Instructor: Amanda Watson (alwatson@umich.edu)
Office: 3023A Tisch Hall
Phone: 764-0418
Hours: M 2-3 p.m., W 10-11 a.m. and by appointment
Mailbox: 3161 Angell Hall
Table of contents for this page:
Course description | Course
requirements | Required texts | Schedule of readings and assignments
Course policies | Grade
breakdown
Useful links
Writing assignments for the course (separate
page)
What separates personal places -- our homes, the landscapes where we grew up -- from the world at large? Why is it important for so many writers to evoke this sense of place? This course is designed to introduce you, gradually and enjoyably, to the key facets of the college writing experience by means of writing about literary works. More specifically, we will concentrate on revision -- of a thesis, of an argument, of your prose style -- as a central part of the process of writing. How do we "translate" the raw materials of our own, often quite personal, experience (including our responses to literature) into finished essays? How do we move from summary and description of these responses into the kind of analysis that makes literature so rewarding? How do we convert journal notes, brief written responses, and unpolished rough drafts into writing we can be proud to show our peers and instructors in the university community? We will focus on the topic of public and private places to explore the inner terrain of a variety of (mostly) twentieth-century fiction and nonfiction. In our reading, we will visit writers' personal spaces (Annie Dillard's cabin in the Pacific Northwest, Virginia Woolf's "room of one's own") and the public landscapes they evoke (Stuart Dybek's Chicago, Joan Didion's California). As the semester goes on, we will try to discover models for our own progression from personal narratives to formal academic writing.
During the course of the semester, you will undertake four formal writing projects for a total of around 20-25 pages of revised prose. In-class workshops and shorter, informal writing assignments will guide you step by step through the process of writing at the college level, and provide ample opportunities for you to become self-aware readers and revisers of your own and others' work -- one of the key steps to becoming better writers. (Top of page)
Four papers; short responses to assigned readings; in-class writing as assigned; two individual conferences. (Top of page)
The following are available at Shaman Drum Bookstore:
James Joyce, Dubliners
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Diana Hacker, Rules for Writers
A course pack of additional readings will be available at Accu-Copy (518 E. William). Readings from the course pack are designated "CP" on the syllabus. (Top of page)
(Note: some of the authors's names and titles are linked to relevant web sites. Check them out!)
| Week 1 | |
| 9/8 | Introduction to the course; policies and syllabus In-class writing: describing a space Sign up for individual conferences |
| Week 2 | |
| 9/13 | Discuss Didion, "On Keeping a Notebook," "On Going Home," and "Notes
from a Native Daughter" (CP) Group critique of in-class writing from previous week Assignment for Paper 1 (3-4 pages) distributed |
| 9/15 | Continue discussing Didion |
| Week 3 | |
| 9/20 | Discuss Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, chapter 1, and Dillard, excerpt from Holy the Firm (CP) |
| 9/22 | Continue discussing Bachelard and Dillard |
| 9/24 | Paper 1 due by 5 p.m. in my mailbox |
| Week 4 | |
| 9/27 | Discuss Hawthorne, "Rappaccini's Daughter" (CP) Assignment for Paper 2 (4-5 pages) distributed |
| 9/29 | Continue discussing Hawthorne |
| Week 5 | |
| 10/4 | Discuss Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (CP) |
| 10/6 | Continue discussing Gilman |
| 10/8 | Draft of Paper 2 due by 5 p.m. in my mailbox (turn in one copy for me and one for each of your group members) |
| Week 6 | |
| 10/11 | Discuss Borges, "The Secret Miracle" and "Borges and I" (CP) |
| 10/13 | Workshop Paper 2 drafts |
| Week 7 | |
| 10/18 | Discuss Dybek, "Blight" (CP) |
| 10/20 | Continue discussing Dybek Midterm class evaluation |
| 10/22 | Revised Paper 2 due by 5 p.m. in my mailbox |
| Week 8 | |
| 10/25 | Begin discussing Woolf, A Room of One's
Own Assignment for Paper 3 (4-6 pages) distributed |
| 10/27 | Continue discussing Woolf |
| Week 9 | |
| 11/1 | Continue discussing Woolf |
| 11/3 | Conferences: no class |
| 11/5 | Drafts of Paper 3 due by 5 p.m. in my mailbox (turn in one copy for me and one for each of your group members) |
| Week 10 | |
| 11/8 | Discuss Joyce, "The Sisters" and "Araby" |
| 11/10 | Workshop Paper 3 drafts |
| Week 11 | |
| 11/15 | Discuss Joyce, "The
Dead" Assignment for Paper 4 (6-10 pages) distributed |
| 11/17 | Film screening: "The Dead" (1987, dir. John Huston) |
| 11/19 | Revised Paper 3 due by 5 p.m. in my mailbox |
| Week 12 | |
| 11/22 | Begin discussing Joyce criticism and film adaptation |
| 11/24 | Introduction to literary research: class meets at Graduate
Library Class ends at 5:00 today -- happy Thanksgiving! |
| Week 13 | |
| 11/29 | Continue discussing Joyce criticism |
| 12/1 | Final paper progress reports |
| 12/3 | Draft of Paper 4 due by 5 p.m. in my mailbox (turn in one copy for me and one for each of your group members) |
| Week 14 | |
| 12/6 | Special class on writing and the internet: assignment TBA |
| 12/8 | Workshop Paper 4 drafts |
| Week 15 | |
| 12/13 | Final class meeting |
| 12/15 | Revised Paper 4 due by 5 p.m. in my mailbox |
Attendance: Regular attendance in class is mandatory, especially since so much of this course depends on your presence in workshops and other group activities. More than three unexcused absences will lower your grade by as much as one letter grade. Frequent or excessive tardiness will also adversely affect your grade; three tardies will equal one absence.
If you need to be excused from class because of a medical or family emergency or a religious observance, please see me in advance or as soon after the event as possible. I will require that you bring in documentation of the reasons for your absence where appropriate.
Participation: Participation in class counts for 10% of your grade (see grade breakdown below). Participation includes your involvement in both class discussions and in workshops.
Reading responses: You are expected to have read the text(s) for each week by the first class meeting on Monday. Since our readings will serve as the basis for both discussion and, on occasion, in-class writing, it is crucial that you complete the reading on time. To this end, I am creating an electronic conference for this class, which can be accessed at http://calypso.rs.itd.umich.edu/COW. Each week, you will be responsible for posting a short (150-200 words) response to the assigned reading. Post your response by Monday afternoon at 3:00 -- i.e., an hour before we begin our first day of discussion. Help with COW, the conferencing site, is available from the COW tutorial and the COW cheat sheet.
Workshops: There will be three in-class writing workshops, during which you will work together in small groups to comment on each other's drafts of Papers 2, 3, and 4. Each workshop will take place on a Wednesday. Multiple copies of your draft will be due to me by no later than 5 p.m. on the Friday before the workshop. I will redistribute the copies of your draft to the other members of your workshop group at the end of the Monday class meeting immediately before the workshop. When you turn in your drafts, therefore, please include your fellow group members' names in the header at the top of your first page.
Paper format: Unless otherwise specified, all assignments for this class must be typed, in a 12-point font, and double-spaced. Your margins should be approximately 1" wide. Multiple-page assignments must be stapled. You don't need to provide a separate title page -- just put a header with your name, the date, and the course number at the top of your first page. And remember: every paper must have a title!
Late papers: Late workshop drafts will not be accepted. Late revised papers will be marked down a third of a letter grade per day. I will allow one extension of up to seven days, but you must notify me at least 24 hours before the final due date for the paper if you wish to request an extension. There will be no extensions on the final paper, which is due December 15th.
Rewrites: As this course is designed to teach you how to revise your work, opportunities for rewriting are already built into the syllabus. You will be revising three drafts and one informal writing assignment; see the syllabus for details. I will not, however, accept rewrites of final drafts except in special circumstances. Please see me before requesting a rewrite.
Conferences: You will be asked to sign up for two short (15-20 minutes) conferences with me during the second and ninth weeks of the semester. I will circulate a sign-up sheet before each set of conferences begins. In addition to these longer conferences, you are always welcome to come to my office hours with any questions you may have about the course, the assignments, or the readings.
Plagiarism: See the "Plagiarism" handout for details on what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. The University takes plagiarism very, very seriously. It's considered a breach of academic standards (as well as a form of theft!). If you use someone else's words and/or ideas without appropriate attribution, you will fail the assignment and be placed on academic probation. In short, just don't do it. (Top of page)
Papers:
Paper 1: 15%
Paper 2: 20%
Paper 3: 20%
Paper 4: 20%
total: 75%
Other assignments: 15%
Participation: 10% (Top of page)
This page designed and maintained by
Amanda Watson (alwatson@umich.edu) Last Modified: 19