“Documentary” is genre that defines a broad category of
writing: film, essay, biography, memoir, poetry, and television. The point of
this genre is to document some aspect of reality—however, the boundaries of
reality are up for discussion, as you will discover as we use this genre to
investigate our own writerly intentions and concerns. In this course we will
look at documentary as a type of “literature” in order to discuss the art of
composition and rhetoric. It is within the boundaries of “Documentary &
Lifestyle” that you will write papers that exhibit your understanding of
writing at the college level. In this course we will focus on the various
choices producers of language make, and how those choices relate to that
particular writer’s goals and audience. ENG190 will prepare you for the writing
and the critical thinking you will be engaged in at the university, and beyond.
Texts
for this course will be provided, or accessible online. To take this course
you must have easy access to the Internet, as we will be working on a blog.
This is a writing intensive course—you will write four essays and one research
based documentary project designed to help you with the composing process,
research strategies, and writing from sources.