Projects & Activities

Projects and Course Work:

The primary work for the course is doing the (often quite substantial) reading for each class and coming to each class prepared to participate in discussion. Occasionally, I will give you a prompt for a written reflection on or response to a reading, and sometimes our class discussion will suggest a brief but a useful written exercise.

The major written work for the course is a project due on Friday, December 12, the last day of class. Choose one of the following options: (each represents about a 15 page product):

ð  A bibliographic essay on a topic in composition theory that is of specific interest to you. Brooke Horvath’s “The Components of Written Response: A Practical Synthesis of Current Views,” Rhetoric Review 2.2 (1984): 136-156 and Kenneth Bruffee’s “Social Construction, Language, and the Authority of Knowledge: A Bibliographic Essay,” College English 48 (1986): 773-790 (in the coursepack) can serve as models.

ð  A citation history for an article published in CCC College English sometime between 1950 and 1986. I will provide additional guidelines for this option.

ð  A review essay of two to four books on related issues of contemporary composition theory. See, for instance, John Trimbur’s “Taking the Social Turn: Teaching Writing Post-Process (review essay). College Composition and Communication 45.1. (Feb., 1994): 108-118 also in the coursepack. Books published in the past five years would be most appropriate for this project.

ð  An essay for a specific composition journal or the text of a paper on a composition topic for a specific conference. If you choose this option, you need to be thinking about the issue in composition theory or history you want to explore and what you have to contribute to the conversation.

ð  A one-week lesson plan to be included in a revised syllabus for ENGL 591. Select and arrange readings and provide your rationale for inclusion, indicate which readings they will replace, and plan class activities, such as discussion prompts.

To prepare for this final project, submit a 2-4 page proposal, in which you

o  describe the project

o  explain what you think it will contribute to your knowledge of composition studies and to the field, and

o  project your plan for conducting the research for it, including a discussion of some of the sources you plan to use.

That proposal is due Wednesday, October 15.