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Course Syllabus

Course: ENGL 2250

Division: Humanities
Department: English & Philosophy
Title: Introduction to Creative Writing

Semester Approved: Spring 2019
Five-Year Review Semester: Summer 2024
End Semester: Fall 2024

Catalog Description: Introduction to Creative Writing focuses on at least three different genres (i.e. fiction, poetry, graphic novels, or others) and guides students through the creative process, creative writing theory, and genre-specific writing techniques. Additionally, students will participate in workshopping their own writing projects. Because reading literature is so closely tied to writing literature, the class also includes analysis of literature, allowing students to read like a writer. ENGL 2250 is recommended as a preparatory class for genre-specific creative writing classes at Snow College.

General Education Requirements: Humanities (HU)
Semesters Offered: TBA
Credit/Time Requirement: Credit: 3; Lecture: 3; Lab: 0
Repeatable: Yes.


Justification: Creative writing classes are popular with students. The department’s genre-specific creative writing classes fill very quickly even though they don’t offer GE credit. Additionally, the English and Philosophy Department finds that many potential majors want to be creative writers and that creative writing clubs and activities are well attended.This course has two other benefits. First, it is part of a sequence of creative writing courses. Under the department offerings, students will be able to take ENGL 2250 any semester for GE credit. Students who are interested can then take the genre-specific courses (such as ENGL 2260) in subsequent semesters.The second benefit is that ENGL 2250 enriches the GE offerings in the Humanities area by offering students a creative option for earning this credit. Although taught by the English and Philosophy Department, this course will offer students a learning experience different from what they would find in a regular literature class. Of course, as noted below, ENGL 2250 will still meet the same outcomes. This course offers a general education opportunity to students who want to combine their own creative writing with an examination of how literature works. It is like GE credit bearing creative writing classes at other USHE schools. For example, UVU’s ENGL 2250 (Creative Process and Imaginative Writing) grants humanities credit. SUU’s ENGL 2020 (Introduction to Creative Writing) grants fine arts credit. Finally, WSU’s ENGL 2250 (Introduction to Creative Writing) grants creative arts credit.The Humanities are a group of academic disciplines that study the many ways that humans have attempted to understand themselves and their world. At Snow College, the Humanities focus on cultural traditions expressed largely through text or which have a strong textual component: languages, literature, and philosophy. The methods by which the Humanities study culture are at once analytical and interpretive, objective and subjective, historical and aesthetic.

General Education Outcomes:
1: A student who completes the GE curriculum will have a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world, with particular emphasis on American institutions, the social and behavioral sciences, the physical and life sciences, the humanities, the fine arts and personal wellness.  Students will contribute to their fundamental knowledge of the humanities by reading a selection of literature from different literary genres and using class discussion to explore the ways literature represents different cultures and the ways they influence contemporary ideas. Students will demonstrate their consideration of readings and their interpretations of the texts in class/online discussion, reading journals, and/or literary analysis essays.

2: A student who completes the GE curriculum can read, retrieve, evaluate, interpret, and deliver information using a variety of traditional and electronic media. Students will read a variety of literary texts of different literary genres and will be quizzed on different literary and creative writing techniques. They will demonstrate constructive and critical responses in class/online discussion, reading journals, and/or literary analysis essays. These responses will demonstrate their careful reading and evaluation of information from traditional and electronic media.

6: A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively about nature, culture, facts, values, ethics, and civic policy. Students will critically evaluate rhetorical and creative choices authors make in order to understand and interpret genre-specific literature and creative writing theory. Students will understand how to apply their learning to the creation of their own unique literary product. Students will demonstrate their ability to read and think critically about nature, culture, facts, values, and ethics, and civic policy through class/online discussion, reading journals, creative writing, workshopping, and/or literary analysis essays.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes:
1: Students will examine literary texts in multiple literary genres with an eye toward understanding what purpose literary genres serve in asking questions on the human experience and allowing humans to experience language. Students will demonstrate their understanding of genre and how genre communicates human thought and experience through class/online discussion, reading journals, creative writing, and/or literary analysis essays. Students will examine literary texts in multiple literary genres with an eye toward understanding what purpose literary genres serve in asking questions on the human experience and allowing humans to experience language. Students will demonstrate their understanding of genre and how genre communicates human thought and experience through class/online discussion, reading journals, creative writing, and/or literary analysis essays.

2: Understand how knowledge is created through the study of language systems, literature, and/or philosophy. Students will study the creative process in order to understand how to tap into their own understanding of the world and their own responses to written or experiential knowledge. They will participate in creating knowledge through the practice of invention, drafting and revision. They will demonstrate their understanding of the creative process through their creative writing as well as their literary analysis.

3: Understand cultural traditions within an historical context and make connections with the present. Students will examine cultural traditions in the form of literary analyses of different genres of literature both in historical and contemporary contexts. They will also examine personal histories for the purpose of discovering creative writing material and using that knowledge to create unique pieces of writing. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of cultural traditions through class/online discussion, reading journals, creative writing, and/or literary analysis essays.

4: Critically read and respond to primary texts (original, uninterpreted) from a Humanities’ perspective. Students will read, study, and discuss different literary genres. Literary texts will provide a foundation from which students will derive information on how genre is used to convey meaning through structure and technique. Students will demonstrate their knowledge through class discussion, literary analysis essays, and creative writing.

5: Write effectively within the Humanities discipline to analyze and form critical and aesthetic judgments. Students will be able to read, interpret, and analyze texts representative of excellence in creative writing. Students will demonstrate their critical and aesthetic judgments through the regular practice of analytical writing to test their understanding of creative writing concepts. Students will also practice of creative writing along with reflection, and workshopping of their own writing product as well as the writing product of their peers.


Content:
While precise content in ENGL 2250 may vary based on the texts adopted and the individual preferences of the instructor, the course would include readings from at least three genres of creative writing including fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and drama or more specialized genres like graphic novels. As students study and analyze each specific genre, they will explore both general techniques of effective creative writing and genre-specific techniques for creating their own finished pieces of literature. Students will participate in class discussions and a variety of in and out of class writing assignments which may include journals, discussion board activities, in-class creative writing workshopping, and reflection essays in addition to a final analysis essay accompanied by a multi-genre writing project.

The course should also build to a signature assignment that will allow students to demonstrate their learning related to the HU GE outcomes. Exams can have some focus on recall and content but should also be opportunities for critical thinking and synthesis of concepts across literary texts.


Key Performance Indicators:
At the instructor’s discretion, the following will be assigned for the purpose of assessing student learning.

Discussion boards, class discussion, and/or readings journals 15 to 30%

Individual student creative writing texts and/or writing portfolio  25 to 40%

Literary analysis and/or reflection essays 15 to 30%

Class participation and workshopping  15 to 30%


Representative Text and/or Supplies:
The Practice of Creative Writing by Heather Sellers

Of course, other creative writing texts, literature anthologies, and individual readings can also work.


Pedagogy Statement:
This course will focus on close readings of literary texts, peer review of students' creative writing, class discussion. Little time will be spent with lecture and objective testing.

Instructional Mediums:
Lecture

Maximum Class Size: 30
Optimum Class Size: 20