The focus of this class is writing. Good writing does not occur in a vacuum, which is to say that it cannot be pulled off effectively without considering audience, social context, intention, genre, and a whole host of other rhetorical concerns that we will address in this class. Although there is not a heavy duty reading load or a tightly formed “theme,” the secondary focus of this course is on studying the “media” (how to critique and write about various media, how to effectively create content for media, and so on). In particular, we will use contemporary social issues being talked about in the media (broadly defined to include magazines, newspapers, blogs, film, music, art, television) as an entry way, content, and exigency for our writing projects. There will be ample room for students to explore issues key to their own interests, disciplines, career plans, etc.

We will consider what it means to write effectively at all stages of the process, for different audiences and contexts, and in various genres. We will be concerned not only with rhetorical invention (how one comes up with something important to write about in the first place), but also with polish, style, and the consequences of our writing. We will also consider surface-level language choices, organization, use of evidence, and so on.

Students will do short, daily written responses and complete various writing assignments that build up to a larger project. Many of the projects will be in the publicly oriented genres like those we study (news articles, blog entries, etc.).

Prerequisites:

While 281 has no formal prerequisite, this is an intermediate writing course, and instructors expect entering students to know how to formulate claims, integrate evidence, demonstrate awareness of audience, and structure coherent sentences, paragraphs and essays. Thus we strongly encourage students to complete an introductory (100 level) writing course before enrolling in English 281.