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Course Goals:
1) To develop a writing habit. 2) To practice several skills and techniques that are helpful in various stages of the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing. 3) To develop the ability to respond analytically and critically to the writing of others -- both peers and professionals. 4) To learn to accept and to respond in writing and through re-writing to others= comments about your work.
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Course Methods/Description:
The course is designed as an on-line writing/reading workshop. We will do a lot of writing and a lot of non-synchronous, on-line discussion of our own writing and of the writing of two or three published writers. We will consult various web sites for advice about different essay patterns and styles. In order to be a successful member of this class, you must be prepared to write daily, to comment thoughtfully on the writing of others and to accept and act on others= comments about your own work. Participation in all of these activities is required from all members of the course. If you opt not to participate in the writing, sharing, or responding, you will fail the class.
Writing is a craft we can learn. It is also a means of exploring ourselves, our relationships with others and with our world. Writing is a mind-expanding, exciting, risky business. Let=s all take up the challenge of living a writer's life this semester. It will be worth the effort!
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Required Texts and Other Expenses:
Fiffer, Sharon Sloan and Steve Fiffer. Family: American Writeres Remember Their Own. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
Jones, LeAlan. and Lloyd Newman, David Isay. John Brooks, Photographer. Our America: Life and Death on the South Side. New York: Scribner, 1997.
Other on-line texts to be assigned later.
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Course Requirements:
Essays: At the end of the semester, you will submit, through the mail, four polished essays to the instructor. During the course of the semester, two drafts of each of these four essays will be submitted to the instructor on line on the dates indicated on the calendar. The specific requirements for each essay are indicated under Papers. When you post your paper, you should also post some comments about the writing issues you've been dealing with as you wrote the paper. Under Resources you'll find some suggestions for this kind of writing. I like to call kind of reflection a ``Writer's Note" or ``Comments on the Draft." This is absolutely essential reflection, not only for you, but for your peers, who will need your comments in order to advise you about your writing.
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Exercises: Each week you should spend at least one hour working with the exercises I've designed to help you move through various stages of the writing process -- pre-writing, drafting, researching, revising, editing. Early in the semester, the pre-writing exercises will be more useful for you. After you've got some ideas on paper, you should move into the drafting exercises. Then, when you're feeling fairly comfortable with your draft, move on to the revision exercises. Finally, when you feel the content of the essay is where you want it to be, move to the editing exercises and polish your essay in terms of grammar, punctuation, formatting. etc. You must post at least one entry a week and at least one entry for each exercise over the course of the semester for a total of 15 entries. You might do the exercises more than once. For example, you might do the pre-writing exercises for each new piece you start. You might find a couple of drafting or revising exercises that really work for you, and you'll want to go back to them for each draft. Use the exercises to your advantage. However, let me repeat, you must submit at least one entry a week and one entry for each exercise by the end of the semester.
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Responding: As we post our papers to the forum sites, you'll need to respond to two or three of your classmates' essays. Guidelines and suggestions for responses are posted under Resources.
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On-line Discussion of the texts:
I will post discussion questions seven times during the semester. These questions will deal with the assigned reading. You should take some time to respond to my questions and to come back to the forum and respond to your classmates' comments. The forum questions are designed to provoke your thoughts about the writer's philosophy of writing and writing techniques. You should always try to utilize the information gained from the forum when you are working on the drafts and the exercises.
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Midterm and End of the Semester Learning Letters:
The questions I'd like you to respond to are posted under Resources. These are private correspondences between you and me. Send them to my personal e-mail account.
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Evaluation:
Final Packet of Four Drafts: 15%
8 Drafts -- two for each paper requirement: 48% total or 6% each
16 Responses to peer drafts -- two
responses to each draft: 16% total or 1% each
Discussion Forum: 14% total or 2% each session
Learning Letters: 7% total or 3.5% each
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