems creatively. At all levels of instruction—from first-year composition through graduate classes—the Department of English establishes a firm foundation for students to begin their exploration of the world and, for English majors, builds on that foundation with opportunities to enrich their cultural and intellectual lives through classes that emphasize deep analysis, careful research, and rigorous writing across several fields including the study of literature, creative writing, and professional writing. The Department of English both serves the needs of the University and strives to become a destination department for those students whose personal goals and intellectual curiosity align with the Department’s mission.

EH 401 Chaucer (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

The poet against the background of the Middle Ages.

EH 402 Special Studies in the English Renaissance (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Dedicated to selected writers, themes or genres. May be duplicated for credit for a total of nine (9) semester hours, as long as each course taken is on a different special topic.

EH 405 Shakespeare's England (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Program of study in Stratford-upon-Avon with visits to places associated with Shakespeare. Readings by Shakespeare and in social history of the period. Offered infrequently.

EH 408 Theory of Composition (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

An introduction to the history and theory of rhetoric and composition and how they inform the teaching of composition. This course is eligible for Faster Master's.

EH 409 The Art of the Film (WI) (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106. Intensive Course)

Film as an artistic medium will be considered with close analysis of movies from the silent era through art-house works of the Post-WWII period and forward to the 21st century. The course will focus on international as well as American cinematic works that define and explore film narrative as an art in addition to being a commercial enterprise. This course is eligible for Faster Master's. (Writing Intensive Course)

EH 410 American Drama (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

An examination of American drama both as theatre and literature, considering early plays in their historical contexts, with emphasis on major American dramatists beginning with Eugene O'Neill and progressing through Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Beth Henley, August Wilson, and others.

EH 411 Eighteenth-Century Literature (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

A survey of eighteenth-century English writers, focusing on major satirists, such as Dryden, Pope, Swift, and Fielding; also including Johnson and his circle, some of the major novelists and dramatists; and ending with a survey of the "Pre-Romantics" (the "poets of sensibility").

EH 412 Victorian Poetry (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, Arnold, Swinburne, and other poets of the Victorian Era.

EH 413 English Drama (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Medieval background of Elizabethan drama and the reading of representative plays of the Tudor and Stuart periods.

EH 417 Writing the Vietnam War (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

A study of texts by and about American and Vietnamese soldiers, both during and after the Vietnam War, focusing on how the war is portrayed in writing, film, and music, including various cultural, political, and historical events/topics as they relate to these texts.

EH 419 Milton (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Poetry and prose of John Milton, with special attention to Paradise Lost.

EH 420 Women's Literature (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Six centuries of representative literature by women. Emphasis on recent British and American, including ethnic-American, authors. Discussion of women writers in relation to the traditional canon. This course is eligible for Faster Master's.

EH 424 Special Topics in Film Studies (3)

Prerequisites for Undergraduate: EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106. Prerequisites for Graduate: Graduate-level coursework in progress. Analyzes the works of a particular director, genre, period, etc. with an emphasis on film as text. May be duplicated for credit for a total of nine (9) semester hours, as long as each course taken is on a different special topic. This course is eligible for Faster Master's.

EH 427 Special Topics in Adaptation Studies (3)

Prerequisites for Undergraduate: EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106. Prerequisites for Graduate: Admission to Graduate Studies. An exploration of texts and their adaptations centered upon a specific topic, genre, theory, series, author, director, etc., often but not exclusively emphasizing film adaptations. May be duplicated for credit for a total of nine (9) semester hours, as long as each course taken is on a different special topic.

EH 428 LGBTQ+ Literature (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

An examination of LGTBQ+ literature through the ages and from across cultures in light of current queer, feminist, and gender studies theory.

EH 431 Non-Western Literature (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

An introduction to literature of the non-Western world from ancient times to the twenty-first century. This course will examine different genres of literature originating in the following regions or cultures: Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South and Central America, as well as other cultures whose heritage is not primarily based on the Western tradition.

EH 441 The History of the English Language (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Study of the origins and development of the English language from Old English through Modern English, focusing on the historical, cultural, and linguistic forces affecting language change.

EH 442 Contemporary African American Writers (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

A study of major twentieth- and twenty-first-century African American writers. This course is eligible for Faster Master's.

EH 452 Literary Criticism (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

Prominent themes and theories, various critical approaches, and outstanding examples of literary criticism from Plato to feminism and African-American literary theory. This course is eligible for Faster Master's.

EH 467 Twentieth-Century English Fiction (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 102, EH 104, or EH 106.

British fiction of the twentieth century, including short stories and novels by modern and postmodern authors.

EH 482 Grantwriting (3)

Practical course instructing the steps involved in the grantwriting process. The course includes strategic planning, research, finding appropriate grant sources and writing the grant. EH 482 is cross listed with PSC 482, and only one may be taken for credit.

EH 501 Introduction to Graduate Study in English (3)

Techniques of literary research, critical and theoretical approaches, varieties of scholarly production, analysis and interpretation of literary texts. English M.A. students must successfully complete this course within their first 15 hours of graduate English study.

EH 502 Studies in Nineteenth-Century American Literature (3)

Important literature of the century; writers examined may include Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Dickinson, Douglass, and Jacobs.

EH 510 The Eighteenth-Century Novel (3)

Major novels of Defoe, Richardson, Fielding and such minor figures as Behn, Smollett, Goldsmith, Burney, and the early Gothic novelists.

EH 512 Organizational Speech Communication (3)

Analysis of speech communication variables operating in educational, volunteer, and governmental organizations.

EH 525 Major Authors Seminar (3)

A curated seminar of major authors, including major authors of a particular era, literary movement, region, nationality, and/or genre. May be duplicated for credit for a total of nine (9) semester hours, as long as each course taken is on a different topic.

EH 527 Seminar in Adaptation Studies (3)

Prerequisite(s): Admission to Graduate Studies.

Explores the ways in which source materials are adapted into various other forms through the lens of the developing field of adaptation studies.

EH 531 Teaching College Writing Practicum I (0)

Required of all English Graduate Teaching Assistants teaching EH 101 - English Composition I. A weekly workshop to discuss ongoing pedagogical issues and best practices for the first-year writing classroom. An Orientation workshop at the beginning of the semester is also mandatory. Course may be repeated up to four times. Grades: Pass/No Credit.

EH 532 Teaching College Writing Practicum II (0)

Required of all English Graduate Teaching Assistants teaching EH 102 - English Composition II. A weekly workshop to discuss ongoing pedagogical issues and best practices for the first-year writing classroom. An Orientation workshop at the beginning of the semester is also mandatory. Course may be repeated up to four times. Grades: Pass/No Credit.

EH 533 Teaching College Writing I (3)

A survey of composition theory and practice, with emphasis placed on preparing the student to teach English Composition I at the college level. Required course for all English Graduate Teaching Assistants teaching English Composition I.

EH 534 Teaching College Writing II (3)

Prerequisite(s): EH 533.

A survey of composition theory and practice, with emphasis placed on preparing the student to teach English Composition II at the college level. Required course for all English Graduate Teaching Assistants teaching English Composition II.

EH 535 Teaching College Literature: The American Survey (3)

Theoretical and practical approaches to teaching the American literature survey at the college level.

EH 536 Teaching College Literature: The British Survey (3)

Theoretical and practical approaches to teaching the British literature survey at the college level.

EH 551 Writing Project Summer Institute (3)

Prerequisite(s): Admission to JSU Writing Project.

Corequisite(s): EH 552.

Extensive study of theory and methodology of composition and composition instruction.

EH 552 Summer Institute Practicum (3)

Prerequisite(s): Admission to JSU Writing Project.

Corequisite(s): EH 551.

Extensive writing and critiquing, with research and presentations on writing.

EH 553 Contemporary American Literature (3)

Contemporary American literature, with emphasis on the work of major poets, novelists, dramatists, and non-fiction writers.

EH 554 Contemporary European Literature (3)

Contemporary European literature, with emphasis on the work of major poets, novelists, dramatists, and non-fiction writers outside the British Isles.

EH 555 Literature of the South (3)

Best of Southern literature with emphasis on the work of major writers.

EH 556 Victorian Literature (3)

Prose fiction and nonfiction of the Victorian Age.

EH 557 Studies in Non-Dramatic Elizabethan Literature (3)

Literature of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, with emphasis as the instructor desires.

EH 558 Studies in Romantic Literature (3)

English literature of the late eighteenth and early ninteenth centuries; emphasis on Blake, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley, and Keats; writers such as Godwin, Wollstonecraft, Burke, Paine, Barbauld, Smith, Hemans, Hazlitt, Hunt, and Clare also featured.

EH 562 Studies in Shakespeare (3)

Reading of representative works of Shakespeare, with attention to the history of Shakespearian scholarship and criticism.

EH 564 Middle English Literature (3)

Literature of England during the Middle Ages with emphasis on the romance and its background in general European literature.

EH 565 Seventeenth-Century English Literature (3)

Poetry and prose of the seventeenth century.

EH 569 Study Away (3)

Topics, excursions, and requirements determined by department. Infrequently scheduled and subject to minimum and maximum hours. Advance deposit required. May be duplicated for credit for a maximum of 9 semester hours, as long as each course taken is on a different special topic. Grades: Pass/Fail.

EH 570 Special Problems (3)

Special readings and assignments approved by department head and instructor after consideration of the student's background.

EH 590 Writing Center Practicum (0)

Required of all Writing Center Consultants each semester they work in the Writing Center. An ongoing workshop to train Writing Center Consultants and address pedagogical issues and best practices for the Writing Center. An Orientation workshop at the beginning of the semester is also mandatory. Course may be repeated for a total of 12 times. Grades: Pass/No Credit.

EH 599 Thesis (3)

Prerequisite(s): Dean's Approval and Approval of Application for Thesis Option.

See "Thesis Option and Procedures." May be duplicated for credit for a total of 6 semester hours. Grade: Pass/Fail.