• clear sense of intent and purpose in writing
• organization of ideas within an essay
• understanding of a specific audience and different strategies of address
• methods of peer response and careful editing
• critical thinking and its applications in writing and talking about the language of the media

• A Manual for Writers, Kate Turabian
• Ways of Seeing, John Berger
• 1984, George Orwell

            (all of which are available at TALKING LEAVES, a bookstore
            at 3158 Main Street across from the South Campus)

• a photocopied packet available at the beginning of the semester:
  • Noam Chomsky, "A Propaganda Model"
  • Mark Crispin Miller, "Big Brother Is You, Watching"
  • Marshall McLuhan, selections from Counterblast
  • Gloria Steinem, "Sex, Lies & Advertising"
  • Edmund Carpenter, "The New Languages"
  • Edmund Carpenter & Marshall McLuhan, "Acoustic Space"
  • David Riesman, "The Oral and Written Traditions"
  • George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"
  • John Berger, "To Take Paper, To Draw: A World Through Lines"
  • Lewis Mumford, "How the Half-worlds Go"
  • plus assorted cultural and counter-cultural artifacts
• a thin paper folder to secure in-class writing, reading responses, and paper drafts (this is your journal)

Writing and reading electronically:

Aside from being able to think and write critically about the language of the media, I also want you to begin to experiment with composing in some new media as well. The new media bring with them their own particular methods, and their own particular ways of constructing the world. Some of the course reading exists only electronically as online hypertexts; these will serve as models for some of our own writing assignments. I want us to begin writing with these new languages and gain some understanding of their particular uses, limitations, and biases.

We will explore writing in this new space every week with responses to reading assignments posted electronically to our class listserv and by using internet archives and user groups to do research. We will also use this new technology in a collaborative writing project later in the semester.

What about those nasty little points?

Try to imagine a situation in your future where an ability to communicate and express yourself as clearly as possible in English would not be an advantage. It is a difficult proposition unless you envisage a very exotic life. Whether writing a history paper in your sophomore year, or negotiating contracts in a board room fifteen years from now, a strong command of English will be invaluable. The aim of this course is not just to improve your writing, but to help you develop a necessary life skill, a skill more valuable than any little number or letter found on an essay or piece of university stationary. Think "writing" not "grades" and you will leave this course with something infinitely more valuable than a letter.

Every essay I return to you will contain extensive comments about its strengths and weaknesses. I will comment on (in no particular order of importance): the content and critical thinking, the amount of genuine revision and real changes made between the drafts, the organization, the awareness of an audience, sentence structure and word choice, and the mechanics of writing (grammar, punctuation, etc.). Although THERE WILL BE NO LETTER GRADE ON YOUR ESSAYS I will comment if I find the work unsatisfactory or of excellent caliber.

Once before the resign deadline, and once in the last third of the semester, we will meet individually to discuss your work and your progress (and, if you insist, your grade). I will, of course, inform you if there is any danger of you failing.

The final grade, only because one must be assessed, will be calculated as follows:

     %40  three 4-5 page essays
     %30  one 6-10 page research paper
     %20  in-class writings (collected in your journal) and responses to readings
          (collected in your journal and sent to the class listserv)
     %10  intelligent class participation and attendance

• turn in all papers on the day they are due
• do all the revisions asked of you
• send all reading responses to the class listserv by the midnight before the responses are to be discussed and bring a hard copy to class
• miss no more than two days of class
• show up on time for your conferences
• turn in a journal with no missing entries at the end of the semester (all in- class writings, all reading responses, three drafts of every essay)
• make at least one thoughtful contribution to class discussion per week either in class or on the class listserv