ENH 370: The Art of the Personal Essay
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All due dates are subject to change. Changes will appear on the Announcements page in myASU. Read announcements each time you log on.
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This course is not self-paced. If you miss more than 4 due dates you fail the course. Work submitted after the due dates will not receive credit.
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Work is due at midnight on the night listed (so, Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday night at midnight).
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I grade early in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If your work is there you receive credit. If it is not you do not receive credit.
Spring 2009 |
Tuesday -- Reading Due |
Thursday -- Writing Due |
Sunday -- Workshop Due |
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Week 1 |
20-Jan |
Questions About the Course: 2. Post a note about yourself in the Getting to Know You forum. 3. Read the Preface and Introduction to our textbook and the "Preface to the Anthology" pp 196-198. |
22-Jan |
Favorite Writers: In the Favorite Writers forum, post a 350 word note that describes your 5 favorite Living American nonfiction writers (for our purposes they must be alive and they must be American). Consider the following questions: What draws you to their work? What career paths have they followed? What work of theirs have your read or would you like to read? |
25-Jan |
Course Goals: In the Course Goals forum, post a 350 word note that clearly define 5 goals you have for the semester. You will use these goals when you write your final portfolio, so it is important that they are specific. Consider the following: What aspects of craft would you like to improve? What are your strengths and weaknesses with: titling, speaker, characters, setting, theme, tone, structure, imagery, figurative language, and musical devices. |
Week 2 |
27-Jan |
Group Orientation 1 |
29-Jan |
Group Orientation 1 |
1-Feb |
Group Orientation 1 |
Week 3 |
3-Feb |
Reading 1 For all 10 reading assignments you will compose a response to the reading and post it in the Reading Board. In order to receive credit your response must: • meet the word-length requirement of 350 words (or surpass it). This equals one double spaced page in 12 point times new roman. Chapter 1 and 2 Atwood, Margaret, "Nine Beginnings" Baker, Will, "My Children Explain the Big Issues" Baldwin, James, "Notes of a Native Son" |
5-Feb |
Writing 1 Writings 1-4 are activities designed to produce material for Writing 5, which will be a 5-10 page polished essay. For writings 1-4, please submit your response to the prompt in polished prose form. It will not make a complete story, but it should not be in the form of notes. Write polished prose as a result of the assignment listed. Writing 1, Scene Versus Exposition Scene is cinematic. It uses sensory detail and sensory information to recreate experience, generally with location, action, a sense of movement through time, and dialogue. For today's writing, remember a scene that is of the utmost importance to your topic for your first essay. Write the scene with as much fidelity as possible. Have people enter and leave, describe what you saw, heard and felt. Use all the sensory detail you can. |
8-Feb |
Workshop 1 For all 10 workshops you will compose a response to your group members and post it all together in one post on the Writing Board. In order to receive credit your response to each member of your group must: • meet the word-length requirement of 350 words (or surpass it). This equals one double spaced page in 12 point times new roman. |
Week 4 |
10-Feb |
Reading 2 Chapter 9 The Personal Essay |
12-Feb |
Writing 2, Specificity and Detail Even in discussing the largest of ideas, our brains engage in the small workings of the senses first. The small sensory details in your essay can therefore do the most work towards representing complex and abstract emotions. For this activity, first make a list of as many unique sensory details as you can in relation to your essay topic (sights, sounds , smells, textures, and tastes). Then write 2 pages of your essay that include those details. |
15-Feb |
Workshop 2 |
Week 5 |
17-Feb |
Reading 3
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19-Feb |
Writing 3, Character Development Write character sketches that include all the unexpected details (instead of the expected details) about the people in your essay. |
22-Feb |
Workshop 3 |
Week 6 |
24-Feb |
Reading 4 Chapter 4 Writing the Family |
26-Feb |
Writing 4, Dialogue Write two pages of dialogue that does work: it moves action forward, it characterizes, it adds details. |
1-Mar |
Workshop 4 |
Week 7 |
3-Mar |
Reading 5 Chapter 5 Writing the Physical World |
5-Mar |
Writing 5, Essay 1 Please submit a 5-10 page double spaced working draft of your first essay. |
8-Mar |
Workshop 5 |
Week 8 |
10-Mar |
Happy |
12-Mar |
Spring
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15-Mar |
Break |
Week 9 |
17-Mar |
Group Orientation 2 |
19-Mar |
Group Orientation 2 |
22-Mar |
Group Orientation 2 |
Week 10 |
24-Mar |
Reading 6 Chapter 10 The Lyric Essay |
26-Mar |
Writing 6 Writings 6-9 are activities designed to produce material for Writing 10, which will be a 5-10 page polished essay. For writings 6-9, please submit your response to the prompt in polished prose form. It will not make a complete story, but it should not be in the form of notes. Instead, write polished prose in response to the assignment listed. Writing 6, Description Strong description does not mean that you remember exactly how something looked, smelled, felt, sounded, or tasted. Strong description is always partly fiction--meaning that you get to choose details that will work to create a strong dominant impression. For this activity, choose one place that will appear in your story (you can do this later for all of the places you will describe). The place should be room-sized so that it is small enough to describe in detail. First, list 10 objects that appear in that place. Then add adjectives to the list that help build a dominant impression. Write two pages on your essay topic using those details. |
29-Mar |
Workshop 6 |
Week 11 |
31-Mar |
Reading 7 Chapter 6 Gathering the Threads of History |
2-Apr |
Writing 7, Researching Make a list of facts that inform the topic of your second essay. research one of those facts and add the details of that research to 2 pages of writing on your topic.
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5-Apr |
Workshop 7 |
Week 12 |
7-Apr |
Reading 8 Chapter 7 Writing the Arts |
9-Apr |
Writing 8, Music Music can be a powerful emotional tool in writing. Make a list of several songs that you remember during the period of time when your essay takes place. Then write 2 pages of text with the songs informing the scene and narration.
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12-Apr |
Workshop 8 |
Week 13 |
14-Apr |
Reading 9 Chapter 8 Writing the Larger World |
16-Apr |
Writing 9, Expertise Identify an area of expertise you have. It could be as simple as text messaging, or as complex as playing the harp. write a section of your essay where your area of expertise informs the writing. |
19-Apr |
Workshop 9 |
Week 14 |
21-Apr |
Reading 10 Chapter 11
The Basics of Personal Reportage and Chapter 12 The Writing Process and Revision |
23-Apr |
Writing 10 , Essay 2 Please submit a 5-10 page double spaced working draft of your second essay. |
26-Apr |
Workshop 10 |
Week 15 |
28-Apr |
Portfolio First Draft Due |
30-Apr |
Portfolio Workshops Due |
3-May |
Portfolio Final Due |
Week 16 |
5-May |
Happy |
7-May |
Summer |
10-May |
Break |
Patricia Colleen Murphy, MFA * Arizona State University * 240M Santa Catalina Hall * 7271 E Sonoran Arroyo Mall * Mesa, AZ 85212