First Year Writing Curriculum

21W.730     Writing on Contemporary Issues
This subject focuses on forms of exposition, including narration, critique, argument, and persuasion, to develop students’ ability to write clear and effective prose. Students write frequently, give and receive feedback on work in progress, improve their work by revising, read the work of accomplished writers, and participate actively in class discussions and workshops. Short oral presentations are also required. All sections emphasize writing with an awareness of audience and purpose.  Readings and assignments vary by section and focus on themes such as contemporary social problems, the culture of food, forms of popular culture, and others. The subject is open to students at all class levels. Enrollment limited to 18.

Section 1 (MW 12:00-2:30) - Andrea Walsh
Social and Ethical Issues
This course provides the opportunity for students-- as readers, viewers, writers and speakers ---to engage with social and ethical issues that they care deeply about. Over the course of the semester, through discussing the writing of authors such as Marian Wright Edelman, Charles Dickens, Alan Dershowitz, Susan Faludi, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jonathan Kozol and Susanna Kaysen, we will explore different perspectives on a range of social issues such as the responsibilities of citizens, freedom of expression, poverty, homelessness, hunger, mental illness, capital punishment and racial and gender inequality. In addition, we will analyze selected photographs, as well as documentary and feature films (Girl, Interrupted and Dead Man Walking) that represent or dramatize social problems or issues. In assigned essays, students will have the opportunity to write about social and ethical issues of their own choice.  For the three major assignments, students will revise each piece. This course aims to help students to grow significantly in their ability to understand and compare arguments, to integrate secondary print and visual sources and to craft vibrant, well-reasoned and elegant essays and grant proposals. Students will also keep a reading journal and give oral presentations. In class we will discuss assigned texts, explore strategies for successful academic writing, freewrite and respond to one another's essays.

Section 2 (MW 3:00-4:30) - Andrea Walsh
Social and Ethical Issues
Same as Section 1

21W.731    Writing and Experience
This subject focuses on the ways writers transform experience into finished and polished writing in the forms of essay, memoir, and autobiography.  Students write frequently, give and receive response to work in progress, improve their writing by revising, read the work of accomplished writers, and participate actively in class discussions and workshops.  Short oral presentations are also required. All sections emphasize writing with an awareness of audience and purpose.  Readings and specific writing assignments vary by section. 21W.731 is the gateway subject for creative writing classes in Course 21.  The subject is open to students at all class levels. Enrollment limited to 18. 

Section 1 (TR 12:30-2:00) - Rebecca Faery
Crossing Borders
In this era of globalization, many of us have multi- or bi-cultural, multilingual or bilingual backgrounds, and even if we don’t have such a background, we need urgently to understand the experiences of people who do.  You will very likely work outside the United States at some point in your future; you will almost certainly work with people who speak more than one language, whose ancestry or origins are in a country other than the U.S., who have crossed borders of nation, language, culture, to amalgamate into the large and diverse culture that is America.  In this class we will read the personal narratives of bilingual and bicultural writers, some of whom have struggled to assimilate, others of whom have celebrated their own contributions to a culture of diversity.  You will write four personal essays of your own for the class, each of which will receive workshop discussion in class and response from me; you will then revise the essays to polish them for possible publication.  One of your essays will be an investigative one, where you will focus on a subject of your choice, investigate it thoroughly, and then write with authority about it.  The process of the class will encourage you to both improve your writing significantly and gain a greater understanding of experiences of people who are in some way like you as well as those who are in some way different.

Section 2 (TR 3:00-4:30) - Karen Boiko
Friends
Is to “friend” someone different than to befriend them? Can your mom be your friend? Can your cat? Can you really be “bff”? What does it mean to be a buddy, a pal, a mate? In this class we will explore the notion of friendship. We’ll read essays by Montaigne, Emerson, and contemporary writers; stories, poems, and exchanges of letters; and recent social science, to notice how friendship has been understood in a variety of times, places, and contexts. We’ll also consider pop culture such as songs, TV shows and, yes, Facebook. Your four assigned essays will grow out of memories, experience and reflection, and the texts we read; they will include personal narrative as well as essays that incorporate research and the ideas of other writers. Revision of essays and workshop review of writing in progress are an important part of the class. Each student will make one oral presentation in this class.

21W.732    Science Writing and New Media
This subject focuses on writing about science and new media and emphasizes developing students' ability to write clear and effective prose for a range of media.  Readings and assignments vary by section and focus on themes such as technical and scientific writing, writing about science for a public audience, the environment, digital media, and others.  Students in all sections write frequently, give and receive feedback on work in progress, improve their writing by revising, read the work of accomplished writers, and participate actively in class discussions and workshops.  Short oral presentations are also required.  Readings and specific assignments vary by section.  21W.732 is the gateway subject for classes in science writing for the public and new media.  The subject is open to students at all class levels. Enrollment limited to 18.

Section 1 (MW 3:00-4:30) - Cynthia Taft
Perspective on Medicine and Public Health
Like other scientists, medical researchers and clinicians must be capable of presenting their work to an audience of professional peers.  Unlike many scientists, however, physicians must routinely translate their sophisticated knowledge into lay terms for their own patients and for the education of the public at large.  A surprising number of physicians write for less utilitarian reasons as well, choosing the narrative essay as a means of exploring the non-technical issues that emerge in their clinical practice.  Over the course of the semester we will explore the full range of writings by physicians and other health practitioners.  Some of the writer/physicians that we encounter will be Atul Gawande, Danielle Ofri, Jerome Groopman, Rafael Campo, and William Carlos Williams.  Students need have no special training, only a general interest in medicine or in public health issues such as AIDS, asthma, malaria control, and obesity.  The writing assignments, like the readings, will invite students to consider the distinctive needs of different audiences.  Assignments will include a critical review of two articles from the New England Journal of Medicine or another similar journal, a literature review geared toward an audience of health professionals, a report suitable for general publication, two oral presentations, an autobiographical narrative, a resume, and a job application letter.  Students will learn to respond constructively to the work of others and to revise their own work in the light of comments from the instructor and from their peers.

Section 2 (TR 12:30-2:00) - Janis Melvold
Explorations in Communicating about Science and Technology
Skill in communicating about science and technology comes from both knowledge and practice, and this course emphasizes both.  Through a variety of reading and writing assignments, we will examine general principles of good writing, as well as principles associated specifically with scientific and technical writing. We will also explore the effects of new media as avenues for communicating about science.  To help you become more proficient in assessing, revising, and editing your writing, the course emphasizes the importance of the writing process. Class time will involve discussions of scientific articles and essays, as well as small group workshops in which students offer feedback on each other’s writing. Assignments will include, for example, a critical review, a science essay for the general public, and a research or service project proposal.  The topics you write on will be of your own choosing, reflecting your background and interests. While the primary emphasis will be on writing, oral communication will also be important. You will have the opportunity to practice oral communication skills in class discussions, as well as through formal and informal presentations.

21W.734J (21l.000J)    Writing about Literature
Intensive focus on the reading and writing skills used to analyze literary texts such as poems by Emily Dickson, Shakespeare or Langston Hughes; short stories by Chekov, Joyce, or Alice Walker; and a short novel by Melville or Toni Morrison.  Designed not only to prepare students for further work in writing and literary and media study, but also to provide increased confidence and pleasure in their reading, writing and analytical skills.  Students write or revise essays weekly.  See below for sections.  Enrollment limited. 

Section 1 (MW 9:30 - 11:00) - Kate Delaney