UG Programs – Critical Writing: English 110 Series
Critical Writing in the UCLA English Department: The 110 Series Courses
Courses offered in the English Department numbered in the 110 series are expressly intended for students of literature and culture who would like to sharpen their critical writing. The courses serve as workshops for discovering rich literary questions, developing nuanced analyses of complex texts, sustaining arguments, and cultivating an authoritative voice. The English 110 courses thus provide a foundation for success in undergraduate and graduate work and in the professions.
Since 2012, the UCLA English Department has added seven discipline-specific courses for undergraduates to the 110 series, including two new courses approved for the 2018-2019 academic year (English 110C and 110V). All of the English 110 courses qualify as electives for English majors. Certain English 110 courses qualify for credit on the Professional Writing minor.
Descriptions of all 110-series courses can be found below, as well as contact information for Dr. Megan Stephan, the program administrator and Faculty Coordinator for Writing in the English Majors. Whether you are an existing or prospective student in the department, you will find that these courses can help you to polish your critical thinking and writing and to enhance your analytical and argumentative skills. English Department graduate students who are interested in teaching 110-series courses should feel free to familiarize themselves with our philosophy and our approach to writing pedagogy. Other faculty both within and outside UCLA may find these courses and their rationales useful for the development of similar programs; administrators will appreciate the ways in which courses like the 110 series enhance and expand teaching of the humanities in both scholarly and practical ways.
Courses:
English 110A. Writing in the English Major: Analytical (5). The primary objective of this class is to help upper division students further their abilities writing literary and cultural analyses. Writing is a process: good writing (which means good argumentation) is the result of creation, revision, pondering, cutting, and seeking reactions. English 110A provides a forum for refining these arts and skills. The course is open to all English majors, but it may not be taken for credit by students who have completed English 110T.
English 110B. Writing in the English Major: Adjunct (2). This course is unusual because it is linked to a “base” literature course. It brings together students enrolled in American Literature and Culture or English courses in a workshop setting to advance their writing skills, especially the art of developing literary critical argument. In order to enroll in a 110B course, students must be enrolled in a corresponding “base” literature course. Although it is linked to a lecture course, 110B is an independent 2-hour critical writing course.
English 110C: Public Readers, Public Writers (5) This course broadens students’ concept of what it means to write about literature by exploring the what, why, and how of traditional literary criticism for a general (rather than for a specifically academic) 21st-century audience, using both the critical culture of the past and an in-depth exploration of the rapidly expanding and changing realm of cultural criticism made possible by the Internet. The course includes extensive opportunities for critical writing in a variety of forms and for a variety of audiences, as well as building research skills for a variety of applications, including a culminating portfolio project.
English 110E. Writing in the English Major: Advanced Essay (5). This course is a weekly seminar/workshop addressing advanced analytical writing about literature and culture. It offers students the opportunity to explore and expand their skills at various kinds of complex critical thought. In order to enroll, prospective students must submit a sample of their writing to the professor to ensure they are prepared; enrollment is by permission only.
English 110P. Writing in the English Major: Pre-professional Portfolio (5). This course invites students to assess their work in the English major and to anticipate and develop the kinds of writing pertinent to their transition into their professional lives. Students reflect on and review, in writing, selected materials they’ve completed in previous English courses, and they develop new documents (letters, resumes, etc.), projects, and writing samples relevant to their success in a variety of professions including postgraduate study. The course culminates in a portfolio of each student’s work.
English 110T. Writing in the English Major: Transfer Students (5). Like English 110A, the primary objective of English 110T is to help upper division students further their abilities writing literary and cultural analyses. It provides a forum for refining these argumentative arts and skills. But 110T is also specifically designed to support the transition of transfer students into the English major at UCLA. Enrollment is restricted to transfer students only. Students should contact Janel Munguia (munguia@english.ucla.edu) of the English Department Undergraduate Counseling office to verify their status as transfer students in order to enroll. (Students who have completed English 110A may not take English 110T for credit.)
English 110V: Variable Topics in Professional Writing (5) This course offers the opportunity for English Department faculty to design their own contributions to the new Professional Writing minor according to their special fields of interest and expertise, thereby taking advantage of the breadth and depth of experience and scholarship that we have to offer in a new writing-specific context. The course includes extensive opportunities for critical writing in a variety of forms and for a variety of audiences, as well as building research skills for a variety of applications, including (but not limited to) a culminating portfolio project.
For specific requisites for enrolling in the English 110 courses, please refer to the UCLA catalogue descriptions.
If you’d like to talk more about the English Department’s critical writing offerings, feel free to contact Dr. Megan Stephan, Faculty Coordinator for Writing in the English Majors (Kaplan 232; mastephan@ucla.edu).