Introduction to Writing
Syllabus
You will receive almost daily in-class and take-home assignments which we will review and edit in classroom workshops or discussion groups. These assignments will address the key principles of expository writing outlined above. You will be asked to bring in exercises, outlines, and drafts, and you will be asked to respond to printed texts, their contents, and their strategies of presentation and persuasion, etc. For the most part, we will focus on the texts provided by our "textbook", but we may also make excursions into advertising, cinema, and narrative fiction. Thus, our syllabus is open-ended and flexible to accommodate your changing needs as developing writers. Commonly, I will announce at the end of each class the assignment for the next session(s) and the due dates for notebook entries and first and final drafts. Frequently, I will then also provide you with handouts that accompany and specify assignments. Nevertheless, here is a provisional overview of the course.
| Week 1 | General Introduction |
| Week 2–5 |
Describing a Person |
| Week 5–7 |
Proposing Solutions |
| Week 8 | Debate week Alternative: reading advertisements |
| Week 9–11 |
Analyzing Film
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| Week 11–15 |
Reading and Writing a (Short) Story |
| Week 16 | Portfolio Review |