WRIT 2720, Prose: Style Argument

WRIT 2720, Prose: Style & Argument Fall/Winter 2012-2013 Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, Writing Department Professional Writing Program, York University Fridays, 10:30-12:20, Curtis Lecture Hall H Course Instructor Dr. Duncan Koerber; [email protected] Calumet College 331; (416) 736-2100 x33992 Office hour: Fridays, 1:30-2:30pm or other times by appointment

Course Website https://moodle.yorku.ca/

Tutorials Tutorial 1 12:30-1:20 MC 111 Duncan Koerber Tutorial 2 1:30-2:20 MC 111 Ken Kingsley Tutorial 3 2:30-3:20 MC 111 Ken Kingsley Tutorial 4 3:30-4:20 MC 111 Rositza Georgieva Tutorial 5 4:30-5:20 MC 111 Rositza Georgieva Tutorial 6 12:30-1:20 MC 112 Ken Kingsley Course Description

From the course calendar: An introduction to the practice of non-fictional prose with particular emphasis on the development of argument (logic, evidence, proof) and on fitting language to its occasions (voice, diction, figures). As part of the Professional Writing program, this course covers the theory and practice of professional and scholarly prose. This is your last course before entering the program streams: some of you will use this course to master skills while others will work on correcting problems that remain. The course is organized into six roles that professional writers most commonly encounter: Writer as Artist, Writer as Cultural Observer, Writer as Activist, Writer as Historian, Writer as Journalist, and Writer as Scholar. You will learn how to take on these roles and develop your own voice. The course provides opportunities to write narratives, essays, articles, and research papers. The weekly readings present instructions, philosophies, and models for your own writing. To grow as a writer and succeed in the course, I encourage you to choose topics that interest you and to apply the lessons from exercises, lectures, and readings to your writing. This is not a creative writing course where you can experiment; your goal should be to produce high-quality non-fiction writing that resembles the structure, content, and style of the peer and professional models found in the course readings. Each lecture will include one practical writing lesson (with associated exercises due in tutorial the following week) and one theoretical discussion (with reference to the course readings). Tutorials will function as writing workshops where you will share your exercises and assignments with classmates. Peer editing and regular writing and revision are vital to your success.

Required Texts

1. James A. Reinking et al, Strategies for Successful Writing: A Rhetoric, Research Guide, Reader, and Handbook, 5th Edition (Toronto: Pearson Canada, 2013) 2. Guy Allen, ed., Make It New: Creative Nonfiction by New Writers for New Writers (Toronto: Life Rattle Press, 2008)

WRIT 2720 1 3. Alex Boyd and Carmine Starnino, eds., Best Canadian Essays 2009 (Toronto, Tightrope Books, 2009) 4. William Zinsser, On Writing Well (HarperCollins, 2006) 5. Course Kit, available in the York Bookstore

Evaluation Weight Due Tutorial Participation 10% Every week Exercises 15% Almost every week Assignment 1 15% October 12 Assignment 2 15% November 30 Assignment 3 15% February 15 Assignment 4 15% March 22 Test 15% April 5

All assignments and exercises are due in tutorial.

Grading: Assignments and the test will bear a numeric grade out of 100%. Exercise grades will be in fractions (e.g. 10 out of 12). For a full description of the York grading system see the York University Undergraduate Calendar. Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to Program or Faculty grades distribution profiles. Late Penalty: Assignments 1 to 4, if received after the due date, will be penalized 5% per day that the assignment is late, including weekends. Exercises cannot be late – hand them in on time or get zero. Assignments submitted late will receive no comments, just a grade. Exceptions to the lateness penalty for valid reasons such as illness may be entertained by the Course Instructor or TA but will require supporting documentation (e.g., a doctor’s letter). Don’t wait until well after the original due date to inform your TA and provide notes. If you’re legitimately absent, immediately contact your TA. Also, legitimate documentation is not an excuse to avoid doing the assignment or to extend the due date for many weeks. Emailed exercises or assignments will not be accepted. Submit printed copies only, handed directly to your TA. Think of this as preparation for the working world; professional writers who hand work in late won’t be professional writers for long. Revision Bonus: To encourage revision, which professional writers do religiously, I will allow you to revise one assignment per term (excluding Assignment 4). If you choose to revise an assignment, revise according to your TA’s comments. This option is time limited; starting from the day your TA hands back the marked assignment, you have only one week to revise and resubmit the assignment in the subsequent tutorial. If you do not resubmit within that time period, the original grade will stand. You may receive an increase of up to 5%. **Please submit the original marked copy with the revised version** Automatic 100%: If you publish an assignment in a professional publication, you will receive an automatic 100% on that assignment. But you must consult with your TA before submission to determine whether the publication is an acceptable one. See the book The Canadian Writer’s Market, 18th edition, by Joanna Karaplis for tips on getting published and a list of suitable publications. The goal of any aspiring professional writer is to get published (and to get paid for it!) so this is a carrot to encourage you to move beyond the boundaries of student writing.

WRIT 2720 2 Evaluation Descriptions

Tutorial Participation – Tutorial participation is important as the tutorial is where you will share your work and get feedback from your peers. Talk often. Give advice. Be considerate. Exercises – At the end of most lectures, I will assign short writing exercises. You must submit completed exercises the following week to your TA for grading and feedback. Furthermore, you must apply all exercise lessons to all assignments. Assignment 1: Narrative (800-900 words)  Tell me a story about something interesting that happened to you related to one theme of the Make It New readings: The Child, School, Family, Work, People, or Relationships. Depict one short scene. Apply the principles described in the readings and lectures. Marks will be deducted for any commentary or argumentation. Show don’t tell. Help me “see” your family, friends, or colleagues. Use the stories in Make It New as models. Assignment 2 – Cultural Observation Essay OR Activist Essay (800-900 words)  You have two options for this assignment. For the Cultural Observation Essay, tell me about some aspect of our culture or society or daily life that you think is new and interesting. It could be a trend, or a new fashion of speech or dress, or an obsession people seem to have (see lectures and course readings for tips and models). If you choose to write an Activist Essay, convince me, using all the techniques you’ve learned in the readings and lectures, including lessons on argument, that a societal problem you identify should be corrected (and how?). Choose a specific problem with specific solutions. Be passionate! Research is not required beyond your own knowledge or observations but may be used if needed. **Please submit two copies to your TA** Assignment 3 – Interview-based Article (800-900 words)  This assignment covers two units of the course: Writer as Historian and Writer as Journalist. Write an article based on an interview you conduct with an interesting person. The topic could be a past event or present issue. Use the course readings and lectures for tips and models. All interviews require some research beforehand to formulate good questions and to develop chemistry during the interview. That research may be useful in the body of the article to set context. Articles must be accompanied by a signed consent form that includes the phone number of the person interviewed. **Please submit two copies to your TA**

Assignment 4 – Research Paper (1600-2000 words)  For this paper, you must write about the same topic as your cultural observation essay or activist essay or interview-based article (you choose). However, you cannot simply reuse that writing (the university will charge you with academic dishonesty if you do!). Instead, you must rewrite and transform the essay or article into a scholarly research paper. See the lectures and course readings for tips and models. This is not an easy assignment because you cannot cut and paste whole parts (or even reuse previous sentences) of your essay or article and then add another 800 words. You must write fresh new sentences and paragraphs so you’re not “plagiarizing yourself.” Also, ensure the structure of the piece resembles the scholarly style described in lectures. TAs will compare the research paper to the essay or article to make sure it’s new writing. Test – (approx. 110 minutes)  In the final class, the test will require you to write three full- sentence reflection essays that demand comparisons between the six writing roles (units) of the course. These questions will require knowledge both of the theories of writing from Strategies For Successful Writing and reference to specific examples from the assigned course readings. Prepare as you go through the course. At the end of each role, I will compare that role to the ones that came before. At home, you should think about how that role is similar to and different from the previous role(s). Study these notes to prepare for the test.

WRIT 2720 3 Readings and Class Schedule

Readings should be completed before the lecture on the date listed. For example, the readings listed next to “September 14” should be done before 10:30am on Friday, September 14. You will understand the lecture better if you have done the readings than if you have not. You also can’t participate in the day’s tutorial if you haven’t read them. The lecture does not explain the readings for you. If you need a stronger incentive to do the readings, here are some specific justifications:

1) If you don’t read them, you will not know what I want from you. Successful assignments are ones that meet the standards and reflect the styles exemplified in the course readings. If you hand in assignments that do not resemble the peer and professional models, you’ll fail.

2) If you want a career in professional writing, you need to develop a sense of what is good non-fiction writing. You need to understand why these narratives, essays, and articles work so well. I have chosen the peer and professional models because they reflect high standards (“A”- range material). As well, they are enjoyable and, in many cases, even inspiring. Recognize this standard and aspire to it.

3) The test will expect references to the readings.

Page Numbers: the page numbers below correspond to the editions specified earlier and ordered by the York Bookstore. If you have a different edition page numbers may be slightly off.

 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE September 7: No readings. But after this lecture you should immediately begin on the readings listed below for September 14.

 WRITER AS ARTIST Narrative, Drafting, Revision, Wordiness, Verbs, Active and Passive Voice, Clichés, Nouns, Pronouns, Plot September 14: Strategies: 102-103 (Avoiding Unnecessary Wordiness) + 118-130 (Narration) On Writing Well: 6-16 + 95-99 Make It New: The Child (all stories) September 21: Strategies: 514-515 (Choosing the Right Verb Voice) On Writing Well: 67-91 Make It New: School (all stories) September 28: On Writing Well: 32-45 Make It New: Family (all stories), People (all stories)

October 5: On Writing Well: 132-146 Make It New: Work (all stories) October 12: Make it New: Relationships (all stories) ***Due in Tutorial: Assignment 1***

 WRITER AS CULTURAL OBSERVER Essays, Parallelism, Beginnings, Endings

WRIT 2720 4 October 19: Strategies: 557-559 (Using Parallelism) + 138-145 (Illustration) On Writing Well: 193-206 Best Canadian Essays: 3-6 + 67-78 + 105-109 October 26: Strategies: 199-210 (Definitions) + 218-229 (Comparison) On Writing Well: 54-66 Best Canadian Essays: 17-24 + 55-65

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Co-Curricular Days ______

November 9: Strategies: 179-190 (Cause->Effect) + 243-247 (Classification) Best Canadian Essays: 89-97 Course Kit: Rebick “Cinderella’s Not Dead, Yet” + King “Why We Crave Horror Movies”

 WRITER AS ACTIVIST Rhythm, Sentence Length, Argumentation, Fallacies November 16: Strategies: 257-272 (Argument and Persuasion) Best Canadian Essays: 99-104 + 111-125

November 23: Strategies: 272-289 (Emotional Appeals etc.) Course Kit: Rebick “The Scaremongers” + Suzuki “Global Warming” + Suzuki “Why We Must Act on Global Warming” + Wiesel “The Shame of Hunger”

November 30: No readings. ***Due in tutorial: Assignment 2***

______

Christmas / New Year's Break ______

 WRITER AS HISTORIAN Informed Consent, Truth, Oral History, Memory, Interviewing Tips, Evidence

January 11: No readings. But after this lecture you should immediately begin on the readings listed below for January 18. January 18: Course Kit: Tuchman “In Search of History” + Thomas “A Child’s Perspective” January 25: Course Kit: Tuchman “The Historian as Artist” + Hoy “The Coal Mine Disaster” + Fitzgerald “A Bright Nighttime” + McCartan “Mrs. Doyle’s Hurling Stick” + Gerard “The Art of the Interview”

WRIT 2720 5  WRITER AS JOURNALIST Objectivity, Writing the Interview, Choosing and Using Quotations, Article Structures, Personalization, Coherence February 1: Strategies: 381-386 (Using Primary Research) On Writing Well: 100-115 Make It New: The Interview (all stories) February 8: Best Canadian Essays: 29-34 Course Kit: Remnick “Visible Man” + Greene “So… We Meet at Last, Mr. Bond” + Graham “From ‘Harlem on My Mind’ ” + Kao- Johnson “The Front Line” + Price “Ricky Martin’s Musical Head”

February 15: No readings. But after this lecture you should immediately begin on the readings listed below for March 1. *** Due in tutorial: Assignment 3*** ______

Reading Week ______

 WRITER AS SCHOLAR Reading, Note taking, Summary, Paraphrase, Planning, Intros, Conclusions, Sentence Patterns, Plagiarism March 1: Strategies: 18-30 (Active Reading) + 80-101 (Local Revisions etc.) + 456-462 (MacGregor paper)

March 8: Strategies: 325-361 (Using Secondary Research) Course Kit: Haas “The Cronenberg Monster: Literature, Science, and Psychology in the Cinema of Horror” March 15: Strategies: 362-380 (Sample Research Papers) Course Kit: Olson “Poverty and Education in Canada” Strategies: 401-430 (just skim this as you write Assignment 4)  WRAP UP March 22: On Writing Well: 231-251, 295-303 ***Due in tutorial: Assignment 4*** ______

Good Friday Holiday ______

April 5: ***Test in lecture*** ______

IMPORTANT COURSE INFORMATION All students are expected to familiarize themselves with the following information, available on the Senate Committee on Curriculum & Academic Standards webpage (see Reports, Initiatives, Documents) - http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/senate_cte_main_pages/ccas.htm • York’s Academic Honesty Policy and Procedures/Academic Integrity Website

WRIT 2720 6 Please note: We caught plagiarists in this course last year. Ensure that you understand what plagiarism is. Even using just a string of the same words from someone else in a paraphrase – with a citation – is plagiarism. Also, recognize that submitting the same work (even only portions) to different courses breaches the academic honesty policy. I’ll discuss plagiarism in more depth as we go along, but recognize that having a history of plagiarism is a career-killer for a professional writer.

WRIT 2720 7