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Department of

English

Course Descriptions

ENGL 375 Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGL 376 Topics in Creative Writing Workshop
ENGL 494 Writing Autobiography		 ENGL 376 Screenwriting and Literature
ENGL 365W Playwriting


ENGL 375 Introduction to Creative Writing A workshop on imaginative writing, with examples drawn from literature.

ENGL 376 Topics in Creative Writing Workshop discussion and analysis of student poetry, fiction, or drama (including screen-writing). Prerequisite: English 375 or consent of instructor.

ENGL 494 Writing Autbiography The intent of the course is to help students write clear prose with a strong voice by having them confront, evoke, and analyze material that they know more about than anyone else. You will be asked to write, by then end of the semester, a 20-25 page essay on the nature of your upbringing. To build up to that, you will write short papers on your parents, neighborhood, values, cultural influences, life direction, etc. The course will be run as a workshop, with students reading their work aloud (if they so choose). Published autobiographical essays will be read and discussed as we go.

ENGL 376 Screenwriting and Literature This class will focus on a variety of literary genres as models for effective storytelling. Films, short stories, novels, and plays will all be used in this course, albeit the emphasis will be on how the writers approach the craft of storytelling, not how these works contribute to the development of literary history or the history of ideas. Students will learn how to use structure, foreshadowing, plot, sub-plot, dialogue, character development, dramatic conflict, and many other techniques to create a compelling story that holds the viewers interest.

ENGL 365W Playwriting This course will focus on reading plays, writing scenes, and creating a work in playwriting format through writing and acting exercises that elicit scenes. A final project is the writing of an original one-act play.