English Department General Education Courses
The English Department offers a variety of opportunities to fulfill general education program requirements and options.
Foundations
The English Department's Composition Committee recognizes that each student’s college experience is unique. Therefore, we provide multiple opportunities to help you develop as a writer and critical thinker.
You can fulfill the General Education "Written Communication and Information Literacy” requirement by choosing one of three pathways, based on placement recommendations. Path One is ENG 110 (Writing I). Path Two is ENG 105 (Writing I with Studio). Path Three is ENG 100 (Introduction to College Composition) followed by ENG 110 in the next semester.
After 30 or 45 hours of coursework, you can fulfill the Generation Education “Written Communication and Integrative/Applied Learning” requirement by taking one of the following courses: ENG 210 (Writing Across the Disciplines), ENG 221 (Writing for the Professions), ENG 310 (Writing for Graduate and Professional Schools), ENG 321 (Beginning Technical Writing), or a designated Writing II course offered in your major.
Through these multiple pathways, you will
- Learn how to negotiate various writing situations and genres
- Develop strategies to increase your effectiveness throughout the writing process
- Strengthen your ability to use and to provide constructive feedback
- Expand your critical thinking and research skills to confidently join in the discussions within your chosen field of study and the larger community
Becoming a strong writer takes time and practice, and we are here to assist you on that journey throughout your college career and your life beyond MSU.
Written Communication and Information Literacy
ENG 105: Writing I with Studio
Prerequisite: appropriate placement score.
An introduction to college-level writing in which students develop critical reading and writing skills. The emphasis in reading has students locating, evaluating, and synthesizing information in an analytical and ethical manner. The emphasis in writing develops students' understanding of the ways writers generate and express ideas of different purposes to various kinds of audiences across a range of contexts, including social, academic, and professional. Students work on argumentation, rhetorical analysis, and editing for clarity, style, and conventions. Course uses an interactive approach that includes additional classroom support through individualized and small-group writing instruction. Cannot receive credit for both ENG 105 and ENG 110.
ENG 110: Writing I
Prerequisite: appropriate placement score or ENG 100.
An introduction to college-level writing in which students develop critical reading and writing skills. The emphasis in reading has students locating, evaluating, and synthesizing information in an analytical and ethical manner. The emphasis in writing develops students' understanding of the ways writers generate and express ideas of different purposes to various kinds of audiences across a range of context, including social, academic, and professional. Students work on argumentation, rhetorical analysis, and editing for clarity, style, and conventions.
Written Communication and Integrative and Applied Learning
ENG 210: Writing II: Writing Across the Disciplines
Prerequisite: 30 hours and ENG 110 or equivalent.
Practice in the writing and research of various disciplinary fields of study; experience with integrating and applying academic forms to specific problems and situations. Includes the study of ways knowledge is made and expressed in various disciplines.
ENG 221: Writing II: Writing for the Professions
Prerequisite: 30 hours and ENG 110 or equivalent.
Students apply discipline-specific knowledge to a variety of writing situations encountered by professionals: correspondence, proposals, documented research reports, abstracts, definitions, product and process descriptions. Projects emphasize developing skills in audience analysis, including multicultural considerations; analytical reading; critical thinking; research methods; and clear writing, with attention to the ethical dimensions of workplace writing.
ENG 310: Writing II: Writing for Graduate and Professional Schools
Prerequisite: 45 hours and ENG 110 or equivalent.
Practice in writing genres common to both graduate and graduate/professional school writing, including documented research writing and proposals (including significant work examining current problems through cross-disciplinary viewpoints), letters of application, admission essays, and vitae.
ENG 321: Writing II: Beginning Technical Writing
Prerequisite: 45 hours and ENG 110 or equivalent.
Experience in community engagement through client-based projects in which students synthesize information and apply skills learned in this and other classes. Using primary and secondary research, students solve problems by developing employment materials, brochures, instructions, graphics, manuals, or other professional documents. Emphasis on audience analysis, including multicultural considerations, as well as on presenting information clearly, concisely, and ethically in both prose and visuals.
Human Cultures
Humanities
ENG 200: Great Books and Instant Classics
The works that society calls its "great books" tell us much about how the society views itself. Popular forms of linguistic expression, though sometimes less celebrated, similarly reflect a culture's sense of itself. Examining a range of texts, time-honored and otherwise, from numerous critical perspectives, this course explores how literatures reflect the values of the societies that create and enjoy them.
ENG 282: Literature by Women
Students will read literature by women from various cultures, continents, and historical periods. Course explores how female experience is shaped by cultural contexts as well as how women authors have used writing to change societies' ideas about women and men. Emphasis is on basic elements of literary study and of feminist analysis. Coursework includes discussion, exams, and short papers.
ENG 283: Folklore and Cultural Engagement
Reading and examination of oral, nonverbal, and written tradition as expressions of culture, introduction of folklore research methods; the major genres of folklore including folk narrative, folk song, and material culture; and folklore's influence on perceptions and behaviors from the personal to cultural and international levels.
Human Cultures
The Arts
ENG 203: Creative Writing: Poetry
Prerequisite: ENG 110.
Introduction to the theory, art, cultural context, craft, and process of poetry writing. Analysis of the full stylistic range of the modern poem and practical experience in writing in the form, with focus on the process form of writing through revision and the collaborative workshop experience.
ENG 205: Creative Writing: Nonfiction
Prerequisite: ENG 110.
A study of the key characteristics of creative nonfiction, including an introduction to the evolving forms of text classified as creative nonfiction. Practice in writing prose with a focus on collaborative workshops and revision. Emphasis on the creative interpretation of complex thoughts and human experiences.
ENG 215: Creative Writing: Short Story
Prerequisite: ENG 110.
General Education Course (Focus on the Arts).
Introduction to the theory, art, cultural context, craft, and process of short story writing. Analysis of the full stylistic range of the modern short story and practical experience in writing in the form, with focus on the process form of writing through revision and the collaborative workshop experience.
Public Affairs
Cultural Competence
ENG 289: Literature, Culture, and Conflict
This course explores how literature imagines cultural identities, conflicts within and between cultural groups, and efforts to resolve these conflicts. For the purposes of this course, culture will be understood in terms of such categories as nation, region, language, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, family structure, gender, sexuality, age, and disability. Through the critical analysis of literature and through personal reflection on literary texts, students will learn to recognize, describe, and understand their own and others' cultures, the histories of these cultures, and their divergences and convergences. Students will also consider how knowledge of multiple cultures can form a foundation for ethical decision-making and action in a variety of public arenas.
Public Affairs
Public Issues
ENG 201: Public Issues in Popular Culture
Prerequisite: 12 hours.
A writing-intensive course that examines contemporary public issues through a variety of cultural expressions, from fiction, poetry, television and comics, to political discourse, folklore, web-based media, and song lyrics, among other popular genres. Exploring issues from these multiple viewpoints, the course will investigate the various underlying value systems that both inform the rhetorical construction of the texts and influence the attitudes and behaviors of their readers.
ENG 222: Writing for Social Change
Prerequisite: 12 hours, and ENG 110 or equivalent.
Students examine the persuasive power of language to effect social change. Through the analysis of key historic texts, students identify effective writing techniques. Students articulate creative, researched, and well-reasoned solutions to socially relevant problems. Projects include blogs, proposals, op-ed pieces, and social-media strategies.