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Composition, Summer I, 2012
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Calendar
last update: May 31, 2012
Notes:
- Be sure to bring your composition
notebook to every class period!
- Harvey = The Nuts and Bolts of
College Writing, by Michael Harvey
WEEK 1
Tues June 5 --
Introductions. Getting started. What makes good writing. Invention writing. Etc.
- "Girl
Meets Bluegill: How I (Nearly) Taught My Daughter to Love Fishing."
Bill Heavey. Field and Stream 2005.
Thur June 7 --
Draft of essay 1, narrative, due.
Bring at least 1200 words. Bring
two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for writing groups.
Read the following professional
articles:
- "The Healing
Season." By Selena Roberts. Sports Illustrated , September 01,
2008. sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1144559/index.htm
- "My bra’s too tight. Is
that cellulite on my biceps? I might be having a heart attack. And why does
everybody in here have a tattoo?” By
Paige Williams. O, the Oprah Magazine,
January 2010. www.paige-williams.com/stories/Bikram.pdf
- "Still Blue: Off the
shores of Costa Rica, scientists study a stronghold of whales that once hovered
near extinction." By Ken
Brower. Photographs by Flip Nicklin. National Geographic Magazine, March
2009. ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/blue-whales/brower-text
- "Top Ten State Fair Joys:
Be hypnotized! Gawk at cows! Indulge in fried Coca-Cola! By Garrison Keillor. National Geographic Magazine, July
2009. ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/07/state-fairs/keillor-text
Read the following student
essays:
- The
2007 Forced Road Trip: California to Tennessee. By Jennifer Brady. 3130 F11
- National
Novel Writing Month: How I Wrote 50,000 Words in 30 Days. By Rachel
Parsons. 3130 F11
- One
Little + Changed Our Lives Forever: A Teen’s Journey to Motherhood--When an
18-year-old girl finds out she is pregnant, she calls her cousin for support.
By Brittany Austin. 4057 S12
- Into
The Woods: Deer Hunting with My 5-Year Old Son in Southwest Virginia. By Bryan Winegar. 3130 S11
- The
Wreck: On Stopping a Drunk Driver…
By Caron Castle. 3130 S10
WEEK 2
Tues June 12 --
Essay 1, narrative, due.
Bring your grammar handbook to
class.
Read Harvey, chapter 1,
"Concision"
Read the following professional
articles:
- "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
- "Bacon: The Other White Heat."
You know bacon is delicious, but did you know it contains enough energy
to melt metal? By Theodore Gray. Popular Science, April 15, 2009. www.popsci.com/bacon
- "Beyond Cute Babies: How
To Make Money On YouTube." By
Tamara Keith. National Public
Radio--All Things Considered. April
11, 2011. www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2011/04/11/135316299/beyond-cute-babies-how-to-make-money-on-youtube
- "Deep Intellect: Inside
the mind of the octopus." By Sy
Montgomery. Orion Magazine,
November/December 2011. www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6474/
Browse the following:
- Wikipedia "Outline"
article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_(summary)
- Headings: Six Levels
Deep, a page explaining how levels of headings are established in html,
from Maricopa Community College, accessed March 2009
Thur June 14 --
Draft of essay 2, tech writing, due.
Read the following student
essays:
- Baby
Sign Language: The Secret Language of Success. By Vanessa Mink. 3130 Summer
11
- Beginning
Mountain Bike Racing in the TriCities TN/VA: Sweat and Gear without Fear.
By Natasha Snyder. 5057 S12
- Curls
Gone Wild: Tips for Dealing with Curly
Hair. By Ruthie Canter. 3130 F08
- Holy
Mothers of Sauce! An Introduction to the Fundamental Sauces of French and
Continental Cuisine. By T. P. Kaine. 3130 Summer 11
- What
a Deal!: How to Find Great Bargains While Shopping For Clothes At Retail
Stores. By Leslie Lipsius. 4057 S12
WEEK 3
Tues June 19 --
Essay 2, tech writing, due.
Read Harvey, chapter 2,
"Clarity," and chapter 3, "Flow"
Read the following professional
articles:
- "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].
- "The Charms of Wikipedia,"
by Nicholson Baker. New York Review
of Books 55, 4 (March 20, 2008).
Click here for a cached
version.
- "Lead Us Not Into
Debt: Finance guru Dave Ramsey wins
followers with a simple message: find God and lose your credit
cards." By Megan Mcardle. Atlantic Magazine, December 2009. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/12/lead-us-not-into-debt/7751/
- "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.
- "There's a Sucker Born
Every Minute." By Tom Carson. GQ Blog, Oct 29, 2009. www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2009/10/theres-a-sucker-born-every-minute.html
Thur June 21 --
Draft of essay 3, review/
criticism, due.
Read Harvey, chapter 7,
"Paragraphs"
Read the following student
essays:
- The
2011 Model 45 Caliber Ruger P345 Semi-Automatic Handgun: Now Lighter and Safer.
A Product Review. By Marcus Holcombe.
3130 F11
- A
Bloody Good Time: Reviewing the Movie Feast. By Chris Dykes. 3130 F09
- The
Cold Hard Truth: He’s Just Not That Into You. By A.B. Holland. 1010 S08
- The
Little Netbook That Can: The Asus EEE-PC 1005HAB. By Stuart Bowen. 3130 F10
- The
Real Temperance Brennan: Kathy Reichs and the Rise of Forensic Anthropology In
North America Through Her Fictional Counterpart. By Cheryl Lee. 2011 F11
WEEK 4
Tues June 26 --
Essay 3, review/ criticism, due.
Read Harvey, chapter 5,
"Gracefulness"
Read the following professional
articles:
- "Kanye West Has a Goblet:
An all-access, totally non-exclusive interview with the would-be king of hip-hop." By Jonah Weiner. Slate Magazine, Aug. 25, 2010. www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/08/kanye_west_has_a_goblet.html
- "Marc Dreier’s Crime of
Destiny." By Bryan Burrough. Vanity Fair, November 2009. www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2009/11/marc-dreier200911
- "Miss Manners And the Big
C." By Christopher Hitchens. Vanity Fair, December 2010. www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/12/hitchens-201012
- "A Nation of Scofflaws:
The end of law in America."
[Monthly Column: A Thousand Words about Our Culture.] By Stephen Marche. Esquire Magazine, May 30, 2012. www.esquire.com/features/thousand-words-on-culture/end-of-law-in-america-0612
Thur June 28 --
Draft of essay 4, nonfiction in
the genre of your choice, due.
Read the following student
essays:
- A
Blaze in the Northern Sky: A Black Metal Survival Guide. By Skregnok the Defiler of Sanity. 3130 S10
- 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.
WEEK 5
Tues July 3 --
Essay 4, nonfiction in the genre
of your choice, due.
Bring to class the essay you plan
to "re-revise" for Thursday.
Bring Harvey and your grammar
handbook to class.
Thur July 5 --
Before the beginning of the class
period, email me your "re-revision" of your best essay. Email it and all associated files as to me,
as attachment. I can do business with
just about any format, but I prefer ms word, html, or pdf files. If you have a question about formats, just
email me, or talk to me in class.
Bring your completed notebook,
along with a xerox copy of the complete table of contents, and xerox copies of
two representative entries.