English
Morton College's English courses are designed to provide students with an appreciation of literature and strengthen critical thinking and writing skills that can help them succeed in their chosen professions.
Our dedicated faculty offers supportive instruction to a wide array of students that from students who need basic skills, to those seeking to pursue the study of English or other disciplines at four-year institutions.
In addition to developing career skills, English courses also provide an introduction to the literary arts to lifelong learners or any students seeking to enhance their educations through the study of literature or the practice of creative writing.
English Courses
ENG-070 Intensive Grammar and Editing
Students will improve their writing skills through the study of English grammar and editing techniques. The focus of this course will be grammar, usage, sentence analysis, paragraph development and revision. Students will develop editing skills and learn to apply such principles of grammar as verb use, subject-verb agreement and word order in writing. Prerequisite: English Placement Test.
ENG-071 Intensive Reading and Writing
Students will develop English reading comprehension and writing skills by learning how to analyze texts from a variety of academic contexts. Students will express their understanding of those texts in writing by learning how to paraphrase, summarize, review, define, describe and evaluate academic texts. Prerequisite: English Placement Test.
ENG-072 Intensive Academic Listening and Speaking
Students will develop listening comprehension and oral skills for the college classroom by learning how to identify and restate ideas, meaning and themes from oral discussion, tapes and lecture. Course participation will include group discussion, oral presentations, dictation and note-taking in English. Prerequisite: English Placement Test.
ENG-075 Intensive Grammar and Editing (Advanced)
Students will prepare for entrance into ENG 101 by reviewing and applying grammar and editing techniques taught in ENG 070. Emphasis will be placed on editing a variety of texts and student generated essays for grammar, usage, thesis, focus, organization and paragraph development. Students will improve their writing through multiple draft analysis and revision. Prerequisite: ENG 070 or qualifying score on English Placement Test.
ENG-076 Intensive Reading and Writing (Advanced)
Students will prepare for entrance into ENG 101 by reading and writing about a variety of texts from academic contexts. Emphasis will be placed on reading and responding to longer and more complex texts than those that were used in ENG 071. Students will demonstrate their advanced reading comprehension and writing skills through their articulation of those texts in discussion and in writing. Students will express their ideas, thoughts and opinions using various writing formats, including summary, review and exposition. Prerequisite: ENG 071 or qualifying score on English Placement Test.
ENG-077 Intensive Academic Listening and Speaking (Advanced)
Students will prepare for entrance into ENG 101 by developing advanced listening comprehension and oral skills for the college classroom through participation in oral presentations, classroom discussions and debates. Emphasis will be placed on college vocabulary development and pronunciation. Students will build on oral skills that were developed in ENG 072 to increase their ability to speak extemporaneously on a variety of academic topics. Prerequisite: ENG 072 or qualifying score on English Placement Test.
ENG-084 Reading and Writing II
Students develop their literacy skills by reading extended narratives and brief essays, and interacting with them in course discussion, group work and their own writing. Students write informal letters that summarize and respond to reading materials and also keep a reading journal. Successful students will become active readers with improved concentration and stamina. They will be able to construct readable and coherent multi-paragraph summaries of and responses to their reading. Lecture three hours per week. Prerequisite: English Placement Test or ENG 082.
ENG-086 Reading and Writing III
Students move toward college-level literacy skills by reading extended narratives and brief essays, and interacting with them in course discussion, group work and their own writing. Students write informal letters, essays that respond to readings and a reading journal. Successful students will become active readers who learn to question the texts they read. They will be able to construct readable and coherent multi-paragraph essays in response to their reading. Lecture three hours per week. Prerequisite: English Placement Test, ENG 084 or successful appeal after ENG 082.
ENG-088 Basic Composition
Students develop college-level literacy skills by writing expository essays based on personal experience and by reading, discussing and writing about issue-oriented nonfiction texts of various lengths. Successful students will gain the abilities to develop their own experience-based, well-structured and purposeful essays using clear, correct English and also to interact intelligently with another author’s ideas. Lecture three hours per week. Prerequisite: English Placement Test, ENG 086 or successful appeal after ENG 082 or 084.
ENG-101 Rhetoric I
Students develop the composition and interpretation skills they need to communicate, think and learn effectively in and beyond college. They use writing to explore the link between experience and language. They write to discover insights and to develop, question and revise their thoughts while seeking to communicate them effectively. Students read various genres of writing to practice interacting with other writers and to learn the variety of strategies writers employ to achieve their ends. To pass with a “C” or better, students must produce a portfolio that passes evaluation by English faculty at semester’s end. Lecture three hours per week. Prerequisite: English Placement Test, ENG 088 or successful appeal after ENG 082, 084 or 086. Note: All entering freshmen (first-time college enrollees) must earn at least a “C” in each of ENG 101 and ENG 102 for satisfactory completion of the IAI General Education Package and for graduation from the College in all university transfer degrees (A.A., A.S., and A.F.A.). This is a regulation of the IAI Steering Panel and endorsed by the Illinois Community College Board.
ENG-102 Rhetoric II
Students further develop the composition and comprehension skills they gained in Rhetoric I. The course focuses on writing as a means of learning to reason effectively. In the process of writing several brief essays and one 10-page research paper for the course, students learn to analyze arguments and to construct a complex argument that interweaves their own ideas with those of their sources. Students also learn basic textbased and electronic research methods and proper documentation procedures. Lecture three hours per week. Prerequisite:ENG 101.Note: All entering freshmen (first-time college enrollees) must earn at least a “C” in each of ENG 101 and ENG 102 for satisfactory completion of the IAI General Education Package and for graduation from the College in all university transfer degrees (A.A., A.S., and A.F.A.). This is a regulation of the IAI Steering Panel and endorsed by the Illinois Community College Board.
ENG-151 Creative Writing I, Fiction
Students in this course develop their creative writing skills through critical analysis of works by established authors, student writers, and through the execution of their own work. They learn to integrate narration, description, characterization, setting, plot and dialogue into their own works of fiction with an eye toward publication. Emphasis will be placed on critical analysis, the principles of fiction and the writing process. Lecture three hours per week. Prerequisite: Grade of C or better in English 101 or permission of instructor.
ENG-152 Creative Writing II, Non-Fiction
Students in this course will develop their creative writing skills through critical analysis of literary essays written by established and student writers, and through the execution of their own. They learn to integrate narration, description, portraiture, setting and dialogue into their own literary essays with an eye toward publication. Emphasis will be placed on critical analysis, the principles of narration and the writing process. Lecture three hours per week. Prerequisite: Grade of C or better in English 101 or permission of instructor.
ENG-211 Introduction to Literature
An introduction to the study and appreciation of fiction, poetry and drama. The main goal is to help students fully experience literature by developing an approach to determine literary meaning, form and value. This course applies to the IAI General Education Core Curriculum Fine Arts and Humanities package. Prerequisite: Credit or enrollment in ENG 101.
ENG-215 American Literature I
Studies selected works of major American pre-Civil War authors. The principal aim is to acquaint students with the best expression of the American experience and to enlarge their perspective of the American scene. Lecture three hours per week. This course applies to the IAI General Education Core Curriculum Fine Arts and Humanities package. Prerequisite: Credit or enrollment in ENG 102.
ENG-216 American Literature II
Studies selected works of major American authors since the Civil War. The principal aim is to acquaint students with the best expressions of the American experience and to enlarge their perspective of the American scene. Lecture three hours per week. This course applies to the IAI General Education Core Curriculum Fine Arts and Humanities package. Prerequisite: Credit or enrollment in ENG 102.
ENG-218 U.S. Latino/Hispanic Literature
Students examine various types of literary works that reflect the experience and construction of Latino ethnic and cultural identities in the United States. By studying works of U.S. Latino/Hispanic/Chicano literature, students explore both the particular and the universal: the struggle of writers within these ethnicities to establish voice and identity, as well as the place of these works in relation to other literatures in the United States. Lecture three hours per week.This course applies to the IAI General Education Core Curriculum Fine Arts and Humanities package. Prerequisite: Credit or enrollment in ENG 102.
ENG-219 African American Literature
Students read, analyze and discuss works in a variety of genres including folk literature, fiction, poetry, and drama by significant African-American writers from the eighteenth through the twentieth century. They study social, cultural, and historical contexts of works representative of literary movements, including the Harlem Renaissance, realism, naturalism, the Black Arts Movement, and postmodernism. Lecture three hours per week. This course applies to the IAI General Education Core Curriculum Fine Arts and Humanities package. Prerequisite: Credit or enrollment in ENG 101.