English Course Descriptions

ENG 90: Developmental Composition, 4 credits

Required for students who demonstrate a need for extra assistance in the essay examination during orientation. The course is designed to offer special guidance in the content areas included in ENG 121.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to identify a variety of sentence structures.
2. Be able to use a variety of sentence patterns and structures effectively.
3. Be able to use English grammar and mechanics.
4. Have increased vocabulary skills.
5. Be able to formulate topic sentences followed by supporting details.
6. Be able to recognize the validity and quality of ideas in supporting a thesis.
7. Be able to read for main and supporting ideas in a variety of modes.
8. Be able to distinguish between formal and informal writing styles.
9. Be able to use these developmental modes to present more effectively their own ideas in paragraph form.
10. Be able to use pre-writing strategies as a writing tool.
11. Realize the importance of audience adaptability.

ENG 95: English as a Second Language I, 4-8 credits

For non-native speakers (assessed to be at a "low intermediate level") who need to acquire fluency in American English. The focus is on intensive practice in listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Institutional Pre-TOEFL test will be administered both before and at the conclusion of the course.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Have an increased reading level from simple texts to authentic texts such as a books and newspapers.
2. Have an increased grammar competency from common sentences structures to more complex constructions.
3. Understand and employ a variety of tenses.
4. Have gained listening skills that reflect a comprehension level of native conversations and broadcasts with the exception of very specialized topics.
5. Have increased spoken competency sufficiently to use correct basic grammar constructions such as subject, verb and noun, adjective agreement without having to resort to the mental translation process.
6. Have developed an ability to identify thesis, conclusion and main ideas in an essay.
7. Be able to write one paragraph with proper syntax, tenses and punctuation.
8. Rely less upon the dictionary for direct translation.

ENG 96: English as a Second Language II, 4 credits

This course is designed for non-native speakers of English to develop aural and oral proficiency in English before entering specialized academic programs at Northwood University The course will assist students in gaining increased fluency in communicative ability and self-confidence in using oral English. Students will listen to audio and video tapes which present international business situations, lectures and discussions. They will give many oral presentations to improve fluency and style. Develop adequate proficiency to satisfy the minimal requirements to enroll in ENG 97. Institutional Pre-TOEFL Test will be administered at the conclusion of the course.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Possess listening skills that reflect a near level of comprehension regarding conversations on specialized topics.
2. Have improved their reading to a level at which discernment of meaning will occur from context.
3. Have expanded their speaking level of proficiency to a more natural effort in professional and social exchange with occasional idiomatic imprecision.
4. Have expanded their writing skills from five paragraph essays that demonstrate limited development of the thesis to a thorough development of a thesis that exhibits effective word/idiom choice and usage.
5. Have increased their grammar competency to a level of proficiency that exhibits complete mastery of tenses and mastery of conventions.
6. Be able to take meaningful notes during academic lectures in non-specialty courses.
7. Have become familiar with the library and how to search for information.

ENG 97: English as a Second Language III, 4 credits

This course is designed for non-native speakers of English to develop aural and oral fluency in English before entering specialized academic programs at Northwood University This content-based, integrated approach to English for academic purposes gives students extensive practice in all skill areas of English with emphasis on grammar particulars, writing, speaking/listening and reading. Oral presentations and student-directed discussions will be emphasized. Institutional TOEFL Test will be administered at the conclusion of the course.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to listen to and comprehend lectures, including quality note-taking and ask questions.
2. Have increased their reading skills to be able to paraphrase and summarize, skim, and scan for the main idea.
3. Understand approaches to intensive and extensive reading, focusing on improving comprehension and reading speed.
4. Have expanded their oral production to a proficiency level demonstrating the ability to present ideas effectively in class discussion and presentations.
5. Be able to use appropriate grammatical patterns in both writing and speaking contexts.
6. Have built vocabulary through the use of context clues and stems and suffixes study.
7. Have developed strategies for test taking.
8. Have participated in individualized lab activities, including reading, writing, pronunciation/accent reduction, and video lecture comprehension.

ENG 98: English as a Second Language IV, 4 credits

This course, designed for non-native speakers of English at an advanced level, focuses on developing proficiency in English. This is a content-based integrated approach to English for academic purposes with emphasis on extensive and intensive reading, lecture comprehension and writing strategies for academic tasks at the undergraduate level. The course is designed to answer the students' most pressing language needs necessary to pursue their academic program without restrictions. Institutional TOEFL Test will be administered at the conclusion of the course.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to read and process large amounts of reading materials in a limited amount of time.
2. Be able to read critically.
3. Be familiar with graphs, figures, illustrations and other visual methods used in the academic environment.
4. Be familiar with university-level vocabulary.
5. Possess a proficiency in the use of academic writing conventions.
6. Be able to access library materials and research topics with relative ease.
7. Be able to converse in cooperative and individual academic tasks.
8. Be able to comprehend and take notes on academic lectures, seminars, presentations, and other formal situations.
9. Be able to participate in individualized lab activities.

ENG 99: English for Academic Purposes, 4 credits

Designed to be taken in parallel with another developmental ESL course, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is formulated for academic success. It is most beneficial to ESL students engaging in a limited academic load while completing TOEFL requirements toward a full-fledged academic program. (May be repeated.)

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to cope with sizeable reading assignments.
2. Be able to implement practical outline techniques, both from readings and in-class note taking.
3. Possess an enhanced academic vocabulary range, gained through systematic study of prefixes, suffixes, and stems.
4. Possess expanded writing skills, gained through intensive practice, enabling them to satisfy the demands of essay questions which stress critical thinking skills.
5. Have developed a general level of readiness to respond to the rigor of the U.S. higher education system.

ENG 100: Introduction to English Writing, 4 credits

The course is designed for adults and international students whose reasonable skills in English writing will benefit from focused review and practice. Grammar review, reading and presenting skills are integrated.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Possess reading skills which include critical thinking skills and analysis of tone.
2. Possess necessary writing skills for writing competent multi-paragraph essays in a variety of rhetorical modes.
3. Possess grammatical competence at a level of proficiency that exhibits mastery of tenses and basic conventions.
4. Possess speaking fluency to a level demonstrating natural exchanges on concrete topics related to particular interests and specialized study.
5. Possess listening skills that reflect a comprehension of non-prepared discourse when the topic is unfamiliar.

English 115 Composition I, 4 credits

The course examines the basic writing tasks of summarizing, informing, directing, and arguing/persuading. Specifically, the course examines primarily short non-fiction readings and prepares students to write papers across the curriculum utilizing Description, Process, Cause and Effect, and Argument. An argumentative research paper in APA is required.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Read and write logical, expressive expository essays utilizing description, process analysis, causal analysis, and argumentation.
2. Understand logical fallacies, syllogistic reasoning, and inductive/deductive modes.
3. Separate fact from opinion and inference.
4. Write summaries, critiques, and syntheses of readings.
5. Research, compose, and document an argumentative research paper using APA style.
6. Use word choice, sentence structure, and paragraphing strategically and precisely.
7. Understand levels of English usage.
8. Have practiced the tool of careful revision.

English 120 Composition II, 4 credits

This course uses an introduction to literature as a basis for refining critical thinking and writing skills. Specifically, the course examines fiction, poetry, and drama and prepares students to write assignments emphasizing comparison/contrast and argument/persuasion. An introduction to English language history is also included.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Write logical, expressive essays analyzing various literary modes (fiction, drama, and poetry) using comparison and contrast and argument/persuasion.
2. Understand the aesthetic principles that guide or govern literary texts.
3. Appreciate the value of literature as an important expression of universal human experience.
4. Produce clear, correct, and coherent prose adapted to purpose, occasion, and audience.
5. Articulate informed personal reactions using evidence from the texts and from secondary sources.
6. Understand and employ figurative language (metaphors, similes, analogies, etc.).
7. Understand the subtexts in literary works.
8. Understand the basic history of the English language.

ENG 121: Composition I, 4 credits

The study and practice of the skills required for writing competent multi-paragraph English essays. Rhetorical strategies include narration, description, definition and comparison/contrast. An introduction to English language history is also included.
Prerequisite: Placement exam or ENG 90

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to identify and use effectively the various sentence structures.
2. Have built vocabulary skills by examining unfamiliar terms drawn from readings.
3. Be able to write competent concise essays in a variety of rhetorical modes.
4. Use a dictionary with relative ease.
5. Understand the impact of shifting meanings in language.
6. Be able to summarize material from a lecture based on their effective note-taking.
7. Understand levels of usage and the importance of dialects.
8. Be able to read and analyze essays developed in a variety of modes.
9. Demonstrate language power through careful revision of their work.

ENG 122: Composition II, 4 credits

The study and practice of the skills required for writing formal and informal essays in sophisticated rhetorical strategies such as argumentation, causal analysis, persuasion and logic. A term paper employing proper APA Citation Form is required.
Prerequisite: ENG 121

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to read and write logical, expressive expository essays in causal analysis, persuasion, argumentation, and satire.
2. Understand logical fallacies, syllogistic reasoning, and inductive/deductive modes.
3. Have improved their abilities to form conclusions and to separate facts from inferences.
4. Possess an enriched vocabulary and understand figurative language usage.
5. Be able to write summaries, synopses, critiques, and syntheses of topics from many curriculums.
6. Research, compose, and document an argumentative research paper.
7. Be able to use sources to support and justify their own ideas.
8. Be able to interpret opinions and determine objective vs. subjective sources.
9. Be able to use language, grammar, and mechanics precisely.

ENG 123: Composition III, 4 credits

The study of the skills required for writing formal essays, using literature as a basis for analysis. Short fiction, drama and poetry will be discussed.
Prerequisite: ENG 122

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to write logical, expressive essays analyzing various literary patterns (fiction, Drama, poetry).
2. Understand the concept of a writer's voice (multitude of selves).
3. Identify effective uses of figurative language (metaphors, similes, analogies, etc.).
4. Understand the functions of symbolism in literary and commercial contexts.
5. Strengthen analytical and cognitive skills by understanding subtexts of communication.
6. Become independent judges of good quality expressions of ideas.
7. Recognize the universal nature of literature as it relates to their own experience.
8. Argue persuasively, using evidence from reading to support their ideas.
9. See the relationships between the literary arts, human behavior, and professional climates.

ENG 260: Applied Communications, 4 credits

Techniques and psychology of effective business communication, with emphasis on business letters, reports and memoranda.
Prerequisite: ENG 123

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to set up business correspondence in appropriate business formats.
2. Be able to write balanced, clear, concise, positive business correspondence.
3. Have cultivated adaptation and empathy skills.
4. Be able to subordinate bad news into non-threatening messages.
5. Have practiced writing upward (to superiors) and downward (to subordinates) communication.
6. Possess confidence and success consciousness in tone and style.
7. Understand the legal ramifications of business correspondence.
8. Have mastered and be able to employ the skills and techniques of effective business letters, reports and memoranda.
9. Understand the psychology of the effects of written business communications.

ENG 301: Communication and Interpersonal Relations, 4 credits

A concentrated study of language, thought, and action, emphasizing roles and different uses of language in human interaction, diverse belief systems, and ethical communication. Students increase their self-awareness, reasoning, and ability to communicate effectively. (ENG 301 changes to ENG 401 for 2006 catalog)
Prerequisite: ENG 123

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the process of communication.
2. Recognize the behavioral basis of communication including factors of perception, self-image, and motivation.
3. Know steps to take to prevent miscommunication and practical methods to reduce its frequency and effects.
4. Learn to think more clearly.
5. Learn to speak and write more effectively.
6. Learn to listen and read with greater understanding.
7. Focus on the role of language in thinking and behaving ethically.

ENG 310: Creative Writing, 4 credits

A survey of creative writing forms, with practice in writing these forms. Students develop an awareness of their creative writing potential as well as the ability to critically evaluate their own work and that of other students.

ENG 311: Introduction to World Literature I, 4 credits

A survey of World Literature from ancient times to the Renaissance, including works of the Greeks, Hebrews, Romans, and of the Middle Ages.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the Modern World better having been exposed to the ideas of the past that have shaped those of the present day.
2. Be conversant on a variety of topics from religion to art, from history to philosophy that were expressions of the values held by cultures from this time period.
3. Be able to trace the conception of the nature of gods/God and man's relationship to divinity through these cultures, how that influenced and shaped their concept of the nature and purpose of man and his life.
4. Be able to trace the development of the concept of justice as expressed in the literature of these cultures.
5. Understand the use of irony and symbolism and their place as a value and technique of these cultures.
6. Have an insight into character and the essential immutability of Man's search for purpose and duty.
7. Understand the evolution of such themes as fate and the hero as they were defined by each of these cultures.
8. Be familiar with a variety of literary forms ranging from epic poetry to drama to fable, their construction and techniques and their purpose.
9. Understand literature as an expression of the historical, economic, political, social, religious values of a culture.

ENG 312: Introduction to World Literature II, 4 credits

A survey of World Literature from the Renaissance to the Romantic Era.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the development of Christianity and spirituality through the Age of Reason to Romanticism and into Victorianism.
2. Understand our cultural bases more effectively through examination of the guiding moral principles of these movements and writings.
3. Be able to clarify their own criteria for evaluating ethical choices, based on readings.
4. Understand the changes in intellectual activity from Neoclassicism through Romantic movements through the readings' inferences.
5. Understand the basics of a metaphysical quest.
6. Be able to reconcile the divergent philosophies of Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Victorianism.
7. Possess analytical skills which will help them as managers in people-centered positions of responsibility.
8. Possess valuable insight into history and reflections of history.
9. Be able to trace the interrelationships between the major movements and their modern counterparts.
10. Have refined their receptivity and open-mindedness to ideas contrary to their own.
11. Have enlarged their frames of reference and scopes of conversation.
12. Have deepened their understanding of self as it relates to the larger world of experience.

ENG 313: Introduction to World Literature III, 4 credits

A survey of World Literature from the Romantic to the Modern Era including such movements as Realism, Naturalism, Existentialism, and the post-modernist experimentalism.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the intellectual backgrounds of the Twentieth Century, particularly the sources of realism, naturalism and symbolism.
2. Appreciate the ambiguity of language and meaning as evidenced by symbolic interpretations.
3. Articulate new or alternative concepts of reality and how they altered or countered earlier theories.
4. Understand the correlation between perceptual and conceptual thinking.
5. Possess the analytical skills necessary to aid managers in understanding human motivations.
6. Be conversant on a broad range of subjects and authors without self-consciousness.
7. Possess insight into world culture, customs, and modes of expressions.
8. Understand how language and literature shape culture and thought just as an inverse relationship exists.
9. Appreciate that cultural differences exist to make us useful to one another.
10. Understand that 20th Century art and literature do not exist in a vacuum but are logical extensions of historic thought.
11. Understand the impact of these writings on popular culture.
12. Understand the interrelationships between all forms of art.

ENG 315: One Thousand Years of Western Poetry: A Survey, 4 credits

This course is a survey of poetry and poets from the last thousand years of Western Civilization. Students will be introduced to forms, styles, metaphor, and expression, both by writing their own poetry and by reading selected poems. 

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the intellectual backgrounds of the poetry of the last thousand years of Western Civilization.
2. Appreciate the ambiguity of language and meaning as evidenced by symbolic interpretations.
3. Articulate new or alternative concepts of poetry and how they compare to earlier concepts.
4. Understand the correlation between form and style.
5. Be conversant on a broad range of subjects and poets without self-consciousness.
6. Possess insight into changing western modes of expressions.
7. Understand how poetic language can shape culture and thought.
8. Appreciate that cultural differences exist to make us useful to one another.
9. Understand the impact of these writings on popular culture.
10. Understand the interrelationships between all forms of art.

ENG 320: Report Writing, 4 credits

The study and practice of composing various types of business reports, including analytical, progress, letter, and short reports. Proposal writing, thesis composition, and professional techniques are also stressed.
Prerequisite: ENG 123

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Know how to properly prepare a formal business report.
2. Be familiar with basic report formats.
3. Be able to distinguish between, select and write the correct report based on function.
4. Be able to distinguish between, select and write the correct report based on time.
5. Know how to identify and write the parts of a report plan.
6. Have experience writing the most frequently used business reports.
7. Be able to conduct appropriate primary and secondary research necessary to write effective business reports.
8. Understand the complexities of writing for the international business market.
9. Be familiar with communication technology used to formulate and transmit business reports.

ENG 350: Special Topics in Literature, 4 credits

This course will be offered periodically to explore different areas of study, at the faculty’s
discretion.

ENG 401: Communication and Interpersonal Relations, 4 credits

A concentrated study of language, thought, and action, emphasizing roles and different uses of language in human interaction, diverse belief systems, and ethical communication. Students increase their self-awareness, reasoning, and ability to communicate effectively.
Prerequisite: ENG 115

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Understand the process of communication.
2. Recognize the behavioral basis of communication including factors of perception, self-image, and motivation.
3. Know steps to take to prevent miscommunication and practical methods to reduce its frequency and effects.
4. Learn to think more clearly.
5. Learn to speak and write more effectively.
6. Learn to listen and read with greater understanding.
7. Focus on the role of language in thinking and behaving ethically.

ENG 402: Advanced Topics in Organizational Communications, 4 credits

This advanced course in organizational communications examines advanced measures for optimizing the communications mechanisms inside of organizations while pointing to some of the disfunctions that are common.   Prerequisite: ENG 115

ENG 490: Thesis, 4 credits

The study and practice of formal exposition. Students research and write an extended investigative report using the APA format.

Goals and Objectives
By the end of this course, Northwood wants students to:

1. Be able to identify and use a variety of organizational patterns.
2. Understand the complexity of a topic and develop a logical argument in relation to it.
3. Be able to evaluate sources of secondary information in terms of topicality, credibility, and communicative skill.
4. Be able to present an argument using primary and secondary research to support a thesis of contention.
5. Be able to revise their documents (their thesis being a minimum of thirty pages, excluding sources) to the standards of the marketplace.
6. Be able to recognize and eliminate the most common errors (Indifference, Fuzziness, Emptiness, Wordiness, Clichés, Sexism, and Mechanical Errors) from their writing.
7. Be able to document sources with precision, using APA format.
8. Exhibit sound judgment in evaluating research materials, and know how to offer supportive evidence to demonstrate persuasive acuity.
9. Have sharpened their awareness of inferential information and its presentation.
10. Feel sufficiently confident to produce a document of fresh insight and ideas worthy of publication.