Undergraduate Courses - Spring 2025
This list includes courses with a special emphasis. Go to the online LSU catalog for general course descriptions not listed here. Refer to the online Schedule Booklet for course times, classrooms, and updates.
ENGL 2000 – Section 7 (English Composition)
Christina Armistead
Cultural Exchanges
This is a Service-Learning Course. In this section of ENGL 2000, students will participate in a service-learning partnership that asks them to engage one-on-one with an international student. Through one-hour meetings each week, students will help their partner improve his/her spoken English while sharpening their ability to engage with and understand cultural perspectives beyond their own. Students will research and compose essays about their partner’s home country and culture.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 10, 14, and 57 (English Composition)
Brian Hopper
Louisiana Legends and Lore
This course will use Louisiana's unique cultural heritage as a framework for practicing academic research and writing techniques.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 13, 50, and 101 (English Composition)
Sarah Rosser
I Want to Believe: Examining the Paranormal
This class examines topics like Bigfoot, UAPs, and supernatural beings to better understand how argument works. Students will visit Hill Memorial Library’s paranormal collection as they prepare their own researched argument. Skeptics welcome!
ENGL 2000 - Sections 17, 27, and 49 (English Composition)
Trey Strecker
Writing about Film
Students in this course will study what constitutes successful film writing through a rhetorical focus on argument. Our reading, writing, and discussion will focus on issues of authorship, genre, representation, and narrative. Students will learn basic film concepts, techniques, and terminology in an effort to think critically about film and its role in our lives. Students will compose in multiple modes to improve their writing skills while gaining a more complex understanding of audience, form, and the contexts that inform effective argument.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 22 and 122 (English Composition)
Saiward Hromadka
A.I. in the Humanities
This course will explore the ways generative AI can be used responsibly in Composition and the writing process.
ENGL 2000- Sections 24, 56, and 75 (English Composition)
Nolde Alexius
Our Built Environment
Today's college students are essential to building environments that are just, accessible, functional, and beautiful. Societal problems are the result of human-made environments, both physical and conceptual. Academic disciplines hold the potential to address these problems. Students in English 2000 - Our Built Environment - will consider how societal problems such as racism, gender inequality, environmental pollution, health risks, may be addressed with interdisciplinary solutions. From there they will choose an area of research that interests them and explore it.
ENGL 2000- Section 28 (English Composition)
Caitlin Jones
Environmental Futures in Rhetoric
This course uses environmental studies and futures as our entry point, engaging with different multimodal writing and media genres. By looking at various fictional and non-fictional texts about the environmental future, as well as scholarly articles, visual media, marketing materials, and speeches, students can explore several unique approaches for applying rhetorical strategies for constructing and supporting an argument across different disciplines.
ENGL 2000 - Section 34 (English Composition)
Denis Waswa
Environmental Writing
This course will focus on reading and writing about nature & the environment. We will examine the rhetoric, representations, language, and ideas writers create about the environment and nature as we reflect on questions such as: How can we imagine, collaborate, share, and write about environmental concerns in the present climate crisis? How should our writing, rhetoric, awareness, and action about the environment change? What role does writing about nature play in the present times? How is the environment connected to contemporary political, ecological, social, and economic concerns? In what ways do questions of agency and advocacy manifest in environmental writings? How can we right the environment through writing? Students will explore writings about nature and critique the impact of humans on the environment. In so doing, they will develop their writing skills in ways that promote and enhance environmental concerns, awareness, and sensitivities.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 36, 67, and 91 (English Composition)
Rachel Howatt
Rhetoric of Reality TV (The Bachelor Franchise)
“It’s really difficult for me to be vulnerable.” “I can possibly start to potentially see a future with you.” “Thank you for going on this journey with me.” What do these phrases even mean? In this course, we will use the language implemented throughout the Bachelor and Bachelorette franchises as an access point for analysis of the conventions of rhetoric and argument.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 38, 44, 92 (English Composition)
Michele Turner
Nutrition and the Food Industry
This course focuses on the typical American diet and its correlation with our increasing disease and obesity levels. We will then look at the many industries that either influence our food choices and are a possible effect of them – such as the agricultural industry, FDA, social media influencers, grocery associations, school lunch programs, etc. Students will present arguments in a variety of modalities throughout the course as they work on scaffolded projects combining various rhetorical skills.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 48 and 59 (English Composition)
Julie Roundtree
Writing about Mythical and Magical Beings
Many of the first stories written down are of mythical and magical beings. Humans were so intrigued and influenced by these tales, which were even incorporated into early religious practices, that they wanted to share them in writing for the generations to come. In this class, students will explore the myth, lore, and modern-day tales of magical beings such as mermaids, witches, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves. By examining various texts, including artwork, films and their promotional posters, stories, poems, and scholarly research, students will learn to identify and analyze rhetoric as well as formulate their own engaging and effective written arguments. Through daily writing assignments, individual and group activities, in-class discussions, the writing of analytical essays and persuasive essays, as well as a final capstone essay on their own topic of interest, students will hone the skills needed for successful and enjoyable college-level reading and writing.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 64, 171, and 172 (English Composition)
Erin Little
Writing Horror
This course asks you to consider and engage with the kinds of writing being done in different disciplines and fields. The course presents a fun, unique lens through which to study composition: Writing Horror. How have humans constructed the meaning of “horror”? How has that meaning changed through history? How does horror appear in different disciplines? The class asks us to consider more mature and specific rhetorical tactics creators may use to develop horror in all sorts of disciplines. Developing our ability to conduct research and sound reasoning, as well as compose writing, we will consider the uses and abuses of horror in fields including literature, film, and digital media.
ENGL 2000 - Section 70 (English Composition)
Anna Bills
Animals and Rhetoric
This is a Service-Learning Optional Course. This course will engage with different genres of writing across different disciplines using the animal as our entry point to explore what we write about animals, and why. Students will analyze a variety of animal-related texts, including popular and technical scientific writing, natural histories, advertisements, mythology and fiction, philosophy, legal documents, and many more, broken down into three kinds of writing: (1) writing about animals, (2) writing for animals, and lastly (3) writing by animals. By examining the writing conventions and rhetorical strategies of different genres, mediums, and disciplines, students will learn how to apply these skills in various contexts within their own fields.
ENGL 2000 - Section 71 (English Composition)
Elizabeth Robertson
Sports Rhetoric
This course uses sports as an entry point for engaging with different genres of writing across disciplines. Students will analyze a variety of sports-related texts, such as advertisements, social media posts, speeches, and scholarly journal articles to explore different rhetorical strategies for constructing and supporting an argument. By examining the writing conventions and rhetorical strategies of different genres and disciplines, students will learn how to apply these skills in various contexts.
ENGL 2000 - Section 77 (English Composition)
Ann Martin
Writing and Healthcare
This is a service-learning course. This section of English 2000 focuses on health care, specifically end-of-life care. It includes a service-learning component. Students will volunteer with The Hospice of Baton Rouge as part of coursework; writing projects will build on their experiences and insights during the semester. Assignments will explore the perspectives of researchers, practitioners, patients, caregivers, and citizens. APA formatting and style are emphasized.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 79 and 83 (English Composition)
Jennifer Glassford
Louisiana Culture
This is a Service-Learning Course. In this course, we will study the history of Louisiana and some of its distinct cultural contributions and traditional communities. We will read historical and literary texts to contextualize this material. We will consider the differences of how Louisianans represent themselves, and whether/how those representations are related to mainstream stereotypes about the state and its people. Throughout the semester, we will take special care to consider the influences of other nations and cultures.
ENGL 2000 - Section 96 (English Composition)
Spencer Dodd
Fraud and Forgery
This course examines our cultural fascination with high-profile cases of fraud and/or forgery, as well as the detection and unravelling of such deceptions. To this end, we will engage with a wide variety of multimodal sources spanning popular documentaries, trade books, investigative journalism, and academic articles across disciplines to interrogate the roles played by fraud, forgery, and deception in our cultures of composition.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 97, 98, and 99 (English Composition)
Lisa Nohner
The Language of Horror
100% of the Instruction is delivered via the Web. Students will study an array of horror themed readings in order to build their rhetorical skill set and practice argumentative writing.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 125 and 129 (English Composition)
Sharon Andrews
Writing for Community Action and Advocacy
This is a Service-Learning Course. This course will focus on the use of language, especially written language, as a tool for empowerment within the community. Students will be challenged to think about their role in the community and the use of writing to inspire and affect change. Students will be asked to do field research, analyze materials; research and document sources responsibly; present professional written, verbal, and visual reports; and work collaboratively.
ENGL 2000 - Sections 165, 166, and 167 (English Composition)
Saalihah Muhammad
Researching Race and Politics in America
This course offers an in-depth exploration of the historical, social, and political development of race in the United States. Students will investigate how race became a defining construct within American society, examining key moments and systems that have shaped racial identity, power, and inequality. Drawing from foundational texts like Critical Race Theory, The 1619 Project, The Sum of Us, and additional historical works, students will engage in research that dives into the intersection of race and politics. Through the analysis of legal frameworks, policies, and cultural narratives, students will solidify their own standpoint on race's impact on American democracy and justice.
ENGL 2000 - Section 170 (English Composition)
Hayley Phillips
Rhetoric in Horror
This course asks you to consider and engage with the kinds of writing being done in different disciplines and fields. As this is a special topic course, we will work with these ideas through the rhetorical lens of the horror genre. Over the course of the semester, we’ll explore horror media from its beginnings in the Gothic through to contemporary literature and film in order to develop an understanding of its rhetorical uses and relationship to culture at large.
ENGL 2027 - Section 2 (Poetry)
Lana Wiggins
Tortured Poets Department: Romantic Poets and Taylor Swift
Comparing Romantic Poets with the Lyrics of Taylor Swift.
ENGL 2123 - Sections 1 through 5 (Studies in Literary Traditions and Themes)
Christopher Rovee
Coming of Age in Jane Austen's Novels
Introduction to the novels of Jane Austen, with emphasis on her interest in the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
ENGL 2123 - Section 6 (Studies in Literary Traditions and Themes)
Amanda Wilhite
Heroes and Monsters
Do heroes in literature represent and critique the ideals of the culture that produces them? Do monsters represent the fears of the culture that produces them? This course will look at works from Beowulf to The Hunger Games and use those works to understand how heroes and monsters have changed over time.
ENGL 2123 - Section 7 (Studies in Literary Traditions & Themes)
Alison Grifa
The Natural and Supernatural
This course encompasses a large swath of world literature from our earliest civilizations to our current days. Through fiction, nonfiction, poetry, film, and drama, characters will captivate us and leave us pondering the porous boundary between what’s real and unreal, possible and impossible. We will witness ordinary people capable of extraordinary feats as human bodies are tested with extreme acts of endurance, unwavering commitments to faith and service, and unspeakable acts of horror. Authors may include: Ben Jelloun, Márquez, Condé, Fitzgerald, Shyamalan, the Brothers Grimm, and more.
ENGL 2123 - Section 8 (Studies in Literary Traditions and Themes)
Derek Moseley
Voices and Forms in the United States South/West
“A Time Travel of the Short Story” will track the short story from the Jazz Age to the present through a select group of authors. We will study the short story in its different forms and lengths, and our discussions will include what makes a short story representative of its time as well as timeless.
ENGL 2123 - Section 10 (Literary Traditions & Themes)
Brodrick Hampton
Heroes in Classic and Modern Media
A survey of “the hero” throughout the history of literature and media—from Gilgamesh to Superman to HALO’s Master Chief. Topics include classic and modern definitions of the hero in relation to current-day, real-world concepts of heroism; the heroic journey; common themes across stories and genres; antiheroes and villains; and the psychological, social, and moral context surrounding our depictions of heroes…and how we respond to those depictions!
ENGL 2231 - Section 8 (Reading Film)
Julie Roundtree
Horror and the Oppressed
In this class, we will view a selection of horror films from different points in history and analyze how oppressed individuals are depicted and treated. There will be an emphasis placed on analyzing the depictions and treatment of women, people of color, and those who are differently-abled. In-class discussions will follow each film viewing, and students will write three-four essays over the course of the semester.
ENGL 2231 - Section 9 (Reading Film)
Lisa Nohner
Gender & Horror
100% Online. Students will study horror films with special attention to gender and gendered representations in cinema.
ENGL 2231 - Section 10 (Reading Film)
Geoff Trumbo
Documenting the Spectacle in American Film
In this section of 2231, we will examine the spectacular as it is presented in a selection of non-fiction films. The course will be a survey of American documentary features dating from the 1960s to the present.
ENGL 3006 - Section 1 (Creative Writing Genre)
Eric Schmitt
Songwriting
In this course, students will learn about the craft and art of songwriting. By analyzing songs from various genres and studying basic song elements, we’ll strive to understand how the songs we love work and then use that understanding to create, and to improve, our own writing. Students will write songs and participate in an inviting and creative workshop environment. Both beginners and experienced songwriters are welcome. It’s not required that students be able to read music; however, a minimal ability to play an instrument or sing will be helpful.
ENGL 3223 - Section 1 (Adolescent Literature)
Paige Watts
Adolescent Experiences Across Genre
This is a Communication-Intensive Learning Course.Young-adult novels have the unique ability to go beyond traditional boundaries of genre and readership. Although these books are targeted to adolescent readers, these stories reach people in all stages of life. These books are often categorized as young-adult literature but adhere to and experiment with various genres of writing. In this course, we will examine a variety of current YA novels to examine how these texts present ideas about the teenage experience and 'coming of age' that transcends the traditions of genre.
ENGL 3550 - Section 1 (Diverse Perspective)
Richard Godden
Disability and Literature
This course will introduce you to Disability Studies and to the study of disability in literature. We will consider varied representations of disability, including physical, cognitive, and sensory impairments. Often viewed merely as moral symbols or instances of sentimentality and pathos, we will explore how figures of disability challenge and interrogate such familiar concepts as normal or human. What do these terms mean? Who decides?
ENGL 3674 - Section 1 (Survey of African American Literature)
Casey Patterson
Past, Presents, and Futures of African American Literature
This course surveys African American literary history by addressing the complex and often contradictory relationships between the past, the present, and the future which have made Black literature possible in the United States.
ENGL 4015 - Section 1 (Forms of Creative Writing)
Jennifer Davis
Living Authors: Debut Fiction
Have you ever wondered how writers get their first books published? Here is your chance to ask the writers yourself! In this class we will read several debut novels and short story collections, discuss these books, then during a class visit interview the authors about their experiences writing their debut fictions and getting their books to market. Finally, we will use the class texts as inspiration to write some of our own fiction. All writers with any intro class in any genre welcome!
ENGL 4070 - Section 1 (Studies in American Literature to 1865)
Angeletta Gourdine
Writing America as Literature
This course considers how early late 18th and 19th century writing created “America.” Then we’ll reflect on how that imagining shaped “American literature.”
ENGL 4300 - Section 1 (Studies in Rhetorical Theory)
Jonathan Osborne
Political Rhetoric: Theory & Practice
Students in this course will study political rhetoric in its ancient and modern forms, learning about the history and theory of the art of persuasion in political spaces. Focusing on politics within the United States, we will read and listen to a wide range of speeches from political actors. We will inquire about differences in the use of rhetoric by rhetors from different political parties, how identity (race, gender, etc.) informs rhetoric, and the impact of modern influences on political rhetoric, such as social media and the Trump presidency.
ENGL 4550 - Section 1 (Studies in Diverse Perspectives)
Joseph Kronick
Representing the Holocaust
The Nazi genocide of European Jews is hardly the only atrocity committed in the twentieth century, but it has been deemed unique. Through the reading of memoirs, diaries, fiction, poetry, and essays, we will explore the meaning of an event that is often said to be beyond comprehension. Topics covered will include the ethics of representation, memory and trauma, the nature of evil, and theories of anti-Semitism.
ENGL 4680- Section 1 (Studies in Post-Colonial Literature & Culture)
Jacob Berman
21st Century Ethnic American Bildungsroman
This class considers the classic genre form of the bildungsroman as it is expressed by 21st century ethnic American writers. We will examine how the classic story of maturation, integration and development responds to both the context of an increasingly global United States culture and the peculiar concerns of race, gender and religious difference.
ENGL 4674- Section 1 (Studies in African American Literature)
Casey Patterson
Black Feminism and the SciFi of Octavia Butler
"Octavia Butler’s novels often begin with the question, “how am I going to survive?” In short order, they usually ask next: “what is trying to kill me?” In Butler’s hands, these two questions produce theories of power and resistance, anarchy and tyranny, the death of planets and the birth of species. For the Black women at the center of Butler’s novels, race and gender are explicitly inseparable from these questions, naming the violent systems imposed by an antagonistic world and the imperatives which give rise to strategies of response. At this intersection, Butler explores the fiercely practical and interpersonal politics of survival that women like her have had to fashion since the birth of the modern world."