Perl, Sondra and Mimi Schwartz. Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction.
Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays.
A writer’s handbook. I’ll use The St. Martin’s Handbook by Andrea Lunsford.
You should have a dictionary for reading and a thesaurus for writing.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In Advanced Composition, our primary goal will be to work away from the traditional, thesis-driven academic essay. Too often, college courses are taught as if the only type of essay that exists is the argumentative essay, focused on a single topic, with a clear claim and factual evidence to support it. In fact, the essay derives from an ancient tradition that honors the complicated interrelatedness of events and ideas by presenting knowledge in ways that are associative, circular, that use metaphor, that can’t find the certainty necessary to make definitive claims.

In the 15^th Century, French Aristocrat Michel Montaigne used the word essai (translated literally as “to attempt”) to describe the kind of informal musings he often wrote concerning topics of the day. These essays were neither philosophical treatises nor pieces of reportage. They were not sermons. They were not memoirs. They were not arguments. Rather, these essays reflected Montaigne’s thought-processes, sometimes following associations and tangents on their way to conclusions not always related to his beginnings. This is not to say that Montaigne’s essays were random. Rather, Montaigne was an extremely well-read individual, with an expansive personal library, which he frequently drew upon to combine personal observations with scientific resources and secondary sources from classical literature. In many ways, Montaigne’s work continues to set the ideal for the personal essay: the selections in the course text show agile, individual minds raising questions from a blend of personal and topical perspectives.

In this course, you will write essays in three of the following five sub-genres of creative non-fiction: memoir, the personal essay, the portrait, the essay of place, and literary journalism. Each of the three essays (the major assignments of the course) will:

be between 8-16 pages in length, including a works cited page
incorporate primary research drawn from observation and/or memory
cite at least two textual sources, with the word text being broadly construed
show imagination, ability to write descriptively in order to focus readers’ attention specifically, and in order to engage readers on aesthetic levels as well as logical ones
possess a unifying principle that is made significant to the reader—the exploration of a question, consideration of an event, understanding of a person or place's character, etc.
exhibit skillful control of the paragraph and sentence level
overall, create a successful exploration—Montaigne might call it a walk-through that results in a new seeing or a change of ideas: an illumination or even an intentional muddying of the waters. If the essay evokes an earnest, well-intentioned search, readers will relate to it and it will succeed, even if it doesn’t answer every topical question.

Formal proposals, drafts, and revisions will be necessary parts of the process, and multiple revisions may be accepted. In order to successfully explore its subject and puzzle forward through some questions—using description to examine multiple perspectives—toward some conclusions, each essay will need to be at least eight pages long (double-spaced, one-inch margins, as per MLA style (see page 182 of The St. Martin's Handbook for format guidelines)).

Course Objectives:

As a 300-level, University course, Advanced Composition is designed to challenge upper-division students to produce work of publication or near-publication quality. To succeed in the course, students must:

§ write essays that describe—that actually enact—a process of discovery

§ successfully employ evocative writing styles often associated with fiction, such as first-person narration, vivid description, and dialogue

§ successfully employ strategies of argumentative writing, such as opportunistic research (primary and secondary), incorporation of sources, and purposeful organization

§ plan, draft, revise, and edit successfully

§ read course texts closely, in order to complete response assignments and quizzes, and, more importantly, in order to learn about essay-writing through engaged reading

§ participate successfully in the writing workshop (see below)

GRADING AND ASSIGNMENTS:

Grading scale:

The course is based on a 1000 point system:

910-1000 A

880-909 AB

810-879 B

780-809 BC

700-779 C

600-699 D

below 600 F

Assignments:

Proposals for three major essays: 25 points each
First drafts of three major essays: 50 points each
Final drafts of three major essays: 150 points each
Two observation essays: 35 points each
Observation presentation: 50 points
Daily work (response writings, quizzes): 125 points
Participation: 80 points

The Three major essays are outlined above. Proposals for the essays should indicate the subject, the style (i.e., memoir, literary journalism, etc.), the proposed primary and secondary research, and a detailed, though tentative, plan for how the essay will proceed from beginning to end. First drafts should be productive, i.e., fully written if possible. If new directions take control, and the original proposal for the essay changes substantially, an incomplete first draft may be accompanied by a new proposal, and still receive full credit.

The two observation essays are designed to be brief but illuminating portrayals of people, places, things, ideas, acts, events… etc. They should represent their subjects in imaginative ways, based on some sort of intense (though perhaps brief) attention—perhaps watching, listening, tasting, remembering, or even reading. The assignment is designed to create a space for students to engage in primary research that might lead to a larger essay. Even if it doesn't, the assignment should be provide valuable practice in paying close attention to the world.

The observation essay should:

set the stage by describing what the author has chosen to write about, and why
set a physical context for the observation—the setting of the events, described crisply
describe the observed events with a keen eye for the significant detail
be written formally—in other words, revised for effectiveness and well-edited
be 2-4 pages, formatted according to MLA style (St. Martin's Handbook, pg. 182), with an additional works cited page, if necessary.

In the observation presentation, each student presents one of their observation essays to the class. The presentation should not consist of the student reading his or her observation essay verbatim, although it may be interesting and effective to select particularly effective passages from the essay that are worth reading. The observation presentation should be:

well-prepared, i.e., the student should clearly have practiced to make sure the presentation works well, and does not go over twenty minutes, including discussion.
captivating—the presentation should create in its audience some of the fascination that compelled the student to write the observation essay in the first place.
visually or audibly engaging. In other words, the presentation should have something to offer to audience members who might be visual or non-textual learners. Students should feel free to bring in artifacts that are related to their observation, and to invite their audience members to participate in activities (writing prompts, possibly) that bring them into the observation.
create interesting discussion—students should leave five minutes for questions and discussion at the end. If the discussion sessions are not lively, then the presentation has not fully succeeded.

Daily work is designed to ensure your continued good reading of course material. In order to learn writing from reading, you must be attentive to structure, style, logic, and other elements of craft. You should be a note-taker, a margin-writer, or an underliner. You should practice the life-enhancing art of curiosity, working to generate genuine interest in as much material as you can (this is why you’re here, I think—and not just in college, but on the planet: to see the world clearly, to learn and let your learning guide your actions). Daily work will consist of short quizzes—sometimes essay questions but sometimes simpler instruments like multiple choice—designed to challenge your ability to observe and recall important details in the readings. Such quizzes may sometimes be assigned in advance, but will often be unannounced. Quizzes may only be made up in cases of excused absence: i.e., absence due to a Viterbo-sponsored event (see below).

Participation will be evaluated over the course of the semester. Each of you will begin the course with a grade of C in this category, and if you do nothing to disrupt the course, you will finish the course with a C. If you are disrespectful of others or bring course discussion to a halt, you will finish below a C. If you are a positive and consistent contributor to the classroom community, you will move up into the B and A range in this category.

Absences: The Viterbo University Catalog stipulates that students who miss more than 15%

of class time (5 classes) due to unexcused absences may fail. Only absences due to Viterbo-sponsored events are considered excused. Absences due to illness, family responsibilities, vacations, etc. are unexcused. If you are absent and unexcused, you may not make up any in-class assignments that you miss, you are responsible for turning in any work due during the class you missed, and you are responsible for keeping up with the class.

Late work may be accepted, under extreme circumstances, with penalty.

Note on the workshop: we all need to work effectively to create a productive workshop community. Our course text, Writing True, has a fine chapter on workshopping, and we will model our classroom community on its recommendations. Generally speaking, though, satisfactory workshop participation includes:

attentive reading of all course materials, including peer work and assigned work
coming to class prepared to articulate your understandings of the reading
being receptive to what others say in the workshop
“owning” your responses to texts: i.e., using qualifiers like “it just seems to me that…” or “I’m sure that there are other ways of seeing this, but…”
never targeting another member of the workshop with language or actions designed to insult, humiliate, or otherwise harm a peer

Viterbo University policy applying to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability: “it is the policy of Viterbo University to comply with the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act and regulations issued thereunder to the extent applicable to Viterbo University.”

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