You Mean There's a Theory for This?
Most people don't think very deeply about writing. Either they just put something down on the page or they don't. Moreover, many people think either they have what it takes to write or they do not. For most, writing ability is largely a matter of genius, like Emily Dickinson scribbling away in her upstairs attic; hidden in a cloister, the genius produces great work in a kind of absolute freedom.
However, since the 1960s and 1970, writing has been the subject of intense study and research. Much of this has less to do with aesthetic works of writing such as poetry or fiction than with academic prose such as research papers. Increasingly, too, professional and technical writing has been the subject for research, sometimes from presitgious think tanks like the Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Such research not only tells us a lot about how to teach others to strengthen their writing abilities, it also tells us a lot about the dominant communication medium in business, academia, industry, politics, and industrialized culture generally. In fact, as we will see, debates over the theory and practice of writing can be seen stretching back over 2,000 years to ancient Athens. These questions remain as vital to our own society as they were to the early democracies of Athens and Rome.
So, what is writing? Is it the text? The activity? The reading? The tool one uses to write with? Is the meaning entirely in the writing or do humans need additional context to understand what gets writte? How does culture impact what can and cannot be written? How is writing rhetorical, that is, how is writing a producer of certain effects, sometimes consciously concieved, and sometimes unconscious or unknown? What is the history of writing instruction in American universities and colleges? How is writing instruction connected to earlier forms of rhetorical instruction? Why was teaching writing divorced from rhetoric in the 19th century?
We will ask these questions and many, many more throughout the class! Since this course is required for those in the Professional Writing track and recommended to those in English Education and Creative Writing, we will use our own interests to examine these issues and provide a means to examine just how "theories" translate into actual practices.
Texts
Miller. Susan (Ed.). The Norton Book of Composition Studies. New York: W. W. Norton. 2009.
Ramage, John. Rhetoric: A User's Guide. New York: Pearson, 2006.
Assignments/ Grading