First Year Courses & Programs

Basic Writing (ENGLWRIT 111)

Curriculum/Syllabus

ENGLWRIT 111 (Basic Writing) is based on a collection of readings, The Composition of Our"selves." Yet it remains primarily a writing, not a reading, course. The essays, memoirs, and short stories that fill the pages of The Composition of Our"selves" are all meant to offer you some ways to think about the power of language and writing that perhaps you have not thought of before. These readings are also meant to engage you in active dialogue with their authors. And so you will be asked to listen to them thoughtfully and then respond to their ideas with ideas of your own. Through various forms of writing -- comments you will make in the margins of the book itself, Exploratory Writings you will follow, and longer essays you will develop out of your Exploratory Writing entries -- you will enter a conversation of writers, knowing that you will be listened to with equal care and thoughtfulness by other members of your class.

These are topics you will explore in ENGLWRIT 111 (Basic Writing). The links will take you to them and to information on our curriculum, including daily in-class activities and homework assignments ("Work Schedules"), preparatory writings and major essays ("Exploratory Writings"), and supplementary course materials ("Related Sites").

• Unit 1: Composing a Story, Constructing a Self
• Unit 2: Stories Taught and Untaught
• Unit 3: Language & the Construction of Ethnic Identity
• Unit 4: Language & the Construction of Gender: Being Female
• Unit 5: Language & the Construction of Gender: Being Male
• Unit 6: The Oeuvre