Engl
3130 Advanced Composition, Spring 2023
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Policies ] [ Calendar
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Student Essays ] [ Best
Essays from This Semester ]
Policies
last update: January 13, 2023
Dr.
Kevin O'Donnell, Professor of English, Department of Literature and Language
faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell;
odonnell@etsu.edu; office phone: 423-439-6679
Office:
Burleson 313. Office Hours: MW 12:50-1:45.
Class
meets MWF at 10:30-11:25am in Burleson 302.
-
Sid Holt, editor. The Best American Magazine Writing 2022. Columbia
University Press, 2022. ISBN: 978-0231208918.
List price: $18.95.
-
Steven Pinker. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to
Writing in the 21st Century. Penguin, 2015. ISBN: 978-0143127796. List price: $18.00.
-
A grammar handbook of your choice.
This
course requires a lot of writing, but you get to choose your own topics, and
the grading policy is very forgiving, so most students will have a good time in
this class. If this class works for you
the way that I hope it will, then writing will become a more enjoyable, less
intimidating process than it might have been for you in the past.
The
goal of the course is for you to develop your ability to write and revise
sustained, non-fiction prose for various audiences, in various genres. The
emphasis here is on clear, engaging writing. Our working assumption in this
class is that even the most humble nonfiction writing is a creative act.
The
course is built around revision and peer review. During the semester, you will
write five major essays of 5 to 8 pages each. For each of those essays, you will
first write a rough draft, which you will read aloud to two group members in
class; and you will in turn review rough drafts written by those two
classmates; then you will revise your draft and, a week later, submit it for a
grade.
In
addition to writing your own nonfiction, you will read some award-winning
nonfiction, in the magazine writing anthology listed above, and you will read
most of a book about writing by Steven Pinker, which is a fine piece of
nonfiction in its own right. And you will read some fine writing produced by
students in this class during previous semesters.
The
grading policy is built around revision. You drop your lowest of the five essay
grades. And, in the last weeks of the semester, you further revise your best
essay, to post it on the web. The final revision is worth 30% of the final
grade. The grading policy allows you the freedom to fail, and gives you the
chance to develop your writing skills over the semester, so that your final
grade can reflect your best work.
1.
Narrative Essay Based on Experience and Observation
2.
How to/ Tech writing
3.
Review/ Critique (of a movie, book, record, restaurant, computer game or
software or hardware, automobile, etc.)
4.
Viewpoint / Op-ed
5.
Nonfiction Genre of Your Choice (for
example travel writing, sports writing, food writing, profile, memoir; or,
students, if you have another genre in mind, propose it)
1.
Best 4 of 5 major essays -- The lowest of 5 grades is dropped, excluding Fs:
40%
2.
Your best essay revised for the web: 30%
3.
Drafts -- A draft is, by its nature, incomplete; but a good faith effort earns
up to 2 points for each draft. Total draft points: 10%
4.
Participation in draft workshops -- You earn up to 2 points for each workshop.
Total participation points: 10%
5.
Miscellaneous, ungraded short memos and other writings – These include in-class
writing practice; topic proposals; revision plans; etc: 10%
Week
1 Introductions; writing process;
invention
Weeks
2-3 Essay 1: Narrative Based on
Experience
Weeks
4-5 Essay 2: How-to/ Tech Writing
Weeks
6-7 Essay 3: Review/ Criticism
Week
8 Quoting and paraphrasing
Spring break: March 13-17
Weeks
9-10 Essay 4: Viewpoint / Writing
from Sources
Weeks
11-12 Essay 5: Genre of Your
Choice
Weeks
13-14 Revising for the web
Notes:
- First drafts and revised essays are due on Mondays of the week noted.
- First draft due days are also writing group days. Bring a total of 3
copies of your draft, and be prepared to read your draft out loud for your
group.
- For a detailed calendar with reading assignments and other
instructions, click on the Calendar link at the top of this page.
Week 1
Jan 18 and 20
Introductions:
Writing process; peer review process; revision.
Week 2
Jan 23-27
First
draft Essay 1: Narrative due -- Peer review.
Week 3
Jan 30-Feb 1
Revised
Essay 1: Narrative due.
Week 4
Feb 6-10
First
draft Essay 2: How To/ Tech Writing due -- Peer review
Week 5
Feb 13-17
Revised
Essay 2: How To/ Tech Writing due
Week 6
Feb 20-24
First
draft Essay 3: Review/ Critique due -- Peer review
Week 7
Feb 27-March 1
Revised
Essay 3: Review/ Critique due.
Week 8
March 6-10
Practice
quoting and paraphrasing.
Spring
break: March 14-18
Week 9
March 20-24
First
draft Essay 4: Viewpoint due -- Peer review
Week 10
March 27-29
Revised
Essay 4: Viewpoint due.
Week 11
Apr 3-5
Good Friday break:
Apr 7
First
draft Essay 5: Genre of your choice due -- Peer review
Week
12 Apr 10-12
Revised
Essay 5: Genre of your choice due. (Fri Apr 14 class meets at SASCOL
conference, on campus. Details to be announced.)
Week
13 Apr 17-21
Revision
activities.
Week
14 apr 24-26
Best
essay(s) revised for the web, due on Mon Apr 24.
1. The following Friday class meetings are cancelled
because of a scheduling issue: Feb 1, March 3, March 31, Apr 28.
2. In addition, Weds Jan 25 class is cancelled
because I will be traveling.
If
you ever have covid related symptoms, please do not attend class. Instead,
email me and let me know what's going on. You can miss up to 9 classes with no
penalty at all. The official Department of Lit
and Language attendance policy is that, if you miss more than 9, you fail
the course.