Advanced Composition, Spring 2011

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[ Policies ] [ Calendar ] [ Model Essays ] [ Links ] [ Final Exam: Best Work from This Semester! ]

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Calendar
last update: April 17, 2011

- Class meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11:30am to 12:25pm in Burleson 303.

- Harvey = Nuts and Bolts of College Writing by M. Harvey

- BAM = Best American Magazine Writing 2010

- NW = Now Write! Nonfiction

Week 1 (Fri Jan 14)

Fri: Introductions; writing process.

Week 2 (MLK day, Wed Jan 19, Fri Jan 21)

Wed:

Bring a 1500 word draft of essay 1, narrative. As always, on draft days, bring two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for a writing workshop.

Browse "The Writing Center Guide to Writing Groups: Resources," materials posted by the Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/WritingGroups/index.html
Read "Responding to Other People's Writing" (www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/WritingGroups/respondtips.html) and "Reacting to Other People's Responses to Your Writing" (www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/WritingGroups/reactresp.html) at the UNC Writing Center website.

Read the following student essays:

- BUFFY THE DOG: A TALE OF SURVIVAL AND NOTHING MORE. By Trevor Rumsey. 3130 F10

- Caroline: The Girl Who Forgot to Breathe. By C. B. 3130 F10

- Exploring Atlantis: Mother and Son Bond While Traversing Santorini. By Jared Moffett. 3130 S07

- Surviving Your First Night at Bonnaroo: One Young Couple’s Odyssey. By S. W. 3130 F07

- The Wreck: On Stopping a Drunk Driver… By Caron Castle. 3130 S10

Fri:

Read Chapter 3, "Flow," in Harvey. In NW, skim section VI, "Voice, Dialogue, and Sound" p205-248. Choose an exercise from that section. Write it in your composition notebook. Give this notebook entry a title and a date.

Week 3 (Jan 24, 26, 28)

Mon: Revised essay 1, narrative, due. Bring your grammar handbook to class today.

Wed: Read the following:

- "36 Hours in Asheville, N. C." By Shaila Dewan. New York Times, Oct 21, 2010. www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/travel/24hours.html
- "The Bacon Explosion" ["Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog."] Food article and recipe, NY Times online, January 27, 2009
- "Learn More about Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining: Frequently Asked Questions." ilovemountains.org, Appalachian Voices, Boone NC. No date. www.ilovemountains.org/resources

Fri: Read the following student essays:

- A Beginner’s Guide to Plugs. By Courtney Blevins. 3130 F09

- Green Creamy Goodness: How to Make Guacamole Dip that is sure to be a Hit, by Kati Haj-Hussein. 3130 S08

- The Little Netbook That Can: The Asus EEE-PC 1005HAB. By Stuart Bowen. 3130 F10

Week 4 (Jan 31, Feb 2, 4)

Mon: Bring a 1500-wd draft of essay 2, tech writing.

Wed: Read the following:

- H. Melville, from Moby Dick, Chapter lxvii CUTTING IN; Chapter lxviii THE BLANKET

Fri: Read the following:

- Gay Talese, "Outlining: The Writer's Road Map," in NW p249-58.

- Wikipedia article: Outline, accessed March 2009

- Headings: Six Levels Deep, a page explaining how levels of headings are established in html, from Maricopa Community College, accessed March 2009

Week 5 (Feb 7, 9, 11)

Mon: Revised essay 2, tech writing, due. Bring your grammar handbook to class today.

Wed: Read the following:

- "Brain Candy:  Is Pop Culture Dumbing Us Down or Smartening Us Up? [The Critics: Books]", by Malcom Gladwell, The New Yorker May 16, 2005 [1800 words].  (Click here for the cached version.)

- "The Expanding Range of Mountaintop Removal Literature: Two New Books," by Kevin E. O'Donnell. Journal of Appalachian Studies 15, 1&2 (Spring & Fall 2009): p213-18.

- "Like Boiling a Frog" [review of The Wikipedia Revolution, by Andrew Lih]." By David Runciman. London Review of Books, May 28, 2009 (Vol. 31 No. 10), pages 14-16. 5011 words. www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n10/david-runciman/like-boiling-a-frog
- "One Stop a 'Super' Chicken Choice," by Fred Sauceman. Kingsport Times-News, January 29, 2004. 

Fri: Read the following:

- A Bloody Good Time: Reviewing the Movie Feast. By Chris Dykes. 3130 F09

- The Little Netbook That Can: The Asus EEE-PC 1005HAB. By Stuart Bowen. 3130 F10

- No Falling Short in “Nightfall”: A Fanboy’s Review of Blind Guardian’s “Nightfall in Middle Earth". By Will Wagner. 3130 F10

Week 6 (Feb 14, 16, 18)

Mon: Bring a 1500-wd draft of essay 3, review/ criticism.

Wed:

Read, in Harvey, Chaps 1 "Concision," 2 "Clarity," 5 "Gracefulness." Also read the following three essays in BAM: "There's a Sucker Born..." by Carson, p277-82; "War Games" by Erickson, p285-89; "Suburban Ghetto" by Dee, p290-306.

Also, optional readings (added for fun on Fri, Feb 11):

- "All Thumbs: Roger Ebert and the Decline of Film Criticism," by Larry Fahey. therumpus.net, October 15th, 2010. therumpus.net/2010/10/all-thumbs-roger-ebert-and-the-decline-of-film-criticism/

- "Steven Tyler Escapes From Idolatry ('American Idol' Embraces Steven Tyler)" [Arts & Leisure Preview], by Jon Caramanica. New York Times online, February 9, 2011. www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/arts/television/13idol.html

Fri: Read, in Harvey, Chaps 7 "Paragraphs," and 8 "Beginnings and Endings."

Week 7 (Feb 21, 23, 25)

Mon: Revised essay 3, review/ criticism, due. Bring your grammar handbook to class.

Wed: Read the following:

- "Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?," by Brock Read, The Chronicle of Higher Education 53, 10 (Oct 27, 2006): pA31 [4,000 words].  Click here for cached version. 

- "The Charms of Wikipedia," by Nicholson Baker. New York Review of Books 55, 4 (March 20, 2008). Click here for a cached version.

Fri: Wikipedia writing exercise due: Edit a wikipedia article, or write and post a new one. Then write me a concise memo, providing me the exact information I need to see what changes you made. Also read "Trial by Fire" by Grann in BAM, p359-407. In addition, bring Harvey's The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing to class, and be sure you've read the chapters assigned last week (chaps 1, 2, 5, 7, and 8).

Week 8 (Feb 28, March 2, 4)

Mon:

Reading response due: Review the following three blogs and evaluate the credibility of each. That is, assess how each uses its sources. Write a couple of paragraphs for each of the two blogs, in which you describe how you evaluate its credibility.

- climatedepot.com - A blog that "aims to redefine global warming reporting."

- climateprogress.org - "A liberal blog on the science, solutions, and politics of climate change."

- ihr.org - The website of the "Institute for Historical Review is an independent educational research and publishing center that works to promote peace, understanding and justice through greater public awareness of the past, and especially socially-politically relevant aspects of twentieth-century history."

Read ''Rachel Carson, Mass Murderer?: The creation of an anti-environmental myth.'' Aaron Swartz, ''Extra!'' [F.A.I.R.--Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting], September/October, 2007.

Wed:

Due: Find a good written source related to your essay 4 topic. Bring to class a complete citation of that source. Also, if the source is not available on the web, bring a printed copy to class.

Also, review the following student essays:

- A Blaze in the Northern Sky: A Black Metal Survival Guide. By Skregnok the Defiler of Sanity. 3130 S10
- Eyes, Intuition, and Intellect: Edward Weston. By Andy Frost. 3130 F09

- Kiss Me, I’m a Capricorn: The Astrology Epidemic. By Lindsey Farris. 3130 F10

Horoscopes are fun and flirty, but the pseudo-scientific beliefs they engender dally more with egotism and neurosis than with good, hearty knowledge.

- Lago Agrio: What an Oily Mess. By Jordan Barnette.

While BP has been very publicly ameliorating damages in the Gulf Coast, Texaco/Chevron has removed itself from a decades-old environmental catastrophe in Ecuador. The behavior of these companies starkly contrasts the other and provides a moralistic lens through which to view the actions of corporations in apparently similar situations.

- Types & Treatments of Diabetes Mellitus: Sugar Can Taste Bitter. By Bhavik Joshi. 1010 Summer 2008

SPRING BREAK! March 7-11

Week 9 (March 14, 16, 18)

Mon: Bring a 1500-wd draft of essay 4, academic writing--writing from sources.

Fri: Read "The Courthouse Ring: Atticus Finch and the limits of Southern liberalism" [Department: "Politics and Prose"], by Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, August 10, 2009. www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/10/090810fa_fact_gladwell

Week 10 (March 21, 23, 25)

Mon: Revised essay 4, academic writing--writing from sources, due.

Wed: Read the following two articles, in BAM:

- "Marc Dreier's Crime of Destiny," by Burrough, p69-97.

- "In Defense of Tourism," by Lindberg, p251-55.

Also read "Prologue: The Pickers," excerpt from The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family, by Jim Minick, Thomas Dunne Books, 2010, pages 3-5. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and click on the link to the pdf file: jim-minick.com/bby.html

Tonight!! 7pm, Rogers-Stout 118: Writer Jim Minick to speak about his book, The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family.

Fri: Read the following two articles, in BAM:

- "The Man Who Never Was," by Sager, p327-57.

- "Top Ten State Fair Joys," by Keillor, p319-25.

Week 11 (March 28, 30, April 1)

Mon: Bring a 1500-wd draft of essay 5, writing in the nonfiction genre of your choice.

Wed: Read the following two articles, in BAM:

- "The Last Abortion Doctor," by Richardson, p99-127.

- "Lead Us Not into Debt," by McArdle, p239-45.

Fri: Read the following two articles, in BAM:

- "Vanish," by Ratliff, p185-213.

- 3 collected obituary columns from The Economist, by Wroe, p309-17.

Week 12 (Apr 4, 6, 8)

Mon: Revised essay 5, writing in the nonfiction genre of your choice, due.

Wed:

- Due: Skim sections IV and V of NW (section IV: "Characterization" p151-80; section V: "Place" p181-204). Choose one writing activity, from either of those sections, that you think might contribute to a revision of one of the essays you've written for this course. Write a notebook entry based on that writing exercise. Be prepared to present and discuss in class today.

- Due: Table of contents of your class notebook due. For each entry, include: 1) page #s; 2) date and day of week; 3) title of entry; 4) approximate word count.

Fri: Due: Write a memo to me and your classmates, in which you propose which essay you would like to revise, for one third of the final grade in this course.

Week 13 (Apr 11, 13, 15)

Mon: Read the first two selections in BAM: "The Deadly Choices at Memorial," p3-44; and "Still Life," p45-68.

Wed: Pick an exercise from NW, which you think will help you with the revision you're working on. Write a notebook entry based on that writing exercise. Be prepared to present and discuss in class today.

Fri: Bring to class a photograph or other image related to your essay, for a writing exercise.

Week 14 (Apr 18, 20, Good Friday)

Mon: Structure exercise, in class. Bring a copy of the essay you're revising.

Wed: Read, in BAM, "Bacon: The Other White Heat," p247-48; excerpts from "For and Against Foreskin," p257-76

Fri: Paragraph workshop day.

Week 15 (Apr 25, 27, 29)

Mon: Read, in BAM, "And Yet . . ." by Albom, p445-58; "Raw Water" [fiction], by Wells Tower, p409-44.

Wed: Revised, best essay for the semester -- due. Bring a hard copy to class (no cover memos, please). Also, before the beginning of class, email me an electronic version, as an attachment. (MS Word format is best, but I can do business with most any format.)

Final exam period: Monday, May 2, 3:50-5:50pm.

Due: Bring take-home final exam to class. (Complete final exam instructions will be posted here before the last week of classes.)

Due: Also bring a xerox copy of your notebook table of contents.