Wrtg-1150-091 First Year Composition: Writing Words, Writing Images

WRTG-1150-091 FIRST YEAR COMPOSITION: WRITING WORDS, WRITING IMAGES

SPRING 2009 Room: 104

Instructor: FRANCES CHARTERIS

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 2.30 – 4.30 p.m; Thurs.9-10 and by appointment. Office: Fleming 505

Email: (the best way to reach me). Office ph: 303.492.3263 Home ph: 720 406 7989

Drop off papers FRIDAYS, or earlier by 4.45 p.m. in PWR (doors are open 8 – 4.45p.m. M-F) or in box outside my office

Course objectives

This course is designed to introduce students to college level writing. In order to build certain skills the course will move through three major assignments: formal, academic papers that are intended to augment skills in analysis, enquiry and argument, each supported by a modicum of research. There will also be opportunities to experiment with writing between the more formally composed academic essays. We establish a space of shared critical enquiry where discussion provides criticism, support, empathy and thus community in the classroom. Students will gain an increased awareness of audience. The emphasis will be on thinking and writing critically primarily in response to contemporary art.

Course description

As stated in Knowing Words, the aim of the course is to help you:

·  write with fluency; to acquire a practical and reflective understanding of the writing process

Throughout the semester, you’ll use a variety of strategies as you move through stages of writing—researching, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading—to help you refine your own writing process. One of the most important strategies that you’ll practice is workshopping each other’s writing. A regular part of class time will be devoted to small- and large-group workshops in which you will read and critique each other’s work. The benefits of this workshop approach are two-fold: as a writer, you receive a range of responses to your work and, as a reader, you learn from reading and critiquing your peers’ writing.

·  develop rhetorical knowledge, making informed choices as you adapt your writing to the needs of your audience, to a specific context and situation, and for a particular purpose

We’ll begin by analyzing the rhetorical situation in a variety of texts—that is, we’ll ask questions about the relationships between the text, writer, audience, and context, and we’ll discuss how these relationships shaped the writer’s choices. Then you’ll apply this rhetorical knowledge by writing in different genres and for different audiences, adapting the voice, tone, format and structure of your writing to meet the needs of your audience. We’ll also discuss the ethical use of rhetoric—if rhetoric is a form of power, what are our ethical responsibilities as writers?

·  become a proficient reader, approaching texts with a writer’s awareness of craft and a critic’s ability to interpret and respond to a text’s meaning and effects

We’ll explore texts that come from a variety of sources (both scholarly and popular, for example) and from a variety of media (traditional print, film, websites, etc.). You’ll be asked to read critically: to recognize the rhetorical strategies an author has chosen—both in format and content—that invite the audience to interpret the text in a particular way. We’ll also discuss how the same text may be interpreted in different ways.

·  develop strategies of research that will enable you to become an active investigator of your culture
You’ll learn about research technologies available here at CU (on-line databases, electronic books and journals, bibliographic software, etc.) through a library seminar. More importantly, we’ll discuss how to evaluate a source for accuracy, relevance, credibility, reliability and bias by examining the source’s rhetoric and rhetorical situation.

·  understand and apply conventions of standard linguistic usage, including proper grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling as you compose, revise, and edit your writing across a range of rhetorical tasks and genres.

Grammar is important… but what counts as good grammar changes in different rhetorical situations. Because this is an academic course, in most of your major assignments you’ll be expected to use a writing style and tone that is considered appropriate for a general academic audience. However, as part of the course you’ll also write in other genres and for other audiences, so you’ll need to think carefully about how to adapt your writing for the rhetorical situation at hand.

Required Texts/Materials

LB Brief (Little Brown Handbook), 3rd Edition.

Beyond Words: Cultural Texts For Reading and Writing (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Knowing Words, Ellis, Erik and Lonni Pearce, eds. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil, 2008.

As well as:

Every student paper

Visual works presented by the students and instructor in form of slides, tapes, books, copies, DVDs, etc.

Strongly recommended:

A good college dictionary and a Thesaurus

Assignments

·  Autobiographic essay: In this writing you will introduce yourself to your classmates in the form of an autobiographic fragment; the members of the class make up your sole audience. Organize the brief essay around one of the suggested topics.

·  Textual Analysis Essay: This essay is an opportunity to think carefully about a photographer of your choice. Your task is to write an essay that discusses your interpretation of what is significant and important about the content of the text (the work of a photographer, the images, their meaning and implications, their socio-political context).

·  A second personal narrative essay that builds on the first: the topics invite deeper reflection on your personal experience as well as a broader consideration of audience outside the classroom. The topics invite reflection on gender, construction of romance, and the violence that imbues culture; these issues can be accessed through examination of daily interactions with other people and the beliefs and values that inform those interactions.

·  Rhetorical Analysis Essay: The focus of this essay is an analysis not of what a text is saying, but how the text is presented. You’ll be asked to examine the work of a contemporary artist, the materials used, the place/space in which the pieces are exhibited, OR analyze websites-a famous artist’s or a national museum’s website or that promotes art. In the essay you will be expected to discuss your interpretation of the art and reflect on the work’s primary and secondary audience. You will articulate your interpretation of a websites’ purpose, and possible ethical implications. In addition, you may discuss any logical fallacies that you detect. There will be in depth class discussion prior to embarking on this assignment

·  A third personal narrative essay that will expand and deepen your understanding of tone, voice and audience.

·  Cultural Analysis Essay: This essay is your opportunity to investigate a text of interest to you. The purpose of this essay is not to “take a stand” on the issue—it is, instead, to carefully investigate a variety of sources in order to develop an understanding of why the text exerts a particular power in a specific cultural context. To do this, you will need to examine the ideologies, assumptions, and beliefs that give the text its cultural power. Some questions that will help you do this are the same kinds of questions that we ask in the Textual Analysis and Rhetorical Analysis essays. In this case you may select a film of your choice.

·  Annotated Bibliography: In conjunction with your Cultural Analysis Essay, you’ll write an annotated bibliography in which you use Chicago Manual of Style guidelines to properly cite your sources. In your annotations, you’ll discuss the credibility, validity, bias, and relevance of each source.

·  Persuasive Statements: In conjunction with your Cultural Analysis Essay, you’ll write two statements, each addressed to a different audience, in which you make an argument in relation to your cultural analysis topic. You’ll decide on your purposes and audiences and—based on those choices— choose ethical and effective rhetorical appeals/strategies for persuading your audiences.

·  Presentations: During the semester, you’ll give one brief presentation on one of the following: Textual Analysis essay, or the Rhetorical analysis essay or the Cultural Analysis Essay. For an effective presentation, you’ll need to condense your research, choose key points or ideas to discuss, and adapt your presentation to the class audience. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session in which you’ll give a brief opening statement and then open up a conversation with the audience, in this case members of the class, including me, the instructor.

·  In-class writing exercises as well as some free writing will also be included throughout the semester.

·  Library Tutorials (RIOT): You are required to complete all four of the Research Instruction Online Tutorials. These tutorials prepare you to research your topic for the Cultural Analysis Essay.

Grades

The Textual Analysis essay, Rhetorical Analysis essay are each 20%

The Cultural Analysis essay and Annotated Bibliography, 30%

The Presentation is 10%

The short personal papers count for 20% of your grade.

However, the above grades are affected by attendance: for example you might do reasonably well on all the above assignments but if you miss more than 3 classes your grade will be impaired half a grade point for every class you miss after three absences. Please see below for further details.

Attendance

Attendance is mandatory. More than three absences including absences for sickness will be detrimental to your grade. As Woody Allen said: “80% of success is being present.” If you miss 6 classes, you fail the course. If you miss more than three classes your grade will be impaired by half a grade point for every class you are absent. Lateness will also impair your grade. If you are over 5 minutes late on 3 occasions you will lose a grade point. As harsh as this may sound, the reasoning is simple-if you miss three classes you lose a considerable amount of course content that cannot be made up.

Papers

Please email every piece of writing to the class email list as well as to the group you will be assigned for each new assignment. When you are selected to read aloud you can then use the class laptop to bring up the paper to share with the whole class.

Papers must be titled and titles should be centered. Top right: please give your name, e-mail and phone number (not student ID), and my name spelled correctly as well as date of final version. Lines need to be one and one half spaced or double spaced, 1” margins, and font size no larger than 12. A title page is not required. Do not use plastic covers because they are not ecological and are slippery. Papers must be stapled. Illustrations (copies or original drawings and plans) are welcome additions. Each one should be numbered; for example: Fig. 1. Drawings, images and diagrams can contribute to an understanding of visual art, dance, performance and installation works; including visual support, however, does not replace the need for careful analytical description.

Conferences

During the course of the semester, I will schedule conferences (either individually or in groups) to discuss your writing. Conferences are regarded as a class period. If you don’t show up for your scheduled time, it will be counted as an absence. If you are unable to attend and you know beforehand, please contact me to reschedule.

Writing Center

If you want additional help with your writing, the Writing Center in Norlin Library is a great place to go to talk about ideas, improve your thesis or essay organization, or just generally work on your writing skills. Check the Writing Center website for more information about hours and services, or request an appointment online at: http://www.colorado.edu/pwr/writingcenter.html

Presentations

Length: 15 minimum; 20-25 minutes maximum, time permitting. Less than 15 is insufficient and your grade will be impacted. Do not use books; instead create a presentation on Power Point, Keynote or ArtStor. Check equipment before you are due to give your presentation. Please time yourself and practice before presenting.

Office hours

There will be a sign up sheet offered in class for office hours. Meetings usually last from 5 —15 minutes; if you need longer please let me know and you can reserve a double session. Thank you in advance for telling me if you cannot meet.

Instructor availability

You may call me at my office number and send e-mails; I answer e-mails as promptly as I can, although not at great length. You may also call me at home in an emergency.

E-Mail communication

It is now university policy and regulations that all students have CU e-mail address that can be used by faculty as an official means of communication. Students forward mail to other addresses at their own risk. There can be no excuse for not checking or receiving e-mails regarding course assignments, changes etc. I use email regularly to communicate information about the course, arrangements for field trips, teaching materials, etc. Personal concerns must be discussed with me one on one in office hours or at an arranged meeting.

Ecology

Please recycle all papers – there are many recycling bins on ground floor of Fleming.

STANDARD CU POLICIES

Disability

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit a letter to me from Disability Services in a timely manner (in the first two weeks of class is reasonable)so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities.

Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, or www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices.

Religious Holidays

Campus policy requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, I ask only that you let me know when you are leaving for religious holidays so that I can make adjustments if necessary. I would expect that you not miss other classes.

See policy details: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html.

Classroom behavior

Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Faculty have the professional responsibility to treat students with understanding, dignity and respect, to guide classroom discussion, and to set reasonable limits on the manner in which students express opinions. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender, and nationalities. See policies at