Graduate Studies Bulletin
Fall 2023 Course Offerings
English 501: Teaching of Writing: Methodology and Composition
Kate Watts, Mondays, 3:10-5:40 pm
Description not available. Contact the instructor for more information.
English 512: Introduction to Graduate Studies
Jon Hegglund, Mondays, 12:10-1 pm
English 512 is a practical introduction to the materials and methods of graduate study in English. It includes the following topics:
- Introduction to research methods, ethics, and issues
- Reference management tools (Mendeley, Zotero, Endnote) and their uses
- Reading scholarly articles (arguments, contexts, theories)
- Writing seminar papers: finding your voice, making a persuasive argument,
- literature reviews, and so on
- Writing for the profession: calls for papers, conference proposals, brief biographies, and other materials
- Job market preparation: how to assess your goals, read a job ad, create a Curriculum Vitae (CV), and write a cover letter for academic and broader forms of employment
- Conversations with and presentations by faculty and fellow graduate students.
Students are expected to complete the following:
- Attend and participate in the class,
- compose a CV and a conference paper proposal,
- and attend at least one colloquium, presentation, or scholarly/creative lecture beyond this class.
English 514: 20th-Century American Literature
Aaron Oforlea, Tuesdays, 2:50- 5:20 pm
African American Literary Movements (3). The New Negro Harlem Renaissance writers (1920s), the Chicago Writers (1930s and 1940s), the Black Arts and Aesthetics Movement writers (1960s and 1970s), Black Womanist/Gender issues writers (1980s), and Hip Hop Artists/Writer mark five distinct periods of heightened literary production among African American writers. Participants in this course will investigate formative themes and concepts (protest/social literature, Pan-Africanism, Afrocentricism, Black Aesthetic, Black Feminism, Neo-Nationalism, NeoSlave Narratives, and AfroFuturism.) that have shaped these movements and will examine the cross- talk—shared concepts, ideas, and ideals—that gives these movements as well as twentieth-century African American literature certain recognizable features that have been shaped and reshaped over time. Students should expect to read widely in 20th and 21st Century African American fiction, non-fiction, and theory.
English 543: Phonology
Michael Thomas, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 1:10-2 pm
Description not available. Contact the instructor for more information.
English 545: Graduate Student Writing Workshop
Elizabeth (Liz) Siler, by arrangement
The Graduate Student Writing Workshop is open to all graduate students at Washington State University, including those for whom English is not a first language (ESL). Enrollment is limited. No over-enrollments are allowed in any section at any time, so encourage students, friends, and colleagues to sign up early.
This is a completely web-arranged class, but it is taught through the English Department, not through Global Campus. To be in the class, a student needs two things: a substantial piece of graduate writing to work on and a computer that handles web video conferencing via Zoom. A substantial piece of writing could be an article, a proposal, a report, a presentation, a dissertation, a thesis, or any of many other types of writing. A minimum of seven individual conferences are held via Zoom. At each meeting, the student and I meet online at a mutually arranged time to work on their writing.
Each student is different; each student has different writing needs. This class offers a highly individualized type of instruction — each student’s needs form that student’s course of studies. The class is suitable for students at all levels, from incoming graduate students to those in the last stage of dissertation production.
There is some collateral instruction in oral production skills available through this class, often in the context of work with students who are preparing presentations for conferences, defenses, etc. However, the primary focus of the class is writing development.
English 546: Topics in Teaching English as a Second Language
Nancy Bell, Thursdays, 2:50-5:20 pm
This seminar is designed to prepare you to teach second language (L2) users in composition courses in higher education. The course will provide a brief introduction to literacies and second language acquisition (SLA), but the main focus will be on learning about the experiences of non-native English speaking students in US university settings and ways of teaching academic literacies to these students. Much of the course will be devoted to researching an academic task/genre and designing activities to teach that task/genre to university level ESL students. Observation of at least two weeks of an ESL class will also be required.
English/Digital Technology and Culture 560: Critical Theories, Methods, and Practice in the Digital Humanities
Eliseo Ortiz, Wednesdays, 3:10-5:40 pm
Description not available. Contact the instructor for more information.
English 573: American Literature: Editing in a Digital Age
Donna Campbell, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:30-2:45 pm
Editing in a Digital Age asks the following question: “What is a good critical edition, and can, or should, the same features be translated into digital form?” We’ll read Stephen Crane, Edith Wharton, Mourning Dove, and Nella Larsen in the publication context of their works both during their own day and will look at digital editions of other authors.
In this course, you’ll be introduced to traditional editing practices and to theories of digital humanities and online editions. We will also read literary criticism on the authors we read to understand the historical, interpretive, and publication histories of the author and the texts that he or she produced in a particular cultural moment.
This is not a technical DH class where you’ll be expected to use advanced tools and languages, and–very important–you do not need to know any more than basic information that you already have. We’ll look at underlying structures online and theoretical material that will help you to frame your understanding conceptually.
English 590: Research in English Studies
By arrangement
English 590 is a graded independent study designed to provide directed research in English studies for individuals (or small groups) in conjunction with one or more faculty members. English 590 may be taken for 1 credit per semester up to a total of 3 credits altogether. One credit of English 590 is required for the Ph.D. program.
In Option One, the student would prepare least a one-page (typed and double-spaced) bibliography on key primary and secondary works in a specific research field along with a project description or rationale for choosing the works. In Option Two, the student’s work might include not only readings but also a practical exploration of other methods of research, including but not limited to learning statistical methods, working with digital technologies, or gaining experience with editorial work.
For both options, students typically meet with their research mentors once a week and at the outset draw up a memorandum of understanding that delimits the relative proportions of readings, discussion, and, if appropriate, practice, along with a clearly delineated set of standards for assessing quality and progress. The student’s research goals should be the focus of all work undertaken for the project. Under no circumstances may the instructor allow the needs of a larger project (for data collection, coding, and so forth) to supersede the benefit to the student.
All doctoral students must take at least 1 credit of English 590, but no more than 3 credits total are allowed. English 590 is not intended to be a substitute for a viable graduate seminar. M.A. students may take English 590 but might not find the time to do so in their program of study.
Students are encouraged to seek out faculty members to learn their research areas and availability for an English 590.
English 597: Special Topics: Public(s) Rhetoric(s) in the Visual Age
Julie Staggers, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:30-2:45 pm
This course explores the production and interpretation of “public” acts of rhetoric (“texts” aimed at persuading, engaging, moving adults in the U.S. and globally), and the implications of a new focus on “public rhetoric” for researchers and teachers of writing. This semester, we’ll use the problem of public argument (debate, persuasion) in the age of “truthiness” and “alternative facts” as a frame for analyzing the production and interpretation of “public” acts of rhetoric, considering our own roles as citizen-rhetors and teachers/public intellectuals in our classrooms and in the world beyond our classrooms, and ethically engaging in teaching and research that intersects with a variety of publics and rhetorics.