ENGLISH 3020: SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE I



English 3680: Advanced Essay Writing: Style & Styles in prose

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30-3:45 in VC 8-155

Professor Cheryl Smith

Office: VC 7-297

Office Phone: 646-312-3973 (I do not check messages every day)

Email (the best way to reach me): cheryl.smith@baruch.cuny.edu

Office Hours: by appointment

Required Class Texts

• Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. Harper Collins, 2006

• Assorted readings in handout or electronic form

• Your writing (our most important class text)

Bring to class whatever readings have been scheduled for that day. Our discussions will revolve around close reading, so it is ESSENTIAL that you have the day’s reading in front of you.

Course Description

This course focuses on the craft of articulating ideas at the sentence, paragraph, and whole-essay levels in non-fiction prose, sometimes known as literary or creative non-fiction. Through assigned readings and class discussions, lessons on style, workshopping of student writing, individual and small group conferences with the professor, and intensive drafting, revision, and re-revision, you will experiment with distinctive stylistic options. In the process, you will discover methods for using language more consciously. That is, you will learn how to avoid wordiness and write with clarity and impact; develop your own natural voice; employ different sentence types and patterns to achieve specific ends and use grammatical and mechanical devices (like semicolons and m-dashes, sentence fragments and one-sentence paragraphs) to evolve and control a sense of rhythm; and study how the sounds of words and their associations can enhance vividness. As you learn methods for powerful writing, you will develop both a sense of your own style and a repertoire of writer’s tools to draw from in a variety of writing occasions.

Course Requirements

Writing is the central requirement for this course. Your writing will take two main forms:

1. Meditations and Exposé: your primary assignments will be short meditations, sometimes revised into slightly longer form but generally shorter than 2 pages, in which you practice specific style techniques that we will be discussing in class. These meditations will be inspired by class readings and discussions but driven primarily by your interest; that is, you are required to generate ideas for writing that address audiences and issues of special relevance to you, and to collaborate with classmates and the professor to realize focused meditations on your chosen topics that demonstrate a keen awareness of audience. By the end of the course, you will prepare a portfolio of three short, distinct pieces that have been meticulously revised and one piece that has been developed into a longer, more detailed “exposé” (the length of this longer essay is flexible and, I expect, will vary from individual to individual). During finals week, the class will hold a public reading—open to friends and family—during which students read their favorite work from the semester.

2. The Writer’s Blog at : Everyone is asked to 1) make one blog post per week and 2) comment on one post by a classmate every week. You will receive instructions for registering as a user and accessing our blog. Your blog post can be:

• A sample of prose (from a novel, poem, magazine or newspaper article, etc) that you think is an example of particularly compelling, wonderful writing. Post the sample and briefly discuss what you like about it.

• A brief consideration of your own writi0ng: what you’re writing for the class and how it’s going, the problems you’re running in to, something (a technique or approach) that’s working well for you, or a question or comment that you have about writing in general.

• Anything you’d like to post as long as it’s somehow related to our class.

Workshops and Conferences: You will exchange your work and meet with a peer writer’s group at least four times during the semester to discuss ongoing revisions of your work. You will also meet with the professor once or twice, either individually or in your groups. Please note that most of these meetings will take place outside of class time; students are required to commit to a regular time and be available for these meetings. In addition, you will be responsible for pre-circulating your work (via our Blackboard site) at least once during the semester for discussion in an in-class workshop.

Attendance and Participation: In this kind of a writing seminar, attendance is critical. More than three absences from class or scheduled meetings outside of class, for any reason, will negatively affect your final grade (i.e. a B- will become a C+ or lower, depending on the number of absences). Further, anyone with excessive absences (more than 4 or 5) will be officially dropped from the course in accordance with college rules. If you have an emergency, please notify me ahead of time whenever possible and speak to me personally about your situation so I can work with you to help you succeed in the class. You are responsible for handing in, on time, any work assigned or due during your absence.

To foster an intellectual community, English 3680 is structured as a discussion seminar. This is not a lecture course: active participation is crucial to your success in this class.

Arriving late or leaving early is disruptive and unacceptable. Subway delays and other problems are unavoidable on occasion, but it is each student's responsibility to plan carefully to arrive on time and well prepared and to stay for the entire period. Late students may be counted absent and repeat latecomers will be penalized in the final grade. If you have some conflict that will regularly make you late for class or require you to leave early, you should drop the course.

Grading: Your course grade will be calculated according to the following breakdown:

• Lively and proactive participation in class discussions and workshops, peer review sessions, individual and small group conferences, and final public reading: 20%

• Weekly blog posts and comments on other posts: 20%

• Meditation drafts and revisions (must be turned in on time to count): 20%

• Portfolio, including cover letter, final revisions of all meditations, and Exposé essay: 40%

Plagiarism: I expect you to be familiar with and follow the academic principles regarding plagiarism.

Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to:

1. Submitting essays or portions of essays written by other people, including well-intentioned friends and family.

2. Failing to document paraphrases, ideas, or verbatim phrases taken from outside sources.

3. Collaborating on an assignment without the explicit permission of the professor.

4. Submitting an essay written for one course to another course without the explicit permission of both professors.

5. Submitting work as one’s own that has been purchased or copied from a paper preparation service or web site.

Any work submitted to me that has been plagiarized will receive a failing grade and be reported to the dean. As this is a writing class and author integrity is crucial to the mission of the course, any event of plagiarism will most likely result in a failing course grade.

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Class Schedule

➢ Read selections for the day they appear on the syllabus; always bring the day’s reading to class.

➢ Except for the Zinsser selections, all readings will be given out in class or made available electronically. Please print the latter out, annotate as you read, and bring the hard copy to class.

➢ You will notice that readings and weekly class themes are not scheduled beyond Week 8. Starting with Week 9, I will add readings and determine class topics based on student interest and need. Possible topics include humor, grammar and choice, concluding tactics, transitions, repetition, and metaphor. Stay tuned for announcements, revisions, additional readings, etc.

➢ Due dates for all writing assignments throughout the semester are set and indicated on the syllabus. You must keep up with the writing, turn assignments in on time, revise seriously and thoughtfully, and participate actively in peer review in order to get a B or higher in this class.

Week 1 Advanced essay writing and style: show and tell

Tue Jan 27

• Introduction to the course

• Read Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts”

Wed Jan 28

• Blackboard post: by 8 pm, post to the blackboard discussion board a short sample (no more than 4-5 sentences) of great writing; include the title and author of the work

Thu Jan 29

• Read Dillard, “The Deer at Providencia” (handout) and Zinsser, chapter 11

Week 2 Getting started, brainstorming, choosing your words

Tue Feb 3

• Read Zinsser, introduction and chapters 1-7

• Form writer’s groups

Thu Feb 5

• Read Lamott, “Writer’s Block” and “Finding your Voice” (handout)

• Draft of Meditation 1 due; bring enough copies for me and each person in your writer’s group

Week 3 Audience

Tue Feb 10

• Draft workshop

• Read Zinsser, chapters 8-10

Thu Feb 12 No Class—Lincoln’s Birthday

Week 4 Voice

Tue Feb 17

• Draft workshop

Thu Feb 19

• Read Zinsser, chapters 20-21

• Revision of Meditation 1 due

Week 5 Rhythm, verbs, and sounds in writing

Tue Feb 24

• Read Dillard, “Living like Weasels” (in “External Links” in Blackboard)

Thu Feb 26

• Read Selzer, “The Knife” (in “External Links” in Blackboard)

• Draft of Meditation 2 due; bring enough copies for me and each person in your writer’s group

Week 6 Rhythm: using punctuation to control the rhythm of your prose

Tue Mar 3

• Draft workshop

Thu Mar 5

• Draft workshop

Week 7 Rhythm: using punctuation to control the rhythm of your prose

Tue Mar 10

• Read Pamuk, “The View” (handout)

• Revision of Meditation 2 due; bring enough copies for me and each person in your writer’s group

Thu Mar 12

• Writer’s Groups meet during class time

Week 8 Imagery and description: achieving a vivid scene

Tue Mar 17

• Read Hughes, “Salvation” (in “External Links” in Blackboard); Zinsser, chapters 14 and 24

Thu Mar 19

• Draft of Meditation 3 due

Week 9

Tue Mar 24

• Draft workshop

Thu Mar 26

• Draft workshop

Week 10

Tue Mar 31

• Revision of Meditation 3 due

Thu Apr 2

Week 11

Tue Apr 7

• Second revision of Meditation 1, 2, or 3 due (pick the one you prefer to work on); bring enough copies for me and each person in your writer’s group

April 8-17: Spring Recess

Week 12

Tue Apr 21

Thu Apr 23

• Draft of Exposé essay due; bring enough copies for me and each person in your group

Week 13

Tue Apr 28

• Workshop: what’s my point?

Thu Apr 30

• Draft workshop

Week 14

Tue May 5

• Draft workshop

Thu May 7

• Workshop: what’s my voice?

Week 15

Tue May 12

Thu May 14

• Final Portfolio and Exposé essay due

Open Class Reading will take place during our final exam time, Tue May 19, 3:30-5:30, or another time agreed upon by the class.

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