ENG 311 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITING, FALL 2016
Writing centered on the student-writer’s self and community will be the focus of this course. The course will involve critical engagements with a number of readings and writing exercises; and peer evaluations of student work in a workshop environment. This is a Writing Intensive Focus course.
• You will read, discuss and analyze a selection of exemplary essays from the course text and from Laulima “Resources.” In classroom discussions, the essays will be analyzed in terms of narrative structure, narrative development, language and imagery, among other elements. These works will hopefully provide you with models to generate ideas and styles for your writing.
• There will be number of written assignments given in this course, from very brief classroom exercises to short prompts (~ 500 words) and essays (~1,000 words). Each essay will undergo several steps of development, which include drafting, editing, critiquing, revising and proofing.
• The environment of a writer’s workshop will be an important resource in this course. In the workshop, you will read, analyze and critique each other’s work. The purpose of this workshop is to help develop your critical/analytic powers in the evaluation of the writing of your peers as well as your own. Active participation in these workshops is a requirement for this course and figures into the computing of your overall grade.
• A class blog (called “Clog” on Laulima) will also be an important tool for this course. Consider this a community sketchbook where you can develop your narrative and stylistic technique, and where you can share your writing to a critical and appropriate audience. For this purpose, I will give you a short writing topic usually at the beginning of the week.
ASSIGNMENTS:
• two writing prompts (minimum 500 words each)
• four essays (minimum 1,000 words each)
• ten entries in a class blog (minimum 200 words each)
• class exercises
Also required are active class participation and excellent attendance.
TEXTS:
• Philip Lopate, The Art of the Personal Essay
• handouts distributed via Laulima