Writing Courses

English Writing Intensive Courses

The English Department offers more courses that satisfy the Intensive Writing 1 and Intensive Writing 2 Proficiencies than any other department on campus. Most students at PC take their Writing 1 course in the English Department, and a substantial number also take their Writing 2 courses here. Our writing courses — taught by both our Ordinary and Adjunct Faculty — are not primarily about grammar and mechanics; they are small-group seminars that use writing as a means of learning about a particular topic. Along the way, students develop skills in rhetoric and argumentation that they will apply to any discipline they choose to study. The courses for Spring 2025 are listed below.*

Writing 1 Courses

ENG 101-002 | MWF 12:30-1:20 PM | 1064 | Stephen Kurczy
ENG 101-003 | MWF 1:30-2:20 PM | 1065 | Stephen Kurczy
Call of the Wild
The Wild West. The Final Frontier. The badlands, boondocks, and wastelands. From Homer’s The Odyssey to Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, the wild has long held a special place in language, mythology, and culture as somewhere beyond the boundaries of everyday life, full of wonder, terror, awe, mystery—and the potential for attaining a higher knowledge. But when all the world is mapped and everyone is always online, is anything still “wild”? Who, and what, is the wild for? This course will apply the skills of academic argumentation to analyze ideas around the wild, with discussion informed by diaries, speeches, photography, film, articles, and books such as Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire.

ENG 101-004 | TWF 9:30AM-10:20AM | 1193 | Shawn Flanagan
ENG 101-005 | TWF 10:30AM-11:20AM | 1194 | Shawn Flanagan
Kaleidoscope: Reading and Writing about Current Events Across Media Genres
The media content of this course (print and video) will address issues related to social justice and social impacts of technology on our lives. As we discuss the class content and issues it presents which complicate our own understanding, experience, and worldview, we will also explore the rhetorical situation of these materials and how form informs content. Additionally, we will also explore some critical/theoretical lenses that to offer grounds for a richer interpretation of student selected cultural productions. This work will feed into various interactive writing and media projects, which include short essays, presentations, and on-line forums. These initial observational, reflective, and theoretical writings in the first half of the semester will give way to assignments that focus on academic research as a process and culminate in a final research project that includes both a presentation and research paper.

ENG 101-006 | MWF 11:30AM-12:20PM | 1195 | Christopher Yates
Living in Metaphor
Writing is an essential skill for success in college – but the specific conventions and expectations of academic writing are not always instinctive or obvious. And while we often think of academic writing as a solitary pursuit, writing is also a critically public act, which involves responding to the ideas of others, and sharing our own ideas with the public. In this course, we will examine writing samples across different genres and forms, paying attention both to the features that define strong writing across the disciplines, as well as the specific characteristics that define them. This course will help students to develop the skills, strategies, and practices necessary to ensure successful writing both in college, and professionally. We will examine a wide range of writing which engages with ongoing public conversations, from journalistic op-eds, satires, reviews, endorsements, essays, and short stories, sharpening our analytical tools, breaking down writing to its essential components and gaining the confidence to share our ideas with others. As a class, we will consider questions of organization, grammar, proof-reading, and research to better understand the composition of academic writing.
     In addition, this course has a secondary theme which will be highlighted in our reading and writing assignments: the impact of metaphorical language on political thought and social reality. Melting pots, witch hunts, grassroots, strawmen, lame ducks, mudslingers, landslide victories, figureheads: the deeply figurative vocabulary which we use to discuss politics is well- stocked with both “live” and “dead” metaphors which we too often simply assume rather than pay attention to. Our language for discussing social issues is particularly rife with martial metaphors, from the “war on drugs,” to “fighting poverty,” to the “battle against obesity.” This course will look at a range of texts, from scholarly research to short stories, that consider the ways in which these metaphors shape, enrich, and limit public conversation and thought, including major works by George Orwell and Susan Sontag.

ENG 101-007 | MWF 12:30PM-1:20PM | 1196 | Katherine Nadeau
Into the Darkness: A True Crime Exploration
In our culture today, the true crime genre has exploded in popularity; as a society, we are fascinated by true stories of crimes and their fictional retellings. In this class, we will explore this fascination. Where does it come from? What does it reveal about us? What lessons about society and human nature can we take from it? What does it reflect about, and how does it affect, our morals and values? These are just some of the questions we will explore together as we learn and practice the fundamentals of academic writing at the college level.

ENG 101-008 | MWF 1:30PM-2:20PM | 1197 | Milena Radeva
Philanthropy, Altruism, and the Gift
This course aims to develop your writing skills through a variety of writing and reading assignments, draft workshops, and class discussions. We will read a plethora of literary texts and popular essays on the topics of community, altruism, service, and democracy. We will discuss the very possibility of giving that philosopher Jacques Derrida questions in Given Time. We will ask what it means to give, what motivates donors, how philanthropy affects its beneficiaries, if private giving challenges the practices of democracy, and what is the place of the Catholic idea of caritas in modern welfare society. Finally, in this course, you will analyze arguments rhetorically, perfect your grammar, punctuation, paragraph coherence and sentence organization skills, use the resources in the library to write persuasive argumentative essays, and document your sources in the correct MLA citation style.

ENG 101-009 | MWF 2:30PM-3:20PM | 1198 | Diane Beltran
Mis/Dis/Mal: Examining Information
We think we know the difference between misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, propaganda and conspiracy theories – but how do we know? And if we know, what can we do about it? This semester, we’ll look at what makes for these detrimental types of information disorder across print and digital environments; we’ll find that what we think is propaganda isn’t always negative, and perhaps some conspiracy theories might have a gram of truth. We’ll research and respond to claims of information, and work toward creating a digital library of writing that counters the Mis/Dis/Mal (MDM) that circulates in our current digitally mediated environments. We’ll end the semester by craeting videos that can be circulated in a public realm to counter information disorder.

ENG 101-010 | MWF 11:30AM-12:20PM | 1199 | Jenny Platz
Digital Identity
Every day we encounter digital texts such as social media, YouTube, video games, Netflix shows, and films. Often, interaction with digital texts is unavoidable, as we spend ever-increasing amounts of time on our phones, tablets, or computers. With constant contact with the narratives of digital texts, how are our identities shaped and conflated with the digital media that surrounds us? How do we represent ourselves through digital media? How do others narrate their selves through digital texts? What are the social, cultural, and political implications of creating an online, and therefore public, story of the self? This class seeks to answer these questions through rhetorical examination, and writing about identity and digital media.

ENG 101-012 | MWF 12:30PM-1:20PM | 1201 | Noah Brooksher
Selfhood between Interiority and Action
What does it mean to have a self? The establishment of inner life as an autonomous and agential domain, distinct from, but nonetheless sovereign over, our outer actions and expressions, is one of the central accomplishments of modernity. Yet, despite its ubiquity and familiarity, this notion of interiority introduces a thicket of complex issues that continue to perplex philosophers and writers. What sort of actions and expressions can adequately articulate our individual interiors? How can one ever know the inner life of another? From where does this interiority originate? In this course, we will explore how thinkers and writers from across genres and time periods have engaged with these profound and fundamental issues of modern life. In the process, you will be introduced to a number of critical writing and reading strategies that will enable you to cultivate a distinctive voice and personal style, learn how to organize their claims clearly and effectively, and develop strong and original theses supported by research and analysis. Works to be considered include the philosophy of John Locke and Iris Murdoch, literature by Jane Austen and William Shakespeare, and the film I Saw the TV Glow.

ENG 175-001 | TR 11:30AM-12:45PM | 1206 | Stephen Lynch
Introduction to Literature
I am hoping to achieve a balance of breadth and depth by covering 6 authors, each for about 2-3 weeks. We will read short stories by Ray-mond Carver and Flanner O’Connor, poetry by Emily Dickenson and Gerard Manley Hopkins, and plays by Shakespeare and August Wilson. Students will write at least one short informal paper each week, plus three longer more formal essays.

ENG 175-002 | MR 8:30AM-09:45AM | 1207 | Fr. Jordan Zajac
ENG 175-014 | TR 11:30AM-12:45PM | 1219 | Fr. Jordan Zajac
Introduction to Literature
Humans are funny. We’re creatures of habit who simultaneously crave novelty. Some of the most compelling English literature out there entices readers to imagine new worlds—whether it be brand new lands or previously undiscovered swaths of interior terrain (within the heart, amidst memories). Is new always better? What is the impact of grace (broadly defined) upon one’s sense of interior place? The diverse array of texts treated in this course—children’s literature from C.S. Lewis, dystopian fiction from Aldous Huxley, short stories from Jhumpa Lahiri and others, poems by Emily Dickinson and more—will invite us to consider a number of perspectives on place and placelessness, new worlds and unknown worlds within. 

ENG 175-003 | TR 2:30PM-3:45PM | 1208 | Tuire Valkeakari
ENG 175-004 | TR 1:00PM-2:15PM | 1209 | Tuire Valkeakari
Introduction to Literature
Philosopher Plato had little patience with what some ancients and not-so-ancients have called “the lies of the poets.” Why study such “lies,” literary texts, in an academic environment? Let’s find out. We will explore fiction, drama, and poetry, with a particular interest in what these genres are made of and how they work. We will mostly read American authors (e.g. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Julie Otsuka, and Toni Morrison), but one emphatically transnational novelist, Michael Ondaatje, is also included. Students completing this course should be able to read with engagement and discernment, discuss literature critically, and write analytically and with an awareness of scholarly conversations.

ENG 175-005 | MR 2:30PM-3:45PM | 1210 | Chun Ye
ENG 175-013 | MR 10:00AM-11:15AM | 1218 | Chun Ye
Introduction to Literature
This class introduces the major genres of literary expression: poetry, fiction, drama, and creative nonfiction. The literary texts we read for the class center upon issues of race, gender, sexuality, war, and migration and are written by a diversity of contemporary writers, including Joy Harjo, Ocean Vuong, Julie Otsuka, Ilya Kaminsky, David Henry Hwang, and Mira Jacob. Students completing this course should be able to read with engagement and discernment, discuss literature critically, and write analytically and with an awareness of scholarly conversations.

ENG 175-006 | TR 1:00PM-2:15PM | 1211 | Emily Pittinos
Queer as Folk: LGBTQ+ Literature
In this introduction to literature class, we will hone the skills necessary to enjoy and engage with contemporary poetry, nonfiction, plays, and fiction by reading the works of queer writers. In so doing, we will explore the breadth of human experience—its beauties, tensions, losses, loves—and the stuff of life that unites us all. Our LGBTQ+ readings will include works by Carmen Maria Machado, Tony Kushner, Maggie Millner, Ocean Vuong, Paul Tran, Carl Phillips, Eduardo C. Corral, and many others. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to read with engagement and discernment, discuss literature critically, and write analytically and with an awareness of scholarly conversations.

ENG 175-007 | TR 2:30PM-3:45PM | 1212 | E.C. Osondu
ENG 175-008 | TR 1:00PM-2:15PM | 1213 | E.C. Osondu
Insiders, Outsiders, and Otherness
This course will explore questions related to the notions of being “outside” — racially, politically, sexually, etc. Readings will include a novel about modern India, a novel set in pre-colonial Nigeria, two short plays by Lynn Nottage and Terence McNally, and tons of short stories ranging from Hawthorne and Hemingway to Carver, Chekhov, Osondu, and O’Connor.

ENG 175-009 | TR 2:30PM-3:45PM | 1214 | Russell Hillier
ENG 175-010 | TR 11:30AM-12:45PM | 1215 | Russell Hillier
Introduction to Literature
Catalog Description: An investigation of the three main literary genres-poetry, fiction, and drama-with an emphasis on writing. Students completing this course should be able to read with engagement and discernment, discuss literature critically, and write analytically and with an awareness of scholarly conversations. Required for English majors.

ENG 175-011 | TR 11:30AM-12:45PM | 1216 | Raphael Shargel
ENG 175-012 | TR 1:00PM-2:15PM | 1217 | Raphael Shargel
Reading, Writing, and the Self
What’s the relationship between what you read and who you are? Does what you write reflect what makes you you? In this section, we’ll read, discuss, and write about texts that inspire us to think about identity: who we are, what we are, and why that matters.

Writing 2 Courses

ENG 265-001 | TR 11:30AM-12:45PM | 1223 | Tuire Valkeakari
20th Century African American Literature
An introduction to twentieth-century African American fiction, drama, and poetry, with attention to cultural and social contexts. Careful close readings of selected texts, as well as discussions of Black literary movements’ and individual authors’ understandings of the role of literary art in society. We will focus on race, class, and gender; on literary representations of Black identity, resistance, and freedom; and on dialogues between content and literary form. Writers include Nella Larsen, Ralph Ellison, Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison, and John Edgar Wideman. This course also fulfills the Diversity Proficiency requirement of the Core Curriculum. Cross listed with BLS 265 001 [1734] and AMS 265 001 [1174].

ENG 301-001 | MWF 1:30PM-2:20PM | 1224 | Shawn Flanagan
ENG 301-002 | MWF 2:30PM-3:20PM | 1225 | Shawn Flanagan
Writing the Event: From Reportage to Report
What do a college student, a scientist, and anthropologist have in common? How about a journalist, a social worker, a manager, a marketer? Chances are they have all created reports. To that point, this class will focus on the genre of the report, some of its variations and remixes. Along the way, we will complete a number of short assignments geared to develop our rhetorical reading skills and composition practices informed by an awareness of rhetorical situation and other textual elements. Additionally, these activities (readings, writings, and discussions) will culminate in a well-researched event report on a topic of the student’s choosing and presentation of it in another medium.

ENG 301-003 | TR 1:00PM-2:15PM | 1226 | Amy Foley
The Op-Ed Piece: Making the Personal Public
This course is focused on writing short opinion-based articles for the public pertaining to topics you care about such as media, culture, sports, politics, and the arts. We will study examples of op-ed commentaries in popular venues with a wide readership, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Wired, and The Boston Globe as well as exclusively online venues like Slate and Salon. We will practice writing commentaries and non-fiction essays using personal narrative techniques and by engaging with current events and topics of immediate public interest. A special feature of this course is the public philosophy essay, which will allow you to thoughtfully examine modern culture and society.

ENG 301-004 | M 4:00PM-6:30PM | 1227 | Diane Quaglia Beltran
The Review
We review things: movies, restaurants, other people’s writing, music. But are we actually reviewing, or merely giving our opinion? What’s the difference? The difference is the criteria we use to make an evaluation. Since we encounter reviews in our daily lives, across a variety of contexts – academic, social, athletic, commercial, to name a few – it’s important that we understand what a review is and isn’t. This course examines and practices reviews as a specialized genre, and will equip you with the thinking and writing skills to review responsibly and critically across print and digital environments. We’ll learn what makes a review helpful (or not) and how to write and respond to reviews that we encounter across several contexts. By the end of the semester, you’ll be ready to write reviews that get read and do the work that a review is intended to do.

ENG 301-005 | MWF 12:30PM-1:20PM | 2739 | Michael Burdon
Preserving Presence: The Journal as Genre
Published journals, diaries, and notebooks provide us with unique portraits of private individuals within the public sphere. This class will focus on the intersections of our private and public selves as we explore the observations, reflections, and anxieties within the journals of writers such as Aldo Leopold and Joan Didion. Do these texts hold “meaning only for [their] maker,” as Didion purports, or do works of ostensibly private signification reveal something otherwise missing from public discourse? Along the way, we will be keeping our own journals as a means of practicing the rhetorical and creative strategies employed in the works that we analyze, writing with an eye on both ourselves and the world around us.

ENG 360-001 | TR 1:00pm-2:15pm | 1234 | Alexander Moffett
Modern Irish Literature
A survey of Irish literature from 1880 to the present. Emphasis is placed on the Literary Revival (1880 – 1940). Authors include Yeats, Synge, Joyce, O’Casey, Lady Gregory, O’Faolain, O’Connor, O’Flaherty, Beckett, Bowen, Heaney, and Friel. Topics include the appeal of the past, literature and politics, the formation of a new Ireland, and the problem of violence. *Please note this course will not be eligible for pre-registration.

*Courses, instructors, and schedules are subject to change.