DPI-811M B: Advanced Intensive Writing for Policy and Politics module 4, spring semester 2014 TTh 1:10-2:30, L130
Greg Harris Office: Littauer 103 Office Hours: after class and by appointment Email: [email protected] Office Phone: 617-495-8906
This six-week course, which can be taken alone or in sequence with DPI-810M, gives you the tools to write and publish pieces in policy and academic journals, newspapers, magazines, and popular blogs, in such genres as the feature story, personal essay, academic essay, op-ed, and book proposal. It achieves this degree of breadth by focusing intensively on awareness of design in writing: how to shape a piece to a specific publishing venue, matching purpose, audience, and material. Through workshops and intensive one-on-one editing, students will focus on advanced techniques in style, rhetoric, structure, argument, explanation, and storytelling. The goal is a confident, efficient, and vital writing and revision process.
This class is intended for committed writers capable of self-direction, whose goals include journalism, professional writing, grant and proposal writing, creative writing, or advanced academic writing. DPI-811M is suitable for students whose first language is not English, but is not designed to help with basic issues of grammar or usage.
The class is grounded in:
1. Support for your writing priorities. The class helps you define your immediate and long-term goals as a writer—what genres are meaningful to you, and what projects most deserve your attention. Then the class supports those goals, by helping you craft assignments honed to achieve them.
2. Focused reading. DPI-811M challenges you with some of the best writing from a focused set of contexts and genres. You will discuss, analyze, evaluate, and occasionally edit what you read.
3. Expert feedback. You will receive individual editorial attention on your drafts as you develop and polish them.
4. Peer feedback. As part of a writing group, you will read, discuss, and edit the work of your colleagues, and they yours. Together, you will build the habits necessary to sustain your writing goals.
5. Publishing strategy. DPI-811M will give you the tools you need to connect with editors of both online and print publications, and coach you through the necessary steps of submitting your work.
Assignments and Grading: Basic expectations are that you will write in a focused way on a subject of your choice: 1) A publication-ready piece of approximately 2000 words. A full draft is due at midterm; a polished revision at final. (40% of grade). 2) A weekly short essay, blog post, op-ed, or article of approximately 500 words. (4 pieces; each 10% of grade). 3) Full participation in class, including commitment to once-weekly editing meetings with a writing group of fellow students. (20% of grade).
At an initial conference, we will discuss your goals in the class, and the best use of the sequence of assignments to achieve them. Students in the past have focused on producing sequences of op-eds and short essays to establish themselves as public intellectuals in a field; feature-length journalism; nonfiction book proposals; personal narrative essays; book reviews; and articles for policy and scholarly journals. Hybrid, multimedia and digital projects with visual components are permissible so long as writing is at the core. Texts: Required: Course packet, available from the Course Materials Office. Recommended—choice will be discussed in class: Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato, Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction—and Get It Published Lee Gutkind, You Can’t Make This Stuff Up (ISBN 978-0738215549) Arthur Plotnik, Spunk & Bite (9780375722271) Wendy Belcher, Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks (9781412957014)
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES Tuesday, March 25 The Query, the Proposal, the Prospectus: anticipating an audience, an editor, an impact Storytelling: Suspense, Specificity, Sizzle, and Satisfaction
Thursday, March 27 Thinking Like Your Editor, chapter 1, and optionally, 2. “Query Letter Clinic,” from Writer’s Market “How to Pitch: Boston Magazine” from mediabistro.com Spunk and Bite, chs. 2, 8 Jan Winburn, “Finding a Good Topic” from Telling True Stories Ann Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts”
PROSPECTUS due Friday by 10 a.m.
Tuesday, April 1 THE ESSAY in its guises: Academic, Professional, Personal Madigan, et al., “APA Style as Epistemology” Marianna Torgovnik, “Experimental Critical Writing” Peter Elbow, “Rightness and Felt Sense,” from Writing with Power Spunk and Bite, chs. 17, 18, 26, 27 1st weekly short essay due by Friday
Thursday, April 3 The Overture: Connecting with Audience, Setting the Contract. Horizontal and Vertical Development Atul Gawande, “The Case of the Red Leg” from Complications Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, “Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers” from Freakonomics George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant” Vivian Gornick, Chapter 1 from The Situation and the Story
Tuesday, April 8 Creating Presence, with and without the Personal Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue” Diane Ackerman, “The Truth About Truffles” Jeremy Miller, “Tyranny of the Test” 2nd weekly short essay due Friday
Thursday, April 10 Handling Complicated Subjects Matt Taibbi, “The Great American Bubble Machine” Michael Lewis, “The End of Wall Street” Tuesday, April 15 Disarming Critics with Unconventional Approaches Atul Gawande, “The Cost Conundrum” Stephen J. Gould, “Creation Myths of Cooperstown”
Thursday, April 17 Persuasion: Changing Minds, down to the Cellular Level W.S. Merwin, “Unchopping a Tree” Joseph Stiglitz, “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush” Lakoff, Metaphors We Live By, chs 1-6, 25
MIDTERM (COMPLETE DRAFT) DUE April 20-23 (48 hours before your conference)
Tuesday, April 22 REVISION, EDITING, FEEDBACK Thinking Like Your Editor, chapters 5, 6, optionally 7. Rhetorical Grammar, excerpts
Thursday, April 24 Editing continued Readings TBA 3rd weekly short essay due Monday April 29
Tuesday, April 29 Editing continued Readings TBA
Thursday, May 1 Editing continued Readings TBA 4th weekly short essay due together with final--a query or cover letter
FINAL (REVISED COMPLETE DRAFT) DUE: May 6.