Writing to Persuade
Good writing is a kind of skating which carries off the performer where he would not go.
__ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tell your daughter that she can learn a great deal about writing by reading and by studying books about grammar
and the organization of ideas, but if she wishes to write well she will have to become someone.
She will have to discover her beliefs, and then speak to us from within those beliefs.
If her prose doesn’t come out of her belief,… she will only be passing along information, of which we are in no great need.
__ Barry Lopez, About This Life
Course Overview:
This is a course in persuasive writing—though it might be better to call it purposive writing. In other words, we will explore a range of nonfiction writing that is written with one of four types of purposes or motivations in mind: reflecting, reporting, explaining, arguing. All strong and engaging writing communicates with and from a purpose: it is what makes the reader want to read. This is an intensive writing course: all of the work, from reading to responding to reading and writing in class, to the range of informal and formal writing, to the final portfolio you will turn in—all of that will be done with the intent of learning more about writing and developing your ability to communicate as a writer. Our primary model of class work will be the writing workshop.
Our course reader is available in the bookstore: Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing, 7th edition (Bedford St. Martin’s). In addition to the text you will need a writer’s journal that you will keep throughout the course. We will be using Blackboard and other web resources throughout the course. I require and expect all students to have a wireless laptop available each class.
Course Objectives:
There are several. My primary goal in this course is to guide you in learning to become more effective, powerful and confident users and creators of your writing, for your further studies at Morningside and in your lives beyond. This course, therefore, will enable you to experience, through selected readings, writing workshop, and a range of writing assignments, the creative and critical process that writers undergo in composing persuasive and engaging writing.
More specifically, this course has the following learning objectives (framed in the language of the IDEA course evaluation):
[1]Developng your creative capacities as a writer
[2]Developing your skill and confidence in expressing yourself in writing.
[3]Gaining a broader understanding and appreciation (both as reader and writer) of the intellectual/cultural craft of persuasive and creative, nonfiction writing.
In terms of English department objectives (for English majors/minors), this course will focus on the following:
[1]Understands that writing is a creative and thoughtful process and uses this process in developing writing projects through the stages from vision through revision to publication.
[2]Demonstrates flexibility as a writer and can write in a variety of forms and for different audiences and purposes.
In terms of the Creative Expression distribution that this course satisfies, the objectives are the following:
Demonstrate an understanding of the creative process;
Demonstrate the ability to think creatively; and
Use knowledge, materials, and media in enlightening or imaginative ways.
Course Expectations and Policies:
Some crucial things you can expect from me as an educator and the leader of your experiences in the course.
Response: One of my roles is to assess your learning in the course so that I can help in that process. That means more than giving you a grade. It means giving you the response (employing a variety of methods of assessment, some with numbers, some without) that you will need to understand your own learning and thus perform in this course (and beyond it) more effectively and thoughtfully—the main objective of this and any course I teach. I understand that you may be more used to “grades” alone rather than this broader emphasis on response and qualitative assessment; feel free to talk with me whenever you feel you need a response that is more oriented toward a number.
Curiosity: I am a learner and love the process of learning; that is why I teach. This means that my curiosity for the subjects in this course and my desire to learn more about them will be part of the course and should encourage you, I would hope, to be equally curious and passionate about your learning. I will be a leader of the course but be prepared to have me follow your lead as well.
Flexibility: Since I am a learner and the course is therefore a work in progress, you should expect the course to evolve. We will follow a general syllabus with assignments given in advance; but be prepared for some changes to be made based on where we are going at a given time. You should always consult the course web page for updates. Regarding disabilities: If you have an identified disability which may impact your performance in this class, schedule an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss adaptations or accommodations which may be necessary to provide you with an equal opportunity for success in this course.
Some crucial things I will expect from you as a student (and fellow learner) in this course.
Participation: If you are going to participate more effectively and thoughtfully in your own learning (an objective of the course) you will need to participate on a daily basis. Class participation is a key component of the course and will be part of your overall grade. It involves keeping up in your journal writing, speaking and listening actively in class, being prepared for discussions. Since you can’t participate if you are absent, unexcused absences will affect your grade. An excused absence is one where you have spoken with me in advance about your need to miss class. Here is my attendance policy:
--After two absences (your free pass), each absence will count -10 from your final participation grade.
--A student who misses 50% of the classes by midterm (this includes classes missed before signed into the course) will automatically fail the course.
--Any quizzes or other in-class assignments given on a day a student is absent will result in a 0, unless the absence has been arranged previously with me.
--Students may have the opportunity to add extra credit points to their participation grade. See me if interested or concerned about your absences.
Communication: Keep in touch with me about how things are going for you, difficulties you are having with your work, confusion, curiosity, excitement. Communicating how things are going is also a key part of participating thoughtfully in your own learning. My late work policy: As a rule, if you have not communicated with me in advance about turning in an assignment later than the due date, you will loose credit for that assignment. An assignment more than one week late will receive a 0.
Integrity: You can’t participate thoughtfully if you aren’t being fully honest with me, with your colleagues, and with yourself. Plagiarism is one form of dishonesty. In general, using the ideas and language of another without giving proper credit is plagiarism. Any student guilty of such plagiarism is subject to serious penalty for the assignment (failing) and for the course overall. We will talk about how to credit properly the use of another’s work as well as how to distinguish between collaboration and sharing (both of which are important in education) and plagiarism. For more on plagiarism and the policies of the College, consult the College Catalog and Student Handbook.
Progress: Throughout the course I will be looking for and assessing your progress as a way to help you make that progress. I will expect you to be striving for progress in all aspects of the course, willing and eager to do the work that progress requires.
Assessment:
I will use a variety of evaluation methods to assess your performance and determine your grade. These methods will be discussed in advance. The general scale I will use for determining final grades should be familiar to you (+ and – at each level may also be applied):
A/Excellent/90-100
B/Good/80-89
C/Average/70-79
D/Poor/60-69
F/Failing/below 60
What follows is a rough guideline for how your progress and work in the course will count toward your final grade:
Participation: 10%
Reading (reading log, quizzes, discussion, presentations): 20%
Writing (informal writing and formal essays): 50%
Final portfolio: 20%
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