85 courses with the subject ENGL, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
ENGL 1010Critical Reading & Writing3
This course focuses on engaging students as writers and readers, building the reflective awareness needed for success in a wide range of college experiences. In this course, student write consistently, receive feedback on their writing and give feedback to others, and practice conventions of academic writing. In addition, student engage with challenging readings and begin putting others’ ideas in conversation with their own. Building on the theme and topic of the specific Learning Community, readings in this course center on intellectual challenges and questions; in other words, course materials respond to and extend the conversations in academic communities of v Typically offered:
This course provides additional writing support and instruction designed to reinforce the student’s classroom experience in the Learning Community. Permission of the Writing Center Director is required for registration. Typically offered:
This course provides additional writing support and instruction designed to reinforce the student’s classroom experience in any of the Research Based Writing (RW) classes. Typically offered:
The Supreme Court of the United States has a unique role in our culture, in the way it both reads our norms and articulates them. The language of its rulings is enormously influential throughout American society, in ways we rarely recognize. In this course, we read many important Supreme Court decisions, personal narratives of several individual justices, essays on the role of the Court, and fictional representations of the Court. The class is largely discussion-based. Assignments include traditional writing, legal writing, and mock trials. Attributes: LC YLIB
Viewing writing as a practice and a social activity, this course helps students see the academic experience as a process of inquiry, discovery, and communication. Building on the theme and topic of the specific Learning Community, this course features reading materials that explore contemporary social and cultural questions. Students enter into conversations about these questions by working on informal and formal assignments, receiving feedback, and practicing conventions of academic writing. Typically offered:
Students study and practice skills central to academic and professional research through the development of independent, inquiry-based projects. In their projects, students assert, support, and integrate their own positions into a scholarly conversation based in research. Students develop competency in the location, evaluation, analysis and documentation of sources that represent a range of different perspectives on important issues. Typically offered:
In this course, students will read texts that have had an impact in some way. For example, they may be “firsts” (for example, the first short story written on a new media platform) or they may have spoken to an important cultural moment (for example, the BLM movement or the pandemic). The course allows students to explore literature as a path to understanding times, places, and cultures. Formerly titled: P1 Literary Types. Students with credit for ENGL 102C or its equivalent may not register for this class. Attributes: P1 YLIB
This course focuses on two or three texts on a common topic, allowing students to explore how authors adapt a story to their own purposes. The course integrates creative writing and digital media as approaches to discussing literature. Past topics have included Storytelling (Arabian Nights) and Journeys (The Odyssey). Typically offered:
In this course, designed for English majors and minors, students develop the ability to analyze literary texts closely and thoroughly. Students learn to apply the vocabulary of literary studies and to consider such external influences as biography and culture in their readings of poetry, drama, and prose works. The course also includes an introduction to the relationship between critical methods and literary theory. Typically offered:
What does it mean to be green from a literary point of view? How has nature writing shaped the landscape of American culture and behaviors? In this course we will begin to answer those questions by reading and writing about the environment. Through the study of fiction, memoir, and scientific writing, students will explore their place in relation to the natural world while simultaneously cultivating literacy skills. Attributes: AMHU ENLT P1 YLIB
Under the guidance of the faculty-advisor, students will assume substantial editorial responsibilities to produce St. John Fisher’s national literary magazine, Angles. In addition, the course will introduce students to the professional sphere of literary publishing and the basic applications and skills required to publish a high quality literary magazine. Attributes: YLIB ZEXL
This course addresses issues of law, society, and justice through an analysis of literature, history, journalism, social theory, and film. It will also give participants experience addressing these issues through acts of civic engagement. As an exploratory course, we will use our collaborative academic learning to examine and understand structural, historical, and cultural assertions about justice. Our goal is to leave with new tools and experiences that help us perceive and understand the legal system’s effects and resonances in our everyday lives; understand our own ability to respond to these effects through individual and communal contributions; identify and legal system, namely crime, punishment, and incarceration. Typically offered:
How young is a young adult? How adult is an adolescent? How dark can children’s literature be, before it crosses a border? Who establishes these borders - teachers? Parents? Librarians? Publishers? In this course, we consider those questions and read YA lit both as works of literature and as texts for education. Students will explore current issues surrounding YA literature, such as censorship, multiculturalism, dystopian visions, sex and violence in art, and the place of the individual in society. Typically offered:
This course is both content and skills based. In terms of content, we will review historical and contemporary efforts in civic engagement on race and other issues affecting marginalized populations. Primary texts we will examine include selected work by Frederick Douglass, including his Narrative, his speeches delivered in Ireland on the cusp of the purchase of his freedom, and his second autobiography, published after his Irish visit. Furthermore, we will study contemporary stories published online by the group Black and Irish. In terms of skills, we will learn how to communicate with others through methods including Sustained Dialogue about racial and cultural experiences including marginalization and privilege. Socioeconomic, identity, religious, and political topics are issues that may be explored to expand common ground in our Fisher experience. Cross cultural connections with citizens in movements in Ireland and Northern Ireland will expand our global understanding of commonalities in civic engagement. A final project will ask students to apply what they’ve learned by identifying issues they can address at Fisher and working in groups to address them through various actions. Typically offered:
In this course, we study the Bible as a literary document, with attention to genres, characters, and language. We look at the narrative forms included in the Bible and discuss how they are common to stories we still tell and offer ways of storytelling that are popular and enduring. Students become familiar with the tools used when looking at literature to understand and interpret texts, especially those from a time far removed from the present. Typically offered: Spring - Even Years Attributes: CIA YLIB
Shakespeare wrote his plays to be seen on stage, and many people think if Shakespeare were alive today he would be making movies. In this class we spend plenty of time reading his works to understand his use of plot, character, structure, language and genre; we also put ourselves in the position of Shakespeare’s audience. Viewing multiple film versions of several plays, we consider how various interpretations are projected on screen and we discuss what is gained and lost by close and loose adaptations of Shakespeare’s works. Attributes: CIA ENLT VDAP YLIB
This class takes an inclusive, multi-faceted look at our nation at war - at war with racial “others,” at war with itself, at war abroad - and how war has affected not only soldiers who fight but also non-combatants. It examines depictions of U.S. wars in literature and films, from the colonial era’s “Indian wars” to the Vietnam war. Course texts include novels, short fiction, films, poems, feature films, and documentaries. Attributes: CIA ENLT YLIB
The poet W.C. Williams said that “poetry is a machine out of words,” and Audre Lorde said that poetry is illumination. This course emerges from the nexus of these ideas. In this course, students will learn the tools of poetry as they emerge from a historical tradition, and how they manifest in both contemporary poetry and music. They will write their own poems, perform their poetry, attend live poetry events, and review peer work, in their quest to expand their imaginations and develop an answer for what poetry means to them. Attributes: CIA YLIB
What exactly do we mean by reading? To take in, to grasp? What does it mean to see? To recognize, to understand? What is the relationship between the written and the visual? These are the fundamental questions of the course that we return to over and over again, albeit with difference and nuance at each step. Through a consideration of photography, film, literature, and other media, we explore three central questions:what is the relationship between what we see and what we understand, or between what we see and what we believe, or even between what we see and what we know? The course includes multiple structured units of inquiry that culminate in two exams and tw Attributes: AMHU CIA ENLT YLIB
A study of the historical beginnings and literary development of the legend of King Arthur. The course concentrates on medieval literature, the time in which the legend came to have wide popular appeal, but includes some examples of later use of the legend as well as Arthurian films. Attributes: ENBL ENLT P1 YLIB
In focusing exclusively on works produced by African Americans, this course seeks both to demonstrate the contributions of Black artists to the composite of American culture and to explore some ways in which these works create a parallel tradition of their own. Clearly, in a single semester, we can examine only a sample of the available material, but our sample is broad-based and representative, including prose fiction, poetry, autobiography, and other media. The thematic emphasis of the course centers on the processes of self-identification and self-representation by African Americans. These processes are inevitably-and interestingly-multi-faceted, since self-id Attributes: DEI YLIB
Reading a work of literature is in fact seeing the world through the eyes of another person. In this course, students will read, analyze, and react to World Literature texts written in or translated into English. Through their discussions of fiction, students will become more aware of how their own biases, judgments and cultural perspectives inform their reactions to the descriptions of lives lived in different ways from their own. Students will explore these reactions in deep discussion with peer groups. Attributes: DEI YLIB
“Multicultural America” provides an introduction to literature (printed and film) by and about various US ethnic groups. Students will analyze common cultural beliefs about America/Americans, e.g. American democracy and equal opportunity, cultural assimilation/the American “melting pot” vs. preserving one’s culture-of-origin, and the American meritocracy. Students will address immigration to the US (past and present); identity politics; “passing”; bigotry; hate crimes; “racial uplift,” and the American meritocracy. Students will also learn how cultural differences/beliefs continue to affect contemporary American culture, business, and politics. “Cultures” in this Typically offered:
Haunted Houses are a staple of the gothic genre. In this class we will investigate the Haunted House “formula” and variations on it, seeking to understand how it is that haunted house stories “get you where you live.” If home is where we are supposed to feel most secure, why do we enjoy stories which threaten this comfort zone? Course material will include short stories and novels by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Edith Wharton and Henry James, as well as films and some psychoanalytic theory such as Freud’s “uncanny.” Attributes: ENLT P1 YLIB
Choose TWO courses from Cultural Contexts : ENGL 335 - Studies in African American Literature (3) OR ENGL 337 - Multicultural Literature (3) ENGL 332 - Borderlands Literature (3) OR ENGL 347 - Studies in Postcolonialism (3) Choose ONE course from Visual and Digital Media :
FIVE ENGL electives: two courses must be at the 300 level or beyond. ENGL 3990 may not be used a Total: 18 credits Note: Only one course applied to a student’s major may also be used to meet a requirement in the The English department also offers a certificate in public and professional writing. 2025-2026 Catalog » Academic Programs » Undergraduate » School of Arts and Sciences » English
This course will begin by defamiliarizing the apparent accessibility of film. It will acquaint students with the basic tenets of film studies, including the technical aspects of film production, visual communication theory, and theories of film “authorship.” Then we’ll study a wide variety of films, including early silent movies, canonical classics like Citizen Kane, and films from divergent genres and traditions, like The Draughtsman’s Contract, Do the Right Thing, and Friday the Thirteenth. Student writing will focus on three areas: on how technique (form) creates content; on theories of visual pleasure; and on the politics of film ideology. Typically offered:
The best way to learn something is to teach it. This course trains students to become writing tutors in the College’s Writing Center. The course covers the writing, critical reading, and communication skills necessary to become an effective writing consultant. Dedicated writers in all majors are welcome. In addition to the weekly class meeting, students will be part of the Writing Center staff; as such, they will spend two hours each week there both observing and tutoring. Graded S/U. Permission of the Writing Center Director required to register. Typically offered:
This course traces the evolution of English literature from the eighteenth century to present day, a period of extraordinary intellectual and social upheaval. The readings will investigate imaginative responses to debates between science and religion, the reorganization of communal life by the industrial revolution, the rise and fall of the British Empire, and the impact of multiple wars and shifting political realities. We will consider how writers responded to these conflicts and continuities, paying close attention to their explorations of questions of genre, power, and the status of literary writing. Formerly titled : P1 English Lit 1830-1950; P1 Victorians to Moderns; P1 British Lit. Since 1700 Typically offered:
Total: 13 credits *The internship may be taken through the student's major or minor department, or through the English department. The internship must involve a substantial written component, allow the student to gene **All students should enroll in ENGL 307 - Writing Portfolio Seminar, overseen by the PPW Director and taken in conjunction with the internship. Students select and workshop three writing samples and 2025-2026 Catalog » Academic Programs » Undergraduate » School of Arts and Sciences » Public and Professional Writing (Certificate) Public and Professional Writing (Certificate)
Unlike people, ideas and experiences are not limited or contained by borders. In fact, one of the markers of transformative literature is that it works well and even gains meaning through translation, be that translation from one language to another or cultural experiences. In this course, students will read, analyze, and respond to text that originates outside of the United States. Through our engagement with these texts, students will better understand and connect to the experience of those beyond their borders through in-depth discussions with peer groups and a wide range of projects. Attributes: DEI YLIB
This course will explore the work of African American writers throughout American history. Students will learn about African American history and culture by reading fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from various literary periods. In addition, we’ll read folklore, poetry, plays, novels, cultural analysis, and philosophical arguments by such writers as Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. De Bois, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and several others. Beyond the individual works themselves, we will consider the political and social background of various African American movements and genres. Examples include the abolitionist movement, the Harlem Renaissance, and Afrofuturism. Attributes: CLTC ENEA ENLT YLIB
Multiculturalism has a complex history in this nation whose motto is “E Pluribus Unum” (from many, one). This course examines literary representations of multicultural identity and culture, inviting students to explore definitions of ethnicity and to consider such questions as: What is the difference between race and ethnicity? How might we define multiculturalism in an increasingly multiracial world? How do we handle the practice of discrimination in today’s world? What is the role of the literary arts in addressing these questions? Formerly titled: Ethnicities in/and Literature Attributes: CLTC ENEA ENLT YLIB
This course explores the ways in which American writers have conceptualized the American experience and America as a nation. The plural in the title is deliberate; variety is a key concept. Possible areas of focus include key genres such as Romance, realism, regionalism, and naturalism; central themes such as race and ethnicity, religion, technology and the self-making narrative; and repeated motifs such as the American Adam and the American abroad. Attributes: ENLT LRTR YLIB
People may be fans of many different sports, but we have different sets of expectations depending on whether we’re on our way to see football, baseball, or tennis. Readers’ expectations vary, too, when we approach a poem, a play, or a novel. And the same is true for players and writers. Even the athletic skills that are almost always valuable-eye-hand coordination, for example, or basic strength and speed-are applied in different ways and proportions in different games. Writers, too, tend to specialize, and to see themselves and their work as participating in a continuing history specific to traditional literary genres. Topics for this course may concentrate on the general features, contexts and possibilities of poetry, drama, or prose in general or a narrower focus, such as science fiction, lyric poetry, or memoir. Attributes: ENLT THME YLIB
The various forms of popular culture have their own sets of styles and conventions, just as the traditional arts do, that help us to define them and to recognize innovation within them. Topics covered in this course will focus on popular genres such as graphic novels, mass market films, TV series, music videos, genre fiction (e.g., romances, detective novels, westerns) to investigate both the nature of the forms themselves and what they may tell us about their social and cultural contexts. Attributes: ENLT THME YLIB
What are the digital humanities? To some, the term defines new practices of reading and writing. To others, it’s a set of research methods. Still others say it won’t be long before the Digital Humanities just are the humanities. But how did we get there? In this course, we will explore how radical print practices-Choose Your Own Adventure Novels, conceptual poetry, reorderable narrative, image-text-inform central innovations of interactive, multimodal digital literatures. We will experiment with digital research methods, and we will discuss how digital interventions have provided new ways of imagining audience and access in 21st century humanities study. This course was formerly titled: Narrative and New Media Attributes: ENLT VDAP YLIB
In addition to studying the literature of an author or group of authors in depth, students will examine the literary and social context which brought these authors to a place of prominence and the ways in which literary critics have approached their work. Attributes: ENLT THME YLIB
ENGL 355Professional Writing Topics (or any approved writing course)3
Total: 63 credits B.S. Inclusive Childhood Education Major with a Liberal Arts Concentration in Computer Science Students pursuing teaching certification in inclusive childhood education must declare either a second major or a concentration in a liberal arts field. Either choice results in a Bachelor of Science degree. Inclusive childhood edu
The world of editing and publishing is filled with exciting challenges that demand specific skills: guiding a writer to complete an article or book for publication; collaborating with a team of editors, graphic designers and marketers to get a book to readers; or putting out an online publication, such as a monthly newsletter or journal, for a trade publisher or a not-for-profit. This course introduces many of the essential skills needed for editing and publishing at the professional level. Writing, editing, and in-class critiques will be a regular feature of a course that teaches grammatical and rhetorical competency. Readings, activities, and projects involve a Attributes: ENWP ENWR VDAP YLIB ZCIV
This course focuses on technical and instructional communication-the presentation of specialized information in an accessible way to a variety of different audiences, but audiences who, no doubt, will expect clarity, accuracy, and professionalism from you. This class teaches the key skills of effective technical writing including careful selection of both textual elements (word choice, tone, style) and visual design elements (font choice, layout, color). We will focus on the process of writing (including the planning, drafting, and revising stages) and look carefully at the work that goes into the final polished product. Assignments may include, but are not limit Attributes: ENWP ENWR PCRW YLIB ZEXL
Electives* - 18 credits Six English electives (ENGL) may be chosen at the 200/2000 level or above; excluding ENGL 3990. ENGL 3990 may not be used as a major elective. English Capstone - 3 credits Choose ONE :
In this course, students will give and receive detailed critical evaluation of short stories and chapters of novels. Students will leave the course with several works of short or longer fiction, according to their own preference. Attributes: ENWP ENWR PCRW YLIB
Total: 43 credits Students majoring in Film and Television may not major or minor in Media and Communicatio Students are strongly encouraged to complete at least one internship (COMM 490) for elect 2025-2026 Catalog » Academic Programs » Undergraduate » School of Arts and Sciences » Fil
Students develop an inquiry-based project by conducting in-depth research using discipline-specific practices that result in transferable research and writing. Students build on the critical thinking and writing competencies they have previously acquired to engage topics and ideas in the field. Students formulate important questions or problems, identify and examine appropriate sources, and use evidence in order to substantiate their own claims. They acknowledge and address alternative explanations in scholarly conversations and revise their work accordingly. Outcomes of the project are communicated in both written and oral forms or on other media platforms. Typically offered: Fall, Spring & Summer Attributes: AWC YLIB 2025-2026 Catalog » Academic Programs » Undergraduate » School of Arts and Sciences » English
Total: 37 credits As early as possible, students should consult with an education advisor to set up a program leading to certification. Inclusive Adolescence Education Major with an English Concentration Students pursuing teaching certification in inclusive adolescence education (English) may opt to have a concentration in English literature rather than a major, resulting in a Bachelor of Science degree. In addition to meeting a
Total: 37 credits * In making course selections from these categories, note that at least five major courses must be taken at or above the 300 level. ( including those in the Cultural Contexts and Visual and Digital Approaches categories, but in Note: The requirements for English majors who are also inclusive adolescence education majors are more specific than those noted above. Please refer to the requirements below for the inclusive adolescence education/English dual Honors Options in English The English department offers a degree with Honors in English to qualified students who complete a substantial project in literary or rhetorical criticism or creative writing. Students must have at least a 3.50 GPA in English co Enroll in ENGL 498H and/or ENGL 499H and receive an “A” on the honors paper or project. Share their work from the course in a presentation to department faculty (and optionally the wider public). The presentation is usually held during the week of final exams. Inclusive Adolescence Education/English Dual Major Students pursuing teaching certification in inclusive adolescence education (English) may dual major in inclusive adolescence education and English, and earn a Bachelor of Science degree . In addition to meeting all of the inclu
Washington Experience semester is offered through The Washington Center. Permission of the advisor, department chair, and TWC liaison (Dr. Monica Cherry) is required to register. Attributes: YLIB
Washington Experience semester is offered through The Washington Center. Permission of the advisor, the department chair and TWC liaison (Dr. Monica Cherry) is required to register. Attributes: YLIB
Washington Experience semester is offered through The Washington Center. Permission of the advisor, the department chair and TWC liaison (Dr. Monica Cherry) is required to register. Attributes: YLIB
Through the department’s internship program, eligible junior and senior majors may earn academic credit for supervised off-campus work in business and industry. No more than three credits earned in an internship will be counted toward the major. Permission of the internship coordinator is required to register. Typically offered:
In consultation with a given instructor, the student decides on a topic for consideration. A written proposal, approved by the instructor, is then submitted to the department chair for approval. The student’s independent study culminates in a paper of approximately 25-30 pages. Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required. Attributes: YLIB
Students may earn Honors in English by completing a one- or two-semester sequence of independent study during the senior year, culminating in a paper or project. Upon completion of the paper/project, a student receives three (for 1 semester) or six (for 2 semesters) hours of 400-level credit toward the major. The student selects a faculty advisor, who works with them during the development and completion of the paper/project and determines the final grade. The project ends with the student sharing their work with department faculty and/or the wider public. Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required. Typically offered:
Students may earn Honors in English by completing a one- or two-semester sequence of independent study during the senior year, culminating in a paper or project. Upon completion of the paper/project, a student receives three (for 1 semester) or six (for 2 semesters) hours of 400-level credit toward the major. The student selects a faculty advisor, who works with them during the development and completion of the paper/project and determines the final grade. The project ends with the student sharing their work with department faculty and/or the wider public. Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required. Attributes: YLIB
