Course Goals: The catalogue says we'll be doing an "[e]xamination of readings and creation of persuasive essays, research papers and critical analyses" as we plow through the semester. We will be doing all of this, but I think that underlying all of that is an exploration of a certain kind of writing -- researched writing. I'm making a distinction here between "researched writing" and writing "The Research Paper," because the latter is a uniquely academic genre, one that not many of you will use outside the college classroom. Researched writing, or writing based on research, however, no matter what form it takes -- essay, letter to the editor, business report, fiction or poetry, letter of compliment or complaint, memos to colleagues or even the research paper -- will be useful to you for the rest of your life in any situation you may find yourself. So, the goals for the course are centered on learning basic research skills, rather than on producing a certain type of essay or paper. In particular, we will focus on posing and refining interesting questions, problems and hypothesis; finding credible and useful sources; and evaluating the content of what we read. We will focus on writing as a process, so that you see the "finished' product as part of a continuing process of engagement with your ideas. We'll discuss the rhetoric of argumentation and evidence within your own process of researched writing, so that you can learn how to present your ideas powerfully and convincingly. Part of what this entails is developing a sense of audience reactions to your writing, enabling you to write with greater sensitivity to others. And, of course, we'll practice using the conventional spelling, punctuation, mechanics and documentation of formal, written discourse.

Course Description: I spent last summer studying in Kenya. Because I learned so much and developed an enthusiasm for the place and its literature, I've chosen to use my experiences and resources and some of the texts I encountered as the beginning of our reading and writing for the semester. I hope you'll find them stimulating; I hope they'll push all of us to new discoveries, not just about Kenya, but also about our country and ourselves.

The course is designed as a reading and writing workshop. We'll be doing a lot of reading, thinking and writing about Kenya from various perspectives. We'll be reading and commenting on each other's work and relying on each other's expertise as readers and writers as we move through the semester. We'll be sharing our writing with each other, commenting on what we read, and going beyond the classroom readings to research topics that we choose for ourselves. We'll be examining the works of other writers to see what makes them effective, to try to understand how and where they are most persuasive, how they develop and support an argument, how we can expand our own writing repertoire by observing and practicing what they do. We'll also be thinking and writing about our research and writing processes. How and why do you do what you do as a researcher and writer? What is effective in your process? Where do you "spin your wheels" or waste time and effort in your research and writing process? How can you learn more effective strategies and techniques for researching and writing?

Obviously, we're going to be asking a lot of questions of ourselves, of each other and of various texts. We're going to be examining our writing and reading lives. Most of our learning will be the result of sharing -- speaking, reading, responding to the thoughts of others. I'm looking forward to the experience.

 Ngugi wa Thiongo. A Grain of Wheat
----- Matigari
----- Moving the Center
----- The River Between
----- The Trial of Dedan Kimathi
----- Writers in Politics
Walker, Melissa. Writing Research Papers.

 Course Requirements:

1. Daily News Report -- Every day, someone will summarize the news from Kenya. I'll link us to The Daily Nation, the most influential paper published in Nairobi. We'll start class with a report on some aspect of current events in Kenya. We meet 48 times this semester. That means everybody will have to do this at least twice during the term. This requirement doesn't earn you any points, but not fulfilling it can drop your grade.
2. Three papers -- (at least three drafts of each. See schedule for due dates.)

1. A critical analysis of a literary text ( 4-5 pages) -- 15% of your grade.
2. An exploration of a topic using research (8-9 pages) -- 25% of your grade.
3. An attempt to persuade a reader to think about something your way (4-5 pages) -- 15% of your grade.