English 102 Topics — Spring 2024

TR | 8:10-9:25, 2:30-3:45, & 4:05-5:20

This section of English 102 will explore the evolution of the gaming industry starting in the 1970s and moving forward from the arcade to the console. As we look at the evolution of the platforms and the games, we will also examine the social aspects of the gaming community and the increasing popularity of gaming over the last twenty years. You will have the opportunity to research the historical evolution of some of your favorite games or game series, examine the gaming culture as it stands today, discuss representation of games and gamers in the media and in games themselves, and explore how gaming has influenced your own field of study. Like all 102 sections, we will engage in archival, qualitative, and secondary source research to investigate the course topic.

TR | 12:55-2:10 & 2:30-3:45

This section of English 102 will explore the evolution of the gaming industry starting in the 1970s and moving forward from the arcade to the console. As we look at the evolution of the platforms and the games, we will also examine the social aspects of the gaming community and the increasing popularity of gaming over the last twenty years. You will have the opportunity to research the historical evolution of some of your favorite games or game series, examine the gaming culture as it stands today, discuss representation of games and gamers in the media and in games themselves, and explore how gaming has influenced your own field of study. Like all 102 sections, we will engage in archival, qualitative, and secondary source research to investigate the course topic.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

TR | 2:30-3:45 & 4:05-5:20

Why is Edgar Allan Poe’s face among the most recognizable in American Literature? Why are television shows, documentaries, films, and film franchises like American Horror Story, Stranger Things, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Insidious, Get Out, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween so popular? What is the appeal of the American horror genre, and why is it so ubiquitous? In this section of 102, students will develop their research and writing skills while seeking to understand the socio-historical and cultural contexts of American horror as a distinct genre, as well as what continues to draw audiences to it as a form of expression in literature, film, and popular media. We will discuss classic and influential examples of the form and consider some more recent historical accounts as we trace the origins of American horror. These discussions will complement our investigation into the phenomenon of the genre as students learn how to conduct qualitative, archival, and secondary research.

MWF | 11:30-12:20

This section of English 102 will explore issues related to food, a topic which has always received attention due to reasons such as obesity, global hunger, food culture, and genetically-modified foods. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. To accomplish this goal, we will conduct three kinds of research: secondary source, archival, and qualitative.

MWF | 10:20-11:10 & 11:30-12:20

Advancing concepts introduced in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. It does so by emphasizing strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions.

TR | 8:10-9:25 & 12:55-2:10

In Inquiry into Medievalism, we will be exploring medieval themes in modern literature, film, architecture, art, and society. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. This course features three kinds of research: secondary source, archival, and qualitative. The secondary source project will examine a debate about how medieval themes appear in modern media. In the archival project, we will explore the historical significance of how people after the medieval period interpreted it in their times. Finally, we will conduct qualitative research by interviewing participants to investigate their experiences and beliefs about interpreting medieval themes.

TR | 9:45-11:00 & 11:20-12:35

This section of English 102 will explore the South as a region and as a construct. The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from several academic perspectives that interest you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional, discipline-appropriate papers.

MWF | 4:10-5:00

Building on what you learned in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. In other words, English 102 teaches you how to think and write like a researcher. We’ll cover strategies for creating and investigating good research questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, and developing thoughtful positions on complicated academic topics. The focus of this English 102 class will be on the environment, and students will have the opportunity to match this broad, interdisciplinary course topic with their own interests, academic goals, and future careers.

TR | 8:10-9:25 & 11:20-12:35

As a region, Appalachia is many things. It is simultaneously a geographic and cultural term, yet no one can quite agree on what the definition for either of those terms are. In this section of 102, we will use a variety of academic research methods to explore both historical and contemporary Appalachia, with the goal of unearthing insight into where the cultural construct of “Appalachia” came from and how accurately it represents the region. Classroom focuses will touch on Appalachian music, literature, media portrayals, labor history, and other topics.

MWF | 1:50-2:40 & 3:00-3:50

Inquiry into Myths and Monsters examines the issues of myths and monsters in relation to cultural beliefs and superstitions. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. To accomplish this goal, we will conduct qualitative, archival, and secondary source research. The qualitative research will require interviewing participants. The purpose of this assignment is to explore the experiences, feelings, and/or beliefs about the effects of myths, monsters, or fairytales. With archival research, we will explore historical representations of myths, monsters, or fairy tales and what those representations mean for the historical context. Then, we conclude with the secondary source research; we will examine a debate about how myths and monsters shape our culture.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers.

Advancing concepts introduced in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. It does so by emphasizing strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions.

MWF | 9:10-10:00, 10:20-11:10, & 1:50-2:40

For lots of people (students, legislators, parents, professors) thinking about historically or currently minoritized groups in the United States is challenging. If we belong to a dominant cultural or social group, considering our own positions can be thorny, especially since these conversations might imply that we are ‘undeserving’ or should ‘feel bad’ about our advantages. On the other hand, if we belong to minoritized communities, we are often deeply aware that pursuing an education, a career path, economic stability, or a romantic relationship may be difficult in ways that outsiders cannot imagine. Black, Hispanic, Asian, rural Appalachian, disabled, and LGBTQ+ Americans, (as well as Irish, Italian, Muslim, and Jewish communities) face or have faced inaccurate and harmful representations. At the same time, many people in these same communities feel a great sense of pride in refusing to be defined by mainstream controlling ideas in dominant culture. 

This course takes the resilience of America’s minoritized cultures as its inspiration. Admittedly, ‘resilience’ is a fraught term since it places the burden on the minoritized group rather than the structural exclusions a that group faces. In this course, we first discuss how we speak and write respectfully about groups to which we do not belong. We will research the ways in which different minoritized cultures have resisted the myths imposed upon them and the complexities that those controlling ideas obscure. For your secondary source project, you will investigate a specific stereotype of a group to which you do not belong and the ways it impacts the people it purportedly describes. In the archival research project, you will produce a virtual museum exhibit of artifacts documenting a single minoritized community of which you are not a member, the exclusion they faced, and how that same group valorized its existence. In the qualitative research project, you will interview your peers about questions of curricular inclusion, since student voices are often missing from larger conversations among academics.  

If you are curious to learn about people who are different from yourself, you’re in the right place. If you would like to know what life is or was like for a community different from your own, you’re in the right place.  If you are hungry for the challenge of learning something new or researching unfamiliar topics, you’re in the right place. If you would like to think about your own and your peers’ attitudes towards inclusion, diversity, and equity in education, you’re in the right place. 

MWF | 9:10-10:00 & 10:20-11:10

English 102 advances the lessons you learned in English 101, to build up the most important skills you need to succeed at college. First and foremost, that means reading and writing. But you will also need a critical and curious mind to perform the research you need to elucidate your interests. And, from there, to create and share new knowledge.

For this section, we will be using the theme of popular culture (broadly, culture available for mass consumption) to form the backdrop to our research. Pop culture is an ever-mutating maelstrom of media and genres: from printed works, through the image (still and moving), via music and performance, even gaming. You encounter it and consume it every day, perhaps without thinking about it or its pervasiveness. Given that, I want you ask yourself, what goes into cultural production? What forces shape the art and entertainment media we enjoy on a daily basis? And to what extent do these cultural objects reflect, challenge, or stimulate our interests, values, and identities? This is your chance to scrutinise popular culture and how it intersects with the things that excite you.

TR | 8:10-9:25 & 9:45-11:00

English 102 introduces students to some of the strategies, tools, and resources necessary to becoming successful communicators in a range of academic, professional, and public settings by focusing on researched writing. This section of English 102 will focus on the topic of monstrosity. Through reading and discussing both creative and academic written work and through our own archival and research work, we will view monstrosity as a social commentary. We will discover why societies deem specific individuals and communities monstrous and how such behaviors have long-lasting impact. We will learn to ask ourselves: Who are the monsters, really?

ONLINE

In this English 102 course we will examine popular music. Many of us listen to music throughout the day, particularly when doing other tasks, but how often do we listen carefully to what we are hearing? Paying attention to music can dramatically change how we feel and think about it, especially as we attend to the complex relationship between sound and sense. For example, some popular musicians write lyrics that contrast with the tone of the music. A classic example is “Hey Ya!” by Outkast, which raises difficult and sometimes dark questions about love and human relationships to a cheerful and energetic beat, Andre 3000 even remarking in the song that “y’all don’t wanna hear me, you wanna dance.” The music in a song can also be used to drive home a particular message. For example, Rage Against the Machine uses forceful guitar riffs and repetition in “Killing in the Name” to condemn racism and police violence in America. 

This course will feature two kinds of research: archival and qualitative. These kinds of research will help us become more careful music listeners by providing us with increased insight into the influence of popular music both in history and the present moment. Our immersion in popular music will raise questions that research can help us address.

Our archival project will send us into the historical archives, where we will consider the specific cultural and historical conditions of popular music. For our second project we will conduct qualitative research by interviewing participants in order to investigate topics such as people’s experiences, attitudes, and beliefs about popular music, music subcultures, popular listening habits, contemporary music trends, and popular interpretations and evaluations of particular songs, artists, and genres.

TR | 11:20-12:35

In Inquiry into Disability and Design, we’ll question what “disability” really is and your own assumptions about disability and ability. We’ll also learn about accessible designs: how they affect both abled and disabled people and how they shapes our everyday lives. We’ll research these effects in a hands-on project that explores physical and learning design at UTK.

MWF | 12:40-1:30, 1:50-2:40, & 4:10-5:00

Inquiry into Pop Culture examines the issues of adaptations and re-tellings of stories and media, which has received increasing attention because of the increased frequency of adapted and remade stories in the age of digital media. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. The course will explore questions such as: how stories change based on when they are told, the ways that different media change how stories are experienced, and how meaning is made and changed through adaptation and re-tellings. The course features secondary, archival, and qualitative research projects. You will use skills such as drafting, peer review, and revision to improve your work over the course of the semester.

MWF | 11:30-12:20 & 12:40-1:30

Inquiry into Myths and Monsters: Beowulf’s Monsters and the Lasting Anglo-Saxon Imagination examines the issues surrounding the monsters within the text of Beowulf and their complex relationship within Anglo-Saxon society, applying this myopic monster study to our own perceptions of what the construction of literary monsters mean to the Anglo-Saxon people as well as within our own current political and social climate. Specifically, students will consider questions about what it means to be monstrous as well as exploring issues of power, revenge, and identity. Students will use this topic to develop research and writing skills through archival, secondary, and qualitative research projects over the course of the semester.

MWF | 12:40-1:30, 3:00-3:50, & 4:10-5:00

Inquiry into Myths and Monsters examines the issues of myths and monsters in relation to cultural, social, and historical concepts. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. To accomplish this goal, we will conduct secondary source, qualitative, and archival research. We will start with secondary source research by examining and engaging with current academic scholarship about myths, monsters, and cultural significance. The qualitative research will require interviewing participants. The purpose of this assignment is to explore the experiences, feelings, and/or beliefs about myths and monsters. Then, we conclude with archival research, where we will explore historical representations of myths and monsters and what those representations mean for historical and cultural contexts.

ONLINE

Advancing concepts introduced in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. It does so by emphasizing strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions.

TR | 8:10-9:25 & 12:55-2:10

If we are what we eat, then what do the choices we make on a daily basis say about us? This writing and research course is an investigation of the complex relationship that humans have with food. We’ll look at what, when, with whom, and how we eat and what these choices reveal about ourselves and our culture.

You’ll formulate your own research questions about the collective and individual effects of food on culture, which you’ll then investigate through secondary source, archival, and qualitative research. For the qualitative project, you’ll gather your own data through interviews to examine how a food or food practice has impacted a specific group of people or aspect of society. You’ll continue that line of inquiry with your archival project by creating a digital museum exhibit that highlights and examines a food or food practice’s effects upon a particular community. In the secondary source project, you’ll locate and analyze scholarly sources to explore a food-related line of inquiry relevant to today’s culture.

MWF | 8:00-8:50 & 9:10-10:00

Inquiry into Myths & Monsters examines the issues of folklore and mythology throughout different time periods, which has received increasing attention because of popular fantasy novels and movies. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. The course will explore questions such as how popular culture revises and renews myths and legends, how mythology has been used to explain natural phenomenon, or follow a specific inquiry into a myth or monster of your particular interest. The course features secondary, archival, and qualitative research projects. You will use skills such as drafting, peer review, and revision to improve your work over the course of the semester.

TR | 11:20-12:35

Inquiry into Memoir will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how personal narratives may fill diverse discursive roles. Through archival, qualitative, and secondary source research, students will explore the various facets and functions of the memoir form. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

MWF | 9:10-10:00 & 10:20-11:10

This section of English 102 will explore research skills through the topic of Appalachian Folklore by studying the myths, monsters, and music of Appalachia. The point of this course is to build on the skills you learned in 101 by:

1. Developing your academic research, writing, and communication skills.
2. Learning about our course topic through each other’s research and writing.
3. Investigating the topic from any academic perspective in ways that feel relevant to you and will hopefully connect to your own interests/academic pursuits.
4. Learning how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research Presenting what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers as well as a poster presentation.

TR | 8:10-9:25

Inquiry into social media will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which social media functions in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

TR | 9:45-11:00 & 11:20-12:35

This section of 102 will look at all facets of the conversation surrounding banned books, from freedom of speech to parental rights. We will examine what subjects tend to be challenged, from historical to current cases. We will also read statements from banned book authors in tandem with statements from students impacted by the bans. For the secondary source essay, students will delve into the intricacies of this debate, identifying stakeholders and examining rhetorical strategies. For the historical website project, students will have the option to either trace the banned book trajectory of one piece of literature over the years or chart the progression of a specific challenged literary theme through the years. For the qualitative interview project, students will devise interview questions based on an area of interest within the larger debate. 

MWF | 8:00-8:50

Inquiry into social media will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which social media functions in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

MWF | 9:10-10:00, 1:50-2:40, & 3:00-3:50

The theme of this course, “Inquiry into Popular Culture,” will investigate conceptions of popular culture and the role it inhabits, both historically and contemporarily in our lives and how they fill diverse, discursive roles.  The course will draw from a variety of written texts as well as through visual, musical, technological, and other various forms of media.  By filtering academic research questions through familiar modes, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. Students  will learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing, and you’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you.  With these topics, you’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline appropriate assignments. 

TR | 8:10-9:25

Inquiry into Myths and Monsters: Cults examines the issue of cults and cult-like thinking in American culture past and present. Cults have received renewed attention in recent years as organizations like NXIVM, Hillsong, and QAnon have become hot topics for journalists and documentarians alike. Additionally, the increased stratification and polarization of American politics has made it more important than ever to learn to identify and interrogate the rhetoric of persuasion and disinformation employed by cult-like organizations.

We will explore the topic of cults and their communicative/rhetorical strategies as a way to develop skills in secondary source, archival, and qualitative research. In our secondary source project, we’ll examine the debates surrounding a current-day cult of the student’s choice. Then, our archival projects will explore the historical significance of past cults, such as Jonestown, as they inform American politics and pop culture today. Lastly, we will conduct qualitative research via interviewing, surveying, or observing participants in order to investigate their experiences with and/or beliefs about cult-like thinking and rhetoric, as they have encountered it in their own lives. And of course, you can expect to hone your writing skills in this class through an intensive process of drafting, peer review, and revision.

MWF | 8:00-8:50

Inquiry into Social Media will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which social media functions in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens. .

TR | 8:10-9:25

Inquiry into Myths and Monsters examines the issues of myths and monsters in relation to cultural, social, and historical concepts. We will utilize cinematic, mythic, and literary monstrous figures to help us develop these concepts, especially in regards to their social and cultural meaning. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. To accomplish this goal, we will conduct secondary source, qualitative, and archival research. We will start with secondary source research by examining and engaging with current academic scholarship about myths, monsters, and cultural significance. The qualitative research will require interviewing participants. The purpose of this assignment is to explore the experiences, feelings, and/or beliefs about myths and monsters. Then, we conclude with archival research, where we will explore historical representations of myths and monsters and what those representations mean for historical, cultural, and social contexts.

MWF | 10:20-11:10, 11:30-12:20, & 1:50-2:40

This section of English 102 will explore the South as a region and as a construct. The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from several academic perspectives that interest you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional, discipline-appropriate papers.

TR | 9:45-11:00 & 12:55-2:10

In 102: Inquiry into Memoir, we will explore the genre of memoir and write short memoir pieces looking at memories of our history and identity in the process. We’ll write weekly in addition to the three major writing assignments of the term.

TR | 8:10-9:25

Inquiry into Pop Culture will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which rhetoric functions in contemporary society through familiar modes like social media, movies, blogs, and more. By filtering academic research questions through these familiar modes, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

MWF | 8:00-8:50, 10:20-11:10, & 11:30-12:20

Inquiry into social media will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which social media functions in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

TR | 9:45-11:00 & 2:30-3:45

This course will explore the topic of monsters and urban myths/legends. In a culture obsessed with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures, we are often asked what it means to be a monster. But we must also ask, what does it mean to be human? Monsters are creatures that blur lines between fact and fiction, normal and abnormal, human and other. In “Inquiry into Myths and Monsters,” we will investigate the ways monsters can provide insight into the social metaphors and cultural anxieties. In our class readings, discussions, and individual research projects, we will ask such central questions as how do we define “monster” in our everyday lives? What does our own monstration of certain groups or individuals say about current cultural anxieties or biases? What is the relationship between on-screen monsters, cultural anxieties, and individual fears? And where do we draw the line between “normal” and monstrous?

TR | 8:10-9:25

While “True Crime” is a more recent genre of storytelling, the public has always been fascinated with the tragic stories of victims and their families whose lives have been forever changed, the investigative methods that help to capture killers, and the judicial systems that punish those found guilty.In the last 20-25 years, the fallibility of forensics and the legal and judicial systems not only in America–but also internationally–has also gained greater public interest.  

In this class, we will explore anything and everything that you want to look at within this broad category. We will learn more about the wave of serial killers that started in the 60s and 70s, historically relevant cases of murder (or other criminal acts), and modern crimes that occur between everyday people. We consider historical contexts, societal attitudes and beliefs, and how crime can shape the world around us and our perception of others. Additionally, we explore the positives and setbacks of forensic science, criminal investigation, and our legal and judicial system. We will consider these topics in the context of our three major assignments over the course of the semester: qualitative research involving interviews, secondary source research, and archival research.  

MWF | 11:30-12:20 & 1:50-2:40

To inquire is to ask questions, to seek information, to investigate, to research. In this English 102 course, “Inquiry into Race and Racism,” you’ll develop reading, research, and writing strategies to ask questions about race and racism. Although the George Floyd Uprisings of 2020 made people across the globe acutely aware of the widespread effects of racism on our lives and communities, and, of course, race and racism have been shaping us and our histories for centuries, our present moment continues to be affected by how we read, think, and write about race and racism. What aspects of human life are affected by race and racism in ways you don’t yet know or understand? What questions about race or racism do you want to ask—and answer? In this course, you’ll develop research and writing skills by investigating race and racism, past and present. You’ll formulate your own research questions about the collective and/or individual effects of race and racism, which you’ll then investigate through secondary source, archival, and qualitative research.

MWF | 3:00-3:50 & 4:10-5:00

This section of English 102 will explore issues related to food, a topic which has always received attention due to reasons such as obesity, global hunger, food culture, and genetically-modified foods. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. To accomplish this goal, we will conduct three kinds of research: secondary source, archival, and qualitative. In the secondary source project, we will conduct academic research to examine current debates about food. For instance, we can explore genetically modified foods along with assessing their global importance and status. In the archival project, we will explore the historical significance of food, focusing on specific topics like the emergence of fast food chain restaurants in the US. Finally, we will conduct qualitative research by interviewing specific populations in order to investigate their experiences with and/or beliefs about a particular food-related topic. A possible example would be to interview several McDonald’s employees about their experiences serving and preparing fast food. After the data are collected, we will work on finding underlying patterns among the responses to see what the respondents (do not) have in common.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

TR | 8:10-9:25

This section of English 102 will explore the South as a region and as a construct. The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from several academic perspectives that interest you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional, discipline-appropriate papers.

TR | 9:45-11:00 & 11:20-12:35

Inquiry into Memoir examines the issues of memory, history, and the places we inhabit as it relates to our understanding of ourselves and others. This topic has received increasing attention through greater access to archives and family stories/histories via ancestry.com or shows such as Finding Your Roots and an increase of avenues available for marginalized voices to establish connection and community through published memoirs of personal and shared histories that may veer away from dominant or assumed narratives. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills, while exploring questions such as how memory and stories shape us, how the places we occupy or inherit inform our identity, and how family history acts as a focal point between story, memory, and place. The course features secondary, archival, and qualitative research projects. You will use skills such as drafting, peer review, and revision to improve your work over the course of the semester.

TR | 9:45-11:00

Conspiracy theories and propaganda are abundant in social and political discourse, yet how do we determine their causes, ease of transmission, ease of acceptance and consequences. It is important that academics and consumers of public discourse understand conspiracy theories for many important reasons. Throughout history, they have been closely linked to prejudice, witch-hunts, revolutions, and genocide. Many perpetrators of terrorist attacks (both foreign and domestic) have been believers of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories have also driven people to reject mainstream medicine to the point where once-cured diseases are now making a comeback in some parts of the world. In addition, conspiracy theories drive people to reject scientific consensuses, most notably the consensus around human caused climate change. In this class, we will review studies from psychology, political science, sociology, history, information sciences, and the humanities. We consider conspiracy theories ranging in topics from science, health, the environment, immigration, racism, terrorism, and politics to international relations. Once we have analyzed the rhetoric (written, spoken and visual across a variety of modalities) we will attempt to analyze the cause/effect of conspiracy theories.

TR | 9:45-11:00, 12:55-2:10, & 2:30-3:45

Our readings, writing assignments, and research will be related to the concept of the hero and how it has changed through time. We shall focus upon the epic hero in traditional literature as well as modern characterizations in popular culture. Through the study of epics such as the Iliad, modern fantasy literature (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone), and film (Troy), we shall consider how images of the hero show continuity as well as transformation through different time periods, cultures, and media. We shall use qualitative, archival, and secondary source research to explore our topic (which may also include role models and villains) through various essay assignments.

TR | 12:55-2:10

We’ll explore social and ethical dimensions of Artificial Intelligence, aiming to cultivate research and writing skills that are transferable across multiple fields. AI will be the subject of study, but you’ll also be encouraged to use it as a tool. If you do this, you’ll report how and in what ways you used it.

You’ll complete three major projects using three distinct research approaches:

• Archival Project: Explore a historical moment related to AI by examining primary sources and share what you learned through making a digital museum exhibit.
• Secondary Source Project: Explore a social or ethical issue related to AI using scholarly literature and synthesize key findings into an informative academic research paper.
• Qualitative Project: Answer your research question and conduct interviews to gather firsthand perspectives on social or ethical implications of AI.

MWF | 10:20-11:10

Tune in, Turn on, Drop out. Black is beautiful. Give Peace a chance. These and other slogans mark one of the most momentous decades in American history, encompassing significant cultural, political, and social transformations. The era has had a unique and long-lasting effect on our political views, society, and culture, and English 102: Inquiry into the ’60s will explore these in research topics that can be as wide-ranging as the decade itself. Students might investigate social developments like the Civil Rights Movement, student protests, feminism, or counterculture lifestyles such as communes; they could look into the roots and impact of cultural insignias like rock ‘n roll, long hair, spiritualism, or be-ins and happenings; they could research the role of Eastern religion and mysticism, perception-altering drugs like LSD, or rejection of material values; they might follow the effects of anti-war protests both peaceful and violent, an unprecedented generational divide, the sexual revolution, or the legacy that the era left on the generations after – even today.

The research projects will take different forms: archival research that examines original texts of the decade, secondary research that locates and compares the work of experts in a particular field of interest, and qualitative research that gathers and reports insights from surveys or interviews to shed new light on current understanding.

TR | 11:20-12:35 & 12:55-2:10

How many times have you seen food or heard about food today? Perhaps, Spotify put on an ad for a meal delivery service, or you flipped past the Food Network. Maybe a friend gave you a restaurant suggestion right before this class started, or maybe in driving to campus you spot a billboard advertising the next exit with a Cracker Barrel. Even when we are not eating, we are constantly surrounded by images and language that are engaging with food. In this class we hope to take a broad look at what food does, how it’s rendered, how it makes us feel and why all of that is important. Moreover we will engage with questions about what it means to be authentic and what kind of work that authenticity does for us. We will talk about how food and food sharing builds communities. And we will think about the metaphorical life of food, how the act of sharing is a granting of access into our own interior lives. This course will focus on the development of students’ research and inquiry skills through a variety of projects with food serving as the unifying topic. Students can expect to read and watch a variety of different materials dealing with food on a variety of cultural and scholarly levels.

TR | 9:45-11:00

In English 102 Inquiry into American Mysteries, students will have the opportunity to explore many possible topics regarding American mysteries, including sports, entertainment, history, geography, literature, politics, science, law, medicine.

TR | 2:30-3:45 & 4:05-5:20

If we are what we eat, then what do the choices we make on a daily basis say about us? This writing and research course is an investigation of the complex relationship that humans have with food. We’ll look at what, when, with whom, and how we eat and what these choices reveal about ourselves and our culture.

You’ll formulate your own research questions about the collective and individual effects of food on culture, which you’ll then investigate through qualitative, archival, and secondary source research. For the qualitative project, you’ll gather your own data through interviews to examine how a food or food practice has impacted a specific group of people or aspect of society. You’ll continue that line of inquiry with your archival project by creating a digital museum exhibit that highlights and examines a food or food practice’s effects upon a particular community. In the secondary source project, you’ll locate and analyze scholarly sources to explore a food-related line of inquiry relevant to today’s culture.

English 102 advances the concepts introduced in English 101 and provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. Throughout the semester, we’ll focus on strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions.

TR | 2:30-3:45 (Venture) & 4:05-5:20 (Venture)

This course is designed for members of the Venture LLC and focuses on the concepts of and issues involving Business Ethics. Advancing concepts introduced in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. It does so by emphasizing strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions.

TR | 8:10-9:25 & 9:45-11:00

Inquiry into Myths and Monsters examines the issues of gender and power dynamics in mythology, folklore, and even contemporary sci-fi and fantasy media which has received increasing attention because of issues in our own sociopolitical climate today. Sometimes it is easier to identify and analyze real world issues in worlds far removed from our own. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. The course will explore questions such as to whom power is granted, what do they do with it, and what are the consequences. The course features secondary, archival, and qualitative research projects. You will use skills such as drafting, peer review, and revision to improve your work over the course of the semester.

MWF | 12:40-1:30, 3:00-3:50, & 4:10-5:00

This section of English 102 will explore the intersection between history and culture in respect to professions and careers. The point of the course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. You will be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you, and you will learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research to craft compelling arguments for academic audiences.

TR | 12:55-2:10 & 2:30-3:45

The main function of horror cinema, one of the most popular and enduring global genres in the history of film, is to unsettle and shock its audience through eliciting emotions of fear and disgust. Because of this, the historical contextualization of horror cinema becomes a study of the social and cultural anxieties and fears governing each generation from which these cinematic works emerged. From the fear of industrialization underscoring early cinema’s Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922) to the exploration of contemporary American racial tensions depicted in the recent horror films of Jordan Peele, the horror genre has always been a space where anxieties around identity, sexuality, religion, technology, the environment, and other social tensions are constantly being renegotiated.

In this English 102 course, we will practice different research and writing techniques in our examination of how the horror genre can reveal to us our own hidden histories of our culture’s deepest anxieties, fears, and repressions. After our introductory unit, where we will focus on archival research as a means of mapping the anxieties governing each prior decade of horror cinema’s history, we will spend much of the course on contemporary horror, paying particular attention to the recent blockbuster success of films Nope (Peele, 2022), Midsommar (Astor, 2019), and Parasite (Bong, 2019). Course readings will be balanced between textbook assignments, film screenings, and scholarly work in: Pop Culture Studies, Gender/Race Studies, Cultural Studies, and film scholarship.

Advancing concepts introduced in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. It does so by emphasizing strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions.

MWF | 8:00-8:50, 10:20-11:10, & 12:40-1:30

Inquiry into Pop Culture: Internet Cultures will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses, communities, and cultures that characterize our modern world fill diverse discursive roles. The Internet has become one of major modes of discourse and many of us partake in a variety of digital communities and spaces. The focus of the course will primarily be on Internet-based cultures, but students are encouraged to research any type of modern subculture that could also be relevant to the larger conversation.

Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which various virtual cultures function in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

MWF | 12:40-1:30, 3:00-3:50, & 4:10-5:00

Advancing concepts introduced in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. It does so by emphasizing strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions. This class will specifically use media adaptations to learn how to utilize these strategies.

TR | 9:45-11:00, 2:30-3:45, & 4:05-5:20

In this English 102 course, we’ll be examining environmentalism, namely the socio-political discussion of environmental concerns. The importance and primacy of this topic within our cultural discourse does not need to be explained. Still, we will read articles from Canvas to generate class discussion and to achieve a more rounded understanding of the topic and how people are discussing it in specific ways. This course will require you to take part in that conversation. You’ll develop research and writing skills by investigating environmental issues, past and present. You’ll formulate your own research questions about specific aspects of this broad theme–questions that you’ll then investigate through secondary source, archival, and qualitative research. In the secondary source project, you’ll locate and analyze scholarly sources to explore an environmental-related line of inquiry. You’ll continue that line of inquiry with your archival project by creating a digital museum exhibit that highlights and examines the effects of a past environmental catastrophe upon a particular community. For the qualitative project, you’ll gather your own data through interviews, surveys, or focus groups to examine environmental attitudes or experiences within a specific group of people or aspect of society.

TR | 12:55-2:10

Inquiry into social media will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which social media functions in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

MWF | 8:00-8:50, 9:10-10:00, & 12:40-1:30

This section of 102 will explore research skills through the topic of our relationship to the unknown, the unexplained, and the way this relationship has manifested in folklore, literature, research, and pop culture over the years. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. This course will feature three kinds of research: secondary source, qualitative, and archival. We will explore a variety of works ranging from podcasts and folktales to documentaries and classic literature in order to facilitate academic research and writing skills.

ONLINE MWF | 8:00-8:50 & 9:10-10:00

What is a Cryptid? You may think of Bigfoot, Mothman, the Jersey Devil, and the Hodag, just to name a few; however, the list is much longer than you might think. Cryptids have become a huge part of American culture, from TV commercials using bigfoot to sell insurance to ghost-hunting shows, festivals dedicated to individual cryptids, books dedicated to determining whether or not they’re even real, and even more. Cryptids and the American monstrous allow us to explore questions relating to pop-culture, occultism, monsters and the monstrous, modern fantasy, and the wild unknown spaces of the world—as well as a host of other things. All of this will be the subject of our 102 course! We will work together to investigate cryptids using secondary source, archival, and qualitative research to explore different facets of the history of cryptids, individual cryptids, and their prevalence in popular culture. This course will feature three major projects including a secondary source paper, an archival project, and a qualitative research paper which will help you learn how to research both this topic and any other topic you may research in your future in academia. You will use skills such as drafting, peer review, and revision to improve your work over the course of the semester, and will review your knowledge of rhetorical principles from English 101 to help you present your research in a rhetorically effective manner. 

ONLINE

This section of English 102 will explore the role of myth in culture, particularly how the transmission of knowledge and values across generations often occurs through storytelling. Our collective pasts as nations, as people groups, and as individuals are made up of frameworks which help us to make meaning of spiritual and natural realities. Certain repeating themes–such as the “Hero’s Journey” found frequently in Hollywood and the pages of bestselling book series–unite times and places by speaking in universal terms to what it means to be human. 

These stories and themes constitute “myth”, a vehicle by which truth is told through fiction. In this course, students will learn to write and research through an examination of traditional and popular myths, such as the fairy story, the folk legend, and its modern counterpart, the superhero tale.

TR | 11:20-12:35 & 12:55-2:10

English 102 advances the concepts introduced in English 101 and provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. Throughout the semester, we’ll focus on strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions. Our course theme is “Inquiry into Memoir.” Our theme will serve as a springboard to guide discussion, research, and process throughout the semester.

MWF | 1:50-2:40 & 3:00-3:50

Inquiry into Pop Culture examines issues of social media, which has received increasing attention for various reasons like disinformation, online communities, and civic engagement among many others. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. Specifically, this course will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on the discourse that they participate in online everyday. The course features secondary, archival, and qualitative research projects which will allow students to gain a greater understanding of how social media functions today. Students will use skills such as drafting, peer review, ad revision to improve their work over the course of the semester.

MWF | 9:10-10:00, 10:20-11:10, & 11:30-12:20

English 102 advances the concepts introduced in English 101 and provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. Throughout the semester, we’ll focus on strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions. This section of English 102 will explore lore. This subject spans across many interests, from mythology to conspiracy theory to oral traditions. Throughout this course we will use lore to develop research and writing skills through three kinds of research: secondary source, qualitative, and archival.

MWF | 9:10-10:00

ONLINE

This section of English 102 will explore issues related to food, a topic which has always received attention due to reasons such as obesity, global hunger, food culture, and genetically-modified foods. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. To accomplish this goal, we will conduct three kinds of research: secondary source, archival, and qualitative. In the secondary source project, we will conduct academic research to examine current debates about food. For instance, we can explore genetically modified foods along with assessing their global importance and status. In the archival project, we will explore the historical significance of food, focusing on specific topics like the emergence of fast food chain restaurants in the US. Finally, we will conduct qualitative research by interviewing specific populations in order to investigate their experiences with and/or beliefs about a particular food-related topic. A possible example would be to interview several McDonald’s employees about their experiences serving and preparing fast food. After the data are collected, we will work on finding underlying patterns among the responses to see what the respondents (do not) have in common.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

MWF | 12:40-1:30 & 1:50-2:40

Inquiry into Myth and Monsters in Children’s Literature examines the power of storytelling while grappling with issues of race, gender, and class dynamics. We will use this topic to develop research and writing skills. The course will explore questions such as Why do we tell stories? And how do stories shape our view of the world and our identities? How can we use stories to grapple with a wide range of extraordinary challenges we are all facing right now? The course features secondary, archival, and qualitative research projects. You will use skills such as drafting, peer review, and revision to improve your work over the course of the semester.

MWF | 11:30-12:20

This section of English 102 will explore the South as a region and as a construct. The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from several academic perspectives that interest you (and possibly tie to your major). You’ll learn how to conduct secondary source, qualitative, and archival research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in a variety of projects.

TR | 9:45-11:00, 11:20-12:35, & 4:05-5:20

English 102 advances the concepts introduced in English 101 and provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. Throughout the semester, we’ll focus on strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions.

To do so, we will examine American culture. While this might sound like an enormous undertaking, we will focus on three specific facets of American culture: fear, control, and conspiracy theories.

As you investigate these facets, you will perform three kinds of research: primary source, archival, and qualitative. While writing the Secondary Source Research Paper, you will use primary and secondary sources to investigate how fear shapes contemporary American culture. The Archival Research Paper will develop the research and analytical skills you learn while writing the Primary Source Research Paper while also challenging you to find and analyze archival documents such as historical photographs, letters, and newspaper articles. This paper will challenge you to investigate the role control played in American culture prior to 1950. Lastly, the Qualitative Research Paper will expose you to the world of human-based research. You will delve into how and why conspiracy theories function in American culture today by conducting interviews and doing detailed secondary source research.

MWF | 4:10-5:00

Inquiry into social media will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which social media functions in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens. The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

MWF | 9:10-10:00 & 10:20-11:10

Advancing concepts introduced in English 101, English 102 provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. It does so by emphasizing strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions. We will look at the rhetorical and research based concepts, through the lens of the memoir, and write papers that ties them all together.

MWF | 11:30-12:20, 1:50-2:40, & 3:00-3:50

The goal of this 102 is to strengthen skills students have acquired in ENG 101, such as research, genre analysis, and argumentation, by re-introducing them through the lens of creative writing.

TR | 8:10-9:25, 9:45-11:00, 12:55-2:10, & 2:30-3:45

Inquiry into Myths, Monsters, Fairytales, and Folklore will traverse cultural and historical issues in context to our broader world myths, monsters, fairytales, and folklore. Indeed, many of the monsters and figures that we will encounter throughout the semester will reveal a complex string of relationships between the cultures and societies in which they were created. As such, we will question the various natures of how these frameworks came to be, how they perpetuate and construct our systems of value and morality, as well as how they act as “othering” agents to disparate groups of people. We will make use of multiple genres in our texts, reading and viewing such things as comics and short stories to literary novels and full motion pictures. By focusing on these themes, our aim will be to foster a broader connection to developing research methodologies in our own writing. You’ll be asked to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary research on a given topic of your choosing, in addition to trying to write a creative myth, monster, fairytale, or folklore of your own.

TR | 9:45-11:00 & 12:55-2:10

This course theme is Inquiry into Myths and Monsters. In this course, we will explore topics related to myths, mythical creatures, folklore, conspiracies, and societal misconceptions, along with why they exist, where they come from, and how they shape our society. Students will write three research projects throughout the semester (the Secondary Source Research Project, Qualitative Research Project, and Archival Research Project) on self-chosen topics related to the Course Theme. Students are encouraged to connect personal interests and career goals into their project themes whenever possible.

MWF | 8:00-8:50, 11:30-12:20, & 12:40-1:30

About the future of Artificial Intelligence Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) is quoted saying, “The bad case — and I think this is important to say — is, like, lights out for all of us” (Insider, 2023).  Kelsey Piper writes in a recent article for Vox, “This is not because it [Artificial Intelligence] hates humans and wants us to die, but because it didn’t care and was willing to, say, poison the entire atmosphere, or unleash a plague, if that happened to be the best way to do the things it was trying to do” (2022). This fearful apprehension seems to be a large portion of the public discourse surrounding the induction and rapid progression of Artificial Intelligence. And while caution is important to carry with us into this new future, is it the only conversation worth having?

Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, there’s no denying it. With programs like ChatGPT, Google Bard, Character.AI, etc. advancing literally by the second, our focus should be on understanding the nature of these programs rather than demonizing them. In his latest novel, Klara and the Sun, Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro poses questions about the nature of intelligence in an era of machine learning and automation, circumventing the narrow view of AI’s future and exploring the more abstract and philosophical natures of this new phenomenon. In this seminar we will take up those questions:

Can there be as such? Can a machine think? What is the nature of intelligence? How do we define our intelligence in contrast/comparison to machine intelligence? What is consciousness? Where is the line between human and nonhuman? What does a posthuman world look like?

Course readings will be balanced between primary sources (we will work with fiction, representations of AI in visual media, articles on the implications of AI and machine learning in cultural and scientific texts, etc.) and scholarly work in: Pop Culture Studies, Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, and film scholarship.

MWF | 9:10-10:00 & 12:40-1:30

The way our human world is built relies on certain assumptions about what is “normal” and what is not. The function of scholarly inquiry is to question those common-sense assumptions: What does it mean to be abled or disabled? Where do those definitions come from? Who makes them? When do you shift from one category to another? How do our assumptions make it hard for us to understand what’s really going on? How do we account for human difference, and what are the consequences of these decisions?

Once you know what you’re looking for, you’ll see how ideas about disability affect many fields of study: art, literature, education, engineering, design, business, philosophy, religion, history and more. There’s ample room within this theme for you to explore topics of interest to you in terms of your major or your social commitments.

MWF | 1:50-2:40 & 3:00-3:50

This section of English 102 will explore research skills through the topic of superheroes in popular culture. Inquiry into superheroes will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how these types of characters fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover how understanding this element of popular culture can illuminate other aspects of contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of popular culture through an academic lens.

The point of this course is to:

• Develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills.
• Learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing.
• Investigate the topic from any academic perspective in ways that feel relevant to you and will hopefully connect to your own interests/academic pursuits.
• Learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research
• Present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

MWF | 10:20-11:10 & 11:30-12:20

We may “like” any number of cultural productions and celebrities in our lives, but we tend to be more reserved about the content of which we identify as “fans.” It can be hard to determine where precisely the line between “like” and “fan” is, but once we make that determination, fandoms often become deeply ingrained parts of our identity. The bases of fandoms today are numerous, from books, movies, and shows, to video and tabletop games, to musical artists, to sports teams, and to a celebrity culture built around internet influencers, traditional media celebrities, and even political figures. We are often proud of and fiercely loyal to our fandoms. We form friendships through them, sometimes lifelong connections. We defend our fandoms from others. And as positive as they can be, they can just as easily teeter past the threshold into “problematic” territory, becoming sources of toxicity, tribalism, even violence.

This English 102 course takes today’s fan culture as its point of inspiration. Our three projects will use their varying methodologies to look at fandoms from different angles. The secondary source essay will consider impact, looking into the societal, cultural, and psychological effects of fandoms and fan behavior. The historical research paper will look at individual fandoms for the ways they grow, change, and the relationship between the fan community and that fandom’s source material. The qualitative project will study the interrelationship between people’s backgrounds, personalities, experiences, and their self-identification as “fans.” You will also compose a multimedia production relevant to a fandom, such as a video essay, video commentary, or podcast. This theme is chosen especially as a way for you to bring your personal interests and use them as the inspiration or basis for research projects. While not all topics will work for all essays, you can absolutely incorporate your interests or hobbies into the semester’s research.

TR | 12:55-2:10 & 4:05-5:20

This section of English 102 will explore research skills through the topic of Monstrosity and its Forms in Pop Culture.

The point of this course is to:

• Develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills.
• Learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing.
• Investigate the topic from any academic perspective in ways that feel relevant to you and will hopefully connect to your own interests/academic pursuits.
• Learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research.
• Present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a poster presentation.

TR | 9:45-11:00, 2:30-3:45, & 4:05-5:20

The Titanic began as an engineering puzzle, became a historical trauma, and by the end of its century had become both an archeological challenge and a case study in the modern Hollywood blockbuster. This course will allow students examine both the ship and its legacy in all of these contexts. First students will study primary sources in the form of survivor accounts and press coverage of the disaster. They will then research recent scholarship in a discipline of their choice that will provide a methodological context for discussing some aspect of the ship or its enduring cultural resonance. Finally, students will conduct a qualitative research project in order to better understand the enduring fascination, in the twenty-first century, of spectacular historical tragedies.

TR | 8:10-9:25 & 11:20-12:35

This section of English 102 will explore research skills through the topic of Myths and Monsters.

TR | 8:10-9:25 & 11:20-12:35

English 102 advances the concepts introduced in English 101 and provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. Throughout the semester, we’ll focus on strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions. Inquiry into Social Media will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on how digital discourses that they use almost every day fill diverse discursive roles. Through various modes of research, including secondary source, primary source, and qualitative, students will discover the ways in which social media functions in contemporary society. By filtering academic research questions through familiar mode, students will come to a greater understanding of the significance of academic study in the day-to-day, and will thus begin to view other aspects of their lives through an academic lens.

The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from any academic perspective that interests you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional discipline-appropriate papers and a presentation.

MWF | 9:10-10:00, 11:30-12:20, & 12:40-1:30

This section of ENGL 102 will consider the complicated histories, identities, environments, and cultural constructions of Appalachian America. Nationally known as a site of extraction and ruined landscapes, Appalachia remains a diverse patchwork of communities making critical contributions to the arts, social movements, and preservation. We will engage with historic depictions and contemporary productions of Appalachia, including writing, art, film, and music, as we consider what is comfortable and what is uncanny in the region many of us call home. The point of this course is to develop your academic research, writing, and communication skills. We’ll learn about our course topic through each other’s research and writing. You’ll be able to investigate the topic from several academic perspectives that interest you (hopefully your major). You’ll learn how to conduct archival, qualitative, and secondary source research and will present what you’ve learned to academic audiences in traditional, discipline-appropriate papers.

TR | 8:10-9:25

Since alighting on social media feeds in late summer 2023, “Girl Dinner” quickly became a trend, a controversy, a label, and a meme. It escalated from a funny audio clip on the internet to a full-blown conversation in real life. Is it an empowering point of connection or an insidious sign of diet culture? How does a simple meal speak to bigger issues, like marketing, feminism, economics, and/or public health? This section of English 102 will center these questions and conversations around Girl Dinner as a starting point to developing research and writing skills across different disciplines and media. To accomplish this goal, we will conduct three kinds of research: secondary source, qualitative, and archival. In completing these varied methods and projects, students will become adept at crafting research questions, using library resources, conducting ethical inquiries, applying the writing process to different and distinct genres, and (most importantly) articulating the deeper meanings behind pop culture moments.

MWF | 8:00-8:50 & 11:30-12:20

This section of English 102 will explore the South as a region and as a construct.

TR | 12:55-2:10

In this course we will build upon the concepts learned in English 101 with a more specific focus on inquiry and research. We will look at the ways in which personal essayists take their lived experience and transfer it into writing using styles that challenge readers formally and emotionally. We will learn strategies for developing engaging questions of inquiry as well as various sources of research methods.

MWF | 8:00-8:50

English 102 advances the concepts introduced in English 101 and provides students with intensive writing instruction focused on inquiry and research. Throughout the semester, we’ll focus on strategies for formulating and investigating questions, locating and evaluating information, using varied sources and research methods, developing positions on intercultural and interdisciplinary issues from diverse texts (print, digital, and multimedia), and presenting research using appropriate rhetorical conventions. This course’s theme is Pop Culture, in particular “fashion.” We will be using this theme to explore research techniques and styles and conduct our own inquiries in these modes.

MWF | 8:00-8:50 & 9:10-10:00

Pop culture and the afterlife of fairytales. After a brief historical overview of the origins of popular fairytales, we will take a look at adaptations through time and examine relevant discourse. How have fairytale adaptations responded to contemporary popular culture? How have fairytales been “cleaned up” or otherwise altered for new audiences? How are contemporary fairytales marketed? How have fairytales influenced film, music, video games, etc.?