CCWP06: Writers, Audiences, & Authority

Overview

During the late twentieth century we have become increasingly concerned with the notion that "there are no facts, only interpretations." This module sets out to explore some instances in which the meaning of certain facts or texts may vary widely, and it focuses especially on how audiences decide what facts can mean. In our first unit, we will examine how even the apparently "realistic" works of a writer like George Orwell leave readers with wide discretion for determining what those texts are really saying, what they mean. In Unit 2, "The Book and the Movie," we pursue the question of whether one person's intended meaning can be successfully transferred to another person, and we ask what happens to meaning when a work in one genre, such as the short story or novel, is "translated" into a neighboring genre like film. In our final unit, we look at the World Wide Web, and we ask how the medium of the web can channel and shape our experience as well as the ways in which we may think. How are we to assess information we receive electronically? Does it have as much authority as a printed book? Should it? We will examine these questions and others in relations to some of the cultural formations available through the internet. Throughout the semester we will be concentrating on effective ways of framing questions, examining evidence, and crafting persuasive written responses to provocative readings.

Course Objectives

In this module, you will learn how to present your ideas thoughtfully and clearly to an intelligent public audience for a variety of purposes. Specifically, you will write three essays: the first, a short three to four-page text; the second, five to six pages in length; and, the third, an eight to ten-page 'library research' -based document. In the process, you will learn how to develop and deepen your questions; how to select and use evidence and clarify the assumptions, how to form definitions and shape a thesis; and, how to fine-tune your writing for the particular rhetorical contexts that you envision.

Course Structure

Core writing modules are all divided into three units of instruction, each of which builds on the units before it. The first two units encompass eight seminars each, and the third unit, ten seminars. In each seminar and in each unit have been designed primarily to develop student skills in reading, writing and thinking, but as this is in a more general sense a course in communication skills, you will also be expected to refine speaking and listening skills. Each student will complete one essay for each of the three units.

Required Texts

There are two required texts.

For Unit Two I expect all students to read Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. You can get it at Borders, or you can borrow it, or you can "zap" it.

The second required text, which you will purchase from the NUS Co-op, is A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker.

In addition to these two books, there will be several photocopied readings for each of the three units.

Course Requirements

1. A three to four page essay (Unit 1)

2. A five to six page essay (Unit 2)

3. An eight to ten page essay (Unit 3)

4. Several shorter writing activities (1 page or less) which build towards the three essays

5. Regular brief oral presentations on reading material.

6. Attendance at seminars twice a week

7. Three individual (student-teacher) writing conferences (one for each unit)

Manuscript Form for Writing Activities and Essays

For this module, you will complete three essays and a variety of writing activities building up to the three essays. Please pay careful attention to the rules listed below.

1. All essays and writing activities should be printed in a size 12 font, in non-erasable black ink, double-spaced, on one side of white paper. Submissions to your tutor by disc or e-mail will NOT be accepted.

2. Use a 1 inch margin on ALL sides.

3. For all writing activities, insert in a single-spaced block in the upper right- hand corner of your first page:

   • your name as it appears on your matriculation card

   • the course code and title [CCWP06: Writers, Audiences, & Authority]

   • my name [Dr. John Whalen-Bridge]

   • the title/number of the writing activity.

   Begin your opening paragraph two double spaces beneath this single-spaced block of information. Number the pages of your exercise and staple the pages together. Do not use a paper clip.

4. For all essays, insert in a single-spaced block in the upper right- hand corner of your first page:

   • your name as it appears on your matriculation card

   • the course code and title [CCWP06: Writers, Audiences, & Authority]

   • my name

   • the essay number, indicating which draft it is [E.g.: Essay 1: first draft].

   • the date

   Center your essay title two double spaces beneath this single-spaced block of information. Begin your opening paragraph two double spaces beneath your title. Indent each new paragraph 5 spaces and do not put extra spaces between paragraphs. Number the pages of your essay and staple the pages together. Do not use a paper clip.

   With each first draft you submit, you are required to submit a letter to your tutor about your essay. The letter need not be exhaustive - a page, typed in double-space is about right. In your letter, you will state your thesis explicitly; also say what you think are your essay's main strength and weakness. The main purpose of this activity is to help you become an attentive critic of your own writing, by having you articulate for yourself and your tutor what your essay's focus is, where you feel your essay works, and where you feel it needs more work. This letter should always be stapled to the front of your essay draft.

   Always turn in the first draft of your essay (with your tutor's comments on it) along with your final version. The order of materials to be submitted is as follows:

   • final draft of essay

   • letter to tutor on first draft

   • first draft with tutor's comments on it

   You may use a folder when submitting these materials or staple them together. Do not use a paper clip.

5. Always proofread your work carefully after you have run a spell-check, since the computer doesn't know you meant two not too or to; knot instead of not; or fill rather than full. I would recommend you skip grammar checking programs altogether, as I find them to be a waste of time.

6. Always keep a back-up (or two) of all writing that you submit.

Essays

Your essays will be developed through a process of planning, drafting and revising. I will comment on your drafts, but will grade only your final versions.

Essay #1: When we are students, we are often told to read textbooks and are lead to take the authority of those textbooks for granted. The first essay invites you to explore the question of authority by looking at what one particular writer has written in a variety of contexts. How and why do the writer's messages vary according to contexts? We will, in the first unit, examine this matter by reflecting on the ways in which an influential author has shaped his message differently according to the various rhetorical situations in which he has found himself. The objective of this first essay is for you to identify and explicate with subtlety and sophistication the motivations behind a given piece of writing. How do we decide what a writer's purpose is? Can a writer have more than one purpose? What if the motives appear to contradict one another? In writing this essay, we will focus on developing strategies for asking good questions, critically analyzing texts, and working with evidence to explain your position.
[Essay #1 Assignment]

Essay #2: The second essay builds on the first by continuing to examine the writer's motivation, but the second essay will be more concerned than the first with the ways in which the form of the writing has been determined by the audience for whom the writer is shaping his or her message. In order to examine discrepancies between audiences while maintaining our focus on roughly similar messages, we will look at novels that have inspired films.(While it is true that film-goers are also readers, it is almost always the case that films have to appeal to a much wider audience base than do written texts.) In writing this essay, we will continue to practice strategies for asking good questions, critically analyzing texts, and working with evidence to explain your position. In addition, we will focus on strategies for forming arguments and counterarguments to support your position. But most importantly, we will complicate our responses to artistic transformation so that we are able to recognize as many artistic choices as possible when assessing what a given writer or director has done with his or her material. In short, we want to get beyond the kind of "black/white" or "either/or" thinking that has afflicted many a student essay.
[Essay #2 Assignment]

Essay #3: If the first essay has been designed to train writers in handling raw material (evidence) simply by describing it accurately, and if the second essay has been designed to bring students to develop the range of possible responses to this material, the third essay in CCWP06 is designed to introduce more rigorous "quality control" standards in the critical assessment of information. The typical university term for this kind of assignment is the "research paper," but this term leads students to erroneously assume that their only job is to pack the ten pages full of footnotes. Quality always counts. For Essay #3 we will enter into areas of enquiry known for being larded with questionable information: welcome to the realm of conspiracy theories! I recommend you all watch "X-Files" and see a few Oliver Stone films. In this essay you will critically assess urban myths, conspiracy theories, or even "rumor knowledge" that may seem true but for reasons you do not really understand. Each student will search out and develop source materials to persuade an intelligent, public audience of the merit of his or her position about an "alternate discourse" of some sort. In doing this essay, you will learn how to do library research and information management. For the third unit each student must develop a topic that will have comprehensive internet coverage, as one of the kinds of information I wish you to assess is the web page.

Writing Activities

You will prepare for each essay by doing a sequence of writing activities, designed to introduce you to the process of reading, writing and thinking necessary to complete the essay. These preparatory activities will be short, usually a page in length, and are due on the dates indicated on the syllabus. I will collect and read these un-graded but required responses but will not comment extensively on them. The purpose: to try out ideas and take some risks as you work towards completing your essay.

Seminars

The purpose of the Writing Programme is to help you become a strong writer, and the only way that will happen, in my opinion, is if you learn how to teach yourself. In these seminars you will occasionally listen to short, informal lectures, but these times will be rather exceptional. Consider the seminar to be a kind of "dojo" in which you practice skills and present techniques before others for correction. We will study the techniques of various professional writers in class, and we will also critically assess one another's work. Always remember to bring the texts to class, but please leave your ego at the door.

At least one seminar in each unit will be used for peer review. The texts used for these discussions will be the essay drafts written by you and your peers. You will work in groups of three to four to discuss each other's drafts, sometimes using a specific list of questions or issues to guide your review. Why is peer review a useful practice, if, presumably, students know less about reviewing writing than does the instructor? As I said above, you will only become a strong writer if you learn how to teach yourself the art of writing (which, in my estimation, takes 6-10 years to learn thoroughly). Thus, you need to learn how to edit if you want to learn how to write. Editing in some ways similar to surgery...and it is very hard to learn surgery by practicing on oneself. It is psychologically easier, at your level especially, to see someone else's error or weak technique than to see your own. This is why Nobel Prize-winning writers still work with editors. To learn how to edit, you must practice on each other; eventually you will acquire skill at editing your own writing, but I always warn students to separate composing and editing. If you try to draft and revise at the same time, you could wind up with a serious case of "writer's block." A good motto, and one we will practice in in-class writing assignments: "Write first, ask questions later."

Much of what you will learn on this module will occur to you in seminar discussions as you listen to each other's ideas, enriching and sharpening each other's thought. Seminars are a joint endeavor, and everyone's participation is essential, So, please come to seminar ready to contribute. It is rude and selfish to let others do all the work-please join in.

Writing Conferences

You will have three individual writing conferences with your tutor over the semester (one for each essay). A missed conference is tantamount to an absence.

Conference will usually take place in the week after you submit your essay draft (see syllabus for actual conference dates). Given that each conference is only 15 minutes long, you will need to be focused to make the most of this time. You should come prepared to discuss your ideas and plans for revision, i.e., talk about specific problems you're having and possible solutions. Your tutor will listen and offer advice, but only if you seem to need it. The point, after all, is to learn to write well on your own. Do not think of your tutor as an editor or as someone who is there to "correct" your papers for you. See him/her instead as a guide or coach, someone who knows and understands the conventions that you're trying to learn and who would like to help you develop your own ideas.

Typically, your final draft will be due for submission in seminar a week after your writing conference.

Grading and Attendance

The three essays represent the bulk of your grade, and are weighted to reward you for improvement. That is to say, your essays will be developed through a process of planning, drafting and revising, and only then will they be graded. Your grades will measure what you have learned (or still need to learn) in the course, how well you have worked on your essays, and the thinking and writing abilities your essays demonstrate.

I will, however, consider your total course work in determining your overall grade for the module. This includes your active participation in seminars, conferences, and your timely completion of writing activities. Success in the module depends on your responsible individual and group endeavor. You will receive more detailed grading criteria for each of the essays in class. But, to give you a general idea of the kind of writing we value, here are the characteristics that we will encourage in your work.

Your essays and oral-presentation should:

• develop an idea in a coherent and interesting way
• support that idea with thoughtfully selected evidence
• provide your target audience with sufficient contextual information to follow your argument easily
• express your thought clearly and concisely, in prose that conforms to educated conventions of grammar, spelling, referencing/citation, and punctuation
• clearly signal emphasis and connections between ideas
• create a cogent introduction, development and conclusion.

A work gives an impression of excellence in all the areas above.

B work gives an impression of general superiority in all the areas above.

C work is average but demonstrates competence in all the areas above.

D or F work is below average and is seriously deficient in one or more of the areas listed.

Office Hours

If you would like to talk to me about the course in general or any aspects of your writing, I will be available to meet with you by appointment during my consultation hours (posted on my office door)--or at a time that is mutually convenient. Please be punctual for all appointments. Also, please call me if you are running late or have to cancel an appointment due to unforeseen circumstances. My general office hours are from 8:30-10 on Mon. and Tues.

Voice-mail and e-mail

I checks these at least once a day in the morning and (sometimes again in the evening). Please check your own e-mail daily. If you don't have an e-mail account, please acquire one immediately. You will be responsible for information (administrative details, reminders, brief notes, etc.) that your tutor sends on it. If you will miss a class for an acceptable reason (see below), I expect to receive a phone message to that effect before the class, if at all possible. My phone number is.

Writing Programme Policy on Attendance

Because instruction in the Writing Programme proceeds by sequential writing activities, your consistent and punctual attendance is essential.

Excused absence

An excused absence (from seminars, writing conferences with your tutor, and panel discussions) is an absence covered by

• a medical certificate (a copy of which you must submit to your tutor immediately upon your return to University); or
• a letter from the Dean (covering special events such as athletic meets, debates, concerts, and conferences).

Unexcused absence

All other absence will be deemed unexcused. You are allowed two unexcused absences over the semester, beyond which you will be dropped from the course.

Writing Programme Policy on Meeting Deadlines

Because your Writing Programme module is a planned sequence of writing, to pass the course, you must write all three essays, within the schedule of the course, and not in the last few days of the semester after you have fallen behind.

All deadlines in the Programme are firm, because the essays build on each other. Late work will not be accepted. If you have a legitimate reason for not being able to submit a piece of work in timely fashion, contact your tutor before the due date of the assignment, providing the necessary documentation - from your doctor in the case of a medical emergency; your parents in the case of a family emergency; or the Dean of your Faculty in the case of other university commitments. Falling behind may warrant exclusion from the course if there is not a legitimate medical or family emergency.