Assignments

This course aims to help students grow significantly as lively, engaged academic writers and public intellectuals in their ability to grapple with arguments, to integrate experience and research, to experiment with different genres, voices and styles and to craft creative, well-reasoned and vibrant essays. Our approach to writing in the course is to strive for “public scholarship,” i.e., writing that engages with the complexity of ethical and social issues by addressing a general readership through dynamic and accessible prose. Throughout the semester, I will encourage student writers to:

Address an intelligent, public audience in a graceful style, providing key information necessary to understand an argument;
Develop ideas in an interesting, original and coherent manner;
Support arguments with appropriate evidence and use and cite sources correctly;
Employ clear, concise language that uses the conventions of English grammar, punctuation and word usage;
Structure arguments carefully with clear introductions, transitions, middles and conclusions;
Title assignments in a thoughtful and engaging fashion.

In addition to regular homework and pre-writing exercises, students will submit three major assignments in two stages: First version and revision. (A first version is a fully written piece submitted to fulfill assignment requirements, not an outline or partial essay.)

The general homework assignments are listed in the Readings section.

The goal of regular homework assignments is to strengthen your skills in “reading as a writer,” focusing on the ways in which authors craft their pieces to address audiences. Throughout the term, you will regularly submit short assignments (approx. 1–1½ typed pages, double-spaced) on required readings and films for class. Some homework assignments appear on the course calendar; others will be distributed in class or emailed to students. Some assignments will ask you to answer specific questions. Other homework assignments are more open-ended. These assignments will help to prepare you for class discussions as well as your own essay writing.

General Questions in Reviewing Readings

Here are some general questions to consider in reviewing assigned readings for class. In your homework assignments, you may only focus on a few of these questions. However, thinking about all of them will be very helpful in preparing for class discussions.

What is the meaning of the title? Why do you think the author chose this specific title?
What is the tone of the piece—persuasive, angry, informative / neutral, ironic, humorous?
What kind of language has the writer chosen for the piece, e.g., direct and simple, colloquial, abstract “high academic”, personal / confessional, comic? Does the tone shift over the course of the piece? What is the effect(s) on you as a reader? What is your impression(s) of the writer / narrator? What do you think she/he assumes about the audience?
How does the writer introduce the essay? How does the writer end the piece? What do the introduction and conclusion suggest about how to interpret the essay?
What sections, paragraphs, words or sentences seem especially powerful? Why?
Does the writer use rhetorical strategies such as appeal to logic (logos) or to emotion (pathos) or rhetorical devices such as repetition in the piece? What is the effect on you?
In what ways does the writer employ imagery, symbol and metaphor?
What seems to be the central point of the piece? How does this piece influence your own perspective on a particular social or ethical issue?
How do you see this essay as connecting with other readings (for the course or outside), your life experiences, and issues that you have thought about?
What have you learned as a writer from this piece? Do you see yourself using or avoiding some of the same approaches or techniques as a particular writer?

Class Participation and Attendance

To foster a sense of intellectual community, this course is structured as a seminar, in which we discuss the work of professional, as well as student, authors. It is crucial that students come to class on time, with required texts and well prepared to offer thoughtful responses to the readings and classmates’ writing. To be effective participants, students need to complete reading and writing tasks by assigned dates. A vital, ongoing intellectual conversation is at the heart of the course.

Writing Workshop

The writing workshop classes, in which students respond to their peers’ work, are very important to the course. Each major writing assignment will have an in-class workshop after students submit first versions; we will also workshop some shorter pre-essay exercises. My expectation is that students will respond to classmates’ work seriously and critically, approaching each piece with sensitivity, insight and imagination. For each workshop, students will read several pieces, discuss them in class and respond through letters to each writer. The ethical norm of the course is that all student writing (including peer comments) is confidential; students should store classmates’ work in a secure place and not discuss peers’ writing outside the class. This ethic, regularly practiced in professional writing workshops, enables us to develop the trust and security we need as a small writing community.

Assignments should be in Times New Roman, 12pt., double-spaced, approximately 250 words per page. All major assignments should be emailed to the instructor as Word documents or PDFs; revisions should also be submitted with original versions and instructor comments. For revisions, bold any significant changes to the original text.

Essay 1

The first assignment (1250–1300 words or about 5 pages), a personal narrative, asks students to reflect on experiences influencing or expressing their values. Students can write on (a) “coming to consciousness,” an individual experience(s) leading to a more profound awareness of a contemporary social or ethical issue or a more general commitment to social justice or (b) “ethics in action,” an experience or moral decision affirming a personal commitment to particular values. The challenge of Essay 1 is to work with the complex elements of life narrative as evidence to support an argument in an essay for a public readership. If a student has done or is doing community service, this essay provides an opportunity to reflect on motives for volunteering in a particular setting (e.g., food pantry, tutoring program) or with a specific community (e.g., elders, LGBT community, preschoolers, Special Olympics).

Essay 2

The second assignment (2500–3000 words or 10–12 pages), an investigative research essay, asks that students present different perspectives on a particular social or ethical problem (of their choice), drawing explicitly upon and properly citing secondary sources such as scholarly publications and news media. Students may adopt a neutral, informational voice or take an advocacy position. Whether writing as an educator or advocate, a student must be able to engage with different viewpoints on an issue and present them clearly and accurately. For Essay 2, students are also encouraged to conduct an interview and include at least five documentary photographs or other visuals (e.g., charts, graphs, maps, timelines, political cartoons) to accompany the essay.

Assignment 3

The third assignment (1750–2000 words or 7–8 pages) asks students to write a grant proposal to fund a service project that addresses a current social problem / need in the greater Cambridge-boston area, at MIT, in the student’s home community or country or in another community / country. The grant proposal must advance a clear and compelling argument, supported by secondary sources, about the importance of addressing a particular problem. The grant proposal should define the community problem or issue and persuasively argue for the value and feasibility of the proposed service program (including a detailed budget and evaluation plan). The grant proposal can address a similar social or ethical issue as Essay 2. For example, a student might write Essay 2 as a comparative analysis of different perspectives on alleviating hunger in the U.S. For Assignment 3, that same writer might develop a grant proposal for a local nutrition education program for adults or community garden at a school in Cambridge, Mass. The revision of Assignment 3 is due on the last day of the semester.

First Versions and Revisions

Students will submit each major writing assignment initially, as a first version, and later, in revised form. It is very important that students turn in work on the due date. Late submission of work, without an extension, may result in a lowered final grade.

Pre-assignment writing exercises will be acknowledged with brief comments. In reviewing first versions of Essays 1 and 2, I will provide a comprehensive written evaluation and make suggestions for improving the piece in revision. The revisions of Essays 1 and 2 are letter-graded. For Assignment 3, I will provide letter grades, as well as comments, for both the first version and revision. For Assignment 3, revision grades will be weighted twice as heavily as the grade for the first version. To complete the course successfully, you must submit all three major assignments in both first version and revised form.

Giving confident, articulate, well organized and engaging presentations is a skill that is crucial at MIT as well in your future professional lives. Each student will give two oral presentations over the course of the term. The first presentation (15 minutes) will focus on an aspect of the writing process; students will work in teams. In addition, each student will give a brief oral “pitch” for his or her grant proposal during the last weeks of class.

Below are the types of topics students have presented in past semesters. The list below is not intended to limit your choice of topic, but to illustrate the types of topics chosen in previous classes.

General Writing Issues

Confronting “Writer’s Block” / Procrastination
Dealing with the Inner Critic
Writing Dialogue and Internal Monologue Effectively
Describing Settings Effectively
Crafting Introductions
Crafting Conclusions
Avoiding Clichés
Choosing Metaphors (simple and extended)

More Specific Writing Issues

Writing Effective Topic Sentences in Paragraphs
Creating Effective Transitions Between Paragraphs / Sections of an Essay
Fixing Short, Choppy Sentence Patterns; Correcting Sentence Fragments
Editing Wordy or Run-on Sentence Patterns
Correcting Misplaced or Dangling Modifiers
Correct Usage of Commas and Semicolons
Effective Use of Adjectives and Adverbs
Identifying and Avoiding Homophone Errors
Crafting Powerful and Engaging Titles
Using Epigraphs

Revision is not the end of the writing process but the beginning.- Donald Murray

The process of conceptual revision—rethinking and reconceptualizing a first version—is essential to the course. Conceptual revision means “re-seeing,” a significant rewriting of a piece, the stage before line editing and grammar / spelling correction. Students will receive written instructor response, as well as peer feedback, on major assignments, so that they have guidance in revision.

For the revision process, a student may be advised to or may decide to:

Change voice as a writer;
Rewrite an introduction and / or conclusion;
Reorganize the structure of the piece;
Modify or completely change perspective or point of view;
Integrate additional necessary information from primary and / or secondary sources;
Delete extraneous details or information;
Correct erroneous information;
Identify and address a counterargument(s);
Add supporting visuals (e.g., photographs, charts, graphs and timelines).

Most students find that the multi-step process of successful revision takes as long as or longer than writing the first version. After the first step of conceptual revision, line editing and proofreading are the next steps.

By the end of the term, students will have written at least 5,000 words of revised prose for major assignments, in addition to shorter homework assignments.

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Writing and Rhetoric: Rhetoric and Contemporary Issues