Winter 2022 Class Schedule

Winter 2022 class Schedule

Winter 2022 course descriptions

English 105-0-1: The Rhetoric of Haunted Houses

From Edgar Allen Poe’s crumbling mansions, to the creaking doors and shadowy hallways of contemporary horror films, to rides at Disney parks, the figure of the haunted house has long been a fixture of the American imagination. This course will explore representations of haunted houses in literature, film, and pop culture, examining why and how the space of daily life becomes an object to be feared. We will work together to understand the haunted house not only as an object of intrigue but an argumentative tool, a symbol through which authors and filmmakers direct our fears in particular ways. We will develop our own abilities to make arguments by critiquing the political and ideological agendas of literary haunted houses. We will ask, what techniques do authors use to render this intimate, familiar space strange and uncanny? What are we being asked to fear in stories of haunted houses? How do stories of haunted space reinforce or subvert dominant cultural fears of racial and gendered “others,” anxieties about the mixing of public and private life, or ideologies of the American family? We will also have the opportunity to reflect on our own home spaces, thinking about how negative feelings like confinement or boredom intersect with positive emotions like comfort, security, or pleasure to shape our experiences of being at home.

English 105-6-20:

We are all familiar with public discourse about environmental concerns: Descriptions of a future where familiar landscapes have been transformed into alien vistas, newly dangerous and hostile to human life. Recent eco-fiction, however, challenges that familiar narrative, proposing ways that we humans may find ourselves transfigured along with the world around us. In this class we will engage with accounts of such human metamorphosis, considering the horror narratives of HP Lovecraft, the hyper-empathy of Octavia Butler, the "new weird" landscapes of Jeff Vandermeer's Area X and other texts. Film viewings will include Pixar's 2008 Wall-E and James Cameron's 2009 Avatar.

Course readings/viewing will include brief readings from literary criticism, selections from NU's One Book, "The Story of More," as well as popular films. We will also consider practical topics such as how University library resources and experts can help students locate and evaluate key sources and develop authoritative arguments. Students will also be asked to consider how these fictional texts help or otherwise influence the broader discourse on conservation and climate change.

English 105-6-21:

Get hungry! ENG 105-6 explores the art of composition through writing, reading, and talking about food. From reflecting on personal food memories to crafting arguments about how and why we eat what we do, this course will hone your writing skills in areas crucial to college level writing.

English 105-6-22:

In this class, we’ll explore the influence that popular culture exerts on our societal understanding of what it means to be queer. We’ll study queer identities across time and locale, coupling our study with relics of popular culture (stories, TV shows, and films) in an effort to situate the reality of queerness with the underlying current of popular culture. We’ll also take some time to explore the impact of queer representation in popular culture created in the 21st Century. Assignments will include a research paper focused on what it means to be queer in a different time and place; a multimedia Prezi presentation focused on the impact of queer representation in the 21st Century; and a creative primary-research-based piece which gives us the opportunity to add our voices and the voices of others to the relics of queer popular culture. Primary focus will be on popular culture in the western world, predominantly the United States.

English 106-1/DSGN 106-1: Writing in Special Contexts

Design Thinking and Communication (DTC), is a required two-quarter course for all first-year students at McCormick. It is also available to any Northwestern undergraduate student interested in design. Every section is co-taught by an instructor from the Writing Program and an instructor from engineering. Part of the Engineering First® curriculum, the course immediately puts students to work on real design problems submitted by individuals, non-profits, entrepreneurs, and industry members. In DTC, all students design for real people and communicate to real audiences.

English 205-0-20: Intermediate Composition: From Story to Argument

This course examines the intersection of story and argument, both to investigate how creative storytelling may provide the inspiration for argument and to examine how effective writers and researchers may be seen to build their arguments (legitimately or otherwise) on the foundation of story. Readings will range from discussions of the graphic novel to considerations of how everyday citizens manipulate social media to tell the stories they desire (or vice versa). We will also look at case studies that illustrate how the ever-widening gulf between the stories told by specialists and non-specialists plays out in the public sphere and the making of public policy.

This course is recommended for students who wish to refine their mastery of the essay form while experimenting with a range of creative approaches to articulating arguments and persuading audiences. Key assignments will require research into a question of the student’s own choosing, refined and developed over the course of the quarter. Students are welcome to use this class to deepen their explorations of research problems that they may have begun investigating in other classes or contexts.

English 205-0-21: Intermediate Composition

The goal of this course is to develop your ability to write clearly, persuasively, and interestingly for a variety of audiences. Students will learn techniques for writing effective informative, reflective, persuasive, and research essays. These techniques include the effective use of specific details; methods of organizing ideas clearly; strategies for editing sentences for clarity and conciseness; and ways to give your writing a distinctive voice. Students will submit drafts and revisions of essays.

English 282-0: Writing and Speaking in Business

Across all industries, employers consistently rank written and oral communication in the top five skills that a new employee needs. However, employers also say that students overestimate their ability to communicate effectively in a workplace context. English 282 is designed to address that gap. The course is designed to help you think strategically about communication, make effective communication decisions, and produce writing and presentations that are well-organized, clear, and compelling. In addition, course assignments provide an opportunity to enhance your critical reading and thinking; your ability to communicate effectively about data; your understanding of visual communication; and your understanding of interpersonal communication. There will be no final exam. However, students must be present on the final day of class for team-based presentations.

English 304-0-1: Practical Rhetoric

Practical Rhetoric is a discussion-based course designed to prepare incoming tutors at the Writing Place the practical skills and pedagogical theories behind effective peer-to-peer tutoring in writing centers. The class is practical in that it centers on in-class writing workshops that simulate interactions you are likely to experience during your tutoring work. The course also focuses heavily on both classic and current theories of the teaching of writing and of writing center-specific pedagogies. We will introduce you to classic works of writing center theory while also asking you to engage in more contemporary debates and studies in the field. Through a combination of reading about writing center pedagogies and practicing teaching each other writing in the classroom, Practical Rhetoric seeks to: prepare you to effectively coach writers at all stages of the writing process; cultivate the necessary skills to work productively and compassionately with writers from different backgrounds and for whom English is not their first language; and provide resources and techniques for working on papers and genres of writing outside of your majors and comfort zones.

In the spirit of the collaborative writing process that is at the heart of the Writing Place’s mission, as writers this quarter, this course will ask you to regularly bring your own writing to class to workshop in a series of mock consultations and writing exercises with your classmates. You will reflect on your own positionality as a writer–– and consider what that positionality brings to your work at the Writing Place–– in a personal literacy narrative. We will ask you to contribute to the work of writing center studies through your own research project, ideally on a topic or initiative that you can continue developing and perhaps even put into action in later quarters to improve and grow our services at the Writing Place. Lastly, the course asks you to visit the Writing Place as writers yourselves, reflecting on what your experiences as the student being tutored teach you about yourself as both a tutor and a writer. 

In addition to completing all of the graded elements of this course, students enrolled in Practical Rhetoric are required to work for at least 3 hours/week in the Writing Place. You will be paid for these (and any additional weekly hours) you work.

English 305-0-1: Advanced Composition: Writing about What You do Well

This course helps students translate their experiences as scholars, athletes, designers, leaders, and artists into writing to help them with future job applications, grants, and other necessary documents. Students will complete a series of scaffolded assignments to recording personal experiences and the experiences of others. Students will recieve instruction on writing statements of purpose, artist and design statements, press releases and statements, performance reviews, progress reports, (auto)biography, interview transcripts, and personal journaling and blogging. By the end of the course, students should feel empowered to write with a confident voice about how they innovate through what they do.

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