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LE1 – You as a Writer'

Writing strategies we’re working on here: Identifying what you already know (about writing) and analyzing how you know it; using evidence to support your analysis (of writing); using writing to examine and develop your ideas; attending to conventions of writing; using computers to draft and revise

Readings for this assignment (the readings here are possible readings… you should use what you think best!)

Emily Dillon and Leah Straschewski, “Introduction: Genre in the Writing Classroom”
Billy Collins, “Commencement Address at Choate-Rosemary Hall” (In class): Random Essay Generator, “An Essay on First-Year Experience”

(You should include no more than 2-3 readings per assignment)

One of the foundational principles of this course (and ENGL 121) is that everyone is a writer – you, me, everyone. Part of what makes us good writers, too, is the ability to transfer what we know about writing in one context to another (sometimes less familiar) one – because as we all also know, “good writing” is not always the same thing.

This idea about flexibility and transferring abilities among contexts holds for college, too. Definitions of “good writing” in different college contexts (different courses, inside/outside school situations) have some common elements, but there also are differences from context to context/place to place.

We’re going to work a lot this semester on honing our abilities to analyze contexts and definitions of good writing, on analyzing what writing strategies we already have that can be used to produce that kind of writing, on developing new strategies to produce it, and on making decisions about whether we actually want to produce it (and why we might decide as we have).

To start this process, you’ll start by closely analyzing your own writing abilities. Specifically, in this assignment you should address the questions: What kind of writer are you? To address this question, you should work with at least one kind of writing (and very likely more) that you're good at and/or you enjoy that exemplifies you as a writer. To address this question you’ll want to think very, very specifically about:

What writing you like to do, and why you like it (you might want to focus on somewhere between 1-3 kinds of writing)

What you need to know about the kind(s) of writing you like to do - about its 'rules,' the context(s) where it is done/used, the audience, etc.
Where you learned to do this kind of writing, from whom, etc.
What strategies (e.g., ways of writing, thinking, reading, etc.) you use for the kind(s) of writing you're good at
How you think these strategies might be useful for you in college

When you put together this assignment, you'll want to be very specific about the kind(s) of writing that defines you as a writer (and which you do well) – rather than write about "writing" generally, you want to think about specific kinds of writing (for example: poetry, song lyrics, comics, blogs, web pages, academic essays...). These can take place in and/or out of school, of course! You'll then want to analyze the kind(s) of writing that you're focusing on here very carefully. You should also include an example (or several examples) of those kinds of writing with your draft, and refer to those examples as evidence for your analysis. Whatever you choose to focus on, when you complete this assignment you should have a 4-5 page piece of writing that includes abundant and specific evidence from your own experiences. You also should try to work in some evidence from the readings for this assignment, as well.

Writing exploration A

A reminder about writing explorations: WEs are spots for you to think, through writing, about the ideas in the LE assignment. In these WEs you should write as much as you possibly can about the prompt. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, or grammar – the idea here is to write as much as you can and think through writing. When I read and comment on these I’ll also focus my comments on your ideas – I’ll only note spelling, punctuation, or grammar if it really interferes with my reading (in which case I’ll ask you to help me understand what you mean).

For this first WE, refer to an example of one kind of writing that you'll include in this LE, one kind of writing that helps define you as a writer. Use this example to work through the beginnings of your analysis. What is this kind of writing? What do you know about it that helps you to be good at it? (Think here about its 'rules' of content, form, style...)? What do you need to know about where it's used, how it's used, and by whom it is used?

When you write this WE, try for as much detail as you can produce. If you'd like a length target, think about 1-1/2 - 2 typed (double-spaced) pages.

Writing exploration B

In this WE, think about what you're good at connected with at least one kind of writing that you're including in this LE. You want to think specifically here about abilities/strategies at which you excel connected with this kind of writing. What do you need to know and/or be really good at to be good at writing <kind of writing here>? We'll practice with this in class - and don't worry if it's hard to think about at first, because it's a hard question!

After you've written about what you need to know and/or be good at, extend those strategies. In the work that you've encountered thus far in college, where might you be able to use these strategies? Why will they be useful for you there?