4160 Advanced Writing
Paper, Bureaucracy, Archive
Dr. Kyle Jensen
Overview
Instructors of advanced writing courses typically present techniques that improve student prose. Because the work of writing is difficult, it makes sense for instructors to offer expert advice on how to make the process of student writing more proficient. In our advanced writing course, we will adopt a slightly different approach that exceeds the prevailing how-centered approach. Rather than allowing the question, "How can writing be learned" to drive the focus of our course, we will instead be focused on the question, "What is writing?" The question, "What is writing?" assumes that writing can be studied as a content area of humanistic inquiry rather than just a set of skills to be learned. By asking the question "What is writing?" first, we may adopt a much broader material, theoretical, and historical scope for our course and thereby explore topics relevant to the study of writing that exceed the question, "How can writing be learned?" Sometimes these excesses will help us think about how to improve our prose and sometimes they will not. Over the course of the semester, we will be attentive to how the material, theoretical, and material dimensions of writing help us to become better writers. But the value of this course is not tied solely to the improvement of our writing. We are primarily seeking explanations of how writing may be defined and studied in a manner that expands our understanding of what it means to be human.
Our study of writing will focus on the relationship between paper, bureaucracy, and archives. We will adopt this focus because the ubiquity of paper—combined with its seemingly endless capacity for knowledge creation, dissemination, and transformation—exposes the scope of writing as a content area of study. We will begin by studying the history of paper and explore how it gives form to our understanding of the phenomenon of writing. Once we have a firm grasp on this history, we will explore how complex bureaucratic systems use paper in order to organize human action. In studying the relationship between paper and bureaucracies, we will also examine how paper archives (which sometimes function as bureaucracies) create the conditions for the study of bureaucratic action. In each of these three topics, our goal will beto understand how the study of paper approaches the material, theoretical, and historical function of writing with greater rigor and scope. In the end, members of this course should have developed new methods for undertaking the study of writing, as well as demonstrate a new understanding of the complex ways that writing structures our lives.
Required Reading
On Paperby Nicholas Basbanes
Too Much to Knowby Ann Blair
The Demon of Writingby Ben Kafka
Paper Knowledge by Lisa Gitelman
Filesby Cornelia Visman
Paper Machinesby Markus Krajewski
Government of Paper by Matthew Hull
The Big Archiveby Sven Spieker
Attendance & Participation (10%)
You are allowed to miss no more than two classes this term before it begins to affect your grade. For every missed absence beyond two, you can expect to have a full letter grade deducted from your final grade. Participation consists of being active in class discussion and producing work consistently in your notebook.
Hupomnemata (15%)
In ancient Greece, hupomnemata were used as memoranda where one “entered quotations, fragments of works, examples, and actions to which one had been witness of or of which one had read the account, reflections or material memory of things read, heard, or thought, thus offering these as an accumulated treasure for rereading and later meditation. They also formed a raw material for the writing of more systematic treatises in which were given arguments and means by which to struggle against some defect . . . or to overcome some difficult circumstance” . . . “no technique, no professional skill can be acquired without exercise.”
—Michel Foucault, “On the Genealogy of Ethics”
Although I will offer specific directives on how to create and use this text throughout the term, generally I ask that students purchase a Moleskine notebook (or its off brand equivalent) and use it to copy crucial passages in the readings; raise questions about those readings for further discussion; catalogue popular artifacts that resonate with the course readings; and, sketch ideas for future papers. In effect, these notebooks should provide you a space to begin testing the initial arguments that you will elaborate in the artifact portfolio for this course.
Quizzes x5 (25%)
Quizzes will consist of a handful of concept identifications. I will discuss in class which concepts you need to learn in order to pass the quiz. I would encourage you to study as a group outside of class in order to adequately prepare for the exam.
Final Exam (25%)
The final exam will consist primarily of concept identification. It is a cumulative exam, which means that you will be responsible for knowing all the material we have discussed throughout the term. We will have a pre-test preparation session where you will be responsible for teaching a particular concept to your peers. As with the midterm, I would encourage you to study as a group outside of class in order to adequately prepare for the exam.
Final Project (25%)
Details forthcoming
Grading Policy
My policy is to leave final grade determinations open until the day grades are due to the university. This means that if you receive a grade that you would like to change, you may revise the assignment in order to earn a higher mark. The final project is, as the title indicates, final, but you may bring drafts of your project in during office hours to gauge the type of grade you might receive.
Attendance Policy
You may miss up to two classes unexcused during the semester. After two, you final course grade will be reduced one full letter grade.
Academic Honesty
For the UNT’s policy on academic honesty, please visit:
Drop Information
For information regarding UNT’s course drop policy, please visit: Concerns
Disability Concerns
The University of North Texas makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with disabilities. Students seeking accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify their eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide you with an accommodation letter to be delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion regarding your specific needs in a course. You may request accommodations at any time, however, ODA notices of accommodation should be provided as early as possible in the semester to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a new letter of accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to implementation in each class. For additional information see the Office of Disability Accommodation website at You may also contact them by phone at 940.565.4323.
Contact
If you have any questions or concerns, contact me via email at or stop by my office. My office is located 409G inthe Languages Building. My office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-11:30am. If those times do not work, I would be happy to arrange another time to meet provided that I do not have any existing commitments.
Our class meets on Thursdays from 3:30pm-6:20pm in Auditorium 212. This course will be meeting at various times in the library and/or other sites for special interest projects, so please contact me or one of your peers to ensure that you have the correct meeting place. If you are planning to be absent, please contact me via email.