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Morris Campus

Creative Writing Minor for non-English majors

Division of Humanities - Adm
Division of Humanities
  • Program Type: Undergraduate minor related to major
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2022
  • Required credits in this minor: 20
Objectives: The Creative Writing minor, which combines the study of literature and the practice of creative writing provides students with a strong foundation for developing their craft. Students begin with an introductory class in the techniques of poetry and prose writing and then take at least two other writing classes in the English discipline, at least one of which must be at the advanced level. Writing courses focus on fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, and on subtopics such as sports, environmental, and essay writing. Students also take two literature classes: ENGL 1509 (required) and another of the student’s choice.
Program Delivery
This program is available:
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Minor Requirements
Up to 4 credits of coursework with a grade of D or D+ may be used to meet the minor requirements. Courses may not be taken S/N unless offered S/N only. A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required in the minor to graduate. The GPA includes all, and only, University of Minnesota coursework. Grades of "F" are included in GPA calculation until they are replaced.
Required Courses
We strongly recommend that students take Engl 1404 in the classroom and not online.
ENGL 1404 - Topics in Writing: Introduction to Creative Writing [ART/P] (2.0 cr)
ENGL 1509W - Literary Studies [HUM] (4.0 cr)
Writing Courses
At least one of these courses must be a 3000-level course.
Take 2 or more course(s) from the following:
· ENGL 1403W - Sports Literature and Writing [ART/P] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2106 - Topics in Writing: The Environmental Imagination: Reading and Writing about the Natural World [ENVT] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2111W - Reading and Writing Fantasy [ART/P] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2162 - Careers for Writers [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2173 - The Nature Essay: Writing and Reading Creative Non-fiction about the Natural World [ENVT] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3012 - Advanced Fiction Writing [ART/P] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3015 - Advanced Poetry [ART/P] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3032 - Creative Nonfiction Writing [ART/P] (4.0 cr)
Literature Course
Take 1 or more course(s) from the following:
· ENGL 1028 - Introduction to Popular Literature: Science Fiction [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 1029 {Inactive} [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 1126 - Introduction to Children's Literature [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 1127 - Science in Literature [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 1205 - Survey of British Literature to the 18th Century [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 1206 - Survey of British Literature from the 18th Century Forward [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 1211 - Survey of American Literature to the Civil War [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 1212 - Survey of American Literature from the Civil War Forward [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2015 - Introduction to Film Studies [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2031 - Gender in Literature and Culture [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2033 - The Bible and Literature [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2034 {Inactive} [IP] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2041 - Introduction to African American Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2059W - Introduction to Shakespeare [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2411 - Representations of American Indians in Popular and Academic Culture [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· Literature Course - 3000-level
Students who have completed the prerequisites may use one of the following courses to meet the literature course requirement.
Take 0 or more course(s) from the following:
· ENGL 3043 - Medieval Makings of Tolkien's Worlds (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3062 {Inactive} [ENVT] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3063 {Inactive} [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3064 {Inactive} [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3153 - Gothic Literature (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3154 - 19th-Century British Fiction (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3155 - 20th-Century British Fiction (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3156 - Modern Irish Literature (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3157 - English Renaissance Drama (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3159 - Shakespeare: Studies in the Bard (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3163 - Life in a Medieval City: Literature and Culture in York, 700-1500 [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3165 - Seventeenth-Century Revolutions (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3166 - Postcolonial Literature (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3168 - Victorian Literature and Culture (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3171 - The Literature of Creative Nonfiction (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3172 - American Utopian Literature (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3173 - Contemporary British Literature (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3175 - Social Justice Biofiction [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3261 - Modern British and American Poetry (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3262 - 20th- and 21st-Century American Poetry: From Modern to Contemporary [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3301 - U.S. Multicultural Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3311 - American Indian Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3312 - World Indigenous Literature and Film [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3331 - African American Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3332 - African American Women Writers [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3522 - Harlem Renaissance [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
Public Reading Participation
Substantive participation in public reading of creative work.
 
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ENGL 1404 - Topics in Writing: Introduction to Creative Writing (ART/P)
Credits: 2.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Introduction to the basic elements of creative writing, including exploration of poetry, story, and journal writing. Practice with techniques such as dialogue, description, voice, and style.
ENGL 1509W - Literary Studies (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
An introduction to the tools and methods of literary analysis, including the vocabulary of criticism, the techniques of close reading, and the conventions of literary argumentation. A prerequisite to advanced courses in English.
ENGL 1403W - Sports Literature and Writing (ART/P)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Introduction to sports literature and sports writing, including exploration of rhetorical modes and techniques.
ENGL 2106 - Topics in Writing: The Environmental Imagination: Reading and Writing about the Natural World (ENVT)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Writing about the environment. Students learn to use the rich possibilities of language to express their responses to nature and convey to others the importance of close contact with the natural world. Readings in poetry and prose, discussion of technique, and experimentation with a variety of styles and literary forms. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv
ENGL 2111W - Reading and Writing Fantasy (ART/P)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
This hybrid literature and creative writing course examines the history and development of fantasy literature. Students will explore and experiment with the critical and artistic possibilities of fantasy through both course readings and their own creative and academic writing. prereq: 1601 or equivalent
ENGL 2162 - Careers for Writers (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Students develop non-academic writing skills transferable to careers in publishing, journalism, freelance writing/editing, marketing communications, public relations, the nonprofit sector, and others. The course is designed for students both inside and outside of the English major. Students analyze theories and strategies of effective communication, and develop their skills by practicing writing in several professional modes, including marketing materials, features, news releases, website and social media content, and more. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv
ENGL 2173 - The Nature Essay: Writing and Reading Creative Non-fiction about the Natural World (ENVT)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Students write creative non-fiction centered on the natural world and read the work of noted essayists in the field such as Henry David Thoreau, Gretel Ehrlich, Scott Russell Sanders, Kathleen Dean Moore, and Terry Tempest Williams. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv
ENGL 3012 - Advanced Fiction Writing (ART/P)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
For experienced writers. Focus on developing skills and mastering creative and technical elements of writing fiction. prereq: 1404 or instr consent
ENGL 3015 - Advanced Poetry (ART/P)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
A creative writing class. Practice with the different elements of poetry (sound, rhythm, imagery, voice, line) and exploration of the ways contemporary poets use and transform traditional forms and techniques. prereq: 1404 or instr consent
ENGL 3032 - Creative Nonfiction Writing (ART/P)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
For experienced writers. Focus on understanding and practicing the rhetorical and stylistic choices available to writers of creative nonfiction, especially decisions about structure, pacing, language, style, tone, detail, description, and narrative voice. prereq: 1404 or instr consent
ENGL 1028 - Introduction to Popular Literature: Science Fiction (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Introduction to popular literature in a variety of styles and forms with emphasis on analysis and context. [Note: no credit for students who have received cr for Engl 2014]
ENGL 1126 - Introduction to Children's Literature (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Surveys development of major genres and conventions of British and American children's literature over last 200 years, with particular attention to transforming ideas of childhood, adolescence, and gendered identities of boyhood and girlhood. Introduces skills and frameworks for thinking critically about literature and its cultural stakes.
ENGL 1127 - Science in Literature (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Science and scientists play a crucial role in many excellent works of literature. In this course, students will examine and write about the way creative writers use science and scientists in their fiction.
ENGL 1205 - Survey of British Literature to the 18th Century (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Readings in English poetry, prose, and/or drama from the beginnings to the 18th century. Specific authors vary.
ENGL 1206 - Survey of British Literature from the 18th Century Forward (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Readings in English poetry, prose, and/or drama from the 18th century to the present. Specific authors vary.
ENGL 1211 - Survey of American Literature to the Civil War (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of important texts, canonical and non-canonical, and important periods and movements that define the colonial and U.S. experience up to 1865.
ENGL 1212 - Survey of American Literature from the Civil War Forward (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of selected historical and literary texts in U.S. literature, canonical and non-canonical, from 1865 to the present.
ENGL 2015 - Introduction to Film Studies (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Develops students' abilities to view films critically and to deepen their understanding of the film experience. Begins with critical analysis skills and terminology, then takes up the study of genres and styles, including documentaries and foreign films. [Note: weekly lab required for viewing films] prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or declared English major
ENGL 2031 - Gender in Literature and Culture (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to literary and cultural representations of gender. Emphasis on the intersections between power and the social relations of gender, race, class, and sexuality. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or declared English major
ENGL 2033 - The Bible and Literature (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Introduction to the role of the English Bible in the western literary tradition. Readings include key Biblical narratives, as well as English and American literary texts that are either deeply influenced by these stories or attempt to re-write them. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or declared English major
ENGL 2041 - Introduction to African American Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Introduction to issues and themes in African American literature and culture, with emphasis on historical and cultural context. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or declared English major
ENGL 2059W - Introduction to Shakespeare (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
A careful reading of a representative selection of Shakespeare's poetry and plays (including histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances). Consideration of generic and dramatic conventions, cultural contexts, literary elements, and performance choices on stage and in film. Serves non-majors as well as majors. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or declared English major
ENGL 2411 - Representations of American Indians in Popular and Academic Culture (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Study of representations of American Indians in American popular and academic culture including literature, film, and sports. Particular attention given to how indigenous identities, histories, and cultures are represented in pop culture by non-indigenous peoples and, more recently, indigenous people themselves. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or declared English major or NAIS major
ENGL 3043 - Medieval Makings of Tolkien's Worlds
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Texts in Old and Middle English, as well as some Welsh, Old Irish, and Old Norse ones, are the basis for this course, framed by references and uses in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, one of the most influential fantasy writers of the 20th century and a scholar of medieval literature. (Readings will be mostly medieval literature.) prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3153 - Gothic Literature
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
The cultural origins of gothic literature in tension with the neoclassical values of 18th-century Britain and its persistent influence over the next two centuries (including its relationship to modern horror fiction and film). Emphasis on the ways gothic tales encode cultural anxieties about gender, class, and power. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3154 - 19th-Century British Fiction
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The rise of the novel to respectability and prominence in Britain from the Romantics to the Victorians. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3155 - 20th-Century British Fiction
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Major novelists from the Modernist period and after, focusing on the historical context of the new challenges to literary tradition. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3156 - Modern Irish Literature
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
The poetry, fiction, and drama of Irish writers from 1890-1927, with attention to the ways that literature shaped a national identity. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3157 - English Renaissance Drama
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
A thorough study of the early modern English theater, including readings of 16th- and 17th-century plays and consideration of the literary and cultural contexts that informed them. Many course readings will pair plays by Shakespeare with those by his contemporaries, such as Marlowe, Jonson, Cary, Middleton, and Webster. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3159 - Shakespeare: Studies in the Bard
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
A topics-based study of Shakespeare's works and other pertinent texts. Sample topics include "Shakespeare's Women," "Dangerous Rhetoric in Shakespeare," and "Shakespeare and His Sources." Attention is given to historical and literary contexts, and students are asked to consider Shakespeare's work as it is read as well as performed. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3163 - Life in a Medieval City: Literature and Culture in York, 700-1500 (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Summer
Travel to York, England, to study the literature and history of the city from Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the Middle Ages. Focus on the role that York played as the second city of medieval England, emphasizing the diverse cultural influences on the city. Day trips to historically significant sites in the vicinity of York. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212 or instr consent
ENGL 3165 - Seventeenth-Century Revolutions
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
An in-depth study of how 17th-century British literature represents and responds to the numerous revolutionary changes of the time, including political, religious, sexual, cultural, and genre-based upheavals. Writers to be considered may include John Donne, Mary Wroth, George Herbert, Margaret Cavendish, Aphra Behn, and John Milton. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3166 - Postcolonial Literature
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of literature as site of cultural conflict during and after imperial encounters, from the perspectives of both colonizers and colonized peoples. Particular focus on Britain and its former colonies. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3168 - Victorian Literature and Culture
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Studies an array of 19th-century literary forms, including fiction, poetry, drama, and prose, in their social and political contexts. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212 or instr consent
ENGL 3171 - The Literature of Creative Nonfiction
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Summer
Explore the genre of creative nonfiction as a literary tradition and help to articulate what creative nonfiction is (as well as what it isn't). Students collaborate in creating working definitions for the genre and prepare projects in which they curate and present a list of readings in the genre. prereq: 1509
ENGL 3172 - American Utopian Literature
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Americans have always been drawn to visions of transformation even as they shrink from imagined dangers. Investigate American literary responses to utopian possibilities and how that literature has shaped and continues to influence the American sense of the possible. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3173 - Contemporary British Literature
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Exploration of contemporary British literature, with emphasis upon a diversity of new voices. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212 or instr consent
ENGL 3175 - Social Justice Biofiction (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Biofiction is literature that names its protagonist after an actual person, and many authors use this figure to advance social justice. Students examine social justice biofiction from its inception to the present. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3261 - Modern British and American Poetry
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
A study of the continuities and break with traditions in 20th-century poetry. Focus on innovations and experiments in form and theme. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3262 - 20th- and 21st-Century American Poetry: From Modern to Contemporary (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Study of the radical shifts in poetry and poetics in 20th- and 21st-century America. Students will study movements such as Imagism, the Harlem Renaissance, the Modernist long poem, Objectivism, the New American Poetry, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, multicultural poetry, conceptual poetry, LGBTQ poetry, ecopoetics, contemporary Native American poetry, and more. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3301 - U.S. Multicultural Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examination of literatures by African American, American Indian, Asian American, Chicana/o, U.S. Latino/a, and other under-represented peoples. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212 or instr consent
ENGL 3311 - American Indian Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of American Indian literature written in English. Particular attention given to language, identity, land, and sovereignty. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212 or instr consent
ENGL 3312 - World Indigenous Literature and Film (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
Comparative study of indigenous literature and film from North America, New Zealand, and Australia with particular emphasis given to issues of political and cultural sovereignty, cultural appropriation, self-representation, and colonial nostalgia. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212, or instr consent, or NAIS major
ENGL 3331 - African American Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of African American literature. Particular attention given to issues of gender, class, power, "passing," and the racialized body. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3332 - African American Women Writers (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
If African Americans struggled to achieve equality and recognition in the racist United States, the situation was even more difficult for African American women, who had to contend with the sexism in both the white and black communities. This course examines the writings of prominent African American women. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or instr consent
ENGL 3522 - Harlem Renaissance (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
During the 1920s, there was a major aesthetic outpouring in the African American community. Listen to jazz, examine African American artwork, and read poetry, short stories, novels and essays from Harlem Renaissance writers. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212