English 281 is an intermediate writing course designed to help you develop greater rhetorical sensitivity. A central goal of this course is to assist you to expand the reading and writing skills you possess by cultivating a critical awareness of the ways in which written communication takes place. In this class we will consider writing from a rhetorical framework. That is to say, writing will be understood as serving real purposes for real people under different circumstances. To this end, we will examine how, and why, the uses of writing vary from situation to situation, how writers can successfully recognize these differences, and how they can strategically use different writing forms to achieve distinctive ends.

English 281 will use a method of investigation called genre analysis—a method that enables you to recognize the conditions, attitudes and habits that motivate recurring writing forms, what we often call genres. These include standard compositions like the complaint letter, lab report, research paper, and less academic forms like the sales add. The emphasis in our class will not be on mastering anyone of these genres, but on becoming aware of the contexts that promote them. By understanding how and why specific situations and interactions encourage specific forms of writing, you will be better equipped to make more intelligent, deliberate and effective choices when writing under different circumstances.

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.