Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending on the quality of your ally's assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, and you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.

Students enrolled in English 305 should have developed sufficient writing and research skills to meet the demands of college level writing. This course provides the additional opportunity for students to review, reassess, and further develop their writing skills.

English 305 is designed for upper division college students who wish to develop their writing skills or who need the course to fulfill a requirement in their major or program of study. Many students take the course to prepare for the WPE; Liberal Studies students take this course (or English 406) as part of their major. Single subject credential candidates in fields other than English take the course to demonstrate advanced, college-level writing proficiency (a grade of B- or better is required). However, English majors may not use English 305 to satisfy requirements within the major.

1. your own "voice" in writing;

2. a repertoire of writing styles appropriate to your purpose, audience, and occasion for writing;

3. your ability to compose sentences and paragraphs in a variety of syntactic patterns and with sufficient specific details;

4. your skill in reading, analyzing, and assessing longer pieces of expository prose by professional writers and peers;

5. your sensitivity to the impact of language on differing readers and listeners;

6. your ability to use appropriate research methods and materials efficiently, clearly, and effectively for all disciplines;

7. your skill in writing prose that conforms to the features of standard written English.

• Four in-class, timed essays (20%)
  • Timed Writing (SAMPLE)
  • Timed Writing (2 CRITICAL RESPONSES TO A TEXT)
  • Timed Writing (REFLECTION)

• Three revised papers (30%):
  • Education: the Idea of the University
  • Research Paper: American Myths
  • Science: O Brave New World

• Short Writes (15%): Extemporaneous writing based on knowledge and assumptions of a given issue. Students will complete 5 shortwrites (some in-class, some as homework assignments). Due dates TBA as asignments are announced in class.
  • Oct 9: Joining the conversation #8 from Pinzon's photo essay.

  • Oct 23: "This I Believe..." Modeled after the (contemporary) radio show -- based on Edward R. Murrow's past radio show, write an initial in-class freewrite starting with the statement, "This I believe..". Then, follow that freewrite or start a new freewrite until you have a statment you can type up and bring to class to share in a small group and/or with the rest of the class. If you would like examples from the radio shows, go to: NPR's webpage and browse around.

• Journal (25%): consists of summaries and responses to all readings and any other short homework assignments.

• Two Annotated Bibliographies (10%): Students will research two separate topics and construct annotated bibliographies documenting and evaluating their findings, using Janice Walker's online MLA Style formating. Both bibliographies will be posted to the web. The second bibliography will reflect the research for the final paper.