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1. SYLLABUS
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Freshman Writing Seminar

Canvas Instructor
Ames Library, Rm. 327

Meeting Times: MT TF 9:30 - 11:00
Office Hours: W 9:30 - 11:00

Printable Syllabus: FreshmanWritingSeminarSyllabus.pdf

This is a writing course designed to help you claim your own writing—to help you recover the sense of your own importance in your writing. It will help you find a writing voice that is comfortable, direct, original and at times eloquent. The basic premise of the course is that anyone who writes is a writer, and that class assignments are not practice exercises for the time when you will do real writing, but is in fact genuine writing itself—purposeful and authentic, and designed to move its readers—who are also real.

The course uses an assignment sequence in which each assignment builds on the previous ones, each exploring different distances and approaches to one general theme. This semester we will be using two books about the Dust Bowl era which depicts what happened to the people of that time and place when they were uprooted from what had been their home, and what happened when they tried to establish new roots in the West. We will look at this event in human history from a variety of angles and explore it in our own writing using a variety of modes. We will be focusing on the importance of that sense of place every person knows, as well as what happens when that sense of roots or place is destroyed.

However the center of the course will become what we write ourselves, not essays written by professionals. Thus we will learn to become each other's editors, telling what we think works well and what we think could be made ever better, and through helping each other, we will become better writers ourselves. We will learn all sorts of things, such as how to alter rhetorical distances to accommodate audience and purpose, how to vary voice, rhythm, sound, texture, echoes, and structure in order to achieve the effect we want. And we will answer the question: How can I improve my style? by figuring out just exactly what one's own style really is.

Texts

    Combining and Creating: Sentence Combining and Generative Rhetoric
    Reapers of the Dust
    The Bones of Plenty

Requirements

•     Attendance
•     Participation in class discussions, writing groups, full class workshops, written critiques of our classmate's writing
•     Five rough drafts, five final drafts, four final revisions
•     Writer's Notebook (I. In-class freewriting & outside class freewritse—details to follow; II. Sentence-combining exercises.)
•     Grammar mid-term and final
•     All assigned readings. You may expect quizzes on the readings from time to time so please stay current. Also you will be expected to discuss the reading in class and so you need to be prepared for that.

Essays

On the day the ROUGH DRAFT is due please bring to class enough copies of your paper for everyone in your writing group. This is as important a due date as that for your final paper and will be scored accordingly. I will look at these during writing groups and give them back to you at the end of the hour.

Essays must be typed, double-spaced, with adequate margins, one side of the page only, and they must contain a title. Put your name, courses number and hour on the first page in the right hand corner. NO title pages or folders. Please make sure you have a personal copy of all your final papers before you turn them in.
Portfolio

Last day of class: This will include a final revision of your best paper to share with the entire class, plus three other revised essays. You must include all four originals. You will also include an "Introduction" to your work in which you describe your life as a writer this semester.
Sentence Combining (SC) Exercises

These assignments are to be completed in the first half of your writer's notebook. (The second half will contain your freewrites—both in class and out of class.) Be sure the two sections are clearly divided. And be sure that you clearly identify the assignments and the corresponding page number and chapters.

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2. DISCUSSION PROMPT
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After you read "Buggy on the Roof", search on the internet for videos or images of family traditions or rituals gone wrong.

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3. ASSIGNMENT PROMPT
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Length: minimum 850 words
(You must turn this essay in with your final portfolio, though it needn't be one of your final revisions.)

For this last essay I want you to choose one perspective or angle or vision from which you can consider the text The Bones of Plenty. Let your interests or chosen college major help you select which approach seems most interesting to you. Then I would like you to create a portrait of that time and place from that perspective.

Your writing task in this essay is to create a portrait (a sensory, visual picture) of the time and place depicted in The Bones of Plenty from the perspective, the camera eye, of one of the given approaches: literary; psychological (gender, for example, makes an intriguing study); sociological; historical/political; philosophical; geological; economic. For this you'll need to absolutely saturate your paper with specific detail. Finally, I would like you to create a gathering metaphor you can use to unify and center your paper; you might want to use it in the title. The Bones of Plenty is the gathering metaphor for Hudson, for example, though she's using it ironically. So think of which visual detail could best represent the human or natural dilemma you are painting a picture of. For example, if your approach is economic, you might work with the image of a bank.

You have lots of time for this, and if you've done your homework, you are more than ready to write your best essay yet. This is the paper that serves as the bridge between more personal and academic writing. You will want to bring a sense of personal voice, of commitment and passion, plus a sense of craft—showing whenever possible; making connections; imagery and vivid description; stylistic variety (sentence combining, cumulatives). If you can make that leap here, you'll be able to create stunning, memorable papers for all your courses to come! So please give this your best effort.

Historical/Political: What political and historical forces were at work in the world at large during this year? Why did Hudson choose 1933 above all other years? What was happening in the world that affected/wood affect the lives of those living on the prairies of North Dakota? What ofrces of history were perched on the brink ready to collide?

Geological: What natural forces were at work to produce this phenomenon? What other forces came into play? (perhaps sociological or political ones as well?) What was happening to the land?

Literary: What do you think were Hudson's intentions in writing this book? What did she want this book to do to her readers? How did she get the book to do it?

Economic: What economic factors were at work to create this failure of the system? Were there historical or political factors involved as well? In human terms what did all this mean?

Sociological/Psychological: What did it mean to lose one's place? To lose one's sense of rootedness and identity? What were some of the consequences of this?

You may use outside sources if you like. But your aim here is to present your material in as creative and original a way as you can, taking careful steps NOT to make this sound like a REPORT! For this you will need to interact with the material aesthetically, emotionally and intellectually.

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4. QUIZ (QTI .zip file)
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https://s3.amazonaws.com/SSL_Assets/training/sample_quiz.zip

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5. COURSE FILES (.zip file)
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https://s3.amazonaws.com/SSL_Assets/training/course_files.zip