English 430 - 01– Special Topics in Professional Writing

Telling the Tale - Syllabus

Spring 2010 T: 4:00 - 620

Professor Perry Glasser

Office: MH 228

X 7032

Catalog Description

ENG 430 Special Topics in Professional Writing 3 credits DI

This seminar will focus on a genre or skill for professional writers preparing literary material for print or electronic media. Limited to English Majors and Minors, or with approval by the Department.

Prerequisites: Six credits in English beyond ENG 102 and junior standing. May be repeated for credit once.

Time Commitment: Expect to devote 8 – 10 hours/week to this class.

Goals and Objectives

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Perry Glasser, Spring 2010

Goals

To learn that storytelling and writing requireconceptual approaches that go beyond the keyboard.

To learn that storytelling is requires critical thinking and self-assessment.

To learn how genres employ archetypes and tropes.

To learn how archetypes conveysocial and psychological meanings.

To learn the craft of storytelling.

To present clearly and vividly in a variety of forms.


Objectives

Read and view several forms of storytelling..

Analyze the tropes of that genre.

Engage exercises for

  • Scene and narrative
  • Characterization
  • Dialogue that advances story and illuminates character
  • Principles of inclusion and exclusion of detail

Create 1- 2 page précis of a project.

Create the beginning of that project..

Workshop student work.

Revise to incorporate peer editing into revision.

Confer with me at least once each month.

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Perry Glasser, Spring 2010

Policies:This syllabus/plan is subject to change with the needs of the instructor (that's me) and the students (that's you). Let's be flexible. Since the nature of many assignments will depend on the total registration, expect some variations from this printed plan. College policies supercede any implied or direct conditions of this syllabus.

Special Provisions:Salem State College is committed to providing equal access to the educational experience for all students in compliance with Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act and The Americans with Disabilities Act. Any student who has a documented disability requiring an accommodation, aid or adjustment should speak with me privately. Students with Disabilities who have not previously done so should provide documentation to and schedule an appointment with the Office for Students with Disabilities and obtain appropriate services.

English Dept Mission:

Profound literacy is the hallmark of a liberal education. To that end, English department courses involve instruction and study in literature and writing, the emphasis varying according to course content. Through intensive reading and analysis, students develop a critical appreciation of literature written in disparate times and places. Through expository writing, students learn techniques for conducting research and for drafting and revising analytic and persuasive essays based on critical reading. In creative writing, students develop an aesthetic through practicing the craft of various genres. The English department prepares students for professional and academic leadership including careers in teaching and writing.

Attendance:

Absent students miss significant work that cannot be made up. Make every effort to inform me and your classmates of an unavoidable absence in advance.

  • Three or more cuts will trigger a letter grade reduction of your final grade.
  • Lateness by more than 15 minutes constitutes a full absence.
  • Four absences mandate failure.
  • Extensions of due dates cannotbe granted retroactively.
  • If your cell phone rings while class is in session, you will be fed to starving spiders.

Appeals of these criteria will require documented reasons for absence. By the end of the 2ndclass meeting, every student will have a "buddy" to contact in the event of absence.

Plagiarismand Dishonest Scholarship:Students who present work not their own will be dismissed from class with a grade of F and may be dismissed from the College.

Texts and Materials

  • a well-stocked mind
  • access to our Wiggio site
/
  • Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon
  • 2 – 3 recommended textas

  • download and print the course pack

Assessment

200 / 3- 5 page analytical paper, that refers to tropes,archetypes, and their uses in a film or “text”.
200 / 1 – 2 page précis of a project.
150 / A detailed outline of the project
500 / A polished and revised creative project.
150 / monthly conferences @ 50pts
1200 / TOTAL

Tentative Calendar of Assignment

The Calendar will be adjusted to accommodate the instructor's or students’ needs. Registrations will affect schedules. So will snow.

Out semester will be divided into 3 parts: I. Concepts, II Analysis, III Creation.
An ongoing calendar of assignments will be posted online at the Wiggio site.

Assessment Scheme

© Perry Glasser

Content / Style / Mechanics / Craft

A

/ work is appropriate to an adult, educated audience; characters behave in surprising dramatic ways and have significant individuality – we sense they are “alive” to the writer. / evocative, lean and fresh language; sentences vary in structure and length showing effective subordination, coordination, and parallelism; appropriate imagery is strongly detailed; characters are treated with compassion. / mss. is cleanly typed and exhibits general control of language / successful incorporation of concepts taught appropriate to course level; the writer engages structural revisions when necessary and fearlessly kills darlings

B

/ work is appropriate to an adult, educated audience; characters behave in predictable if logical ways– we sense they are “explaining” human behavior. / evocative, lean language; sentences vary in structure and length; appropriate imagery is somewhat detailed; characters are treated with compassion. / mss. exhibits few typographical errors, strong usage and spelling, insignificant sentence structure errors, no important errors in syntax or grammar / successful incorporation of concepts taught appropriate to course level; textual revisions when necessary.

C

/ predictable themes treated in predictable ways; characterization is derivative, familiar and wooden – we sense a writer parroting “received wisdom” and relying on stereotypes. / arch language; stringy and wordy sentences that too often reduce to passive voice; some sentence variety among few structures; abstract imagery with few concrete details; clichéd unpleasant characters meet predictable ends. / mss. exhibits many typographical errors; weak spelling; some sentence structure errors; occasional errors in syntax or grammar / partial incorporation of concepts taught appropriate to course level; minimal proofreading.

D

/ work is plainly derivative and imitative; we sense a writer unready to explore the implications of human drama. / verbose, cliché-ridden prose; plodding sentences with little variation; characters are treated with contempt / mss. exhibits poor spelling, gross sentence errors and frequent grammar and syntax errors. / no incorporation of concepts taught; work is plainly carriage copy.
FICTION RECEIVING A GRADE OF “D” IS NOT SUBJECT TO REVISION

F

/ non-performance

Grades suggest a band of performance, not thresholds. In advanced writing classes, facility with Mechanics is expected. Any paper seriously deficient in Mechanics will be awarded an F with no opportunity for revision. This policy rescues your professor from becoming a very expensive proofreading service whose job it is to read your work twice; it also empowers students with responsible professionalism.

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Perry Glasser, Spring 2010