Matt King



WRIT 101: Introduction to Writing StudiesFall 2016Policy Statement – 2 Schedule – 5Assignments – 7 WRIT 101: Introduction to Writing StudiesFall 2016Professor: Matt KingEmail: mrking@sbu.eduPhone: 716.375.2457Office Hours: Monday and Tuesday 2:30-4:00 and by appointmentOffice Location: Plassmann D6Class Website: and Creative Writing Major ObjectivesStudents will:Write effective texts in different genres and in multiple media to respond to a variety of professional and creative needs.Construct their own professional identities as writers, readers, and researchers who can make valuable contributions in a variety of professional settings.Interpret cultural, political, and historical situations using specific theories from rhetorical, literary, and writing studies.Display the ethical commitment of writers to improve society.Course DescriptionThis course serves as an introduction to the basic terms and skills necessary to complete the Professional and Creative Writing Major and thus familiarizes students with basic principles of effective writing in several genres. Students will acquire skills in producing and analyzing professional, literary, and rhetorical texts, in developing an effective writing process, and in giving feedback and editing advice to other writers. (3 credits)Course GoalsStudents successfully completing this course will be able toWrite effective short works in several genres: rhetorical, literary, professional, creative;Accurately employ basic terminology of rhetorical and literary analysis;Develop an effective writing process grounded in insights from composition studies;Give useful and supportive feedback to peers on their writing;Produce structurally sound prose at the sentence level;Attend to concerns of modality through the production and remediation of print and digital texts;Demonstrate an awareness of the broader ethical implications of writing as a social activity.All class texts will be made available online as needed.GradingAnalysis Paper20%Creative Writing – Poetry 10%Creative Writing – Flash Fiction15%Professional Writing10%Remediation Project15%Electronic Portfolio20%Participation10%TOTAL 100%Late Work. Excessive or unexcused late work will not be acceptable, and I reserve the right to penalize late work in such circumstances (generally, such penalties will be a letter grade for every day an assignment is late). If circumstances prevent you from being able to submit an assignment on time, you should discuss the situation with me ahead of time.Attendance. You should arrive to class on time with all assigned readings and papers for the day completed. You are allowed six absences throughout the semester without a grade penalty (although missing class can affect your participation grade and your ability to succeed in the class generally). If you have 7-8 absences, you cannot receive higher than a C for your semester average. If you have 9-10 absences, you cannot receive higher than a D for your semester average. If you have 11 or more absences, you will receive an F for the semester. For every 3 instances of tardiness, you will incur 1 absence. If you only have 0-1 absences, you will receive a 1/3 letter grade bonus on your semester average.For athletes, students who provide documentation for absences related to athletic competitions will be excused for all such absences. Student athletes can also miss two more class periods throughout the semester without a grade penalty. If you have three or more unexcused (non-athletic) absences throughout the semester, then all of your absences will be counted toward the attendance policy.+/- Grades. Plus and minus grades will be used in awarding final grades for this course. Paper GradesSemester AverageA+ = 98.5A = 95 A- = 91.5 93-100 = A 90-93 = A- B+ = 88.5 B = 85 B- = 81.5 87-90 = B+83-87 = B 80-83 = B- C+ = 78.5 C = 75 C- = 71.577-80 = C+73-77 = C70-73 = C-D+ = 68.5 D = 65D- = 61.5 67-70 = D+63-67 = D60-63 = D-F = 55Less than 60 = FPlassmann Writing Center Revising and responding to feedback will be an invaluable and necessary part of your development as a writer this semester. Toward this end, you are strongly encouraged to visit me during office hours or by appointment, and you are also strongly encouraged to visit the Writing Center in the basement of Plassmann Hall (6A).Academic IntegrityAcademic dishonesty is inconsistent with the moral character expected of students in a University committed to the spiritual and intellectual growth of the whole person. It also subverts the academic process by distorting all measurements. A list of unacceptable practices and procedures to be followed in prosecuting cases of alleged academic dishonesty may be found in the Student Handbook and here.Students with DisabilitiesStudents with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Disability Support Services Office, Doyle Room 26, at 375-2066 as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. Documentation from this office is required before accommodations can be made. Please see the official SBU Student with Disabilities policy here.EmailEmail will serve as an official means of communication for this class, and you should check the email account you have registered with the university regularly. Feel free to email me with your questions and concerns.Title IXTitle IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are Civil Rights offenses subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, etc. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find the appropriate resources at the Health and Wellness Center or at the Campus Safety Office. For on-campus reporting, see the Title IX Coordinator (Sharon Burke, Director of Human Resources) and Residence Life Staff (RAs, RDs, and other professional staff). The University's policy and procedures regarding gender-based and sexual misconduct can be found online.In the event of an emergency, call Campus Safety at 716-375-2525 or contact Nichole Gonzalez, Residential Living and Conduct, 716-375-2572, ngonzale@sbu.edu. Be aware that most university employees are mandated reporters.WRIT 101 – ScheduleDateMajor Due Dates; Homework (due day listed); In class??M 8/29Introduction to CourseW 8/31Read Burke, Frost (Moodle)F 9/2WordPress Assignment dueM 9/5Read Jamison (.pdf on Moodle)W 9/7Read Coates; Discuss passagesF 9/9Read MogelsonM 9/12Short Analysis due;?haiku activityW 9/14Read Nabokov (Moodle), GayF 9/16Read Kelly (and here and here), Ellis; Notes for close readingM 9/19Literary Analysis dueW 9/21Bring paper artifact to classF 9/23Bring draft of Analysis Paper to classM 9/26Analysis Paper due for peer reviews in class; Poetry promptsW 9/28ConferencesF 9/30ConferencesM 10/3Analysis Paper revisions dueW 10/5Read Guidelines for Workshopping; poetry workshopF 10/7Poetry workshopM 10/10Midterm BreakW 10/12Poetry workshopF 10/14ConferencesM 10/17Creative Writing - Poetry due; Discuss Flash Fiction PromptsW 10/19Read the November issue of Flash Fiction Online (“The Brownies of Death,” “Rewind,” “Vaquera,” and “Sapience and Maternal Instinct”) and write a workshop-style critique of one of the storiesF 10/21Bring draft of flash fiction to class; Flash Fiction Invention ActivitiesM 10/24Flash fiction workshopW 10/26Flash fiction workshopF 10/28ConferencesM 10/31Creative Writing - Flash Fiction due; Look at professional sites: Self-published, highly successful, and some advice (and some more)W 11/2Read Reed, Mystal, Flood, Ortberg; Look at sample pitches (here and here)F 11/4Bring draft of PW - Publication Analysis to classM 11/7Bring draft of PW - Pitch to classW 11/9ConferencesF 11/11ConferencesM 11/14Professional Writing due; Discuss remediationW 11/16Read about Fair Use, watch this video, and read this story and this oneF 11/18Complete draft of Interactive Storytelling with Twine; Discuss Electronic PortfolioM 11/21Prepare storyboard for the A/V component of the Remediation Project (outline/drawing that captures how the audio and video will unfold); A/V workshopM 11/28Work dayW 11/30Discuss Electronic PortfolioF 12/2Remediation due for peer reviewsM 12/5Wrap up semesterW 12/7No class meetingF 12/9Remediation due, Electronic Portfolio due; No class meetingWordPress AssignmentThis first short assignment will require two steps. One of our main assignments this semester ("Electronic Portfolio") will involve developing a website that you create and use specifically for this class. I will ask you to use the same platform I use for my website: WordPress. To get started, think about what you would like to name your site. You don’t necessarily need to share this site beyond our class, so you are welcome to use a name that is mainly functional or fun. You might consider using this as the foundation of a professional site (something you use beyond this class), and in that case, it would help to use your name for the site or something else that captures your professional identity.Once you have decided on a name, register your own WordPress site. For our class purposes, there is no need to pay for anything, although you are welcome to do so for your own purposes if you would like to register your domain name or get more functionality. You can start playing around to your heart’s content (this overview might help), and we’ll discuss WP together soon.The second step of this assignment asks you to create a new page or post on your site. This short writing (400-700 words) asks you to reflect on our readings from Burke and Frost. Your thinking should address the following prompts and questions. Feel free to take advantage of the functionality offered by WordPress (adding links, embedding images or videos, etc.) however you are inspired.Kenneth Burke's thinking on "orientation" helps us consider how our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and values shape and constrain our ways of encountering and responding to the world around us. These "bundles of judgments" help us see the world in a particular way, but they also function as "trained incapacities" that limit our perspectives. How would you describe your orientation? What are some of the main influences shaping your thinking about the world, whether familial, educational, social, political, religious, personal (coming from within), or otherwise? What attitudes, values, and beliefs have these influences instilled in you? In what ways does this orientation function as a trained incapacity? What types of people, experiences, or perspectives are you less likely to listen to or seek out or recognize because of your orientation toward the world?More specifically, how would you describe your orientation toward writing? What role does writing play in your life? What does writing mean to you? What makes writing unique as a mode of communication, expression, or connecting with others?Following Frost's thinking, what metaphor would you use to describe writing? What is writing like? Where does the metaphor work, and where does it break down?Short AnalysisFor this short assignment (700-1000 words), you should analyze one of our class readings from last week: Jamison, Coates, or Mogelson. Submit your work by adding it as a post or a page to your class site.Our efforts toward analysis here should aim for "closeness" as Frost understands the term. We want to better understand this author's thinking, how they put this and that together, how they say one thing in terms of another. We're also interested in Burke's understanding of "orientation," so we want to get at the author's orientation and how the text embodies judgments, beliefs, and attitudes. Toward this end, your work and writing should address the following prompts and questions.First, pick one of the readings, and then find a passage in the reading that you think is important (even if you're not entirely sure why it's important yet).What's going on in this passage? What is it about, and how does it shape our thinking about this subject matter? What sort of orientation does it take toward the subject matter? How do specific word choices shape our understanding of the author's thinking and orientation?How does this passage contribute to the text overall? How does it work to support the main purpose or argument of the text?Again, our goal here is closeness, so you should thoroughly and precisely explain what aspects of the passage are important and how so. We should end up with a better understanding of what the passage is about and how it contributes to the text overall.Literary AnalysisFor this short assignment (700-1000 words), you should analyze one of our literary readings from last week: the Gay or Ellis story or one of Kelly's poems or a haiku.Our efforts toward analysis here should aim for “closeness” as Frost understands the term. We want to better understand this author’s thinking, how they put this and that together, how they say one thing in terms of another. We’re also interested in Burke’s understanding of “orientation,” so we want to get at the author’s orientation and how the text embodies judgments, beliefs, and attitudes. Toward this end, your work and writing should address the following prompts and questions.First, pick one of the readings, and then find a passage in the reading that you think is important (even if you’re not entirely sure why it’s important yet).What’s going on in this passage? What is it about, and how does it shape our thinking about this subject matter? What sort of orientation does it take toward the subject matter? How do specific word choices shape our understanding of the author’s thinking and orientation?How does this passage contribute to the text overall? How does it work to support a theme, idea, or effect of the text?Again, our goal here is closeness, so you should thoroughly and precisely explain what aspects of the passage are important and how so. We should end up with a better understanding of what the passage is about and how it contributes to the text overall.Analysis PaperOur first substantial paper (1400-2000 words) asks you to build on our close reading practices from the Short Analysis and the Literary Analysis. You are welcome to use your work from one or both of those papers as the foundation for this Analysis Paper, or you can analyze a different text. Either way, we will be working toward further developing our close reading and analysis skills, and we will still be addressing the questions and concerns we addressed in the short assignments.So, as you analyze the text, you should still ground your thinking in the close reading of specific passages and make connections between these passages and the larger purpose or meaning of the text. This paper can build on your work from the Short Analysis or the Literary Analysis by addressing one or both of the following sets of prompts and questions:Address other passages from the text. Do a close reading of the new passage(s) and then put this work into conversation with your thinking from the short assignment. How do the passages connect? How are they similar or different? How do they both contribute to the larger purpose of the text? Do the passages reinforce one another, expand on each other, or take our thinking in different directions?Put multiple texts into conversation with one another. What do we learn by looking at the texts together? How do they offer us different understandings of or approaches to a particular idea or concept? (For example, all of our articles take up questions of how and whether we should identify with people, how we should address suffering. Kelly's poems all take up human concerns like loneliness and love with reference to animals.) What happens when we apply one reading to another, when we look at one reading through the lens of another?Again, our goal here is closeness, so you should thoroughly and precisely explain what aspects of the texts are important and how so. We should end up with a better understanding of the specific passages you address and how they contribute to the text overall.You should include a list of references or works cited at the end of your writing, and your work should be posted on your class site.Creative Writing – Poetry This assignment consists of three parts: a poem, a reflection on your work and the revision process, and a formal response to a classmate's poem. The poem and reflection should be submitted on your class site. The formal response will be submitted as a hardy copy in class.PoemYour poem should be 5-30 lines. If you want to write haiku or other short poems, you should write multiple poems to get to the minimum line requirement, and there should be some sort of thematic or narrative connection between the poems. The maximum line requirement applies as well, both for the sake of our available time to workshop our poems and so that you can better focus your attention and ideas.There are no particular constraints on the subject matter or language of your poem, but please be mindful and respectful of your classmates in terms of what you are asking them to read. For further thoughts and activities to help you develop your poem, see this handout.ReflectionYour writing in the reflection (400-700 words) should address the following prompts and questions:What were you hoping to achieve in your poem? Did you want to tell a particular story? Capture a particular feeling or experience? Create a particular mood? Convey a particular message? To what extent did you achieve this goal? In what ways was your poem most successful? What are its main limitations?Explain your choices about your use of language. What words in the poem are most important to you? Why did you choose them? How about things like line length, rhythm, and rhyme? Why did you craft the poem in the way that you did?What changes did you make to your poem through the revision process? Why?Which poem(s) from your classmates did you find most successful? What did you like about the poem(s)? What was most successful - engaging, moving, insightful, beautiful, etc. - about them?ResponseThe expectations for your response to a classmate are detailed here. On the day that you offer a formal response, you should bring two hard copies of the response: one for your classmate and one for me.Creative Writing – Flash FictionThis assignment consists of three parts: a short story (flash fiction), a reflection on your work and the revision process, and a formal response to a classmate’s story. The story and reflection should be submitted on your class site. The formal response will be submitted as a hardy copy in class.Flash FictionYour piece should be 300-1000 words. This range is strict - if you are under, you need to add to the story; if you are over, you need to cut it down. You are welcome to take your story in any direction as long as it is appropriate and respectful (but it's okay to assume we're all adults; in this sense, profanity and dark subject matter would be okay, but racism and misogyny aren't). Your story will benefit from attending to a range of concerns, including character, story, theme, structure, dialog, voice, and style.ReflectionYour writing in the reflection (400-700 words) should address the following prompts and questions:What were you hoping to achieve in your story? Did you want to tell a particular story? Capture a particular feeling or experience? Create a particular mood? Convey a particular message? To what extent did you achieve this goal? In what ways was your story most successful? What are its main limitations?Explain your choices about your use of language. What words in the story are most important to you? Why did you choose them? How about things like narrative, description, and dialogue? Why did you craft the story in the way that you did?What changes did you make to your story through the revision process? Why?Which stories from your classmates did you find most successful? What did you like about the stories? What was most successful about them?ResponseThe expectations for your response to a classmate are detailed here. On the day that you offer a formal response, you should bring two hard copies of the response: one for your classmate and one for me.Professional WritingThis assignment asks you to pick a publication or publisher to analyze and to write for. This publication/publisher can be large or small, old or new, print or digital, corporate giant or independent, literary or something else (cultural, musical, political, economic, sports-focused, etc.). It could be a newspaper, magazine, website, book publisher, record label, etc. For literary magazines, you might search the list on Poets & Writers?(you can search by genre and subgenre, and there are over 1000 magazines listed!). For independent publishers, a few lists might be helpful, including those from Flavorwire and New Pages. Once you have selected a publication/publisher, you should produce two texts: a rhetorical analysis of the publication and an article pitch.Rhetorical AnalysisThis part of the assignment should be about 500-700 words, and it draws on similar skills and strategies as our previous analysis papers. Your analysis should focus on how the publication establishes its identity and appeals to readers, and you will likely focus on 2-4 aspects of how the publication presents itself as a text with attention to content, images, and design. In this sense, you can consider the sort of content that gets published, images and advertisements incorporated into the publication, cover design, font and other stylistic markers, use of color and contrast, layout, etc.Attention to these details and aspects of the publication will allow you to address two further concerns. First, how do these textual features shape our understanding of the publication? How would you describe the orientation of the publication - its style, character, values, and identity - based on these features? What makes this publication unique? Next, consider the audience for the publication. If you have a good sense for what sort of audience this publication has, comment on how these textual features and the publication's orientation appeal to this audience. If you don't have a sense for the publication's audience, comment on what sort of audience would likely be drawn toward the publication based on its textual features and orientation. The rhetorical analysis should be accessible on your site as a post, page, or attachment.Article PitchFor this component of the assignment, imagine yourself as a freelance writer pitching an article to the publication. As the link notes, your pitch should take the following format:Paragraph 1: Your name, your occupation, where you are, the story you have in mindParagraph 2: Why it matters, who you can talk to to write it, your sources, if you’re already done some work on itParagraph 3: If you’re working with video/photo/multimedia, etc say soParagraph 4: Your writing history, your expertise, where your work has been publishedAnother way of saying this is that your pitch should address three questions: What is the story or idea you are pitching? Why should this publication publish it? And why are you the person to write it?The challenge here will be coming up with a story that you could potentially pitch to the publication. While you do not have to write the article itself, you do have to successfully pitch an article that would be interesting and appropriate for the publication. The pitch should be accessible on your site as a post, page, or attachment.Remediation ProjectThis project asks you to use digital technologies and platforms to remediate other texts. The notion of remediation helps us think about how new media forms and technologies draw and extend on older technologies, simultaneously producing something new and allowing us to see previous technologies and texts in a new light. We will practice remediation by drawing on tools and technologies related to audio and video production and then interactive storytelling, giving you the opportunity to transform and rework texts that you produced earlier in the semester or texts from outside of our class.This project has two parts, each of which should be accessible on your class site in some way. For the A/V component, you have two main options. First, you can post your video to YouTube or Vimeo and then embed the video or include a link on your website. Otherwise, you can submit your video through a class folder on Dropbox and then include the Dropbox share link on your site. NOTE: In order to upload your video to YouTube, Vimeo, or Dropbox, you will need to produce it as an .mov, .mp4, .avi, or similar file. It will not work if you try to use the iMovie or Final Cut Pro or other program file, as this file opens up your work in the program rather than a stand alone video.To submit your interactive storytelling work from Twine, you will need to "publish to file" from the menu on the lower left corner of the screen in order to generate an html file. You can then upload this file to a site like philome.la so that your work is playable/readable for others, and you can then post that link to your site. (Philome.la requires a Twitter account; if you don't have one, you can use the class account: mrking@sbu.edu, password = bonaventure .)A/V WorkThis aspect of the project involves producing and editing audio and video. The first challenge is choosing a text to remediate. I would recommend working with your flash fiction or poem, although you could also work with one of our other assignments. For the audio aspect, you can record yourself reading the text and/or incorporate background music; for the video component, you can have the words of the text on the screen (if this works better than reading and recording the text) and/or images and video footage. In this sense, how can you use images and audio to enhance the original text, to create contrast or tension, to highlight a particular element of the text, or to comment upon it in some way?Helpful technologies for this component include Audacity and Wavepad (available on Bonaventure computers), GarageBand, Movie Maker or Videopad (available on Bonaventure computers), iMovie, or YouTube Editor. Even something like PowerPoint could work here. This example could help you develop ideas for this part of the assignment.Interactive StorytellingThis component involves working with Twine to produce a text with hyperlinks so that the story unfolds over multiple screens and in different ways depending on the reader's selections. Again, I would recommend working with your flash fiction or another story or poem you have written, although you could potentially work with one of our other assignments or a work written by someone else. For example, you could use Twine to annotate or comment upon another text as a means of performing rhetorical or literary analysis. Your use of Twine will likely take one of two approaches: you will either have one main text that appears on one screen with other pieces branching off (for example, "Not So Once Upon a Time") or a series of screens that take the reader in different directions, like a choose-your-own-adventure story (for example, "Beautiful Dreamer"). The main question here becomes, how can you create opportunities for the reader to interact with the text and shape its development in meaningful ways?Extra CreditOne of challenges we face when writing in digital environments and drawing on the work of others is addressing concerns of fair use and accessibility. You will get a 1/2 letter grade bonus on your project if you include a written component that addresses these concerns. To address accessibility, you should provide a transcript of your video. You can find an overview of best practices for transcription here. Note that transcriptions go beyond just transcribing words to include descriptions of music, images, or other textual elements. Here’s an example. To address fair use, you should write a paragraph or two commenting on your use of outside materials. Where did you incorporate the work of others into your project? How would you defend your use of these materials with reference to the principles of fair use?Electronic PortfolioThe electronic portfolio includes two components. First, your class website itself will be considered in its totality: your completion and inclusion of all assignments on the site and then any efforts you make toward exploring and developing the site's functionality and visual appeal. In terms of functionality and visual appeal, you can attend to concerns like theme, layout, site organization, use of embedded content (links, videos, images, etc.), widgets, and additional pages or components that further develop your online persona and/or professional identity. While there is not a set requirement in terms of what all you include on your page, your portfolio grade will benefit from evidence that you have put time and effort into developing your site.Next, your portfolio submission should include one last post, page, or attachment that reflects on the site and your work throughout the semester. Your reflection should be at least 700-1000 words, and it should address the following prompts and questions (not necessarily every last question, but every bullet point in some way).How have you developed as a writer this semester? Where has your work been most effective this semester? Least effective? How so? How has it most improved?How would you describe the similarities and differences between the different types of writing we have done this semester - rhetorical analysis, literary analysis, creative writing (poetry and flash fiction), professional writing, and digital writing? How do they open up different possibilities for critical thinking, persuasion, expression, and creativity? How has your understanding of writing changed this semester? What are the main points or insights you will take away from the class?Comment on your site itself. What have you tried to accomplish through developing its functionality and visual appeal? What sort of effect are you going for? How do you hope readers will engage with and respond to your site? Is there any way you would like to develop your site further if you had more time and/or technical expertise? What about your site are you most happy with, most proud of? ................
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