Undergraduate English programs at Case are deliberately designed to allow a wide degree of student choice in creating a particular course of study. This flexibility is particularly evident at the 300 level of course offerings. Required courses buttress the major at the beginning and the end, but between them the burden is on the student, in consultation with an advisor, to select courses that disclose a coherent, intellectually interesting program. To this end, students are encouraged to become reflective about their reasons for course selections, reasons such as challenging oneself in a new area, filling out a body of knowledge on a particular topic, investigating the history of an issue or mode of writing, or completing work taken in another department.
Course numbering and level
- 100-level courses are designed primarily for freshman and at the moment consist entirely of writing courses and tutorials aimed toward fulfilling the University writing requirement.
- 200-level courses are considered to be introductions to various aspects of English studies, and they are usually meant also to serve as general education courses, i.e. ones that might usefully be taken by a student with no particular plans for further work in the area.
- 300-level courses are the heart of the department's undergraduate offerings. All of them are considered upper-division, that is, directed mainly to juniors and seniors and to those sophomores or ambitious freshmen considering a major or minor in English.
Many of the courses with a 300-level number may be taken more than once, as the topics vary from year to year.
A few 300-level courses are usually offered every year, notably the writing workshops in journalism, poetry and fiction; the introduction to film; and the two Shakespeare courses. However, many others are scheduled only once every two to three years. Your faculty advisor can usually tell you the tentative schedule of courses two or three semesters ahead, and it is often important to seek out this information in planning your schedule.
Many 300-level courses in literature or film are cross-listed at the 400 (i.e. introductory graduate student) level. With the permission of the instructor, senior majors (especially those applying to graduate school in English, film or related subjects) may enroll at the 400-level, where additional readings, extra class meetings and more advanced writing assignments are usually assigned.
Planning your schedule: some models and guidelines
Some English majors (and also minors and CSE sequence students) pursue specific concentrations and thus have fairly strict guidelines to follow. This is especially so for students concentrating in film and often so for those focusing on creative writing or seeking secondary school certification. For others, however, there are far more potentially useful or relevant courses available than any one student could take, and there are far more differences among students' interests and plans.
The groups with the fewest external restrictions and guidelines are those seeking a broad liberal arts background, especially those expecting to enter the workforce after getting the B.A. or those heading for postgraduate study in such fields as law, medicine, journalism, business, and so on. Students expecting to go to graduate school in English or directly related fields have somewhat more directed guidelines.
Students interested in film
Follow this link to learn more about film studies at Case.
Guidelines for creative writing
Writing students usually begin with the 200-level creative writing courses and then enroll for two or more semesters in one or the other of the primary writing workshops (ENGL 303 and 304, each of which can be taken more than once). For the most advanced students ENGL 406 (Advanced Creative Writing) is available in alternative years.
Depending upon their other interests, writing students are also encouraged to take courses in which they read widely in literary history, including contemporary literature, and to study the literature of some language other than English.
Ambitious creative writing students with the appropriate grades and background may in the senior year elect to do a creative thesis, often a collection of poems or stories or a part of a novel.
Guidelines for students in a general liberal arts program
Most liberal arts students should select courses that will best help them become more sophisticated writers (especially but not exclusively of analytical and discursive prose), sharpen their abilities as readers (especially readers capable of analyzing texts in multiple ways and from different perspectives), and understand in some depth at least one earlier time in cultural history. Reading knowledge of another language is highly desirable, as is the ability to speak and write it. Students primarily interested in the humanities and arts should keep in mind the advantage of studying related topics in different disciplines. Courses in art history, classics, history, modern languages, philosophy, religion and theater can often be especially valuable.
Guidelines for prospective graduate students of English
Students thinking of graduate school should normally take 36 or 39 hours of English, rather than the minimum of 30, and they should ideally also plan also to take substantial coursework in related fields, classics and modern languages and theater especially and also art history, history, philosophy, and religion. In particular, they should strive, by the time of graduation, to attain fluency in a foreign language, especially a modern European language, and some acquaintance with its literature. GRE examinations in English literature typically ask some questions about classics of European literature, which the student is expected to be familiar with in translation. Within the English Department, students should normally be sure to take a course in literary theory and criticism, at least one Shakespeare course and one from another major authors category, several courses that encourage them to learn the methods of literary research and scholarship, and one or ideally two courses in each of the broad historical periods before the 20th century (early modern English literature, 18th and 19th century English literature, and American literature of the 19th century and earlier).
Most of these suggestions are built into the structure of the honors program, which most students interested in graduate school should consider.
Selecting courses
Particularly at the 300 level, the department offers courses of a number of different types--notably literary studies, film, and creative writing--and within literary studies there are a number of different smaller categories to keep in mind. It is generally a good idea to select courses from a range of categories, especially when choosing among courses in literature or film. Notice also that many courses fit in more than one category, a class on 17th century poetry belonging, for example, to the category of literary history as well as that of mode and genre
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Literature |
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Students wishing to go on to graduate school in English or a related field are urged to reflect carefully on their choice of undergraduate coursework, taking care to read widely across literary periods and genres. In principle, at least one elective course should be chosen from each of the following categories or subcategories:
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Major Authors:
ENGL 312, Chaucer
ENGL 323, Milton
ENGL 324, Shakespeare I
ENGL 325, Shakespeare II |
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In addition to the four regularly scheduled courses above, the department offers at less frequent intervals other classes devoted to intensive study of one or two major writers. Among the recent topics are James Joyce, Faulkner and Melville, Jane Austen, Chester Himes, and Robert Frost. |
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Literary history:
The broad historical periods covered by the department include early modern English literature; English and American literature of the 18th and 19th centuries; and 20th century literature in English. Among the courses in each of these periods are the following: |
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Early modern literature:
ENGL 320, Renaissance literature
ENGL 326, 17th-century literature
18th and 19th century literature:
ENGL 327, 18th-century literature
ENGL 328, Studies in the 18th century
ENGL 329, English literature, 1780-1837
ENGL 330, Victorian literature
ENGL 331, Studies in the 19th century
ENGL 356, American literature before 1865
ENGL 356, American literature 1865-1914
20th and 21st century literature:
ENGL 332 20th-century British literature
ENGL 333, Studies in the 20th century
ENGL 358, American literature, 1914-1960
ENGL 359, Studies in contemporary American literature |
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Mode and genre:
ENGL 257A, The novel
ENGL 257B, Reading poetry
ENGL 257K, Masterpieces of continental fiction I
ENGL 372, Studies in the novel
ENGL 373, Studies in poetry
ENGL 376, Studies in genre
ENGL 368A, Introduction to the film
ENGL 368C, Topics in Film |
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Methods, themes and cultural topics:
This category includes courses specifically in the methods and theory of literary or cultural study and those focusing on some particular strand of literary and cultural experience. |
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Film |
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ENGL 367. Introduction to Film
ENGL 368. Topics in Film |
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Writing |
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ENGL 203, Introduction to creative writing
ENGL 213, Introduction to fiction writing
ENGL 214, Introduction to poetry writing
ENGL 303, Intermediate writing workshop: fiction
ENGL 304, Intermediate writing workshop: poetry
ENGL 305, Playwriting
ENGL 306, Writing workshop in creative non-fiction
ENGL 317, Technical and business writing
ENGL 406, Advanced creative writing
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Journalism |
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ENGL 204, Introduction to journalism
ENGL 307, Intermediate writing workshop: journalism
ENGL 309, Topics in journalism
ENGL 374, Internship in journalism |
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