Core Course Information

Course Information and Descriptions

The Writing Center

Academic Writing at WFU

Plagiarism Policy

English Department Grading Criteria

Exemption/ Advanced Placement Information

Study Abroad/ Summer School Transfer Credit Guidelines

Core Courses in the English Department develop students’ ability to express themselves in writing as they engage with literary and extra-literary topics.  Our courses provide a foundation for successful writing at the college level and they introduce students to the subjects and methods of literary study.

Writing Seminars
All first-year students must take a Writing Seminar (English 111) unless exempted. Any student with an AP score of 4 or 5, an I.B., higher level, score of 6 or 7, or exemption by the department is exempt from English 111. Writing Seminars are organized around a compelling topic or theme that will engage students’ interests as they develop their writing skills.  Writing Seminars are limited to 16 students each and teach students to write clear and cogent expository prose by emphasizing writing as a process of discovery, development, and revision. 

Division II Literature Courses
The English Department offers a variety of courses that fulfill the Division II Literature requirement and introduce students to the diversity of literary study at the college level. 

English 150: Literature Interprets the World is an introductory course that teaches literature as basis for encountering the world.

The guiding idea for this course is that literature is a unique and especially insightful mode of thinking through philosophical, ethical, social, historical, and cultural problems and phenomena.  Great literature is not only “about” the world out there; it may also present a deep and irreducible meditation on our world.  And indeed, literature and the literary imagination may be thought of as phenomena in their own right, interacting with history, politics, and local cultures.   Learning to interpret literature, we learn to interpret the world.

Classes may be oriented around a theme, social problem, historical phenomenon, philosophical topic, or other relevant intellectual occasion.  Texts will be selected for their capacity to be insightful on the course topic, and not only because they represent that topic.  Writing intensive; seminar.

English 160: Introduction to British Literature.  Introduces students to the works of 8-10 major authors representing a range of historical periods and genres of British Literature. (Not open to students matriculating in Fall 2007 or later).

English 165: Interpreting British Literature. Emphasis on significant British writers representing different periods and genres.  Writing intensive; seminar.

English 170: Introduction to American Literature. Introduces students to the works of 8-10 major authors representing a range of historical periods and genres of American literature.  (Not open to students matriculating in Fall 2007 or later).

English 175: Interpreting American Literature.  Emphasis on significant American writers representing different periods and genres.  Writing intensive; seminar.

English 185: Interpreting Global Literature.  Emphasis on significant  writers representing different nationalities, periods and genres.  Writing intensive; seminar.

English 190: Literary Genres.  Studies in genres will introduce students to either the span of major genres or an individual genre, providing students with a solid basis for literary study and creative writing. 

• Studies in Genres. Emphasis on poetry, fiction, and drama. Writing intensive; seminar.
• Poetry. Writing intensive; seminar.
• Dramatic Literature.  Writing intensive; seminar.
• Fiction.  Emphasis may be on the novel, short story, or both. Writing intensive; seminar.
• The Epic.  Writing intensive; seminar.