Because of the nature of our entire faculty in English, most particularly the newer members of the department, there is intense study in the relationship between rhetorical and literary theory. We are able to offer a wide variety of course s of specific interest, such as courses in teaching community college English, working with basic writers, collaboration, and historiography. All SIUC PhD Students have a major and two minors. Usually, one of the minors is in a literary field, while the other is often collateral to the dissertation.
Minors thus range from scientific writing to language studies to gender studies.
Recent Graduates Tom Allbaugh. A Persistence of Rhetoric in Television Talk Culture , 1997. A Teacher Research Study of Student Writers Preparing for a Timed Essay Exam , 1998. The Influence of Gender on the Interpretation and Creation of Texts , 1998. The Impact of Language Arts on the Black Science Student in a Predominantly White University . 1993.