The idea for this class is to give you an opportunity to work with some of your own writing (academic or otherwise) that you already like; to play with that writing by figuring out what makes it tick, rhetorically speaking; and to try pushing it to its generic and rhetorical limits by rewriting it in a number of different ways (again, academic and otherwise). The end goal of this being: you'll be more knowledgeable about rhetoric and more comfortable with your own writing.

How will you do this? Through intensive peer group sessions in class, individual research outside of class, one-on-one conferences with the instructor, and exercises and discussion about rhetoric. Because you will be working with your own writing, and that writing is the only "required text" for the course, coursework will look different for each student, but we will
work collaboratively to generate working rhetorical definitions and to increase each others' rhetorical awareness. Students who are invested in writing as a purposeful and meaningful exercise are encouraged to register!

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.