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assignments ENGL227 Introduction
​to creative nonfiction workshop: Reader's Notes

Need to be in touch with me? 
LEE TORDA
310 Tillinghast Hall
Bridgewater State University
508.531.2436
ltorda@bridgew.edu
www.leetorda.com
Fall 2016 Office Hours:
M/W 11:30-12:30
T 11:00-12:00
and by appointment.
Need to make an appointment? Click here: https://goo.gl/3CqLfo
Overview. One thing that concerns me about readers/writers new to the genre of nonfiction is that they just don’t get what makes creative nonfiction both creative and nonfiction. This is compounded by a general thinking that, because it’s not fiction, because the writing is based on something that actually happened, writers think they know everything they need to know about how nonfiction is put together. But what this idea ignores is the creative part of creative nonfiction. The only way to understand this genre is to study it the same way you study any other genre of literature—novels, poetry, drama.
 
New writers to the genre (and not so new) need to deconstruct essays they read in terms of characters, plot, pacing, metaphor, imagery, theme—just like a fiction writer—in order to learn their craft, or the stylistic practice of this particular art, as a writer. To do this, we will certainly talk about the essays we read, but we will do more than that. We will study them deeply. That is the function of Reader’s Notes in this class.
 
Details. Every class, you will be responsible for roughly one single-spaced page, typed, of reading notes. If you really need to write more than one page, OK, but don’t just write more than one page because you think it will impress me. Brevity impresses me just as much, and then I still have time to clean my bathroom. I like a clean bathroom. A lot.
 
In general, I will ask you to do three things: 1) to identify the significant themes of the reading; 2) to identify the ways the writer gets you the reader to understand those themes; 3) what that tells you about what makes this genre work.  The part about identifying themes shouldn’t present you with too much trouble since this is the standard work of the English major. The second part might seem more challenging—and will be, particularly at the beginning of the semester—because you might not have thought that much about how a nonfiction writer makes you understand his or her point before this. The third part will be wide-ranging and always changing. Your obligation in this assignment is not to be right  it is to be thoughtful. That is all that I am asking.
 
Be aware that, besides me, at least some of your classmates will read most if not all of your reading journals. They will be active documents in our class--getting written on by you and by others. These pages are informal in that I will not be looking at them mainly for punctuation, style, or grammar. I am looking for an articulation of ideas--of yours and the authors.
 

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  • Home
  • ENGL 303 policies
    • ENGL303 SYLLABUS
    • ENGL 303 Discussion Board Space
    • ENGL303 CLASS PROFILES
    • ENGL303 READING JOURNALS (assignment)
    • ENGL303 OVERVIEW FINAL HERITAGE PROJECT
    • ENGL303 NAMING WHAT WE KNOW
    • ENGL303 YOUR LIFE IN PICTURES
  • ENGL 226 policies
    • 226 Discussion Board
    • ENGL 226 syllabus
    • ENGL 226 PORTFOLIO
    • ENGL 226 PARTNER INTERVIEW MINI-PAPER
    • ENGL226 READING JOURNALS (assignment)
    • 226 BLOG INFORMATION
    • ENGL 226 Writing Studies Timeline Project
    • ENGL 226 Professional Writing Project
    • ENGL 226 SUPER FAST CAREER PRESENTATIONS
    • ENGL 226 Writing As Art
  • Previously Taught Classes
    • ENGL 301 >
      • ENGL 301 SYLLABUS >
        • PARTNER INTERVIEW ENGL 301
      • ENGL 301 Discussion Board When We Need it
      • ENGL 301 PORTFOLIOS
      • ENGL 301 READING JOURNALS (assignment)
      • ENGL 301 INTERVIEW WITH A TEACHER (assignment)
      • ENGL 301 BOOK CLUB (assignment)
      • ENGL 301 FLASH MENTOR TEXT MEMOIR (assignment)
      • ENGL 301 RESEARCH IN TEACHING DIVERSE POPULATIONS (assignment) >
        • ENGL 301 RESEARCH IN TEACHING DIVERSE POPULATIONS (instructions & sample annotations)
      • ENGL 301 ASSIGNMENT DESIGN (assignment)
    • ENGL102 >
      • ENGL 102 Class Discussion Board
      • ENGL102SYLLABUS
      • ENGL102 PORTFOLIOS/Research Notebook
      • ENGL102 ASSIGNMENT: Class Profile Page
      • ENGL102 ASSIGNMENTS: Reading Journals
      • ENGL102 ASSIGNMENT: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PROJECT >
        • ENGL102 ASSIGNMENT: POSITIONING YOURSELF
        • ENGL102 ASSIGNMENT: Locating & Evaluating part I
    • ENGL 202 BIZ Com >
      • ENGL 202 Business Writing SYLLABUS
    • ENGL 227 INTRO TO CNF WORKSHOP
    • ENGL 298 Second Year Seminar: This Bridgewater Life
    • ENGL406 RESEARCH IN WRITING STUDIES
    • ENGL 493 THE PERSONAL ESSAY
    • ENGL 493 Seminar in Writing & Writing Studies: The History of First Year Composition >
      • ENGL 493 Assignments: Annotated Bibliography & Presentation
    • ENGL 511 Reading & Writing Memoir
    • DURFEE Engl101
  • BSU Homepage