Department of English
Advanced Courses
Summer 2014
Summer I:
English 3303.501: Technical Writing (WI). 10:00-11:40 MTWThF, FH 114
Instructor:
Jon Marc Smith
Course Description:
The study and practice of expository writing in technical and
scientific professions. Emphasis on planning, writing, revising,
editing, and proofreading proposals, reports, and other forms of
professional communication for a variety of audiences.
Computer technology included.
Books:
Practical Strategies for Technical Communication, Markel
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
js17@txstate.edu
ENG 3303.502: Technical Writing (WI). 12:00-1:40 MTWThF, FH 114;
meets MTW in class, Th/F online
Instructor:
Dr. Rebecca Jackson
Course Description:
This is an advanced course designed specifically to help
you become rhetorical problem solvers and effective
communicators in professional and technical
environments. This course is also designed to help you
develop core writing, social, technological, ethical, and
critical thinking skills and knowledge.
The basic idea of the course is to give you experience
developing the writing and communication skills you'll
be expected to have as you make the transition from
student to professional or, if you have already made that
transition, to help you be better at them.
Books:
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
This is a problem-focused, learning‐centered, interactive
class. On a daily basis you will engage in a variety of
activities and assignments that focus on how to write and
solve communication problems for specific audiences,
purposes, effects, and situations.
Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Technical Communication Today,
4/e
Chapter quizzes; interview and analysis; recommendation
report; instructions and usability testing
rj10@txstate.edu
English 3303.503: Technical Writing (WI). 2:00-3:40 MTWThF, FH 114
Instructor:
Pinfan Zhu
Course Description:
This course prepares students for workplace writings. Specific genres
include: instructions, proposals, memos, reports, job letters and résumés,
Web design, use of graphics, and document design. Students also learn
how to analyze audiences and use rhetorical strategies to target them.
Communicating with cross-cultural audiences is also one of the focuses.
Other skills students will learn in the course are skills used throughout the
writing process from invention to editing and research skills. The course
is writing intensive but also teaches students oral presentation skills and
some application software skills. Students have to participate in group
discussion, web board response, online research, and in-class exercises.
Books:
Practical Strategies for Technical Communication by Mike Markel
Evaluation:
Assignment
E-Mail:
Points
Job-application materials (Individual)
10%
Instructions (Individual) definitions, and description
7.5%
Research Proposal (Individual)
10%
Oral presentation (Individual)
5%
Completion Report (group project)
10%
Business letters (group project)
5%
informal reports (group project)
5%
Quizzes
15%
Web design
5%
Homework
7.5%
Final Exam
20%
pz10@txstate.edu
English 3303.504: Technical Writing (WI). 6:30-9:20 TUE AVRY ARR Meets 2x RRHEC
Instructor:
Dan Price
Course Description:
This course prepares students for writing in the workplace.
Specific genres covered include letters, memos, job application
materials, instructions and manuals, reports and presentations.
Specific skills developed include document design, web page
design, use of graphics, collaborative writing, audience analysis,
and project management. The course is writing and computer
intensive and requires active participation.
Books:
Markel, Mike. Technical Communication. 10th ed. Boston:
Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2011.
Evaluation:
Five major writing assignments and a final.
E-Mail:
dp27@txstate.edu
English 3307.501: Introduction to the Study of Film (WI). 2:00-3:40 MTWThF, FH 341
Instructor:
Vicki Smith
Course Description:
This course introduces students to the vocabulary of film,
contextualizes film historically and culturally, and situates
many films within a generic framework—German
expressionism, film noir, the western, Italian neo-realism, the
melodrama, the screwball comedy, and recent social problem
films.
Objectives
Students will learn to analyze what a film’s sound and images
mean and how they work, to situate film according to a matrix
of history, politics, and cultural and critical theory. Finally,
using these skills, students will learn to produce well-researched
and informed oral and written responses about film.
Format
Engaged discussion, students presentations, mini-lectures
Books:
Corrigan and White. The Film Experience (3rd. ed.—though any
editions is acceptable), Van Sijll. Cinematic Storytelling,
various readings on TRACS
required viewing of the following films (tentative list): M,
Double Indemnity, Bonnie and Clyde, His Girl Friday, The
Searchers, Bicycle Thieves, Imitation of Life, Pan’s Labyrinth,
Winter’s Bone, Dallas Buyers Club
Evaluation:
oral presentation, various short in-class and outside class written
assignments, midterm, and final
E-Mail:
vs13@txstate.edu
English 3315.501: Introduction to Creative Writing (WI). 10:00-11:40 MTWThF, FH 252
Instructor:
Jason Coates
Course Description:
A critical seminar for writers of fiction, poetry, and articles.
Creativity, criticism, and revision are emphasized.
Books:
Imaginative Writing: Elements of Craft, 3/e, by Burroway,
ISBN 9780205750357
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
jc209@txstate.edu
English 3321.501: The Short Story (WI). 10:00-11:40 MTWThF, FH 254
Instructor:
Robin Cohen
Course Description:
The short story throughout the world since Poe and Gogol.
Books:
Lawn, 40 Short Stories 4th edition
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
Rc08@txstate.edu
English 3329.501: Mythology (WI).
Instructor:
Course Description:
8:00-9:20 MTWThF, FH 113
Katherine Kapurch
From the English Undergraduate Course Catalogue: A study of
myths in ancient cultures, mythic patterns in modern literature,
and Hollywood as myth-maker.
Topic: Fairy Tales and Pop Culture
Coursework will encourage students to:
 Recognize mythological patterns in texts spanning
different cultures and time periods
 Define myth and other key terms
 Apply specific theoretical approaches (like
structuralism, feminism, historical criticism,
psychological criticism) to the study of myth
 Identify and explain the mythological underpinnings and
functions of fairy tales and texts from contemporary pop
culture
 Analyze a variety of texts (literary, cinematic, and
television) and articulate findings in written form
Books:
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
Format: Lecture (primary) with some discussion
Thury and Devinney, Introduction to Mythology, 3e
Approximately 4 exams and 3 essays (written in-class and/or
out-of-class)
kk19@txstate.edu
English 3336.501: American Literature, 1930 to the Present: From Modernism to Contemporary
Forms (WI). 12:00-1:40 MTWThF, FH 256
Instructor:
Jaime Armin Mejía
Course Description:
The readings for this course include novels, novellas, and short
stories, all of which cover a wide range of themes American
writers have treated since WWI. Since most of the writers are
well known among scholars of American Literature, reading
these works will provide student an understanding of the wide
range of topics writers from this era covered during the better
part of the 20th century and early 21st century. While I’ve
included works by males and females, these writers’ works also
provide a historical overview of the lives people have had to
endure as US citizens, within as well as outside of the United
States.
Classes will primarily be conducted through class discussions of
the assigned literary works. I’ll provide a few short lectures for
the purpose of contextualization.
Books:
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
Objectives: The objectives of this course are to have students
gain a wider understanding of how Americans have chosen to
portray the circumstances of their lives in works of imaginative
writing. Also, because this is an English class, the readings for
this class are intended to enhance the reading, writing, and
analytical skills of the students.
There will be 7 books of short stories, novels, and novels.
Authors include Faulkner, Hemingway, Wright, Salinger,
Morrison, Viramontes, McCarthy.
Two essays, final exam, attendance and class participation, each
worth 25%
jm31@txstate.edu
Summer II:
English 3303.751: Technical Writing (WI). 10:00-11:40 MTWThF, FH G13
3303.753 2:00-3:20 MTWThF, FH G13
Instructor:
Beverley Braud
Flowers Hall M20
Office times, Spring 2014: MW- 12:30-2:00; TTh- 2:00-3:15
Course Description:
This course offers instruction and practice in the various writing
techniques and forms required by most technical positions. The
course covers writing style and mechanics, document design
principles, editing principles, and research skills. The course
calendar changes from semester to semester, but the major goals
of this technical writing course remain the same. Previous
assignments have included some (but not all) of the following
documents: Memo re major field & goals; analysis of a
technical document; memo re ethics; memo re audience,
process, & terms for user manual; user manual, grammar / style
worksheet, process instruction with graphic, proposal for fact
sheet; fact sheet; website; letter with résumé; final. This course
is writing-intensive.
Books:
Markel, M. Technical Communication, 10th ed.
ISBN: 978-0-312-67948-4 (Book only)
Students will be assessed on how well their writing conforms to the
Evaluation:
stylistic, mechanical, and formatting conventions for professional
writing and design covered in class as well as on the completeness of
their writing assignments. This class does have an attendance policy.
A Typical Summer Schedule
Impromptu Writing
05
Tech Doc Analysis
20
Ethics Analysis
25
Informational Report 50
Memo re Report Topics 10
Def/Descr Exercise
05
Graphics Exercise
05
Report Edits 2x5
10
Instructions
50
Impromptu Writing
05
Tech Doc Analysis
20
Ethics Analysis
25
Informational Report 50
Memo re Report Topics 10
Def/Descr Exercise
05
Graphics Exercise
05
Report Edits 2x5
10
Instructions
50
Total points
Email:
355
bb08@txstate.edu
English 3303.752: Technical Writing (WI). 12:00-11:40 MTWThF, FH 120
Instructor:
Anne Winchell
Course Description:
The study and practice of expository writing in technical and
scientific professions. Emphasis on planning, writing, revising,
editing, and proofreading proposals, reports, and other forms of
professional communication for a variety of audiences.
Computer technology included.
Books:
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
winchell@txstate.edu
English 3315.751: Introduction to Creative Writing (WI). Arranged Online
Instructor:
Roger Jones
Course Description:
In this course students will study the basic principles of
successful poetry, creative nonfiction and short fiction,
and will apply principles in their own writings.
Books:
Contemporary American Poetry, Poulin; The Art and Craft of
Fiction, 12/e, Kardos.
Evaluation:
Periodic graded assignments, critique journals, and a final
portfolio of creative work
E-Mail:
rj03@txstate.edu
English 3316.751: Film and Prose Fiction: Jane Austen (WI). 2:00-3:20 MTWThF, FH 341
Instructor:
JoAnn Labay
Course Description:
This section of film and prose fiction offers a comparative
study of the major novels of Jane Austen through selected
readings and recent British and American film adaptations that
have received popular and critical acclaim. The course focuses
on Austen’s thematic elements of timeless appeal and
familiarizes students with movie-making technique and critical
approaches useful in analyzing and discussing visual and
written texts.
Books:
The Complete Novels of Jane Austen, Jane Austen
Understanding Movies, Louis Giannetti
Evaluation:
Attendance and participation, group presentation, two exams,
four quizzes
E-Mail:
jk16@txstate.edu
English 3321.751: The Short Story (WI). Arranged Online
Instructor:
Roger Jones
Course Description:
The short story throughout the world since Poe and Gogol.
Books:
Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Fiction, 12 ed., Pickering
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
rj03@txstate.edu
English 3326.751: American Drama on Film (WI). 12:00-1:40 MTWThF, FH 252
Instructor:
Allan Chavkin
Course Description:
Instructor's Description of Course: Masterpieces of America
drama and the films which have been made from them.
Objectives: We will examine a variety of topics and literary
and cinematic techniques in the works. An important focus will
be on the challenges of adapting plays into films. We will
compare the plays with their film adaptations and learn how
literature and film can approach the same subject matter
differently.
Format: Discussion mainly, some lecture.
Evaluation: essay, exams, & class participation
Books:
Plays: Albee, Edward. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf;
Miller, Arthur, The Crucible and Death of a Salesman; O’Neill,
Eugene, A Long Day’s Journey into Night; Williams,
Tennessee, A Streetcar Named Desire.
Films: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; The Crucible; Death
of a Salesman; A Long Day’s Journey into Night; A Streetcar
Named Desire.
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
For more information: see Allan Chavkin in FH 239; e-mail,
ac10@txstate.edu; phone, 245-3780; Spring 2014 office hours
11-12 M & W., or by appointment.
ac10@txstate.edu
English 3386.751: Adolescent Literature (WI). 10:00-11:40 MTWThF, FH 254
Instructor:
Marilynn Olson
Course Description:
Description: Adolescent Literature is both the literature most
scrutinized for suitability by our society and a strong
contemporary literary phenomenon. It remains close to
adolescents, providing insight about growth and change. We
will attempt to gain perspective on our own time, the literary
qualities that make the works a worthwhile experience, the
critical approaches most appropriate to a sheltered and evolving
genre.
Books:
Evaluation:
E-Mail:
Divergent (Roth), and probably Absolutely True Story of a PartTime Indian (Alexie), Perks of Being a Wallflower (Chbosky).
Haven’t made final decision.
3 in-class writings, frequent reading quizzes and journals, style
exercises, final paper
mo03@txstate.edu