policies ENGL389 Topics in Writing: Ethnographic Writing
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Need to be in touch with me?
LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 [email protected] www.leetorda.com |
Spring 2018 Office Hours:
M 2:00-3:00 W 11:00-12:00 and by appointment. Need to make an appointment? Click here: https://goo.gl/3CqLf |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
To describe this course I need to do three things: 1) I need to explain a little bit about what an “ethnography” is; 2) I need to explain how ethnography relates to “The New Journalism;” and 3) I need to explain why I think it is a good way to become a better writer—and can produce some really elegant, lovely writing.
Part I.
Ethnography is a practice that comes from anthropology. It is the main methodology for collecting data in the field. Traditionally, ethnographers/anthropologists would go to a culture—often times a third-world culture—and spend many, many years observing that culture, studying its ways, identifying patterns in behavior. They studied everything: language, rituals, artifacts, relationships, landscape, customs, stories, dress, etc. The hallmark of this writing is something that Clifford Geertz, an ethnographer himself, called “thick description”—a particularly visual way to describe the layers of observation that went into the work of the ethnographer.
It is important to note here the other significant idea of ethnography: participant/observer status. It means exactly what it looks like: an ethnographer is someone who observes a culture by modest participation in it. But there is a caution: do not imagine at any point that you are a part of that culture. This can be tricky the longer you are observing the culture. The best ethnographers are mindful of their, well, awkward position, of trying to fit in but not really ever actually fitting in.
Further, ethnography, as connected to cultural anthropology, was, for many years, a Western us against “other.” Other was too often seen as lesser—less civilized, less advanced, less Christian, less Western, less democratic, less white. The field has moved away from that, but the danger of slipping in to a too fawning or too critical stance based on our own cultural bias is always present, and so something that the ethnographer needs always to own up to and be aware of as they observe and write. So what I’m describing is not easy work. It’s very active, very aerobic, even. But, by embracing that methodology, ethnographers produce such rich stuff in an effort to help explain the rest of the world to themselves and to those they write for.
Part II.
In the middle of the 20th Century journalists like Gay Talese and Studs Terkel—among many, many others—started to do their jobs differently. They started to write from more of a participant place than merely an observer place. This sort of writing was dubbed “The New Journalism.” It produced some of the finest journalism of the 20th Century (and we will read some of this in our class this semester). It told stories that required time to tell; it told stories that might not have been told if not for these writers. The legacy of that kind of writing, long-form journalism, is the feature story. It shares with ethnography both the care and attention to the potentially un-noticed detail as well as a need to be both very distant (at times) and very near (at times) to the story being told.
Part III.
I am interested in what the methodology of ethnography can offer us all as writers, how it can give us material to play with. Thus, and I want to be clear about this, I am not teaching you how to do actual ethnographies or, really, New Journalism. I’m teaching you how to write nonfiction inspired by the practices of ethnography and the New Journalism . We will be reading, for the most part, creative nonfiction and New Journalism with a few select samples of popular ethnographies (the reason being is that I don’t think most ethnographies are that well written—they are academic documents written by authors who are not interested in how pretty their writing is).
What I want you to write is creative nonfiction—not a book report. Thus, a large part of this class will be devoted to the craft of writing and to style and language and voice. The methodology of ethnography is, in my mind, what a good writer of nonfiction needs to do if they aren’t going to navel gaze all the time. If you are going to write about something other than your own life experience, you need to dig up some material. I think that ethnography, with its combination of “thick description” and mindful attention to who we are as participants and observers to a culture can help new writers become better (because we are always better writers when we have something interesting to write about), and good writers become great.
Finally, I often teach an ethnographic project in my first year writing classes. I do this because, again, the methodology of ethnography is of use in teaching the very basic skills of literacy: what does it mean to read? To interpret? To develop an idea, turn it into a thesis and amass convincing evidence? Further, ethnography does not happen over night. It takes time. It requires a process. It is recursive. Good ethnography requires the ability to second-guess oneself. In other words, the reason that this “ethnographic writing course” is, first and foremost a writing course is because good ethnography requires the same kinds of skills that good writing requires. As such, you will spend the semester doing one thing to improve at the other.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this class you will have
TEXTS
I have been experimenting with low-cost and no-cost text options this year. Sometimes this has really worked, and sometimes it hasn’t.
We will be reading large selections from the following titles. You don’t have to buy these books. I will make the selections available here on our class website (the page is also accessible from the syllabus and in the drop down menu on this site).
That said, last semester a number of students wished I had just asked them to buy certain books because we read large portions of them. They are not super-expensive on Amazon. If you click on the title, it will take you to the Amazon page for each text.
Mark Kramer & Wendy Call (eds.)
Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University
Anne Lamott
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
In addition to sections from the above texts, we will read a number of pieces of creative nonfiction (on the short side). Those will be made available to you by clicking on the “class readings” page here or in the drop down menu to this site.
REQUIREMENTS
Attendance. We do a lot of work in class, and it is work that requires full participation from all of us. And, at last count, this is a small class, so if folks don’t show up, it will feel like folks don’t show up. You can miss, without cause, three classes. If you miss more than three classes, it will adversely affect your final grade. If you miss more than six classes, or three full weeks of class, I reserve the right to fail you. Finally, excessive late arrivals will accumulate to equal at least one absence. Absence is not an excuse for late work. Late work will not be accepted. If you know you will not be able to attend class on a day that work is due, please make arrangements to turn it in to me prior to class. All that said: if life circumstances require you to miss enough class that it will affect your grade, see me.
Research Notes. On weeks when we don’t have formal writing due, I will ask you to do Research Notes. Research notes combine two things: 1) reflection on what you learned about doing the ethnographic project from doing the reading that week; 2) reflection on how your own project is coming, what work you are doing on it, questions you have, ideas you are developing, etc. These are informal documents, up to five pages but no shorter that two, double-spaced, and typed. For complete information on research notes, including how they will be evaluated, please see the Research Notes page on our class website.
Formal Writing. You will have four other, more formal opportunities to turn in material to me for feedback and to be workshopped by the class. All four of these pieces are connected to the final project. They are a kind of installment system for producing your final ethnographic essay. What follows is a brief discussion of each. Complete details are available on the page of the same name as the assignment on our class website.
The Writer in Her Place: The first installment is about positioning yourself as a researcher: in other words, what baggage do you need to be aware of as you go into the culture you are going to observe? We will play around with archival materials you bring in to class that are about you in order to try to do this work. You’ll add to this paper what you currently know about the culture you are entering into, what problems you anticipate, etc. It is for this paper that you must have picked a site for your semester long project.
Site Description: The next text will provide a detailed visual of your culture, focusing on the people as well as the place and, in general, the energy of the place. You’ll do a site map of significant locations. I will also encourage you to collect photos of the place. In addition to describing the place itself, you’ll collect artifacts that seem important to the culture.
Sources: The second to last piece you’ll do for the final ethnographic essay is a collection of interviews, stories, lore, external research that you discover that tells you about your culture. This part of the course and the paper borrows significantly from New Journalism.
Looking at What There Is to See: The final installment of your ethnographic essay is a place to theorize about what you have learned from your time with this culture, what you’ve learned about the culture, what you’ve learned about yourself, and what you’ve learned generally. This can be a tricky piece to write because if you are not careful you can sound like you are writing a hallmark card: “even though we’re all different, we’re all still the same.” Yeah, and I’d like to buy the world a coke and live in peace and harmony (go watch the last episode of Mad Men--you’ll get it). Oh, I’ve read that sentence. I’m quoting a student paper. Word to the wise: don’t be that person; don’t write that sentence.
Portfolios. At midterm and at the end of the semester, you will turn in a portfolio of work. At midterm, the portfolio will be a check-in to see how things are going. At the end of the semester, your final portfolio will be your final ethnographic essay and a cover-letter talking about the production of it. Detailed information is available for both the midterm and final portfolio here on this website.
Workshops and Conferences. This class will be run on a workshop model. This means that you will read and comment on each other’s work routinely. In addition, I will meet with you twice this semester for a conference. Conferences are ungraded, though they do count as an absence if you miss them and don’t tell me. Detailed information about how workshops will work will be made available in class, here on this website, also accessible from the drop down menu above, including how workshop performance will be evaluated.
EVALUATION AND GRADING
You will not receive letter grades on individual drafts and assignments. You will, however, receive extensive comments an your writing that should both give you a sense of the quality of your work as well as a way to begin to revise and improve your writing.
Informal writing (Research Notes) will be evaluated based on your ability to meet the minimum requirements for the assignment as well as whether or not you turn in a sufficient number of Research Notes. Comments on research notes shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I'm not writing anything, I'm bored. Your only cause for alarm should be if you see this: "you aren't taking this work seriously." Complete details for the assignment and how it will be evaluated are available here on this website, as well as from the drop down menu above.
Formal writing will be evaluated based on your ability to meet or exceed the minimum requirements for the assignment. Comments on Formal Assignments are typically meant to guide your revision process and/or prepare you for the next assignment. For each of those assignments (Writer in her Place, Site Description, Sources, Seeing What There is To See), there are several components that you must complete in order to earn full credit. They are specific to the assignment, but, generally, you are required to turn in drafts and revisions and participate in whatever workshop and/or conference required for that assignment. Read the specific assignment pages for the requirements for each assignment. Again, complete details for the assignment and how it will be evaluated are available on this website from the drop down menu above.
Midterm & Final Portfolio: An exceptional grade at midterm and the end of the semester, or an A, is based on demonstrable quality above and beyond the minimum requirements for most assignments, including revision work in the respective portfolios. At midterm and at the end of the semester you will receive a “grade-so-far” and a “final grade” letter respectively. They will be attached to your midterm and final portfolio returns. In these letters you will receive a letter grade and an overview of your performance in the class up to that point. That will include a review of your in-class preparedness, your reading journals, your work on formal assignments and/or presentations, and your reflection and revision completed as part of your portfolio. Complete portfolio information, for the midterm and final, is available here and from the drop down menu above.
Additionally, comments, for both formal and informal writing, will always be geared towards what you should do next to include a particular piece of writing in your final ethnographic essay. Prior to the first time you turn in a piece of formal writing, I will show you what these comments look like and how they fit in with an over all evaluation plan. Samples are available here. At midterm, you will receive a grade-so-far letter. At the end of the semester you will receive a final grade letter. Samples of those letters are available here.
Ultimately, your grade will be based on the following criteria:
I have never encountered a student who didn’t have a clear sense of how they were doing in my class based on this system of evaluation, but if you should feel that you don’t know how you are doing, come see me. We’ll figure it out.
Breakdown of assessment percentages. Different assignments require different amounts of effort and care. The percentages that accompany each of the requirements in this class should give you an indication of the time and energy that each should take up in your student life.
Research Notes 25%
The Writer in Her Place 10%
Site Description 10%
Sources 10%
Looking at What
There Is To See 10%
Midterm Portfolio 15%
Ethnographic Essay/
Final Portfolio 20%
Plagiarism. I don’t know how you would plagiarize in a class like this, but cheating is not acceptable. You are all advanced students and writers. I shouldn’t have to say anything else. But, for the record, plagiarism is an honor code violation. You can read about it here. If you are caught plagiarizing I will fail you for the course and turn the matter over to the disciplinary board on campus.
Students with learning disabilities. Students who need special accommodations due to a documented learning disability should come to see me with written documentation of the specific disability and suggested accommodations before the end of the drop/add period. We can discuss specific accommodations at that time.
The Writing Studio. Located in the Academic Achievement Center, on the bottom floor of the Library, the Writing Studio is available to any and all students at whatever level of writing expertise you might be at. They are a marvelous resource for this class. You can talk to them at any stage of your writing—from brainstorming, to drafting, to editing. They won’t just proofread, but if you are interested in getting useful and thorough feedback, the Writing Studio is a good place to go. The work they do will reinforce everything we are doing in this class. In addition, I will look kindly on any student who makes good use of this service.
Electronics Policy. I'm not against technology at all, but there is a time and place for it. I don't like competing with your phone for your attention. If we are using our computers--and you are welcome to use them to type your in-class writing--please use them for what we are supposed to be using them for. You don't need to turn your phone off, but, should you get a call, be thoughtful about whether or not you should really answer it. Also, no texting in class.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: the Center for Multicultural Affairs, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.
To describe this course I need to do three things: 1) I need to explain a little bit about what an “ethnography” is; 2) I need to explain how ethnography relates to “The New Journalism;” and 3) I need to explain why I think it is a good way to become a better writer—and can produce some really elegant, lovely writing.
Part I.
Ethnography is a practice that comes from anthropology. It is the main methodology for collecting data in the field. Traditionally, ethnographers/anthropologists would go to a culture—often times a third-world culture—and spend many, many years observing that culture, studying its ways, identifying patterns in behavior. They studied everything: language, rituals, artifacts, relationships, landscape, customs, stories, dress, etc. The hallmark of this writing is something that Clifford Geertz, an ethnographer himself, called “thick description”—a particularly visual way to describe the layers of observation that went into the work of the ethnographer.
It is important to note here the other significant idea of ethnography: participant/observer status. It means exactly what it looks like: an ethnographer is someone who observes a culture by modest participation in it. But there is a caution: do not imagine at any point that you are a part of that culture. This can be tricky the longer you are observing the culture. The best ethnographers are mindful of their, well, awkward position, of trying to fit in but not really ever actually fitting in.
Further, ethnography, as connected to cultural anthropology, was, for many years, a Western us against “other.” Other was too often seen as lesser—less civilized, less advanced, less Christian, less Western, less democratic, less white. The field has moved away from that, but the danger of slipping in to a too fawning or too critical stance based on our own cultural bias is always present, and so something that the ethnographer needs always to own up to and be aware of as they observe and write. So what I’m describing is not easy work. It’s very active, very aerobic, even. But, by embracing that methodology, ethnographers produce such rich stuff in an effort to help explain the rest of the world to themselves and to those they write for.
Part II.
In the middle of the 20th Century journalists like Gay Talese and Studs Terkel—among many, many others—started to do their jobs differently. They started to write from more of a participant place than merely an observer place. This sort of writing was dubbed “The New Journalism.” It produced some of the finest journalism of the 20th Century (and we will read some of this in our class this semester). It told stories that required time to tell; it told stories that might not have been told if not for these writers. The legacy of that kind of writing, long-form journalism, is the feature story. It shares with ethnography both the care and attention to the potentially un-noticed detail as well as a need to be both very distant (at times) and very near (at times) to the story being told.
Part III.
I am interested in what the methodology of ethnography can offer us all as writers, how it can give us material to play with. Thus, and I want to be clear about this, I am not teaching you how to do actual ethnographies or, really, New Journalism. I’m teaching you how to write nonfiction inspired by the practices of ethnography and the New Journalism . We will be reading, for the most part, creative nonfiction and New Journalism with a few select samples of popular ethnographies (the reason being is that I don’t think most ethnographies are that well written—they are academic documents written by authors who are not interested in how pretty their writing is).
What I want you to write is creative nonfiction—not a book report. Thus, a large part of this class will be devoted to the craft of writing and to style and language and voice. The methodology of ethnography is, in my mind, what a good writer of nonfiction needs to do if they aren’t going to navel gaze all the time. If you are going to write about something other than your own life experience, you need to dig up some material. I think that ethnography, with its combination of “thick description” and mindful attention to who we are as participants and observers to a culture can help new writers become better (because we are always better writers when we have something interesting to write about), and good writers become great.
Finally, I often teach an ethnographic project in my first year writing classes. I do this because, again, the methodology of ethnography is of use in teaching the very basic skills of literacy: what does it mean to read? To interpret? To develop an idea, turn it into a thesis and amass convincing evidence? Further, ethnography does not happen over night. It takes time. It requires a process. It is recursive. Good ethnography requires the ability to second-guess oneself. In other words, the reason that this “ethnographic writing course” is, first and foremost a writing course is because good ethnography requires the same kinds of skills that good writing requires. As such, you will spend the semester doing one thing to improve at the other.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this class you will have
- An introductory understanding of the methodology of ethnography;
- An understanding of the genre of creative nonfiction;
- An understanding of the writing and reading process;
- An understanding of how ethnography and writing are interestingly connected;
- Extensive practice in writing and revision of an extended text.
TEXTS
I have been experimenting with low-cost and no-cost text options this year. Sometimes this has really worked, and sometimes it hasn’t.
We will be reading large selections from the following titles. You don’t have to buy these books. I will make the selections available here on our class website (the page is also accessible from the syllabus and in the drop down menu on this site).
That said, last semester a number of students wished I had just asked them to buy certain books because we read large portions of them. They are not super-expensive on Amazon. If you click on the title, it will take you to the Amazon page for each text.
Mark Kramer & Wendy Call (eds.)
Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University
Anne Lamott
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
In addition to sections from the above texts, we will read a number of pieces of creative nonfiction (on the short side). Those will be made available to you by clicking on the “class readings” page here or in the drop down menu to this site.
REQUIREMENTS
Attendance. We do a lot of work in class, and it is work that requires full participation from all of us. And, at last count, this is a small class, so if folks don’t show up, it will feel like folks don’t show up. You can miss, without cause, three classes. If you miss more than three classes, it will adversely affect your final grade. If you miss more than six classes, or three full weeks of class, I reserve the right to fail you. Finally, excessive late arrivals will accumulate to equal at least one absence. Absence is not an excuse for late work. Late work will not be accepted. If you know you will not be able to attend class on a day that work is due, please make arrangements to turn it in to me prior to class. All that said: if life circumstances require you to miss enough class that it will affect your grade, see me.
Research Notes. On weeks when we don’t have formal writing due, I will ask you to do Research Notes. Research notes combine two things: 1) reflection on what you learned about doing the ethnographic project from doing the reading that week; 2) reflection on how your own project is coming, what work you are doing on it, questions you have, ideas you are developing, etc. These are informal documents, up to five pages but no shorter that two, double-spaced, and typed. For complete information on research notes, including how they will be evaluated, please see the Research Notes page on our class website.
Formal Writing. You will have four other, more formal opportunities to turn in material to me for feedback and to be workshopped by the class. All four of these pieces are connected to the final project. They are a kind of installment system for producing your final ethnographic essay. What follows is a brief discussion of each. Complete details are available on the page of the same name as the assignment on our class website.
The Writer in Her Place: The first installment is about positioning yourself as a researcher: in other words, what baggage do you need to be aware of as you go into the culture you are going to observe? We will play around with archival materials you bring in to class that are about you in order to try to do this work. You’ll add to this paper what you currently know about the culture you are entering into, what problems you anticipate, etc. It is for this paper that you must have picked a site for your semester long project.
Site Description: The next text will provide a detailed visual of your culture, focusing on the people as well as the place and, in general, the energy of the place. You’ll do a site map of significant locations. I will also encourage you to collect photos of the place. In addition to describing the place itself, you’ll collect artifacts that seem important to the culture.
Sources: The second to last piece you’ll do for the final ethnographic essay is a collection of interviews, stories, lore, external research that you discover that tells you about your culture. This part of the course and the paper borrows significantly from New Journalism.
Looking at What There Is to See: The final installment of your ethnographic essay is a place to theorize about what you have learned from your time with this culture, what you’ve learned about the culture, what you’ve learned about yourself, and what you’ve learned generally. This can be a tricky piece to write because if you are not careful you can sound like you are writing a hallmark card: “even though we’re all different, we’re all still the same.” Yeah, and I’d like to buy the world a coke and live in peace and harmony (go watch the last episode of Mad Men--you’ll get it). Oh, I’ve read that sentence. I’m quoting a student paper. Word to the wise: don’t be that person; don’t write that sentence.
Portfolios. At midterm and at the end of the semester, you will turn in a portfolio of work. At midterm, the portfolio will be a check-in to see how things are going. At the end of the semester, your final portfolio will be your final ethnographic essay and a cover-letter talking about the production of it. Detailed information is available for both the midterm and final portfolio here on this website.
Workshops and Conferences. This class will be run on a workshop model. This means that you will read and comment on each other’s work routinely. In addition, I will meet with you twice this semester for a conference. Conferences are ungraded, though they do count as an absence if you miss them and don’t tell me. Detailed information about how workshops will work will be made available in class, here on this website, also accessible from the drop down menu above, including how workshop performance will be evaluated.
EVALUATION AND GRADING
You will not receive letter grades on individual drafts and assignments. You will, however, receive extensive comments an your writing that should both give you a sense of the quality of your work as well as a way to begin to revise and improve your writing.
Informal writing (Research Notes) will be evaluated based on your ability to meet the minimum requirements for the assignment as well as whether or not you turn in a sufficient number of Research Notes. Comments on research notes shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I'm not writing anything, I'm bored. Your only cause for alarm should be if you see this: "you aren't taking this work seriously." Complete details for the assignment and how it will be evaluated are available here on this website, as well as from the drop down menu above.
Formal writing will be evaluated based on your ability to meet or exceed the minimum requirements for the assignment. Comments on Formal Assignments are typically meant to guide your revision process and/or prepare you for the next assignment. For each of those assignments (Writer in her Place, Site Description, Sources, Seeing What There is To See), there are several components that you must complete in order to earn full credit. They are specific to the assignment, but, generally, you are required to turn in drafts and revisions and participate in whatever workshop and/or conference required for that assignment. Read the specific assignment pages for the requirements for each assignment. Again, complete details for the assignment and how it will be evaluated are available on this website from the drop down menu above.
Midterm & Final Portfolio: An exceptional grade at midterm and the end of the semester, or an A, is based on demonstrable quality above and beyond the minimum requirements for most assignments, including revision work in the respective portfolios. At midterm and at the end of the semester you will receive a “grade-so-far” and a “final grade” letter respectively. They will be attached to your midterm and final portfolio returns. In these letters you will receive a letter grade and an overview of your performance in the class up to that point. That will include a review of your in-class preparedness, your reading journals, your work on formal assignments and/or presentations, and your reflection and revision completed as part of your portfolio. Complete portfolio information, for the midterm and final, is available here and from the drop down menu above.
Additionally, comments, for both formal and informal writing, will always be geared towards what you should do next to include a particular piece of writing in your final ethnographic essay. Prior to the first time you turn in a piece of formal writing, I will show you what these comments look like and how they fit in with an over all evaluation plan. Samples are available here. At midterm, you will receive a grade-so-far letter. At the end of the semester you will receive a final grade letter. Samples of those letters are available here.
Ultimately, your grade will be based on the following criteria:
- Meeting all of the requirements described above.
- The quality of your written work, including how successful your revision work is.
- The quality of your effort in the class in workshops, in class discussion, and in general.
- Your demonstration of a willingness to try new things, think in new ways, and explore different perspectives as both a reader and a writer.
I have never encountered a student who didn’t have a clear sense of how they were doing in my class based on this system of evaluation, but if you should feel that you don’t know how you are doing, come see me. We’ll figure it out.
Breakdown of assessment percentages. Different assignments require different amounts of effort and care. The percentages that accompany each of the requirements in this class should give you an indication of the time and energy that each should take up in your student life.
Research Notes 25%
The Writer in Her Place 10%
Site Description 10%
Sources 10%
Looking at What
There Is To See 10%
Midterm Portfolio 15%
Ethnographic Essay/
Final Portfolio 20%
Plagiarism. I don’t know how you would plagiarize in a class like this, but cheating is not acceptable. You are all advanced students and writers. I shouldn’t have to say anything else. But, for the record, plagiarism is an honor code violation. You can read about it here. If you are caught plagiarizing I will fail you for the course and turn the matter over to the disciplinary board on campus.
Students with learning disabilities. Students who need special accommodations due to a documented learning disability should come to see me with written documentation of the specific disability and suggested accommodations before the end of the drop/add period. We can discuss specific accommodations at that time.
The Writing Studio. Located in the Academic Achievement Center, on the bottom floor of the Library, the Writing Studio is available to any and all students at whatever level of writing expertise you might be at. They are a marvelous resource for this class. You can talk to them at any stage of your writing—from brainstorming, to drafting, to editing. They won’t just proofread, but if you are interested in getting useful and thorough feedback, the Writing Studio is a good place to go. The work they do will reinforce everything we are doing in this class. In addition, I will look kindly on any student who makes good use of this service.
Electronics Policy. I'm not against technology at all, but there is a time and place for it. I don't like competing with your phone for your attention. If we are using our computers--and you are welcome to use them to type your in-class writing--please use them for what we are supposed to be using them for. You don't need to turn your phone off, but, should you get a call, be thoughtful about whether or not you should really answer it. Also, no texting in class.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: the Center for Multicultural Affairs, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.