LAE - English

Basic writing skills are taught in this course. Emphasis is placed on topic selection, organizing ideas, and grammar. Student awareness of strengths and weaknesses is increased to encourage the use of self-monitoring strategies, e.g., editing, drafting and proofreading. This course is designed for students preparing to enter the required English Department composition courses or for anyone wishing to build self-confidence in writing abilities or to successfully complete writing projects. Prerequisite(s): Writing placement. Co-requisite(s): None. 5 quarter hours

This is the first course in a two-term sequence of composition courses. It focuses on expository, illustrative, and persuasive writing with emphasis on the short essay. It includes an introduction to research and documentation. The class time is equally split between the classroom and online work. Counts in the Written Communication Area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): Placement 5 quarter hours

This is the second in a sequence of composition courses. Students will continue to practice expository writing, persuasive writing and research work. The class time is equally split between the classroom and online work. Counts in the Written Communication Area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 or equivalent 5 quarter hours

This course provides instruction and practice in expository, illustrative, and persuasive writing with an emphasis on the process involved in writing clear, expressive text that aims to communicate effectively with a specific audience. The major focus is on how rhetorical considerations inform the writing process and how the decisions a writer makes with respect to purpose, audience, organization of information, and style affect the effectiveness of the written communication. Students will examine and practice editing and revising techniques and learn to improve their writing by completing multiple drafts of essays. Prerequisite(s): Placement 5 quarter hours Counts in the Communications Area of General Education Requirements.

Provides instruction and practice in the process of writing from research. The focus is on formulating and narrowing research topics, discovering and evaluating primary and secondary research sources, and interpreting and communicating findings in a coherent, accurate, readable form. Students will learn the particular writing skills that inform research-based written communication. Discussions and exercises related to the ethical dilemmas inherent in using source material, the advisability of extracting and using information from the World Wide Web, the ways to mine online databases, and the necessity of correctly documenting sources will prepare the student for writing from research. Prerequisite(s): Placement 5 quarter hours Counts in the Communications Area of General Education Requirements.

Students will learn the specific writing skills necessary for effective written communication in workplace settings. Designed for, but not limited to, business executives, supervisory personnel, and educators whose current or future workplace responsibilities require correspondence using email, memos, letters, proposals, reports, Web postings, instant messaging, and blog entries. Students will apply the rhetorical elements of audience, purpose, style, and presentation to successful business writing and will consider the importance of ethical and collaborative writing for job-related tasks. Counts in the Written Communication Area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): Placement. 5 quarter hours

Advanced instruction and practice in a variety of expository and other writing tasks. Special emphasis on writing with style, clarity, and effectiveness for various audiences. Prerequisite: LAE102 or equivalent. 2-5 quarter hours Counts in the Written Communication Area of General Education Requirements.

Basic techniques of fiction and poetry. Individual instructor may stress one or the other. ( Students can inquire ahead.) Wide reading expected as a stimulus to creative expression. Prerequisites: LAE102 or equivalent. 5 quarter hours

Students learn to distinguish between various forms of fiction and nonfiction writing by analyzing exemplary writing in both areas and by developing papers on the same general subject approached in various ways. Journalism, feature writing, memoir, and writing with a marketing perspective are some forms sampled in the area of nonfiction. Short stories, plays, screenplays are discussed and tried in the fiction realm. Prerequisite(s): ENG101 and ENG102 or equivalent 5 quarter hours

Students will study important British authors from the beginnings with Beowulf to 1750, focusing on selected major figures in both poetry and prose. Writers from the Early and Later Middle Ages might include the Beowulf Poet, Chaucer and Malory, among others. Renaissance writers might include Sidney, More, Hoby, Donne and Milton, among others. Restoration and later writers might include Dryden, Pope, Swift and Johnson, among others. Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 and LAE102, or equivalent 5 quarter hours

Students will study important British authors from 1750-1900, focusing on selected major figures in either poetry or the novel. Possible writers might include the Romantic poets, such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley and Byron, among others. Novelists might include Austen, the Bronte sisters, Dickens, Hardy, Conrad, among others. Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 and LAE102 or equivalent 5 quarter hours

A general overview recommended for students entering the teaching profession. Survey of best of the old and new in prose and verse form the nursery level through elementary grades. Techniques of presentation are discussed. Major emphasis on content and quality of literature. Prerequisite: LAE102 or equivalent. 5 quarter hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature Area of General Education Requirements.

Masterpieces of world literature from the earliest times to the present, in translation. Syllabus includes primarily western literature-Greek, Italian, Spanish, German, French, Russian- but some attention also given to non-western literature. Prerequisite: LAE102 or equivalent. 5 quarter hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

A study of important literacy works by representatives of minority groups. Specific focus is determined by the individual instructor and can be limited to a particular group, time period, and/or literary type. Students examine how literature functions as protest and in the search for identity. Prerequisite: LAE102 or equivalent. 5 quarter hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

Examination of poetry as a literary genre through critical analysis. Prerequisite: LAE102 or equivalent. 5 quarter hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

A study of examples of mythology from two or more cultural traditions, possibly including ancient and modern western and non-western traditions. The mythology will be studied as literature and from the perspective of several major twentieth-century theories of myth. Prerequisites: LAE102 or equivalent 5 quarter hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

An introduction to the study of language, with emphasis on historical study and on the English language. Covers characteristics, origins and development of language; origins and historical development of the English language in Great Britain and America; descriptive and prescriptive grammar; varieties of American English. 5 quarter hours Prerequisite(s): LAE102 or equivalent Counts in the Humanities or Written Communication Area of General Education.

An introduction to film theory and film technique, with some reference to the history of film. Emphasis will be placed on the tools used to tell stories in film, e.g., cinematography, editing and sound. Both American and foreign film will be screened and discussed; Intolerance, Metropolis, Citizen Kane, My Darling Clementine, Shoot the Piano Player, The Seventh Seal and 8 1/2 are typical of the films covered. Students will also view movies outside of class and write papers analyzing various aspects of filmmaking. Prerequisite: AE102 or equivalent. 5 quarter hours Counts in the Humanities Area of General Education Requirements.

Students attack the practical skills that an editor needs to clearly, confidently, and correctly edit another person's copy. Editing assignments focus on finding and fixing errors. Students sharpen grammar and style, learn to gracefully shorten someone else's writing, and learn conventional editing symbols. They report on editing "bloopers" that they find published on paper or on the Internet. Prerequisite(s): English 101 and 102 or equivalent. 5 quarter hours

Students read, discuss and write papers on selections of literature commonly taught in Illinois high schools. They learn to lead discussions on the assigned literature with special attention to the interests and potential of high school students. Materials are clustered around a theme with special relevance or curricular usefulness for this group, such as "Coming of Age" , "Young Americans During the Great Depression", or "Families in Transition". 5 quarter hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

Students will study American authors from the beginning to 1900, focusing on selected major figures in either poetry or the novel. Writers such as Hawthorne, Melville, Cooper, Dickinson, Poe and Whitman are among those considered, although the list of writers studied may vary from term to term. Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 and LAE102 or equivalent 5 quarter hours/3 semester hours

Students will study American authors from 1900-1950, focusing on selected major figures in either poetry or the novel. Novelists such as Wharton, Lewis, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Steinberg and Wright, and poets such as T.S. Eliot, are among those considered, although the list of writers studied may vary from term to term. Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 and LAE102 or equivalent 5 quarter hours/3 semester hours

A survey of the best and most influential writers following World War II and continuing through to the close of the turbulent sixties. Includes primarily fiction writers such as Mailer, O'Hara, Salinger, Cheever, Updike, O'Connor, Baldwin, Kesey, Heller, Roth, Bellow, Malamud and Nabokov. Takes a look at the stunning contrasts between the fifties and the sixties, politically, socially, ethically, aesthetically, and psychologically. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 and LAE102. 5 quarter hours OR 3 semester hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

A survey of classic 20th-century British novelists such as James, Lawrence, Joyce, Forster, Woolf, Greene, Orwell, Huxley, and Amis. Focuses on the growth and development of technique and on the ethical, psychological and political concerns of the period. Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements. 5 quarter hours OR 3 semester hours

Online course focusing on basic techniques of creative writing of poetry and responding to poetry. Wide reading from internet and print sources expected as a stimulus to creative expression. Prerequisite(s): LAE102 or equivalent; completion of needed developmental coursework 5 quarter hours or 3 semester hours

Students read and discuss a variety of outstanding examples of the short story form as potential models for their own writing. In the process, they write and then revise one short story of their own. Using a writing workshop framework, students do close reading and discussion of their peers' work and make suggestions for revisions. Counts in the Written Communication Area of General Education Requirements. Prerequisite(s): Senior standing or graduate status. 5 quarter hours or 3 semester hours

Oral history constitutes the accounts of personal and public events as told by ordinary people. Students learning how to interview ordinary people, how to assemble the history of major events as seen through the eyes of ordinary people and how to analyze literature based on oral histories. Students are guided in using oral history as a basis for their own nonfiction writing. Books by Studs Terkel, Alex Kotlowitz, James McBride and plays by Anna Deavere Smith are used. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 and LAE102 5 quarter hours OR 3 semester hours

Women's Lives into Literature examines the process of transforming life experience into fiction, plays and poetry- what is left out, what is added, how elements are altered, considering the special skills of each writer. The historical context and specific cultural influences on American writers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be considered using the works of Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Sylvia Plath, Lillian Hellman, Lorraine Hansberry and Wendy Wasserstein. Prerequisites: Admission to the Master of Science in Written Communication or Consent of the Instructor. 5 quarter hours OR 3 semester hours. Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

A course in the special techniques and format of writing the narrative film, with emphasis on dramatic structure, character development, creating visual metaphors and orchestrating these elements around a coherent dramatic question or premise. Viewing and reading of noteworthy screenplays is combined with the development of an original screenplay idea and the execution of a portion of that screenplay into proper format. Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission of the instructor. 5 quarter hours

Study of the Elizabethan stage and Elizabethan-Jacobean drama and the development of Shakespeare's dramatic art. Students read selected comedies, tragedies and histories by Shakespeare and some of his contemporaries. 5 quarter hours OR 3 semester hours Counts in the Humanities or Literature area of General Education Requirements.

Introduction to various kinds of journalistic writing appropriate to newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. News-writing, feature-writing, and interviewing are some of the journalistic types covered. Liability laws, guidelines pertaining to plagiarism, copyright laws, and journalistic ethics are discussed. 3 semester hours

In this contemporary literature course, students explore the fiction of major Latino writers in the U.S. Students read and examine a selection of representative texts of authors who portray the complex realities of the fastest- growing minority population in the United States. Teaching, class discussions, readings, written work and testing are in English. (Also active as SPAN455) Prerequisite(s): Dept Lang Stud (for Spanish majors) - SPAN320, SPAN325, SPAN330, SPAN415, and SPAN450, or consent of the department. English and Philosophy - LAE101, LAE102, or consent of the department. Counts in the Humanities Area of General Education Requirements. 5 quarter hours

Students polish the practical skills that an editor needs to edit clearly, confidently, and correctly. Students will sharpen grammar and style, learn conventional editing symbols and methods to trim a story for content or space. Writing assignments focus on finding and fixing errors. The goal for students is to become their own editors for their own work and to become qualified to be "last read" on a professional paper/publication. Prerequisite(s): LAE101 and LAE102. 5 quarter hours OR 3 semester hours

A course taught by professionals in the field of advertising and promotion. Students receive coaching and practice in writing spots for radio and television, as well as layout and design for print media and direct mail. Public relations strategies are introduced: how advertising builds and communicates the corporate image. Available markets for writers will be explored. Speakers will discuss working for agencies and writing freelance. 3 semester hours

An initial discussion of the basic principles of humor, followed by an overview of specific types of humor-writing. This course analyzes various styles of humor, such as iconoclasm, absurdism, exaggeration, "gallows humor," "Jewish humor," etc. in order to imitate their techniques in weekly written assignments. Each student works on development of his or her own comic "voice." 3 semester hours

Students will meet in the Collections Room of the Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton, Chicago, IL. They will examine first-hand several seminal texts in English literature in their first or very early editions. Examples of texts include: Malory's "Morte d' Arthur" (1485); Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" (1490); "First Folio" edition of Shakespeare (1623); Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (1726); Samuel Johnson's "Dictionary" (1773); Other magnificent rarities. Prerequisite(s): None 2 quarter hours OR 1 semester hour

Writer's Week Workshops are a series of sessions with outstanding writers in a variety of writing areas, including creative nonfiction, biography, screenwriting and writing children and young adult books. Each writer will discuss his/her methods of developing a significant work. Students will submit brief samples of their work in the relevant writing area for discussion and revision. Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission of the instructor 1 semester hour or 2 quarter hours

Opportunity for students in this major or concentration to pursue acceptable study in an aspect of literature or writing independently. Students are assigned to department advisors for guidance and tutoring. 2-5 quarter hours

Opportunity for students and faculty to create a course topic not on the regular schedule. ( A recent example: The Sixties: Evolution and Revolution.) Students may register for more than one Special topic in the course of their degree program. 2-5 quarter hours

A course designed by faculty and students, from time to time, in which students assume a major responsibility for course materials and content, in conventional seminar fashion, with the instructor acting primarily as advisor and evaluator. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. 3-5 quarter hours/ 1-3 semester hours

A wide-ranging course to develop techniques which increase clarity, interest, cogency, and coherence. Exercises in and out of class lead students to grace and style, sometimes through techniques of style analysis and modeling. Writer flexibility is encouraged by creating a diversity of tasks and imaginary audiences. Basic plagiarism and copyright guidelines are reviewed. 3 semester hours

Reader interest, organization and clarity are the primary concerns, as students write nonfiction material relying upon previously published information. Feature material, in-depth articles and books, as well as reports, reviews, summaries, and research projects based on background reading are the major focus. Students learn correct methods of documentation and the laws that apply. Students become familiar with what many staff (and freelance) writers do for a living. This is a writing-intensive course. Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission of instructor 3 semester hours

A course which strengthens techniques of description, characterization, narration, exposition, pacing, imagery and diction. Students are encouraged to develop independence in seeing options and making creative decisions. Each student works at development of his or her own "voice." Manuscripts are evaluated by a published fiction writer. Students read and react to each other's work. 3 semester hours

A course which develops mature concepts about the nature of "poetry" and its relation to prose. Techniques of imagery, diction, tone, and organization are developed in relation to each student's style and thematic directions. Students learn how to develop and control the emotional impact of the poem. Students read and react to each other's work. This course is usually offered to one or a few students by arrangement. 3 semester hours

A course taught by published writers of children's literature. Course improves basic techniques in fiction and poetry (see descriptions for other creative writing courses) but focuses on specifications for various younger age groups. Students learn publisher guidelines for each age level as well as what kinds of pieces publishers prefer. Formats and conventions are examined. Problems in maintaining racial, ethnic, and religious fairness are examined. Available markets are surveyed. Students read and react to each other's work. 3 semester hours

A course which examines the age-old question of "What works?" from an historical perspective. Students are introduced to classical and modern theories of rhetorical effectiveness and literary analysis. Course also offers an overview of accepted and experimental methods to improve writing skills. Weekly exercises apply various theories and methods. Students become familiar with the vocabulary of rhetoric, old and recent. 3 semester hours

A course dealing with the practical side of professional writing: career opportunities for the staff writer and publishing opportunities for the free-lancer. Students learn manuscript forms, survey available markets, discuss where professional writers get their "ideas" from, etc. Course also covers pay scales for writers, copyright laws, liability laws, and income tax tips. This course is usually offered in modules of one semester hour each in fall, winter, spring. LAE512A, LAE512B, LAE512C.

A course dealing with the practical side of professional writing: career opportunities for the staff writer and publishing opportunities for the free-lancer. Students learn manuscript forms, survey available markets, discuss where professional writers get their "ideas" from etc. Course also covers pay scales for writers, copyright laws, liability laws, and income tax tips. This course is usually offered in modules of one semester hour each in fall, winter, spring. LAE512A, LAE512B, LAE512C.

A course dealing with the practical side of professional writing: career opportunities for the staff writer and publishing opportunities for the free-lancer. Students learn manuscript forms, survey available markets, discuss where professional writers get their "ideas" from, etc. Course also covers pay scales for writers, copyright laws, liability laws, and income tax tips. This course is usually offered in modules of one semester hour each in fall, winter, spring. LAE512A, LAE512B, LAE512C.

A course which examines the design of feature stories for newspapers and magazines and the style-range possibilities. Interviewing skills are a primary focus. Assignments include news-features, profiles, and personal experience essays, among others. Students learn the standard organizational format for magazine features ("the magazine formula") and alternatives. Students are introduced to the idea processes which generate concepts for stories. 3 semester hours

A course in the special techniques and format of writing the narrative film, with emphasis on dramatic structure, character development, creating visual metaphors and orchestrating these elements around a coherent dramatic question or premise. Viewing and reading of noteworthy screenplays is combined with the development of an original screenplay idea and the execution of a portion of that screenplay into proper format. Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission of the instructor. 3 semester hours

A flexible course designed to meet the career goals of students in the Written Communication program. The course teaches strategies for writing complex, specialized or industry-specific information in a clear and effective manner. Students learn how to analyze and adjust levels of prose complexity, how formatting can enhance communication and how to address readers of differing levels of expertise and interest. Some assignments allow students to use actual projects from their own workplaces. 3 semester hours

An examination of the ways in which writers tell stories, both fictional and otherwise. Attention will be paid to the various types of first- and third-person narrative techniques, the use of chronology and alternate time schemes, the cross-cut and the subplot. Primarily a reading course for students in the M.S. in Written Communications program. 3 semester hours

This course will introduce the graduate student/writer to the strategies needed to teach general studies freshman/lower division (non-developmental) writing courses. It concludes a survey of relevant literature concerning instructional issues and applications in the classroom (i.e., process approaches, peer/collaborative activities, writing across disciplines, teaching writing with computers, writing assessment). Emphasis is given also to utilizing the writer/graduate student's writing practices and experience. Students will develop appropriate instructional materials. 3 semester hours

This course provides a closely supervised actual teaching experience with instruction and mentoring for the graduate student. Students will teach an English Department, first or second term freshman composition course or other lower division composition or literature course (as available) or give instruction in an appropriate tutorial setting. 3 semester hours

An opportunity for students in the Masters program to pursue an area of writing and/or research independently. Students are assigned to a faculty member for guidance and coaching. 1-3 semester hours

Opportunity for students and faculty to create a course topic not on the regular schedule. Students may register for more than one Special Topic in the course of their degree program. 1-3 semester hours

The final showcase piece in the student's portfolio. It is tailored to fit the student's individual program. Examples of thesis projects might be: a collection of short stories, a short novel, a series of poems, a lengthy report for publication or for use in an organization, a series of articles, one long or several short children's books, a series of periodical journals which the student has edited and managed for an organization, etc. The length and difficulty of the project will determine the credit hours to be awarded (3, 4, 5 or 6). Work may be based on previous course work but must show extensive rewriting and augmentation. Student is assigned to a faculty member for coaching and evaluation. 1-6 semester hours

Continuous registration required until thesis is complete. Prerequisite(s): Masters standing, consent of instructor, and prior registration for the required number of hours in LAE599. 0 semester hours

Explores historical and current theories of reading comprehension, as well as theories of the process approach to composition. Emphasizes models from: cognitive psychology, transactional theory, and psycholinguistics. Synthesizes research that provides a foundation for those models and facilitates their application to the instructional delivery of reading and writing at the postsecondary level. Prerequisite(s): None. Co-requisite(s): None. 3 semester hours

This course explores the significance of making the reading and writing connection across the postsecondary curriculum through metacognitive model where the student learns through his/her own reading and writing experiences. These experiences become the foundation for an instructional model appropriate for adult learners. Prerequisite(s): None. Co-requisite(s): None. 3 semester hours

Investigates through observation and application instructional delivery systems designed to teach the adult how to enhance learning by becoming a more active reader. Integrates writing strategies that enhance the reading process. Applies the theories underlying the process intervention approach to postsecondary writing instruction and develops strategies and techniques for group settings. Prerequisite(s): None. Co-requisite(s): None. 3 semester hours

Compares/contrasts various formal and informal, quantitative and qualitative assessment instruments used throughout the process of reading comprehension instruction. Studies both the formative and summative nature of such instruments ranging from placement tests to pre-assessment inventories to post-instructional interviews and surveys. Also examines current practices in the evaluation of postsecondary student writing throughout the writing process in terms of assessment, andragogy, and composition theory with an emphasis upon utilization with the nontraditional student population. Prerequisite(s): None. Co-requisite(s): None. 3 semester hours