Engl
3130 Advanced Composition, Fall 2017
[ Policies ]
[ Calendar ] [ Model
Student Essays ] [ Final
Exam Instructions / Best Student Writing This Semester ]
Calendar
last update: December 4, 2017
Class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from
3:10 to 4:30pm in Burleson 301.
BAM = Best American Magazine
Writing 2016
SS = The Sense of Style: The Thinking
Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, by Steven Pinker
Week
1
Monday
Aug 28:
Introductions. Writing
tools and processes. What makes good writing.
Wednesday
Aug 30:
-
In BAM, read "The Friend," by Matthew Teague, p 277-295. Bring BAM to
class, and be prepared to discuss the essay.
-
Browse the narrative student essays on the "Model
Student Essays" page.
-
Browse the UNC-Chapel Hill Writing Center Handouts on Writing Groups: writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/writing-groups/.
Read "Responding to Other People's Writing"--writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/writing-groups/responding-to-other-peoples-writing/--
and read "Reacting to Other People's Responses to Your
Writing"-- writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/writing-groups/reacting-to-other-peoples-responses-to-your-writing/--at
the UNC Writing Center website.
Week
2
Monday
Sep 4: Class cancelled for Labor Day.
Wednesday
Sep 6:
- Click here for an
ms word version of a writing response sheet: http://faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/WritingResponseWorksheet.docx.
Print two copies of the sheet and bring those to class.
-
1500 word rough draft of essay 1, narrative, due. As always, on
draft days, bring two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for a writing
workshop.
Week
3
Monday
Sep 11:
-
Essay 1, revised, due for a grade. Also bring to class the
rough draft, to submit along with the revised essay.
-
Bring your grammar handbook to class today.
-
Browse the tech writing student essays on the "Model
Student Essays" page. Read the following:
- Bare
to Brilliant in Thirty Minutes: a Makeup Tutorial for the Cosmetically
Challenged. By Kylie Hensley. 3130 F15
- A
Five-Day Guide to Climbing in the High Country of North Carolina, by Andrew
Miller, 3130 S17
At
the following Amazon.com website, browse the table of contents and read the
introduction for Word 2013 for Dummies: www.amazon.com/Word-2013-Dummies-Dan-Gookin/dp/1118491238/
Wednesday
Sep 13:
-
Read the following professional examples of tech writing, online:
- "36 Hours in Asheville, N. C."
By Shaila Dewan. New York Times, Oct 13, 2016. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/10/travel/what-to-do-36-hours-in-asheville-north-carolina.html
- "The Bacon Explosion: Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog." Food article
and recipe, New York Times online, January 27, 2009. www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html
-
In BAM, read the first 4 sections of "What Is Code?" by Paul Ford,
p9-36.
Week
4
Monday
Sep 18:
-
1500 word rough draft of essay 2, tech writing, due. As
always, on draft days, bring two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for a
writing workshop.
Wednesday
Sep 20:
-
In SS, read "Prologue" p1-9, and "Chapter 1: Good Writing"
p11-26.
-
In BAM, read sections 5 through 7 of "What is Code?" by Paul Ford,
p36-60.
-
On Youtube, view "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." By Hank Green and the
youtube channel SciShow. Published on August 7, 2012. Running time: 3:22. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh6lkv1udb0
Week
5
Monday
Sep 25:
-
Essay 2, revised, due for a grade. Also bring to class the
rough draft, to submit along with the revised essay.
-
Bring your grammar handbook to class today.
-
Browse the review/ criticism student essays on the "Model
Student Essays" page.
-
Read, here online, "Steven Pinker’s ‘The Sense of Style’" [book
review]. By Charles McGrath. The New York Times Sunday Book Review,
October 17, 2014. www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/books/review/steven-pinker-the-sense-of-style-review.html
Wednesday
Sep 27:
-
In SS, read "Chapter 3: The Curse of Knowledge--the main cause of
incomprehensible prose is the difficulty of imagining what it's like for
someone else not to know something that you know," p57-76.
-
In BAM, read "Down for the Count," by Howard Bryant, p269-271; and
read "Stop Sending Me Jonathan Franzen Novels" by Barrett Brown,
p258-266.
-
Read the following professional examples of review/ criticism, online:
- "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/
- "One Stop: A 'Super' Chicken
Choice," by Fred Sauceman. Kingsport Times-News, January 29,
2004. Cached at faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/one_stop_chicken.htm
Week
6
Monday
Oct 2:
-
1500 word rough draft of essay 3, review/ criticism, due. As
always, on draft days, bring two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for a
writing workshop.
Wednesday
Oct 4:
-
Read the following, online: "Steven Pinker’s Bad Grammar." By Nathan
Heller. The New Yorker, November 3, 2014. www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/steven-pinkers-bad-grammar
-
Read the following review essays, written by students for this class:
- Dawes’
Most Dawes Record Yet: A Review of All Your Favorite Bands, by
Kayla Hensley, 3130 S16
- Defying
the Stereotypes: Taking a Chance on a Morrissey Concert (July 2015 – At the
Ryman Auditorium), by Emma Owens, 3130 S17
- Eastwood's Sully:
Investigations of a Pilot's Forced River Landing, by Terri Cornett, 3130
S17
Week
7
Monday
Oct 9:
-
Essay 3, revised, due for a grade. Also bring to class the
rough draft, to submit along with the revised essay.
-
Bring your grammar handbook to class today.
-
Browse the academic student essays on the "Model
Student Essays" page. Read the following:
- Attention
Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder: One Parent’s Battle to Understanding the
Disorder. By Kim Rigsby. 3130 F15
- The
Woman Behind the Curtain: A Look at the Life of Mildred Benson, original author
of the Nancy Drew series. By Scottie Garber. 3130 F15
-
Online, read "The Answer Man: An ancient poem was rediscovered—and
the world swerved." By Stephen Greenblatt. The New Yorker,
August 8, 2011. www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_greenblatt
Wednesday
Oct 11:
-
Read, here online, "MLA Eight Edition: What's New and Different," at
the Purdue University Online Writing Lab website, last updated August,
2016: owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/22/
-
In BAM, read "The Really Big One," by Kathryn Schulz, p183-200.
Due: Topic proposal
for essay 4, academic writing. Write a memo to me and your classmates,
proposing a topic. (For the purposes of this assignment, academic writing is
writing that draws from, and otherwise meaningfully engages with, two or more
substantial written sources.) Consider the following guidelines:
1.
Include a generous working title (including a subtitle after the colon).
2.
Describe why you are interested in the topic, and why you are qualified to
write about it.
3.
If you are choosing, for this essay, to revisit a topic about which you've
already written: describe the previous writing you've done on this same
topic.
4.
Also, include at least one complete, formal citation for one good written
source that you plan to use for your essay. Write an annotation for that source
-- that is, a short paragraph describing the source and how you think it will
be useful for your essay.
Week
8
Monday
Oct 16: FALL BREAK. No class.
Wednesday
Oct 18:
-
Wikipedia writing exercise due: Edit a wikipedia
article. Then write a concise memo, addressed to me, and to your
Engl 3130 classmates, providing the exact information a reader would need in
order to see what changes you made to the article.
Week
9
Monday
Oct 23:
-
Draft of essay 4, writing from sources, due. As
always, on draft days, bring two extra copies (a total of 3 copies) for a
writing workshop.
Wednesday
Oct 25:
-
Bring a copy of your most recent version of you academic essay draft, printed
ONE SIDED, for a workshop in organization.
Week
10
Monday
Oct 30: Revision of essay 4 due.
-
Bring Best American Magazine Writing 2016
to class.
Wednesday
Nov 1:
-
Read, online: "Rachel Carson Didn’t Kill Millions of Africans:
How the 50-year-old campaign against Silent Spring still distorts environmental
debates." By William Souder. Slate: the online magazine,
Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/silent_spring_turns_50_biographer_william_souder_clears_up_myths_about_rachel_carson_.html
Week
11
Monday
Nov 8: Draft of essay 5 due.
Wednesday
Nov 10:
-
In BAM, read "Purgatory" by Luke Mogelson, p155-180.
Week
12
Monday
Nov 13: Revision of essay 5 due.
Wednesday
Nov 15:
-
In BAM, read "'My Nurses Are Dead, and I Don't Know If I'm Already
Infected'" by Joshua Hammer, p127-154.
Week
13
Monday
Nov 20:
-
In BAM, read "Pregnant? Scared? Need Options? Too Bad" by Meaghan
Winter, p111-124; read "How it Feels" by Jenny Zhang, p297-310.
-
Revision plan due: Write a memo to me and your classmates, in which
you discuss your plans for revising your best essay. Which essay do you plan to
revise? What is its title? Describe the piece. Why are you choosing to revise
it? What qualities does this essay have, which will lead it to find a genuine
audience on the internet? What specific revisions do you plan to make, so that
the essay will be ready to send out into the world?
Wednesday
Nov 22: Class cancelled for THANKSGIVING!
Week
14 --
This week, bring to class a copy of the essay that you are revising.
Monday
Nov 27: - In BAM, read "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" by Armstrong
and Miller, p203-240.
Wednesday
Nov 29: - In BAM, read "Introduction: Going Native: An Eight-Minute
Read" by Roger Hodge, p.ix-xv; read Howard Bryant columns, p269-275.
Week
15
Monday
Dec 4
In
class today we'll discuss all the logistics of the revised essay submission and
the final exam.
Wednesday
Dec 6:
Revision
of your best essay is due. Bring a
printed copy to class. Also, email me an
electronic version. A microsoft word
file is fine. A pdf file is best. In the electronic version, include your ETSU
email address at the top of the essay, with your name. Also, in your email include 5 "index
terms," key words or phrases that would make good search terms for your
essay.
Final
exam period: Wednesday Dec 13, 10:30am-12:30pm