official syllabus

This is the official syllabus for ENG 502 “Introduction to English Studies: Traditions Boundaries, and Change”

When the syllabus for fall 2008 is completed, it will be posted here instead of the official syllabus.

I. Course Description: ENG 502: Introduction to English Studies: Traditions, Boundaries, and Change

This course provides beginning graduate students an introduction to the history, traditions, issues, problems, and debates of English Studies. From the perspective of the outsider or newly initiated, the proliferation of areas of interest within English Studies can be confusing if not daunting. It is the goal of this course to familiarize new graduate students with the historical development of English Studies and the shape of English Studies today. Designed as one of the core courses for all English MA students, this course will include studies of the profession, experience in writing professional documents (such as conference proposals, abstracts, book reviews, thesis proposal), practical guidance in relevant research methods, and inquiry into the major theoretical and disciplinary issues and challenges of English Studies. This is a required course of all English MA students. 3 s.h. 3 c.h.

II. Course Rationale

While there was a time when “English Studies” referred almost exclusively to the study of British and American literature, during the waning decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, English Studies has grown to encompass a range of additional “fields” or areas of interest including Composition and Rhetoric, Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Textual Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Multicultural Studies, Professional Writing, Literacy Studies, Discourse Analysis, and Multimedia Literacy. However, many if not most students beginning graduate study in English are not aware of these diverse tendencies and fields that characterize “English Studies.” This course, then, begins English graduate students’ initiation into the profession. Over the course of a semester students will be invited to confront and attempt to answer questions such as: How have various theorists and scholars defined “English Studies?” How do we account for disciplinary change over time? What are the relationships among the various theoretical approaches and fields within “English Studies?” What counts as scholarship in these new and complex fields?

III. Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course the student will be able to:

  • Identify and explain major and minor fields within English Studies
  • Summarize the historical and recent development of English Studies in the United States
  • Compose key professional documents such as a conference proposal, book review, and an annotated bibliography
  • Differentiate approaches to English Studies at a range of English Departments across the country
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the requirements and formal procedures of the MA English at Kutztown
  • Design an effective research plan
  • Design a personal study program

IV. Assessment

Assessment of each student’s level of accomplishment with reference to the course objectives will be based upon a subset of the following:

  • Writing assignments
  • Research projects
  • Active participation in class and class discussion
  • Reflective essay
  • Formal proposal to professional conference and/or journal
  • Book Reviews
  • Oral report
  • Collaborative project
  • Reading responses
  • Draft of thesis proposal
  • Quizzes
  • Draft of personal study program

V. Course Outline

A. Unit I: Overview of Department/Discipline(s)/Field(s)

  • Historical Overview of English in Universities
  • Review and History of English Department at Kutztown
  • Contemporary Research Currents in English Studies
  • The Canon and Canon Formation
  • The Academic Self

B. Unit II: Current Fields within English Studies: will vary from among:

  • Literature: British, American, European, and Non-Western
  • Professional Writing
  • Rhetoric and Composition
  • English Education
  • Creative Writing
  • Film/Media Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Literary and Cultural Theory
  • Historicism and Literary History
  • Other: Contemporary Developments

C. Unit III: Text-in-Practice

  • Relevant Research Methods: What’s Hot and What’s Not
  • Institutional Research: English Studies at other Universities
  • Writing Professional Documents
  • Personal Study Plan

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