WRTG 3020 Environmental Writing
Fall 2011
Catherine Lasswell, Instructor
Sect. 12 MWF 10-10:50 MUEN E126
Sect. 17 MWF 11-11:50 MUEN E131
Office: 1338 Grandview—back door
Office hours: M 12:30-1:20 & W 12:30-2:15 and by appt.
Office phone: 303-735-4678
Mailbox: ENVD Building basement, across from PWR office
Email:
OVERVIEW OF COURSE
In this course we will read and write about many current environmental topics as we cultivate our awareness of writing as engaged environmental action. We will investigate various issues of sustainability facing today’s world including climate change, energy use, and industrialized food production, paying particular attention to the ways these issues are discussed rhetorically. Through studying a variety of environmental genres, we will explore our own human connections to nature, our own “place in the family of things.” We will examine texts from environmental writers and authorities including Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Bill McKibben, Annie Dillard, Naomi Klein and others. Two powerful environmental documentaries will be studied, along with several short videos. At times we will “go local” as we write to effect environmental change in Boulder County and the West through proposal writing and social networking projects. Throughout, we will seek ways to de-politicize environmental writing in order to reach wider audiences and to carve out spaces of shared values and common ground. The course will include a half-day field trip to an organic farmette and sustainability center in Boulder County.
REQUIRED TEXTS
- Green by Rollins and Bauknight Eds. (2010) Fountainhead Press, available at the UMC Bookstore
- Articles posted on CULearn—on environmental issues as well as writing skills
- Rhetorical Websites: writing@CSU ( Silva Rhetoricae ( Purdue OWL (
FILMS: We will study two major documentary films related to environmental issues: King Corn (Aaron Wolf), and Food Inc. (Robert Kenner) along with an art film “plastic bag” (RaminBahrani).
DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS
(You will receive detailed assignment sheets for each assignment.)
Presentation and Leading a Discussion on Readings
As we move through our background and critical readings, you and a partner will lead a class discussion on a particular work. You will give a short presentation on the writer’s influence and major points in the work, followed by asking relevant questions about the piece. (3 points)
Documentary Film Summary
Summarizing is an important skill in virtually all professions. You will write a summary on one of the three environmental films that we study. The summary will recreate the original in condensed form. Length: approximately 500 words. (5 points)
Rhetorical Analysis of an Environmental Film
In this paper, you’ll consider the ways that an environmental film functions rhetorically. Each of the films we study covers a lot of territory and uses multiple rhetorical techniques. In this analysis, you’ll choose one aspect or a section of a film to analyze. (Even a one-minute segment is loaded with material and purpose). Typically, students need 4-5 pages to write this cogent analysis. (15 points)
Tar Sands Project
We will be looking at the controversial Tar Sands project in Alberta as a way of investigating the ways that economic interests and environmental interests intersect and the way the issues are discussed rhetorically. We will examine this project from the perspective of various stakeholders to assess theeconomic, and environmental impacts on Canada, the US, and on the environment. Ethical considerations will need to be discussed. There will be various options for this paper: refutation, analysis, and argument.(15 points)
Literature Review
You will choose a sustainability-related topic of interest to you, then investigate and report in detail on the research in the form of a literature review. You’ll choose your topic early in the semester so you can get started collecting your research for it. We’ll review research methods using the web as you write begin the lit review. This work will relate directly to your grant proposal (see below) (8 points)
Grant Proposal or Persuasive Essay
For this assignment, you’ll find a grant to apply for----local, on campus, state-wide, or national. Ideally, you’ll be applying for a grant you genuinely could undertake in an honors thesis or upon graduation. (You could also write this grant as a “practice run” before applying for it in the future.) In any case, your choice should lead you in a genuine direction you wish to pursue when the time comes. Thisproposal can relate to your own major or to that of the environment. (20 points)
Narrative-Synthesis Paper and Environmental Service Work As juniors and seniors, you’ll be graduating soon and joining the working world where you’ll be writing without professors or advisors. This final assignment is meant to help you prepare for this imminent reality. This paper involves choosing three hours of environmental service to engage in through a local non-profit organization—such as wildlife restoration, sustainable agriculture, etc. Once you’ve completed this service work, you and an assigned partner will brainstorm ways to approach your project. You’ll work together to assess your rhetorical situation, rhetorical appeals, and strategy to serve you best. Due on the last day of class, this paper also serves as a final exam since you will have less time to work on it and will receive less feedback from me. (10 points)
GRADING POINT SYSTEM including all aspects of the course:
- Film summary 5
- Film rhetorical analysis 15
- Tar Sands Project Essay 15
- Literature Review 8
- Grant Proposal 20
- Narrative-Synthesis paper 10
- Presentation/Discussion of article 3
- Reading quizzes, grammar worksheets, in-class writings 10 (averaged)
- Participation at Farmette (Sat. Oct 8th) 2
- Critiques of your colleagues’ work 5
- Participation and attendance 5
- Environmental service work 2
______
TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS: 100
Scale: A=93, A-=90, B+=87, B=83, B-=80, C+=77, C=73, C-=70, D+=67, D=60, F=<60
COURSE POLICIES AND PRACTICES
Attendance: In writing seminars like this one, attendance is essential. You need to arrive on time and to attend class daily. If you miss a class, you are responsible for obtaining materials missed on that day from one of your classmates. Please do not email me to ask me what you missed. Since we only have 44 days of class, each one is important. You are allowed THREE absences to use in any way you choose. I do not excuse absences except in the most extreme circumstances. For each class session missed over THREE, your attendance points will drop one point. If you have six or more absences, you will have missed substantial course material that your final course grade will be no higher than a “C.” Seven or more absences will result in an “F” – NO EXCEPTIONS. Failure to be prepared for class may also be counted as an absence. If you arrive late, your participation points will drop. Exceptionally late arrivals (over 15 mins) will count as ½ an absence. Please make all reasonable efforts to arrive to class on time.
Drafts: In addition to handing in final drafts of all assignments, you are required to produce a first draft for each major paper. We will sometimes workshop these drafts in class. You will be graded not simply on the final paper you turn in, but on the quality of the entire writing process. Your grade on the final drafts will take into account your incorporation of comments and responses to your drafts. Staple all previously graded and commented-upon drafts with your final copy placed on top. Never throw away any drafts, notes, papers, or research materials you produce during the semester until you receive a final grade.
Late Assignments and Drafts: Papers, drafts, and other out-of-class assignments must be turned in at the time they are due—at the class they are due. Late final drafts turned in one day late (24 hr. period) will drop a full letter grade; no work will be accepted more than one class day late. Class work or quizzes CANNOT be made up! If you are going to be absent from a class when an assignment is due, you must submit the assignments (in hard copy) prior to class in order to receive credit for the assignment.
Cell phones and computers: Once class begins, you need to put your phones out of your sight and mine-- and silence them. Texting is not allowed under any circumstances. If you need to input your classmates’ emails or mark something on your calendar—do it after class. If you text or use your phone during class time, you will be marked absent. Laptops are not needed except on rare occasions. Transcribe your notes onto a computer outside of class.
Classroom Conduct: Our classroom environment will be based on a discussion format. It is important to attend class and put forth your perspective on issues discussed. For this environment to be productive and effective, everyone must treat one another with high respect. This means avoiding any disparaging remarks but rather valuing all honest contributions to class discussion. I reserve the right, when necessary for behavioral reasons, to request any student to leave the room. Inappropriate, lewd, and/or aggressive behavior will not be tolerated.
Writing Center: Additional help with your writing is available at the Writing Center in Norlin’s Learning Commons. A tutor will help with everything from brainstorming ideas for a paper, to grammar tips, to helping you organize your ideas. Advance appointments are required. Check the Writing Center website for information on hours and services:
Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) Criteria
This 3000-level writing seminar satisfies upper-division core requirements in the College of Arts & Sciences because it extends student rhetorical knowledge and writing skills by engaging theoretical perspectives and addressing specialized disciplinary communities. This upper-division seminar is part of the state-wide “Guaranteed Transfer” pathway of courses. Thus, this course meets the goals of an Advanced Writing course (GT-CO3) through:
Rhetorical Knowledge. The course takes a rhetorical perspective on academic research, reading, and writing activities that target real-life audiences in relevant academic disciplines or in the civic sphere. We will draw from Green, a collection of environmental texts, primarily persuasive in nature, that students will engage with to develop rhetorical knowledge. Students will first synthesize data from these texts in order to effectively communicate and substantiate ideas. Specific rhetorical concepts will be reinforced through various handouts adapted from Rosenwasser and Stephen’s Writing Analytically, a key rhetorical text of the course. To help students write in their academic genres, we will also refer to the substantive materials on three nationally recognized web sites: The Purdue University OWL (on-line writing lab), the Colorado State Writing Center, and the Silva Rhetoricae website.
Writing Process.The course provides multiple opportunities for students to understand audience-centered writing by focusing on peer review of work in progress. Through this approach, they’ll discover the important role of revision to writing as an academic discursive activity. They will also have opportunities to integrate various technologies (e.g., Internet search engines, electronic discipline-specific databases,RefWorks, PowerPoint) into their grant proposal project, and to develop advanced information literacy skills pertinent to their research area. Students will learn advanced information literacy skills needed for their grant (such as use of government databases for demographic data).
Writing Conventions. The documents students write for this course will call upon the key genres of academic communication (summary, rhetorical analysis, persuasion, literature review) as well as grant proposal, an increasingly important genre in academia. In the process, students will learn about genre conventions appropriate to their disciplinary focus and/or to their academic or civic audience. (The Instructor and/or the Class will serve only indirectly as “audience.”) Students will also learn about how to draw on specialized vocabularies in ways that still make their work accessible to secondary audiences and about the role of textual features and document design (e.g., bold-face heading sections) as persuasive tools.
Effective application. The assignments in the course are geared to real-world audiences: the proposal is directed tomembers of their discipline; the Tar Sands ethical essay to an influential media organization weighing in on an environmental issue.As such students will gain familiarity with writing in a disciplinary or specialized rhetorical situation, even as they make their work accessible to secondary audiences in other related fields.
Day-by-Day Schedule
(Additional details on each week’s assignments will be available on CU-Learn)
Week 1 – Introduction and Organization
8/22 Course syllabus
8/24 More about the course; watch “plastic bag” (film); discuss Rhetorical Situation from Purdue’s OWL rhetorical website (CU-Learn); discuss claims/evidence/thesis
8/25 Thursday: Viewing of Food, Inc. (11:00-12:45) Building TB-1 Room 211
8/26 Discuss effective summary writing; quiz and discussion of “Introduction: Shades of Green” and “For the Love of Life” (Green). (For each reading/quiz see focus questions on CU-Learn.)
Week 2-- Rhetorical Frameworks
8/29 Quiz and discussion of Bishop’s “The Fish” (CU-Learn); Viewing of Food, Inc. (1-2:45); TB-1 Room 211; discuss Rhetorical Strategies Handout
8/31 Watch and discuss first half of King Corn; discussion and quiz on Bittman’s “Food Manifesto for the Future” (CU-Learn)
9/3 Watch and discuss second half of King Corn
Week 3 – Strategies of Argument
9/5 LABOR DAY—no class
9/7 Quiz and discussion of three films; continued discussion of Tar Sands issue. Gather information about the Tar Sands Keystone XL pipeline from reliable sources. Bring in three articles about the project. Consider your direction.
9/9 Quiz and discussion of Peter Maas’s “The Breaking Point” and Bill McKibben’s “A New World.” (both on CU-Learn)
Week 4 –Summarizing an Argument
9/12 SUMMARY DRAFT DUE; discuss selected summaries in class
9/14Workshop summaries in small groups (bring 4 copies)
9/16 Quiz and discussion of Elizabeth Kolbert’s “Unconventional Crude” (CU-Learn)
Week 5 –Analysis – Developing an Original Idea
9/19 SUMMARY FINAL DRAFT DUE. Discuss handout on fallacies
9/21 Discuss Rhetorical Analysis plan
9/23 Continue discussing Rhetorical Analyses
Week 6 --Analysis – Developing an Original Idea
9/26 Rhetorical Analysis workshop in small groups (bring 4 copies); sign up for article discussion group
9/28 Quiz and discussion of Naomi Klein’s “Hole in the World”(Green); discuss grant proposals
9/30 Discuss Literature Review
Week 7 –Further Identifying and Assessing Rhetorical Strategies in Argument
10/3 RHETORICAL ANALYSIS DUE; discuss Tar Sands assignment
10/5 Quiz and student-led discussion of Michael Pollan’s “Unhappy Meals” (CU-Learn)
10/7 Quiz and student-led discussion of Pollan’s “Power Steer” (CU-Learn)
Sat Oct 8 Environmental Fieldtrip: Lyons Farmette 9-12
Week 8 – Review and Discussion of Student Essays
10/10 DRAFT OF TAR SANDS PAPER DUE; Quiz and student-led discussion of “As the World Burns” (Green)
10/12Quiz and student-led discussion of “Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style” (Green)
10/14Workshop selected Tar Sands essays
Week 9 –Analyses and Assessment of Environmental Writing
10/17 Quiz and student-led discussion of Bruce Watson’s “Sounding the Alarm” (Green)
10/19 Quiz and student-led discussion of Rachel Carson’s “The Obligation to Endure” (Green)
10/21 GRANT PROPOSAL DESCRIPTION DUE
Week 10 –Crafting an Ethical Argument
10/24 Workshop revised Tar Sands essay(bring 4 copies)
10/26 Quiz and student-led discussion of John McPhee’s article (CU-Learn)
Thur. 10/27John McPhee speaks at 7 p.m. Old Main Chapel
10/28 TAR SANDS ESSAY DUE
Week 11 – Strategizing a Grant Proposal
10/31Grant proposal discussion
11/2 Quiz and student-led discussion of Colin Beavin’s “Life Afterthe Year Without Toilet Paper”
11/4 GRANT PROPOSAL DRAFT DUE
Week 12 – Writing a Grant Proposal
11/7 Small group appointments – grant proposals (grp 1)
11/9 Small group appointments – grant proposals (grp 2)
11/11 No Class -- instructor attends conference
Week 13 –Revising a Grant Proposal
11/14Grant proposal workshop; editing, effective revision
11/16Quiz and student-led discussion of “To Really Save the Planet, Stop Going Green” (Green)
11/18GRANT PROPOSALS and LIT REVIEW DUE
Week 14
11/21 THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 15 – Putting it All Together – Rhetoric and The Environment and Me
11/28 Service-learning, the environment, and me; quiz and student-led discussion of Weisman’s “Earth Without People” (Green)
11/30 Narrative/synopsis workshop
12/2 Narrative/synopsis workshop
Week 16 --Writing Without Instructors—Narrative-Synopsis Paper
12/5 Narrative-synopsis workshop
12/7NARRATIVE-SYNOPSIS PAPER DUE
12/9 NARRATIVE-SYNOPSIS PAPER AND EVALS DUE in my mailbox
Here are a number of CU Policies that you need to know about:
Scholastic Honesty and Plagiarism: Turning in work that is not your own or any other form of scholastic dishonesty will result in a major course penalty. If any part of a paper up to two sentences is plagiarized, you will receive an F on the paper with no possibility for a rewrite. If any more than two sentences are plagiarized, you will fail the course and the incident will be reported to the Honors Council. All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include cheating, plagiarism, academic dishonestly, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. I will report all incidents of academic misconduct to the Honor Code Council. Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Additional information may be found at
Religious Observances: Please notify me at least one week in advance if you will be absent due to religious observances. These missed classes will not be counted as absences. I will make every effort to accommodate your absence including giving make-up exams or extra credit work for in-class assignments missed. [See policy details at