Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Master of Arts (MA)

Graduate Certificate

English Courses

ENGL 5103. Proseminar. (4 Hours)

Introduces the history and current scholarly practices of English studies. Surveys theoretical, methodological, and institutional issues in the development of the discipline; introduces students to the research of the English department’s graduate faculty; and offers opportunities for the practice of key components of scholarly production, including formulating research questions, using databases, conducting literature reviews, and writing and presenting scholarship in common formats other than the long research paper, such as conference proposals, oral presentations, and book reviews.


ENGL 5976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers independent work under the direction of members of the department on a chosen topic. Course content depends on instructor. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 6301. Fiction Workshop. (4 Hours)

Focuses on the craft of fiction writing. Students read and write in a variety of fiction genres. Experiments with a range of forms and techniques, placing them within historical context and the critical tradition, and examines the implications of form. Offers students an opportunity to build self-critique and editorial abilities through peer review and to build a final well-developed and structurally sophisticated work of fiction toward professional publication standards.


ENGL 6302. Poetry Workshop. (4 Hours)

Focuses on the craft of poetry writing. Experiments with a range of forms and techniques, placing them within historical context and the critical tradition, and examining the implications of form. Offers students an opportunity to build self-critique and editorial abilities through peer review and to prepare their poetry to meet professional publication standards.


ENGL 6303. Creative Nonfiction Workshop. (4 Hours)

Focuses on the craft of nonfiction writing. Explores how writers apply narrative strategies and techniques to factual material. Students read and write a variety of nonfiction forms. Topics for narrative nonfiction writing apply to a wide array of disciplines, including the humanities, the sciences, and journalism. Experiments with a range of forms and techniques, placing them within historical context and the critical tradition, and examining the implications of form. Offers students an opportunity to build self-critique and editorial abilities through peer review and to build a final well-developed and structurally sophisticated work of nonfiction toward professional publication standards.


ENGL 6954. Co-op Work Experience - Half-Time. (0 Hours)

Provides eligible students with an opportunity for work experience. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 6955. Co-op Work Experience Abroad – Half-Time. (0 Hours)

Provides eligible students with an opportunity for work experience abroad. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 6962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 6964. Co-op Work Experience. (0 Hours)

Provides eligible students with an opportunity for work experience. May be repeated without limit.

Corequisite(s): INSH 6864


ENGL 6965. Co-op Work Experience Abroad. (0 Hours)

Provides eligible students with an opportunity for work experience abroad. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7211. Topics in American Literature. (4 Hours)

Explores a significant topic in American literature. Topics are selected by the instructor and vary by semester.


ENGL 7266. Victorian Literature. (4 Hours)

Treats such topics as Victorian masculinities; female poetic identity; the move to aestheticism and decadence in the latter nineteenth century; and resemblances of the 1890s to our own fin-de-siècle. Considers such figures as R. Browning, E.B. Browning, Christina Rossetti, Florence Nightingale, Swinburne, Pater, Stevenson, Wilde, H.G. Wells, and Freud.


ENGL 7281. Topics in Medieval Literature. (4 Hours)

May consider the following: Anglo Saxon literature (including poems such as Beowulf, Judith, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and a selection of prose); the poems of the Pearl Poet (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Cleanness); women and/in the Middle Ages; medieval literature and medievalism; the medieval romance, Malory’s Morte Darthur; religious, mystical, and didactic works; medieval travel literature; or William Langland’s Piers Plowman. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7282. Topics in Renaissance Literature. (4 Hours)

Considers specific topics in the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such as the sonnet sequence, Renaissance women, and utopian and travel literature. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7284. Topics in 18th-Century Literature. (4 Hours)

Explores in depth a topic, theme, or genre in eighteenth-century British literature, such as satire; London’s city culture; literary theory; the emerging women writers; the essay; or a major writer, for example, Jonathan Swift, Jane Austen, or Henry Fielding. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7351. Topics in Literary Study. (4 Hours)

Focuses on literature on a thematic, formal, or generic basis. Varies by instructor.


ENGL 7352. Topics in Genre. (4 Hours)

Examines such topics in genre criticism as biography, autobiography, satire, and children’s literature. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7358. Topics in Literature and other Disciplines. (4 Hours)

Examines such subjects as literature and the visual arts, literature and psychology, and literary impressionism. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7360. Topics in Rhetoric. (4 Hours)

Focuses on specialized topics in rhetoric, such as visual rhetoric, rhetorical criticism, rhetoric of science, issues in contemporary rhetorical theory, and rhetoric and cultural studies. Varies by semester. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7370. Introduction to Digital Humanities. (4 Hours)

Offers a critical orientation to the tools, methods, and intellectual history of the digital humanities (DH). Explores key questions such as what debates are (re)shaping DH in this moment; what central theories lead humanities scholars to experiment with computational, geospatial, and network methodologies; how visualization can illuminate literature, history, writing, and other humanities subjects; and how new modes of research and publication might influence our teaching. Balances theory and praxis: Successful students come away with a well-grounded understanding of the DH field and a set of foundational skills to support their future research. No prior technical expertise is required to take the course, but students should be willing to experiment with new skills.


ENGL 7380. Topics in Digital Humanities. (4 Hours)

Explores specific analytical techniques such as mapping, computational text analysis, or network analysis; a particular methodological tradition such as digital scholarly editing; the history of a particular debate, research problem, or theoretical orientation such as intersectional feminism; or the intersection of digital humanities and another domain such as writing studies. Offers students an opportunity to develop more specialized skills and methods that support advanced research and teaching in digital humanities. May be repeated three times.


ENGL 7392. Writing and the Teaching of Writing. (4 Hours)

Engages MA and PhD students in the theory, practice, and praxis of teaching writing at the university level, drawing on recent scholarship in rhetoric and writing studies. Explores theories and practices regarding the nature of written expression; the role of diversity, inclusion, and equity in writing instruction; the research on how people learn to write and how that writing might be assessed; the historical contexts for required writing in U.S. higher education; the nature of multimodal composing; and the environments and activities that best help students learn writing.


ENGL 7395. Topics in Writing. (4 Hours)

May include the following topics: literacy and literacies; basic writing; issues of gender, race, and class in the classroom; writing assessment; or collaborative learning. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7962. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7976. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offered by arrangement. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7986. Research. (0 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to conduct full-time research under faculty supervision.


ENGL 7990. Thesis. (4 Hours)

Offers thesis supervision by members of the department. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 7996. Thesis Continuation - Half-Time. (0 Hours)

Offers thesis supervision by members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 7990 with a minimum grade of C-


ENGL 8407. Teaching Practicum. (1 Hour)

Gives students the opportunity to observe a senior faculty member teaching an undergraduate course in American or British literature, literary studies, rhetoric, composition studies, or linguistics. Students meet regularly with the faculty member to discuss teaching practices and other pedagogical issues and submit a term project discussing the experience in the context of the scholarship of teaching. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 8960. Exam Preparation—Doctoral. (0 Hours)

Offers the student the opportunity to prepare for the PhD qualifying exam under faculty supervision. May be repeated three times.


ENGL 8986. Research. (0 Hours)

Offers the student the opportunity to conduct full-time research. May be repeated without limit.


ENGL 9000. PhD Candidacy Achieved. (0 Hours)

Indicates successful completion of the doctoral comprehensive exam.


ENGL 9986. Research. (0 Hours)

Offers the student the opportunity to conduct full-time research. May be repeated up to three times.


ENGL 9990. Dissertation Term 1. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 9000 with a minimum grade of S


ENGL 9991. Dissertation Term 2. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 9990 with a minimum grade of S


ENGL 9996. Dissertation Continuation. (0 Hours)

Offers dissertation supervision by members of the department.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 9991 with a minimum grade of S or Dissertation Check with a score of REQ