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 3:00-4:30) - Suzanne Lane
Introduction to Rhetoric
We’ve all heard pundits or politicians say that we need to “cut through the rhetoric,” as if rhetoric were a kind of smokescreen hiding the truth.  From the time Plato, in fact, both citizens and philosophers have worried about the power of skilled rhetoricians to shape public opinion through a misuse of “rhetoric,” in a way that obscures the truth.  But scholars have also argued for rhetoric as a method of discovering truth, and for a more nuanced and complex relationship among rhetoric, inquiry, and knowledge.  This section of 21W.730 takes rhetoric, in all its complexity, as the subject of study.  Through reading analysts and practitioners of rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama, we’ll study rhetoric as a body of knowledge that offers us a means of developing persuasive arguments, a method of analyzing written, oral, and visual texts, and a mode of human inquiry.  Along the way we’ll read political speeches, academic arguments, newspapers, television, and online news reports, and even photographs.  We’ll write analyses that consider how other writers use rhetoric, and we’ll apply rhetorical principles as we construct our own persuasive arguments, both written and oral and visual.  Throughout the semester, we’ll investigate what these writers can teach us about our own writing: how to understand our audience and the situations we address, invent ideas and develop persuasive appeals, organize our claims and evidence, and develop an eloquent style.

Section 2 (TR 3:00-4:30) - Karen Boiko
Food for Thought: Writing and Reading about the Cultures of Food
If you are what you eat, what are you?  Food is at once the stuff of life and a potent symbol; it binds us to the earth, to our families, and to our cultures.  In this case, we explore many of the fascinating issues that surround food as both material fact and personal and cultural symbol.  We read essays by Toni Morrison, Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, and others on such topics as family meals, eating as an “agricultural act” (Berry), food and health, and food’s ability to awaken us to “our own powers of enjoyment” (M.F.K. Fisher).  We will also read Pollan’s most recent book, In Defense of Food, and discuss the issues it raises as well as its rhetorical strategies.  Assigned essays will grow out of memories and the texts we read, and may include personal narrative as well as essays that depend on research.  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. 

Section 3 (MW 3:00-4:30) - 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 4 (TR 11:00-12:30) - Karen Boiko
Same as Section 2 

Section 5 (TR 11:00-12:30) - Rebecca Faery
Culture Shock! Writing, Editing, and Publishing in Cyberspace
In this course we will read and write essays, at once critical and experiential, based in contemporary popular culture and in personal experience, observation, inclination, and conviction. The focus of our collaborative work will be to create an online magazine of writing on popular culture that we will post on the web for the worldwide reading public to enjoy. Students in the class will write four essays and offer them in class workshops for response and suggestions and then revise and edit their own and each other’s work for publication in our magazine. Members of the class will serve on editorial boards to decide what gets published, on design teams to create and format the magazine, and on marketing teams to publicize it. Frequent writing and revision, class workshops, discussion of assigned reading, and production work on the group’s magazine will constitute our work together throughout the semester. The fruit of our labors? An online magazine, and publication for everyone in the class. 

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 (MW 3:00-4:30) - Andrea Walsh
Exploring Self in Society
Our reading and writing for this section will focus on what it means to construct a sense of self and a life narrative in relation to the larger social world of family and friends, education, media, work, and community. What does it mean to see ourselves as embodying particular ethical values or belonging to a certain ethnic, racial, national, or religious group? How do we imagine ourselves within a larger family narrative? In what ways do we view our identities as connected to and expressed by our educational and work experiences? How do we see ourselves as shaping and shaped by the pupular media culture of our society? What does it mean to think about our social responsibility to our smaller and larger human communities? Readings will include nonfiction and fiction works by authors such as Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Andre Dubus, Anne Frank, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tim O'Brien, Flannery O'Connor, George Orwell, John Steinbeck, Amy Tan, Tobias Wolff and Alice Walker. Throughout the semester we will explore the craft of storytelling; our central focus will be on the different ways in which we can employ the tools of fiction (e.g., character, setting, dialogue) in creative nonfiction. We will also examine the multiple ways in which students can write effective essays and craft persuasive arguments drawing on both experiential data and secondary sources. Course requirements include submitting four major writing assignments as well as regular short writing exercises, giving oral presentations and responding in writing, and orally in workshop, to one another's writing. 

Section 2 (TR 11:00-12:30) - Andrea Walsh
Same as Section 1 

Section 3 (MW 3:30-5:00) - Lucy Marx
Writing in an Age of Spin
In 1946, George Orwell wrote that English was in a bad way, and implored those who use the language to use it "as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought". His plea seems remarkably relevant today. In an age increasingly dominated by marketing, packaging, and spin, how can we discern clear and transparent communication, and how can we practice it ourselves? These are the essential questions we'll use to guide us as you try your hand at writing grounded in your own experience. We'll read Princeton philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt's 2005 essay "On Bullshit" to orient ourselves to the essential traits of spin – or, as he puts it more bluntly, "bullshit". We'll study writing that conveys experience and expresses ideas lucidly and with an eye for the truth – from such writers as George Orwell, Junot Díaz, Annie Dillard, Nadine Gordimer, Michael Pollan, Marjane Satrapi, Amy Tan, and David Foster Wallace. We'll consider the observations and advice of those who attempt to analyze the elements of authentic and transparent writing. But most of all we'll practice spin-free communication ourselves. In addition to writing, we'll work on developing oral communication skills – in workshops, class conversations, and presentations. We'll make time for "studio" writing sessions aimed at focusing our attention on the specific and real. And we will practice revision, based on workshop responses, as you try to convey your experiences, tap your imaginations, and develop your ideas beyond the confines of cliché or spin. 

Section 4 (MW 1:30-3:00) -Lucy Marx
Same as Section 3 

Section 5 (MW 3:00-4:30) - Bill Corbett
Reading and Writing Autobiography
This course draws on a wide range of autobiographical writing and on my own memoir, Furthering My Education. The essays you write will focus on your own experience, exploring such topics as your intellectual growth and development, your childhood and high school years, life at MIT, the influence of place upon your personality and character, the role politics and religion play in your life, and topics of your own choice. The emphasis will be on clarity, specificity and structure. We will investigate several modes of writing – narrative, analytical, expository – suitable to the task at hand.

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 (TR 3:00-4:30) - Edward Barrett
Introduction to Digital Media
Focuses on digital media production and associated written and oral reports.  Students, singly and in small collaborative teams, create a variety of digital media projects throughout the term, culminating in a larger final project of their choosing.  Assignments focus on web site design, digital audio and video production, digital literary systems, mobile technology, and class readings.  Writing assignments include weekly blog postings on readings, a proposal, a progress report and a completion report for the final project.  Open to all students; normally required for writing majors in digital media. 

Section 2 (MW 3:00-4:30) - Marcia Bartusiak        
Elements of Science Writing for the Public
An introduction to writing about science for a general audience.  Students will gain experience in interviewing, researching a story idea, and translating scientific and technical concepts into lay language.  Each writing assignment will focus on a different form – news, interview, exposition, and short feature – which we will workshop in class and students will then revise.  We will analyze selected readings from the work of accomplished science writers and discuss them in conjunction with each writing assignment. Topics will cover a range of scientific fields.  Each student will also write a review of a popular science book, along with making a short oral presentation.  Open to all students; normally required for majors in science writing. 

Section 3 (TR 9:30-11:00) - Cynthia Taft
Writing and the Environment
Environmentalists have traditionally relied upon the power of their prose to transform the thoughts and behavior of their contemporaries. In 1948, an early environmentalist, Aldo Leopold, summoned up a world made barren by the loss of predators in the hope that he could stop the slaughter of wolves. Fifteen years later, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist with a penchant for writing, described a world without wildlife in Silent Spring and altered the way Americans understood their impact on the landscape. Leopold and Carson were professional scientists, and like the other writers we will encounter this semester, they realized that they could alter the perceptions of their contemporaries only if they were able to transmit their knowledge in engaging and accessible language. We will do our best to follow in their footsteps. We will consider the strategies of popular science writers like John McPhee, Lewis Thomas, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Stephen Jay Gould. We will dissect Al Gore’s remarkable PowerPoint presentation on climate change.  Over the course of the semester, we will sample works less well known by climate scientists, geologists, hydrologists, and biologists. The writing assignments, like the readings, will invite students to consider the distinctive needs of different audiences: your peers, prospective employers, professional colleagues, and, finally, the broader public.  Each of you will learn to respond constructively to the work of others and to revise your own work in the light of comments from the instructor and from your peers. 

Section 4 (TR 11:00-12:30) - 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. 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, technical essays for general and specialized audiences, and a design 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.

Section 5 (TR 3:00-4:30) - Janis Melvold            
Same as Section 4

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 2:30 - 4:00) - Wyn Kelley
Students, scholars, bloggers, reviewers, and book-group members write about literature, but so do authors themselves.  Through the ways they engage with their own texts and those of other artists, remixing and reinventing as they go, writers reflect on and inspire questions about the creative process.  This course will allow students to observe their own habits as readers and writers; study the ways authors manipulate their materials to create new works; and develop tools for evaluating their own literary interpretations and arguments.  In workshops that involve journal-writing, wikis, team presentations, group discussion, and peer review, students will examine, among others, Shakespeare’s adaptation of his Italian sources in Romeo and Juliet; Mary Shelley’s reshaping of Milton, German fairy tales, galvanism, and her own husband’s poems to make Frankenstein; Melville’s redesign of a travel narrative into a Gothic novella in Benito Cereno; and Alison Bechdel’s rewriting of the western comic canon in her graphic novel Fun Home.  Film versions of some of these works will allow us to project forward in the remixing process as well. 

Crossing Borders – Kate Delaney
This class offers limited enrollment with a strong emphasis on class discussion, frequent writing and revision, in-class student reports, and writing workshops.  Readings will be drawn from a variety of literary forms and will focus on the     theme of crossing borders: travel writing as well as literature of exile, expatriation, and immigration.  We will study short and long fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, and the graphic novel. We will also consider film treatments of some of these works to investigate the effects of performance of the narrative in     another medium. Works by Bruce Chatwin, Susan Orlean, Marjane Satrapi, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ernest Hemingway, Milcha Sanchez-Scott, Redmond O'Hanlon, and David Bezmozgis will be the focus of our study.  Students will learn to discuss and write about literary techniques as well as the works' cultural and historical context. In exploring the treatment of similar themes by different authors and in different genres, we will investigate questions of voice and form.  Students are required to prepare oral as well as written responses to the works. 

Writing about Literature – Ina Lipkowitz
Why do we write about literature? To help us clarify our own understanding of  the story or poem or play, as well as to communicate that understanding to  another person who might see the work very differently. Because literary works  invite such different interpretations, writing about them is less a matter of proving  a universal truth than of suggesting a well-informed and meaningful possibility. In this class, we’ll read and talk about a variety of stories, poems, short novels, and/or plays, all of which can be understood in many ways. We’ll also read and talk about students’ essays in order to see how other people express and develop their ideas. The goal is to learn to not only put up with, but to actually enjoy the many possible meanings of literary works and to experiment with types of essays that reflect rather than limit the work’s richness. Readings vary, but may include stories by William Faulkner, Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston, Anzia Yezierska, James Joyce, Penelope Fitzgerald, Jhumpa Lahiri; plays by Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, or Samuel Becket; and poems by John Donne, John Keats, and Emily  Dickinson.