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College of Arts & Sciences

Primary Texts Minor

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Amy Sneegas

Assistant, Department of Humanities & University Ministry

Intellectual Flexibility

About

Make connections across time periods and locations. 

The primary texts minor gives students an opportunity to encounter significant writers and thinkers by emphasizing original works rather than textbooks. Interdisciplinary in nature, the minor encourages students to read primary texts from a range of disciplines and perspectives.

This minor also focuses on helping students become careful, analytical readers who can arrive at sophisticated interpretations of texts in addition to formulating their own thoughtful and well-reasoned views in response to what they have read.

Program Objectives

  • Accurately read primary texts from a variety of genres, time periods, locations, and disciplines
  • Offer careful, analytical textual interpretations that recognize the significance of factors such as word choice and syntax, genre and form, symbol and theme, and a work’s historical and social context
  • Recognize the similarities and differences between primary texts and make connections between individual texts and their broader cultural contexts
  • Respond to primary texts with mature, independent judgments that demonstrate strong critical thinking in written and oral forms
  • Develop curiosity and a commitment to lifelong learning through intensive exposure to challenging original texts

Primary Texts Course Work

Meet the Faculty

Joanne Janssen

Dr. Joanne Nystrom Janssen
Associate Professor of English
B.A. Bethel University, M.A. Ball State University, Ph.D. University of Iowa
Expertise: British literature, 19th-century literature and culture, periodical culture, postcolonial and world literature
Office: Case 305B
785.594.8394
joanne.janssen@bakerU.edu

Meet the Faculty

Dr. Joanne Nystrom Janssen

Professor of English

B.A. Bethel University, M.A. Ball State University, Ph.D. University of Iowa

Expertise: British literature, 19th century literature and culture, periodical culture, postcolonial and world literature

Office: Case 305C

Outside picture of Parmenter Hall and Harter Plaza

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