Course Meeting Times
Seminar: 2 sessions/week, 1.5 hours/session
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Course Overview
It’s by writing … by stepping back a bit from the real thing to look at it, that we are most present. —Alison Bechdel
Writing is … the place where I live; it’s where I have control; it’s where nobody tells me what to do; it’s where my imagination is fecund and I am really at my best. —Toni Morrison
Think of your writing as a pond — now go play in it. —Anne Lamott
This course focuses on the the literary genre of the essay, a wide-ranging, elastic, and very popular form that attracts not only nonfiction but also fiction writers and readers. The essay dates back to the French writer Montaigne in the sixteenth century; the French verb “essai” means “to try”; an essay thoughtfully explores a subject that often emanates from the author’s personal experience but transcends that experience as well.
The contemporary essay, influenced by its multimedia environment, is enjoying significant popularity. Like its fictional companion genre, the realist short story, the essay can be seen as a democratic form that many people have the motivation and time to engage with as readers and writers. In addition, the essay is a form with affinity to other short forms of contemporary media, such as the documentary film, the Substack, and the podcast.
Our project this term is to investigate the possibilities of the essay together, both through reading and writing. We will read both essays and short fiction to inspire our thinking and appreciation of different approaches and narrative tools. This reading will inspire you in the task of writing essays of your own, which will be the central element of our work together. Students are encouraged to draw upon the richness of their own and others’ life experiences in their writing.
Required Readings
Required readings can be found in the Readings section. Be sure to have assigned readings with you (print or digital form) at the class in which we will discuss them.
Assignments: Four Essays, Short Writing Exercises, Oral Presentation, Writing-Related Event, and Final Portfolio
This course aims to help you to build upon your strengths as a writer and to expand your repertoire of styles and approaches in essay writing. In this vein, you will have multiple opportunities in essay assignments to experiment with different approaches, to fine-tune your research strategies, to articulate nuanced arguments, and to employ both primary and secondary sources in complex ways. The approach of the course is to encourage you to write as a public intellectual who can engage with the complexity of social and psychological issues by addressing a general readership through vivid, dynamic, and accessible prose. Over the course of the semester, you will write four essays (each about 8 pages). Each piece will be submitted in a two-step process: initially as a first version and later in revised form. The process of revision—rethinking and reconceptualizing writing—is essential to the course. Students typically write about 35 pages of revised prose by the end of the semester.
Over the course of the semester, you also will be assigned some preliminary writing exercises in response to readings and in preparation for essays. You are also encouraged to keep a journal of ideas and a clipping file of articles, editorials, etc. on issues of interest.
Each student will also give at least one oral presentation (approx. 10–15 min.); more details will be provided in class.
For further detail, see the Assignments section.
Class Participation and Attendance/Writing Workshop
A vital, ongoing intellectual conversation—about our writing and that of published authors—is at the heart of the course. To be effective as a seminar participant, you will need to complete reading and writing tasks by their due dates. Please arrive at class on time and bring copies (digital or print) of assigned readings with you.
The writing workshop—in which students respond to their peers’ essays and stories—is a critical and central part of the course. For all four major writing assignments, we will have an in-class workshop after first versions have been submitted. We will also workshop some shorter pre-draft writing assignments and revisions. For each workshop, you will be asked to read several essays, discuss them with your classmates, and respond to each piece in the form of a individual review for the writer. The ethical norm of our class is that all student writing (including your comments) is considered confidential; you should store other students’ works-in-progress in a secure place and not discuss your peers’ writing outside the classroom. This ethic enables us to develop the trust and security we need as a small writing community.
Commenting and Grading
In reviewing first versions of your essays, I will make extensive comments and suggest some options in revision. Only the revised versions are graded. It is important that you submit work on the due date. Late submission of work without an extension may result in a lowered final grade. To complete the course successfully, all required work must be submitted. Your final grade will reflect the quality of your revised essays, the thoughtfulness of your shorter writing exercises, your oral presentations, your attendance, preparation for and participation in class, and your contribution as a reader for your peers. Class attendance and participation count for about 20% of your final grade.
Writing Objectives
In commenting on your writing, I will encourage you to do the following:
- address an intelligent, public audience
- consider a range of possible narrative and rhetorical styles for your essays
- develop your ideas and narratives in an interesting, vivid, original, and coherent manner
- support your arguments with evidence and use primary and secondary sources creatively and appropriately
- address counterargument seriously
- express yourself clearly in language that uses the conventions of grammar, punctuation, word usage, and source citation
Manuscript Form
Essays should be typed, double-spaced with margins of about an inch all around. In the upper right-hand corner of page 1, type your name, course title, the date, number and type of assignment (e.g. First Version, Essay #1), single-spaced. Your title should be in UPPER CASE, centered and placed about two double spaces beneath this block of information. Paragraph 1 should begin about two double spaces below the title; please number pages! Each essay should be submitted with a cover letter describing what you see as the strengths and problem areas of your piece.
Conferences
Over the course of the semester, I encourage you to meet with me in conferences to discuss a particular piece or more general strategies for improving your writing or oral presentation skills. My role is as a writing and communications coach, to offer feedback and suggest options to you, as you make decisions about how to revise and present your work. You may find it helpful to see me in conference at the pre-writing stage of brainstorming and idea generation and/or at the stage between the first version and revision.
Academic Honesty and Originality
Academic integrity is the foundation of all scholarship, because being able to trace how our ideas have developed in relation to other people’s theories, research, and evidence, as well as our own, is what ensures the soundness of our research. Thus, university communities have a collective investment in ensuring that the practices of academic integrity are thoroughly learned and carefully practiced. In this CI-H subject, we will review many aspects of source use. We will also review the mechanics of using secondary sources: how to accurately quote, paraphrase, and cite sources according to one of the common systems of citation.
As members of this class and the larger scholarly community, you are expected to abide by the norms of academic integrity. Everything you submit must be your own work, written specifically for this class. You may not “recycle” text written before February 2026 or turn in work produced for another MIT class this term. While a good deal of collaboration is encouraged in and out of class, all sources—of ideas as well as words and images, whether from a text or the internet—must be acknowledged according to the conventions of academic citation. Willful disregard for these conventions—i.e., plagiarism—can result in withdrawal from the course with a grade of F, and/or suspension or expulsion from the Institute.
Policy on Use of Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT)
The goal of this course is to facilitate the development of your skills as a writer who generates their own ideas, thinks in complex and creative ways, and speaks in an original voice. Hence, the use of AI-assisted or generated writing, such as through ChatGPT, is not permitted in this class and is regarded as a form of electronic plagiarism. To ensure compliance with this policy, students are required to include an Academic Integrity Acknowledgment statement at the top of each assignment that includes the sentence “I affirm that I did not use GAI in the creation and writing of this essay.”
For more information about policies and practices, please refer to Academic Integrity at MIT: A Handbook for Students, which explains these issues in detail; you are responsible for understanding its contents. When in doubt about how to find, use, or properly cite sources, always consult the instructor.
Writing Center/Writing Resources
The WCC@MIT (Writing and Communication Center), offers free one-on-one professional advice from lecturers who are published writers and experienced college teachers. The WCC can help writers strategize about all types of academic, creative, and professional writing and about all aspects of oral presentations (including practicing presentations and designing slides). They also offer advice about applications, theses, CVs, etc. The WCC also helps with all English as a Second Language issues, from writing and grammar to pronunciation and conversation practice.
To learn more about the WCC and access its many pages of advice about writing and oral presentations, go to their website. The Comparative Media Studies / Writing website also includes information on other courses, events, etc.
The Ilona Karmel Writing Prizes
Annually, CMS/Writing awards student writing prizes in various genres (e.g., essay, poetry, technical writing). A student can submit entries in different categories; there is a special prize (Ellen King Prize) for first year writing. For more information on this and other prizes, visit the Comparative Media Studies / Writing website.
Attributions of Quotes:
Bechdel, Alison. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama. Mariner Books, 2013. © Alison Bechdel. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.
“‘I Regret Everything’: Toni Morrison Looks Back on Her Personal Life.” Fresh Air. NPR. August 24, 2015. © NPR. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.
“13 Writing Tips, from Beloved Teacher Anne Lamott.” TED. September 5, 2017. © TED Conferences, LLC. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.
