The English minor prepares students for a variety of careers in which strong oral and written communication are required. The courses develop professional skills grounded in creative and critical thinking, reading, and writing. Complementary majors include business, criminal justice, human health and performance, environmental science, and political science.
This course provides the opportunity for the student to develop a fundamental knowledge of the craft of writing creatively. The emphasis in fiction is on character development, plot, point of view, dialogue, setting, pacing, and voice. The emphasis in poetry includes voice, pacing, meter, and form. Revision, workshopping, and critical reading of both professional and student writing are central to the course.
This course examines a range of horror stories from across popular culture to assess what these narratives reveal about the historical and cultural environments that imagined them. Likely course selections: Get Out (2017), Midsommar (2019), Psycho (1960), The Haunting of Hill House (1959 and 2018), The Shining (1977 and 1980), Alien (1979), The Conjuring (2013).
A course designed to reinforce and extend undergraduate writing competency and to advance students to the composition proficiency demanded in business and other professions and in graduate programs. Students study and write expository and persuasive forms such as letters, memoranda, reports, and proposals.
