ENGL 183 - Detective and Mystery Fiction

Credits: 5
Presents a critical view of literary theories applied to the genre of mystery/detective texts. Students examine themes, conventions, and cultural assumptions expressed through classic or contemporary texts. Students then produce their own literary commentary on the social, cultural, political, psychological, etc. The commentary and texts may be in traditional or nontraditional form, including written, oral, visual, multimedia, etc.

Enrollment Requirement: Eligible for ENGL 99 or instructor consent.

Satisfies Requirement: Humanities/Fine Arts/English
Course Fee: $2.00

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

1. Identify principles of a variety of theories of literary criticism. (This may include but not be limited to formalist, deconstructionist, historical, biographical, reader-response, socio-economic, gender-based, cultural studies. postmodernism.)
2. Distinguish similarities and differences among the schools of literary critical theory.
3. Apply critical thinking skills to a variety of forms of expression in the mystery/detective genre.
4. Identify and/or evaluate the roles of elements of style and content in presenting central themes or ideas in specific texts in the mystery/detective genre.
5. Review one or more texts of critical analysis.
6. Produce examples of critical commentary on texts within the mystery/detective genre, one of which may demonstrate collaborative work.
7. Write responses to literature.
8. Critically reflect through participation.
Program Outcomes
Students will demonstrate college-level reading skills by summarizing, analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing, and evaluating college texts; and develop an awareness of the approaches writers use for different audiences, genres, and rhetorical situations.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.