There are three different sophomore-level courses that English department assistant instructors usually find themselves eligible to teach: E314J Literature Across the Curriculum, E314L Introduction to Literary Studies, and E314V Introduction to Literature and Culture. Qualified assistant instructors also sometimes teach E318M Introduction to the English Language (which requires a strong background in language and linguistics) and, occasionally, E318L Introduction to Creative Writing; the latter course, however, is almost exclusively taught by faculty.

E314L and E314V courses, which we offer in several different variants, serve as gateways to the English major and are, in fact, among the very few courses required of English majors. (Majors may fulfill the requirement by taking either E314L or E314V). By contrast, E314 J targets non-majors and has a somewhat different set of aims. E314J also exists in multiple versions (and we encourage ideas for new variants). All E314 and E318 classes contains what the university calls a "substantial writing component," which will have important implications both for how you conceive and organize your course and for the course-proposal procedure that you must follow.