Category: Stuff You Oughta Know

The latest events, opportunities and any other news that is applicable to our program.

Writing Studies Fall 2022 Course Offerings

By In Stuff You Oughta Know

Photo: Howard Dinin

 

 

 

 

 

ENG 642: Style
Dr. Melissa Goldthwaite
Mondays, 6:30-9:15 pm Online
CRN: 40542 (Area II)

In this course, we will consider the history of style from a rhetorical perspective and then move to the work of 20th and 21st century writers to explore the use of style in contemporary writing, including your own. A discussion-based seminar with a workshop component, this course depends on a high level of participation. In addition to reading, you will write a series of short papers and conduct a semester-long project exploring style.

 

 

 

 

ENG 550: The Practice of Writing
Professor Tenaya Darlington
Tuesdays, 6:30-9:15 pm Online
CRN: 40541 (Core)

This course is designed as an introduction to the Writing Studies Program, and it allows students to examine a variety of genres while they explore career options within the writing/publishing world. Students will literally “walk in the shoes” of different writers, playing the role of columnist, reporter, editor, poet, and fiction writer. At the end of the course, students will reflect on these different roles and begin brainstorming a possible thesis project in one area.

ENG 680: Writing for Nonprofits
Staff
Wednesdays, 6:30-9:15 pm Online
CRN: 40543 (Area III)

Precise, exciting, accessible, and emotive writing is central to the success of any nonprofit organization. Writing is how these organizations explain their missions, make people care, and raise the money they need to keep the doors open and advance their causes. This course will teach you the basics of how to write for a nonprofit organization, and how to tailor your message and style to various audiences. Focusing primarily on grant writing, you will learn the basics of how to ask for money from organizations in writing and how to navigate the grant making process from the initial research to the submission of the final proposal. You will also practice writing other important pieces for any nonprofit, like appeal letters, blog posts, social media outreach, performance reports, and more. Through hands-on practice with real Philadelphia-area nonprofits, you’ll learn how to write for the different audiences a nonprofit organization needs to reach. By the end of the course, you will have learned about writing’s relationship to the nonprofit fundraising and donor outreach processes. You’ll also have completed a portfolio of professional pieces designed to positively impact local communities in need. While this course is geared towards the writing skills suited to nonprofit organizations, many of these skills are also transferrable to writing at other kinds of professional organizations.

All classes will take place online. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Owen Gilman at ogilman@sju.edu. Thanks.

Writing Studies Summer 2022 Course Offerings

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Summer I: CRN 20092

ENG 621: Horror in Literature & Film

Online & Asynchronous

Instructor:  Dr. Paul Patterson

(Area I)

Have you ever asked yourself: “Why do I like to be scared?” When the novel came into being in the middle of the eighteenth century, its most popular genre was the Gothic—the novel of horror. In fact, the modern era—the era of science, reason, and democracy—has been obsessed with terror, fear, and the unknown since its very inception. So, why do we like to be terrified? What is it about horror fiction that so appeals to modern culture? We often avoid delving into such questions because they reveal to us that our pleasures often seem woefully uncivilized and unseemly. Beginning with one of the earliest Gothic horror novels, the course will trace out a literary, philosophical, and filmic history. Each unit of the course will explore how a different psychological/cultural concept of terror plays out in an aesthetic context.

 

 

 

 

 

Summer II: CRN 20267

ENG 600: Poetry Today

Online Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Instructor:  Dr. Kay Cosgrove

(Area I)

 This course will serve as an exploration of the current poetry scene in America, beginning with Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, and reading through the High Modernist period to present day. We will focus in particular on how 20th and 21st century poets seek to define a distinct American poetics through experimental form and narrative structure. We will undertake a close study of the schools and theoretical concepts that define these centuries. Movements covered will include Imagism, the New York School, the Harlem Renaissance, the Neo-Confessional, the Contemporary lyric, and Language Poetry. We will practice our own creative imitations in an effort to understand how to “make it new” as Ezra Pound suggested the modern American poet ought to do. We will have a ball.

 

 

 

Writing Studies Spring 2022 Course Offerings

By In Stuff You Oughta Know


 

 

 

 

ENG 678: Magazine Writing/Publishing: Case History

Professor Gina Tomaine

Tuesdays, 6:30-9:15 pm

CRN: 10525

(Area III)

This course is designed for students interested in writing and journalism, and, in particular, in learning more about both regional and national magazine writing. There will be a heavy emphasis on writing, reporting, and interviewing—and on how to get stories published. We will explore the present-day and past world of magazines, including editorial policy, openness to freelance submissions, and how the magazine business works from a writer’s perspective. The goal is to give you a strong foundation in magazine writing and publishing for both digital and print publications.

 
 

 

 

 

ENG 619: Young Adult Literature and Coming of Age Narratives

Dr. April Lindner

Wednesdays, 6:30-9:15 pm

CRN: 10524

(Area I)

 What is Young Adult fiction and why is everybody reading it? In this class, you will explore the professional concerns of the YA writer as you work on your own young adult novel. We will spend much of our in-class time workshopping each other’s writing, with the goal of revising chapters for our final portfolios. To further explore the possibilities of the YA novel, we will be reading books that take a range of approaches. You will also choose a YA book that takes a similar approach to your own project and present on it to the class. Finally, you’ll keep a journal in which you respond to your reading.


 

 

 

 

ENG 560: Rhetoric Then and Now

Dr. Owen Gilman

Thursdays, 6:30-9:15 pm

CRN: 10523

(Core Class)

 This course will consider various histories and theories of rhetoric as a means of developing our own capacities to think and write with heightened rhetorical awareness. We will examine rhetorical theories from ancient Greece and Rome; analyze the rhetorical practices of a range of 19th century rhetors, speakers, and journalists; and explore 20th century postmodern criticism and contemporary feminist rhetorics. Ultimately, we will discover how various rhetorical theories, concepts, and frames of mind can enrich both our writing and our critical awareness.

All classes will take place online. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Owen Gilman at ogilman@sju.edu. Thanks.