This is a research-based writing course based around the broad, interdisciplinary topic of community. In a world marked by dynamic, complex global and local interconnections, the idea of /community/ has been transformed. The social networking site Facebook, for instance, has recently announced that the number of its worldwide users has exceeded 400 million while, at the opposite end of the spectrum, new work-sharing micro-communities have sprung up in locales across the country in response to rising joblessness and the current economic crisis. But as new forms of community emerge, our understanding of what it means to belong to a community also changes. So, in this course, students will work individually and in groups to investigate what it means to belong to a variety of communities—local, global, academic, social, virtual, traditional, and others—in contemporary life. In doing so, they will develop their research-based writing skills as well as the ability to collaborate on multi-stage projects. Students will write in a variety of genres, including project proposals, researcher’s notes, individual reports, and group projects, receiving peer and instructor feedback throughout the research and writing process. Students’ writing will also be supported by class readings and discussions chosen to support critical thinking on the topic and, where possible, according to student interest. Groups will present their research during an in-class poster conference and in a final written project. This is a computer-integrated (CIC) course.

*Booklist*
Barrios, B. (2010). /Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writers/. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. ISBN-13: 978-0-312-47444-7

Course Pack

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.