This class will help you learn how to write an essay, a skill you will need for succeeding at college term papers and exams. You should be able to tackle many kinds of writing by the end of the class, from business letters to book reviews. You will learn how to choose a topic, how to define it, how to persuade your readers to—if not actually change their minds—at least respect your argument. The Two "Os", opinion and observation are the key to all good writing. You don't get one without the other. Writing is your defense of your position. You won't always win, in the sense that the reader will not always go along with you. But the best writing earns the reader's respect, in the sense that the reader can see why you hold your point of view, even why the one you hold makes sense for you.
The course consists in a series of enjoyable readings, all online or available as PDFs on the syllabus you will be given in class, that will be mined for particular techniques: good thesis statements, that is, the announcement in your essay of why or how your opinion should be followed; definition, that is, your explanation of important terms in your essay; method, that is, how you arrive at your opinion as well as justify it, and finally tone: with your topic of choice, does it make sense to be serious, humorous, straightforward, satiric?
Requirements: All students must come to class, do all the readings, turn in all essays on time. Essays must be typed and proofread. Every week, you will produce an essay of 2-3 pages on a topic you will choose, with help from me. Every week, you will be ready to offer editing help on essays written for this class, and receive help with your own. Every week, we will spend some time writing in class. You will get to select topics and suggest readings. There is no reader for this section of the course: you are invited to consult the following links:
Useful links: (not required, just helpful)
http://tetw.org/post/51496965520/10-classic-essays
https://www.scribd.com/doc/202094055/Karen-Elizabeth-Gordon-The-Deluxe-Transitive-Vampire
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/composition.htm
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl
https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/EngPaper/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis_statement
https://www.shmoop.com/essay-lab/
Recommended:
Strunk&White, The Elements of Style, 4th edition |
