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Dr. Denise Landrum-Geyer

Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Associate Professor, Department of Language & Literature
Writing Center Coordinator

Descriptions of Courses Taught

Southwestern Oklahoma State University (Assistant Professor), August 2010-present.
General Studies 1001: Freshman Orientation (Fall 2013; Fall 2014).
This course is required of all first-time first-year students when they enroll in Southwestern Oklahoma
State University. The course introduces students to important topics, such as time and money
management and study skills, and it is designed to make them more aware of campus surroundings and
encourage social interactions. The course has a common syllabus, though instructors can modify
content as they see fit. In addition, the course is co-taught with at least one Orientation Leader, an
advanced undergraduate student who is trained to facilitate sessions with the instructor.
General Studies 1441: College Success (Fall 2016).
This course is required of students who are either put on academic probation by the university or who
are deemed at risk in some way; the course is open to other students who choose to enroll for a credit
hour as well. The course works to give students the skills they need to do well in college, academically,
socially, emotionally, and financially. Topics covered include time, money, and stress management;
study skills; university policies; diversity; student life; and health and wellness, among others. The
course has a common syllabus and assignments, which have been created through the Office of
Retention and Advising, though instructors can modify content as they see fit.
English 0123: Fundamentals of English (Fall 2011; Fall 2012; Fall 2013).
This course is designed to help students prepare for college writing situations, including Composition I
& II. The course focuses on popular writing conventions in order to help students feel more comfortable
in a variety of writing situations. Class sessions utilize a variety of activities, including discussions of
effective writing and reading strategies over the course of the semester; exercises dealing with language
and grammar; reading news articles closely; spending time becoming more comfortable in digital
environments; and composing texts in a variety of genres. The semester develops in a Words
SentencesParagraphsEssaysDiscourse sequence.
English 1113: College Composition I (Fall 2010; Spring 2011; Fall 2012; Summer 2013online;
Fall 2014online and face-to-face; Fall 2015; Fall 2016).
This first-semester composition course focuses on introducing students to rhetorically appropriate ways
of writing about themselves as well as constructing essays that analyze and critique other texts through
close reading. In addition, students reflect on their own writing habits in order to make their composing
processes more efficient and to help them recognize their own strengths and weaknesses as writers, both
at global content levels and local, sentence-level grammatical levels. Assignments include a personal
essay, profile essay, rhetorical analysis, opinion, or op-ed, text, an in-class essay exam, and an end-ofsemester writing reflection and revision of an earlier major project that can include multimodal
components.
English 1213: College Composition II (Fall 2010; Spring 2011; Spring 2012; Spring 2013; Spring
2014; Spring 2015; Spring 2016Honors section).
This second-semester composition course builds upon the skills students learned in English 1113, as
they continue to develop effective writing habits and strategies, including paying attention to grammar
concerns. In addition, this class focuses on developing good research habits (for both primary and
secondary research), integrating outside research into texts, and constructing sound academic
arguments. Assignments in this course include composing a place ethnography, conducting an interview

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and submitting a write-up of the experience, developing an annotated bibliography and position
statement, constructing an academic argument based on research from the annotated bibliography and
position statement, and composing and end-of-semester writing reflection and the significant revision of
an earlier major project for a new audience and purpose.
English 3663: Creative Nonfiction I (Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016independent
studies).
This writing-intensive workshop course focuses on the production of nonfiction text as well as the
analysis of published nonfiction pieces. The course focuses on popular nonfiction genres: personal
essays, literary journalism, lyric essays, and craft essays. In addition, the student crafts and develops a
professional online writing persona through an online blog and presence on social media platforms such
as Twitter and LinkedIn. The intersection between creative nonfiction writing and digital texts is also
emphasized in discussions and written responses (description adapted from course catalog information).
English 4003: Writing the E-book (Spring 2013independent study).
This writing-intensive course has a two-pronged focus: part of the workload is devoted to the
development of a novel while the rest of the workload focuses on learning about and exploring online
publication options for authors, including e-book options and other online venues for authors to
establish and develop a professional persona. By the end of the semester, the student has a finished draft
of her novel as well as an e-publishing analysis of 3 different e-publishing platforms. The student also
develops an online professional persona through ongoing use of social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn,
and a blog devoted to her writing work.
English 4013: Seminar in Peer Tutoring (Fall 2012; Spring 2013; Fall 2013; Spring 2014; Fall
2014; Spring 2015; Fall 2015; Spring 2016; Fall 2016).
This upper-level seminar course focuses on training potential peer tutors to work in the campus
Writing Center. The course divides its time between reading theoretical and practical texts focused on
college-level writing center work and applying those readings through a tutoring practicum in which
students observe writing center consultations and then conduct their own tutoring sessions. Students in
this course also compose a variety of assignments, including a Case Study of Yourself as a Writer, in
which they reflect upon and explain their own writing processes; a reflective text focused on their
experiences observing and tutoring in the writing center; a series of reading responses; and a final
project, which the student designs to demonstrate their understand of popular writing center theories
and practices.
English 4453: Advanced Composition (Fall 2016)
This writing-intensive course will focus on an introduction to rhetoric, with special emphasis on
developing rhetorical analysis skills and terminology. Major projects include creating a handout on a
rhetorical term for classmates, composing a rhetorical analysis of a written text, composing a rhetorical
analysis of a visual text or creating a visual argument, and reflecting on the writers own rhetorical
strategies and techniques in a reflective project. Weekly reflective responses and informal writing are
also a significant part of the class, as is large and small group discussion.
English 4653: Writing for Multimedia (Spring 2013independent study)
This writing-intensive course focuses on practicing professional writing genres for a variety of media,
with an emphasis on writing for web-based genres (blogs, websites, podcasting, slideshows, etc.). By the
end of the semester, the student creates a feature story written for a web audience, a podcast and/or
slideshow to accompany the feature story, and a professional website and blog focused on establishing a
professional presence as a web-based writer. Readings and discussion focus on writing text for webbased (and mobile) audiences, the interaction between other design elements & text, and web-based
editing techniques.

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English 4663: Creative Nonfiction II (Spring 2012; Summer 2015independent study; Spring
2016independent study ).
This upper-level creative writing course is designed around the theme Essaying in the Twenty-First
Century, and is structured using a contract-grading system. Over the span of the semester, we discuss
four different genres currently popular in creative nonfiction writing: flash nonfiction, lyric essays,
digital essays, and craft essays. Students compile a portfolio of pieces, which they turn in at the end of
the semester after workshopping drafts throughout the term. Other projects include discussion launches
(in which one or two students lead discussion on an assigned reading), publication presentations (which
require students to research and present one nonfiction-related publication or writing contest
opportunity to classmates), peer response feedback sessions, and keeping a commonplace book over the
course of the semester. Course goals include developing conventional nonfiction techniques (such as
constructing scenes and dialogue exchanges) while also encouraging students to experiment with the
ways in which the style of a text influences its content. Other goals include developing a professional
writing persona via class discussions and feedback sessions as well as practicing close reading skills on
unconventional essays from the anthology The Next American Essay.
Literature 2333: Intro to Film (Fall 2015; Spring 2016; Fall 2016all sections taught online).
This general education course, which fulfills the universitys humanities requirement, offers a general
introduction to the film industry, film terminology, and film studies as a field, with a special emphasis on
American cinema. The course moves from early Hollywood history into various genres of films, and
ends with discussions of filmmaking in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Assignments include
regular weekly discussion boards, 5 movie reviews, 2 essays (a cultural analysis and a genre analysis),
and 3 multiple choice exams. Course goals include helping students learn and use film terminology
when watching films critically, better understanding how the film industry is situated within American
cultural history, developing critical thinking and analytical skills, and learning how to write about film
for both popular and academic audiences.