This course serves as an introduction to English Studies, providing an overview of the various specializations and methods practiced by the faculty in the Rutgers-Camden Department of English and Communication. Students will learn about the history, theory, and methods of linguistics, rhetoric and composition, communication, creative writing, literary criticism, cultural studies and critical theory, and film studies.
Professor: Jim Brown
Meeting times: Monday/Wednesday, 12:30pm - 1:50pm
Meeting Place: Armitage 219
Prof. Brown's Office: Armitage 463
Prof. Brown' Office Hours: Monday 11:00am - 12:30pm (or by appointment)
Prof. Brown's Email: jim[dot]brown[at]rutgers[dot]edu
Course Website: http://courses.jamesjbrownjr.net/201_spring2026
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this class, students will be able to:
Required Texts and Materials
All other materials will be distributed as paper handouts.
Attendance
Attendance in this class is crucial, and it is worth 10% of your grade, which makes each day's attendance worth .357 points. That seems small, but those points add up. Missing class means missing crucial material that will appear on exams, and it also means missing graded group work. If you arrive more than 5 minutes late for class, you will receive half-credit for that day's attendance. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, you will be marked absent. If there is something that regularly prevents you from arriving to class on time, please speak with me during the first week of class.
Course Work and Grades
This class is comprised of 100 points. The breakdown of those points is as follows:
Grades will be assigned on the following scale:
A 90-100
B+ 88-89
B 80-87
C+ 78-79
C 70-77
D 60-69
F 59 and below
Content Warnings
If we will be reading and discussing material that addresses sensitive topics, I will do my best to let you know in advance. If there are certain specific topics you would like me to provide warnings about, please let me know. I will do my best to flag content based on your requests.
Technology Policy
Unless otherwise stated, no one is ever permitted to use a phone during class (this includes the instructor). If you need access to your phone during class for an emergency reason, please let me know prior to class, but even in such cases the phone must be put away. During certain class sessions, we may use computers or other technology. Please observe whatever rules are in place for that day's meeting.
Canvas and Course Website
This class will not make use of Canvas for many things. While I will use it to communicate with you and to post grades, nearly all of our work will happen inside the classroom. Much of our work will happen on paper. The course website will have important information about assignments and policies. Pay close attention to the course schedule as we move through the semester. I reserve the right to move things around on our schedule as necessary, but I will always tell you well in advance if I am making changes.
Email
Please pay close attention to your email for course announcements. If you email me on a weekday, I will respond within 24 hours. If you email during the weekend, you will likely not receive a response before Monday morning.
AI Statement*
For most assignments in this class, you will not be permitted to use AI technologies. In general, I would discourage you from using these tools at all. At the very least, I would encourage you to limit your use of them. When you do use AI in this class, you will be required to provide a detailed statement about why and how you used those tools.
We’ve all encountered poor AI outputs (often called AI Slop or "hallucinations"). Beyond AI's ineffectiveness for many tasks, it is important to recognize that AI use has significant social and environmental impacts. Avoiding unnecessary AI queries, generative AI (such as ChatGPT), and/or turning off AI-assist on search platforms (by typing “-ai” after a query) can help minimize environmental degradation, human exploitation, and improve your learning experiences.
Please consider the following before using AI:
*Portions of this section of the syllabus are taken from a statement written by the Rutgers AAUP-AFT Climate Justice Committee.
University policies and resources
Academic Integrity
My assumption is that any work you turn in for this course has been completed by you. Per the AI policy stated above, any use of LLMs or other AI technology must be documented in detail, explaining why and how you used it. If you ever have questions about AI use or about proper attribution or citation, please don't hesitate to ask.
Code of Conduct
Rutgers University-Camden seeks a community that is free from violence, threats, and intimidation; that is respectful of the rights, opportunities, and welfare of students, faculty, staff, and guests of the University; and that does not threaten the physical or mental health or safety of members of the University community and includes classroom space. As a student at the University, you are expected adhere to Student Code of Conduct: https://camden.rutgers.edu/deanofstudents/community-standards
Office of Disability Services
The Office of Disability Services (ODS) provides students with confidential accommodation services in order to allow students with documented physical, mental, and learning disabilities to successfully complete their course of study at Rutgers University – Camden. The ODS provides accommodation services, which can include readers, interpreters, alternate text, special equipment, and note takers. The ODS also works with students, faculty, staff and administrators to enforce the American with Disabilities Act of 1990. https://ods.rutgers.edu/
In Class: Course introduction, syllabus review, poetry discussion, brief introduction to "Is There a Text in This Class?" by Stanley Fish
Reading: "Is There a Text in This Class?" by Stanley Fish
In Class: No class meeting due to weather, complete written activity prior to 1/18 class (distributed via email)
Reading: Re-read "Is There a Text in This Class?" by Stanley Fish and complete activity
In Class: Lecture and discussion
Reading: What Language Is by John McWhorter (Introduction)
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of McWhorter
In Class: Guest Speaker - Professor Rich Epstein, student-led discussion of McWhorter
Reading: "How Many 'Rhetorics?'" by Wayne Booth
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of Booth
In Class: Student-led discussion of Booth
Reading:
In Class: Discussion and activity addressing the value of degrees in English and other humanities fields
Reading: "Learning the Uses of Chaos" by Anne E. Berthoff
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of Berthoff
In Class: Student-led discussion of Berthoff
Reading: "Foundations of Communication Theory" by Littlejohn, et. al.
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of Littlejohn et. al.
In Class: Guest Speaker - Professor Allison Page, student-led discussion of Littlejohn et. al.
Reading: Review readings and all other materials
In Class: Exam Review Session
Exam 1
Reading: Literary Analysis: The Basics by Celena Kusch (introduction), Severance through page 50
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of Kusch
Reading: Severance through page 100
In Class: Student-led discussion of Kusch
Reading: Severance through page 200
In Class: Discussion of novel and practice with literary analysis, led by Prof. Brown
Reading: Finish Severance
In Class: Discussion of text and practice with literary analysis, led by Prof. Brown
Reading: "Film Language and Elements of Style" from The Story of Movies
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of "Film Language and Elements of Style"
In Class: Student-led discussion of "Film Language and Elements of Style"
Reading: "Literary and Cultural Studies" by Jonathan Culler
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of Culler
In Class: Student-led discussion of Culler
Reading: "The Ecosystem of Story" by Jeff Vandermeer
In Class: Workshop to prepare discussion of Vandermeer and
In Class: Student-led discussion of Vandermeer
In Class: Prof. Brown leads discussion of Global Studies, Gender Studies, Digital Studies, and Africana Studies at Rutgers-Camden
Reading: Review readings and all other materials
In Class: Exam Review Session
Exam 2
Students will design and lead class sessions about our readings. We will have 8 student-led sessions, and each discussion is worth 5 points, for a total of 40 points. Students will be divided into teams, and grades are assigned to the entire team. At the end of the semester, students will provide a peer review of all members of their team, and that peer review is worth 10 points. Thus, the total point value of all these activities is 50 points (meaning that these activities account for half of your grade).
These student-led discussions are designed to create active learning situations for students. Learning is not the accumulation of facts or the "banking" of knowledge. It is a social process that happens best in communities. People tend to learn best in situations during which they can talk to one another and collaborate. Recognizing these facts is particularly important given that Large Language Models (LLMs), centralized corporate social media platforms, and online courses are increasingly discouraging these kinds of interactions.
This course is not a place where a professor delivers knowledge to students. It is a place where a professor works alongside students to build conversations about our readings and to design activities that allow the class to actively engage with ideas. There are times when the professor has to make decisions and guide the conversation, but there are also times where students in this class will do the guiding and even some of the teaching.
During a typical week, you will be assigned a reading. I will distribute paper copies of the reading the week before, and students are required to keep copies of those readings in the binder they have for this class. All students are responsible for reading each assigned reading prior to our Monday class meeting, annotating that reading and taking detailed notes. Remember that unit tests are open note, and you will only be able to consult your binder during tests. So, the work you do to prepare each week will help you develop materials that will be useful on those tests.
Our Monday class will begin with a very brief presentation from Dr. Brown (about 10-15 minutes) about the reading. Then the class will be move into a workshop format during which groups will plan Wednesday's class. You may use computers (but not phones) to do that planning. During our Wednesday class, we will conduct the discussion that we planned during Monday's workshop. The only computers permitted during the Wednesday class are those used to deliver slide presentations.
Students will be divided into four teams at the beginning of the semester, and those teams will remain the same throughout the course. For each reading, teams will be assigned a specific task, and you will work on that task during the Monday workshop. Groups will rotate amongst tasks each week.
There are four teams, each with distinct tasks for each reading. Teams should plan to develop materials that students can add to their binders.
Those tasks are as follows:
Summary and Analysis Team
This team is tasked with summarizing and analyzing the reading. This means developing a presentation and handout that will be delivered to the rest of the class at the beginning of our session. This team may need to do additional research about the reading and should aim to be as expert in the reading as possible.
This team may not use any AI/LLM tools at any stage of the process.
The Summary and Analysis team will want to answer questions such as (this list is not exhaustive):
Related Research Team
The pieces we read will cite other writing and will sometimes even directly link to other work. This team is responsible for following those links, citations, and footnotes and then providing some summaries of those sources. Like the Summary and Analysis team, they will deliver a slide presentation about their work and will develop a handout. This team will not be able to summarize every source cited or linked, so they will need to strategize which sources deserve the most attention.
The Related Research team will want to answer questions such as (this list is not exhaustive):
This team may use AI/LLM tools. However, if they choose to do so they will need to provide a written document that explains, in detail, which tools they used, why they chose to use them, and how they used them. That document must be no shorter than 350 words and in addition to this write-up must also provide detailed examples of how the tool was used (prompts and responses, any human edits made to the responses, etc.)
Activity Design Team
This team is tasked with designing an exercise or activity for our in-class session. During the Wednesday session, this group is in charge of ensuring that all students are involved, and they may design the activity however they see fit. This team's goal is to build an effective and useful way of engaging with the reading. The class session should be an active and engaged experience that makes good use our precious classroom time (we only get 2.5 hours per week to be together) as a learning space for all involved.
This team will have access to two texts as they consider the kinds of activities they might want to design: The Pocket Instructor: Writing and The Pocket Instructor: Literature.
This team may not use any AI/LLM tools at any stage of the process.
Discussion Facilitation and Test Questions Team
This team will be in charge of leading a discussion about the reading and with writing potential exam questions that they will then share with the class. Our unit exams will be comprised of short answer questions. These are questions that can be answered in 4-5 sentences, and they must go beyond reporting on the content of the reading.
This team will have to design questions that they think would be effective ways of getting students to demonstrate not only that they understand the reading but also that they are able to apply the concepts in the reading. Remember that tests in this course are open-note. This is why it is important that questions not merely asks students to explain the content of the reading. Our tests are not about memorizing content or explaining what we read. That kind of work happens in our notes or in the creation of handouts. Test questions will have to ask students to explain the significance of concepts, to compare arguments and ideas to one another, and to apply concepts and ideas described in the reading.
This team must develop at least 5 short answer questions related to the reading and then use those questions to lead a discussion. However, the team may develop more than five questions and should aim to develop as many questions as possible. Those questions will be shared with the rest of the class, and they will be potential questions on the unit test.
This team may use AI/LLM tools. However, if they choose to do so they will need to provide a written document that explains, in detail, which tools they used, why they chose to use them, and how they used them. That document must be no shorter than 350 words and in addition to this write-up must also provide detailed examples of how the tool was used (prompts and responses, any human edits made to the responses, etc.)
We will have two exams during which students can consult their notes. All notes and materials are to be kept in the binder devoted to this class. Each exam is worth 20 points. Exams are on readings, discussions, in-class activities, and anything else covered in class. Exams will be composed of student-written exam questions in addition to questions written by Professor Brown.
There is one extra credit opportunity in this class, and it is worth 5 points. That opportunity is participation in a reading group. Students wanting to participate must notify Professor Brown via email by February 4 and must obtain a copy of the book by February 11. Meetings will take place on six Wednesdays during the free period (11:20-12:20). The dates of meetings are:
February 18, March 4, March 25, April 1, April 15, April 29
In order to receive credit, students must attend 5 meetings, they must arrive with notes and/or annotations in the text, and they must be actively engaged in discussion. Because this is an extra credit opportunity, there are no "excused" absences. Students can miss one of the meetings, and they do not have to provide a reason for missing. However, anyone who misses more than one meeting for any reason will not receive credit.
The use of AI/LLM technology during reading, note-taking, and discussion is not allowed.
The group will discuss the book Enshittification by Cory Doctorow, and all participants must obtain a paper copy of the text (no ebooks).
The reading group discussion will be about the book itself, but it will also be a discussion of your experience of reading the book. When did you read? Where did you read? What was difficult, challenging, or rewarding about the experience? Given media reports about the struggles of many college students to read entire books, the goal of this reading group is to provide you with space to read a book start to finish and to reflect on the book as well as on your own capacity for the attention often required for this kind of activity.
Abdurraqib, Hanif. A Fortune for Your Disaster: Poems. Zando, 2019.
Berger, Chloe. “The Rise of the English Major: BlackRock COO Wants to Recruit Liberal Arts Analysts That ‘Have Nothing to Do with Finance or Technology.’” Fortune, https://fortune.com/2024/05/17/blackrock-coo-robert-goldstein-english-hi.... Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Berthoff, Ann E. The Making of Meaning : Metaphors, Models, and Maxims for Writing Teachers. Montclair, N.J. : Boynton/Cook Publishers, 1981.
Booth, Wayne C. The Rhetoric of Rhetoric: The quest for effective communication. John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1997.
Dickler, Jessica. “College Majors with the Best and Worst Job Prospects — Art History Beats Finance.” CNBC, 16 May 2025, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/college-majors-with-the-best-and-worst-e....
"Film Language and Elements of Style"
https://www.storyofmovies.org/
Fish, Stanley. “Is There a Text in This Class?” Critical Theory Since 1965, edited by Hazard Adams and Leroy Searle, University Press of Florida, 1986, pp. 525–533.
Hirshfield, Jane. Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry. HarperCollins, New York, NY 10022, 1997.
Humanities Graduates Can Find a Great Job. It’s Time to Make This Fact Known. https://release-2026-1-2--prod-mellon.netlify.app/voices/humanities-grad.... Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Kusch, Celena. Literary Analysis: The Basics. Routledge, 2016.
Littlejohn, Stephen, et al. Theories of Human Communication: 11th Edition. Waveland Press, 2011.
McWhorter, John. What Language is: And what it Isn't and what it Could be. Penguin, 2012.
VanderMeer, Jeff. Wonderbook: The illustrated guide to creating imaginative fiction. Abrams, 2022.
Scholes, Robert. "Who cares about the text?." Novel: A Forum on Fiction. Vol. 17. No. 2. Duke University Press, 1984.