Eng 232.002 Writing as Exploration: Exploration of the Self—Exploration of Nonfiction
Instructor: Brian Olszewski
Wells Hall c206 T-TH 12:40-2:30 pm
Office: Morrill 107
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:15-4:15 at the library cyber cafe and by appointment
Email:
Description: Throughout the semester our class will explore various genres of nonfiction, including the personal essay, autobiography, memoir, travel writing and literary journalism. In addition to examining important themes broached by the shorter and longer narratives on our syllabus, we will discuss such elements as form, style, conventions, and other formal strategies that remain just as important as the thematic concerns of the nonfiction that we will read. Our exploration of the genres of nonfiction will include extensive reading as well as a substantial amount of writing this semester, so be forewarned.
Purpose: Our goal this semester is not only to introduce you to nonfiction; this class is a means to introduce or re-introduce yourself to your writing self. In other words, our journey this semester will be as much an exploration of your selves as it is an exploration of the nonfiction selves that we will encounter in our various texts. Our examination of the latter will, ideally, facilitate the exploration of the former and help us come to a better understanding of what nonfiction is when compared to fiction, as well what differentiates forms of nonfiction from each other, such as memoir and the personal essay. This class will also help us become more comfortable discussing works of literature in both a critical and creative manner, from the perspective of both reader and writer, as well as allowing the class to explore many of the social/cultural issues broached by the narratives we read.
Requirements: As I mentioned above, this class will require not only a lot of writing; it requires a substantial amount of reading as well. I believe that reading and writing are complementary activities and improving your ability in one will improve the other. With this in mind, be prepared to discuss our reading selections each class session. There will not be much lecturing in this course. For the most part we will engage in class discussions concerning the narratives we read and the narratives that you will be writing this semester. What this means is that each of us must come to class willing to share and participate in class discussions. I will come to class having completed the readings and will be prepared to discuss them with you, and I expect each of you to be prepared to do the same. We will attempt to form a community of writers, one that will allow us to further our understanding of the narratives we read as well as allowing us to push the narratives that we compose further along with constructive criticism and constructive self- reflection of the writing process. This ongoing class conversation will help improve our writing for this course as well as for your other courses.
Attendance: Since we are attempting to form a community of readers and writers, it is important that each of us attends every class. As well as engaging in class discussions we will be writing often in class. Class participation is a substantial portion of the final class grade (see below), and will include attendance, participating in discussions, as well as in-class writings. Since this will be a discussion-based class, you will only be allowed to miss three classes. Each missed class after the third will subtract .10 from your final grade. Please use your absences wisely (emergencies, religious holidays, etc). I do not distinguish between excused/unexcused absences except in special circumstances, especially after the three-limit mark.
Also, please come to class on time. I will be taking attendance daily. Repeated tardiness may affect your class participation grade as well. It is your responsibility to sign the attendance sheet if you arrive late. Cell phones should be turned off by the beginning of each class.
Required Texts:
The Fourth Genre, 3rd Edition
Naked, David Sedaris
Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje
Dispatches, Michael Herr
Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, Rebecca Walker
The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong-Kingston
Confessions of an Opium-Eater, Thomas DeQuincey
Course Requirements: In addition to daily attendance, each student will write three essays of at least four pages in length. These essays will be nonfiction in nature, and can take the form of the personal essay, memoir, travel essay, etc. I will not numerically grade these essays, but I will provide ample commentary and suggestions for revisions that you will submit to me later in the semester. However, failure to turn in an essay will result in its exclusion from the final assignment and will result in a failing grade for the course. The final assignment is a class portfolio of your work. It will account for 50% of your course grade and will consist of revisions of your three essays, the earlier drafts of your essays and a three-page preface detailing the revision process and explaining what you learned about writing this semester. I will expect substantial reconsideration of earlier drafts in your revisions. We will discuss more of this revision process during the semester.
It is important that you keep all your drafts and essays until the end of the semester for this portfolio. Students will also write one-page responses to weekly readings as well as to student essays. We will also have online Angel assignments and in-class writing assignments. There may be reading quizzes as well if I feel that we are not keeping up with the readings.
Basically any subject may be pursued in your essays if handled professionally and critically. Exceptions do apply, as hateful and intolerant/discriminatory essays will not be acceptable. Do be aware that you will be sharing your work with your classmates and with me. So keep this in mind when you are drafting essays.
Workshops: During the semester each student will have one essay workshopped by the entire class. Three full class periods will be dedicated to such workshops. Each student will have the benefit of hearing our class critique/discuss his/her essay for fifteen-twenty minutes, which will help authors approach the revision process. Prior to having an essay workshopped, students will make enough copies of the essay to distribute to the entire class one class period before the day of the workshop. Yes, on your own dime. Also prior to the day of the workshop, the class will read the 8/9 student essays we will discuss for that period. Before class, students will write a full one-page response to each author, discussing what works well, what needs work, revision suggestions, etc. Students will turn in a copy of these responses to me as well.
It may be wise to purchase a number of E-Tokens from a university computer lab, as this method of printing out essays for workshop may be cheaper than going to Kinko’s. You may be downloading essays from our Angel website as well, which may make the E-Tokens even a better option.
Conferences: You will meet with me for a mandatory, one-on-one conference during the semester to talk about your writing/the class/essays/revisions/portfolio/or whatever else comes up.
Grading:
Responses to student work15%
Responses to weekly readings10%
Class Participation15%
Angel Assignments10%
Final Portfolio50%
Note that I will not be grading your experiences. I will be grading how well you share/write about your experiences. I will pay particular attention to the technique, skill and craft that you use to shape your essays in order to make them as effective and powerful as possible. My comments and the comments that you receive from your classmates will be focused on such concerns. When grading your portfolios I will pay particular attention to the revision process and track the movement of your narratives from the first draft to the draft included in the portfolio. We will emphasize how writing is a recursive process that involves many stages of drafting, and your portfolios should portray your drafting and revision process in order to receive a superior mark. Our in-class discussions and weekly readings will help in this regard as well.
Students must turn in all essays when they are due as well as a final portfolio in order to pass the course.
Academic Integrity
In accordance with MSU’s policies on “Protection of Scholarship and Grades” and “Integrity of Scholarship and Grades,” students in Eng 232 are expected to honor principles of truth and honesty in their academic work. Academic honesty entails, among other things, that students will not plagiarize. This means (1) students will not submit someone else’s work as their own (e.g., they will not submit another student’s paper or video etc., nor will they hand in a paper copied from the web or another published source). Academic honesty also means students (2) will not knowingly permit another student to copy and submit their work as that student’s own and (3) will not use unacknowledged quotations or paraphrases as part of their work. As provided by university policy, such academic dishonesty or plagiarism may be penalized by a failing grade on the assignment or for the course. Failure in a course as a result of academic dishonesty will also result in written notification to the student’s academic dean of the circumstances. Additional discussion of cheating or academic dishonesty is available on the Ombudsman’s webpage: <
Resources for Students
The Writing Center offers students opportunity meet with one-on-one with a consultant while they are engaged in the process of writing class papers and other documents. It also offers consulting on digital writing projects and Grammar Hotline. The Writing Center is located in 300 Bessey Hall. For information about appointments and satellite locations, see
The ESL Writing Lab will assist students with all aspects of their work in ENG 232, including understanding of course readings to be used in writing papers, planning and revising papers, and proofreading, see for more information and instructions on making appointments.
The Learning Resource Center, located in 120 Bessey Hall, offers academic support seminars and workshops, consults with students about study and learning styles and time management, and provides one-on-one tutoring in such areas as critical reading. For a more detailed description of LRC services and hours, see
Note to Students with Disabilities
It is Michigan State University’s policy to not discriminate against qualified students with documented disabilities in its educational programs. If you have a disability-related need for accommodations in this course, contact your instructor and the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. The RCDP is located in 120 Bessey Hall. For an appointment with a counselor, call 353-9642 (voice) or 355-1293 (voice). Instructors should be notified as early in the semester as possible.
Reading Schedule
Note that this schedule is subject to change.
Week I
1.10 Introductions
1.12 Intro (FG xxiii) “Memory and Imagination,” P. Hampl (FG 259); “Parish Streets,” P. Hampl. (FG 68)
Week II
1.17 “Portrait of My Body,” P. Lopate (FG 105); “What Happened to the Personal Essay?” P. Lopate (FG 301); “Living Like Weasels,” A. Dillard (FG 54); “To Fashion a Text,” A. Dillard (FG 236). “The Masked Marvel’s Last Toehold,” R. Selzer (FG 176)
Reading Response I
1.19 “My Father Always Said,” M. Schwartz (FG 165); “Chin Music,” M. Steinberg (FG 185); “Teacher Training,” M.E. Pope (FG 403); “Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the Line?” M. Schwartz (FG 338); “The Art of Memoir,” M.C. Blew (FG 232).
Week III
1.24 “Running the Table,” F. Conroy (FG 49); “Where Worlds Collide,” P. Iyer (FG 90); “The Unwanted Child,” M.C. Blew (FG 19); “From a Sheepherder’s Notebook: Three Days,” G. Ehrlich (FG 58).
Reading Response II
1.26 “The Friendship Tarot,” N. Willard (FG 216); “Oval,” G. Griffin (FG 66); “Going to the Movies,” S.A Toth (FG 209); “On the Possibilities of the Essay: A Meditation,” R.B. Faery (FG 246); “Beyond Linearity: Writing the Segmented Essay,” R. Root Jr.
(FG 321).
Week IV
1.31 Workshop I
2.2 Sedaris
Essay I Due
Week V
2.7 Sedaris
2.9Sedaris
Reading Response III
Week VI
2.14 Kingston
2.16 Kingston
Reading Response IV
Week VII
2.21 Kingston
2.23 DeQuincey
Reading Response V
Week VIII
2.28 DeQuincey
3.2 Workshop II
Spring Break 3.6-3.10
Week IX
3.14 Herr
Essay II Due
3.16 Herr
Reading Response VI
Week X
3.21 Film: Control Room
3.23 Discuss Control Room
Reading Response VII
Week XI
3.28 Walker
3.30 Walker
Reading Response VIII
Week XII
4.4 Walker
4.6 Workshop III
Week XIII
4.11 Begin individual conferences: no class on Tuesday or Thursday
Essay III due during individual conferences
Week XIV
4.18 Ondaatje
4.20 Ondaatje
Reading Response IX
Week XV
4.25 Ondaatje
4.27 Film Screening?
5.1 Finals week