ENGL 101-J
Written Rhetoric
Professor Nathan Bierma
Spring 2005
Syllabus

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
-Thomas Mann, 1929 Nobel Laureate in Literature

A writer is a reader moved to emulation.
-Saul Bellow, novelist

Goals
The most practical goal of this course is to enhance your skills and confidence as a writer. The most important goal of this course is to enhance your appreciation of writing as a way of understanding God, his creation, each other, and ourselves.
Your skills and confidence will equip you for continued study at Calvin and effective communication in a professional setting (i.e., it will help get you a job, and a promotion). Your appreciation of the theology of writing will deepen your Christian faith. That's the intention, anyway. It's up to me to provide an interesting and informative presentation of the material, and up to you to engage the readings and put in the effort it takes to produce good thinking and good writing.
This course will operate on two fundamental principles that I followed to become a writer. Those are that good writing comes from 1) good reading and 2) what William Zinsser calls “a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive.”

Texts
Required:
The St. Martin's Handbook, by Andrea Lunsford, 5th edition
On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, 25th anniversary edition
English 101-J Course Reader

Recommended:
The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White

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Writing Groups
Periodically we'll break into groups of four or five people for peer reviews (more on this to come). What your classmates and I expect from you during these sessions is helpful, careful, and respectful response to the work of a fellow writer. This applies to all class participation. Professor Ingraffia says he likes his classes to be "intellectually rigorous but emotionally relaxed." That's a good goal for all of us—in all of life!

Journals
There are limits to what I can teach you about writing. William Zinsser says "you learn to write by writing." So you’ll be keeping writing journals throughout the semester, with a minimum of two entries per week of one page each (typed, double-spaced). To provide what Donald Murray calls “the stimulus of publication,” you will select one entry per month to be posted at a class weblog at http://weblogs.calvin.edu. Some of your entries must be responses to classmates’ posted entries at the weblog (more about this later). Journals will be graded on a pass/fail basis and will be included in your class participation grade.

One-on-One Conference
Each student will meet with me outside of class at least once this semester to talk about your writing. I'll talk more later about setting this up. Failure to do this will affect your class participation grade.

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The Rhetoric Center
Wouldn't it be nice if there were a place on campus where you could go for free advice, proofreading, and tutoring from knowledgeable English majors on something you're writing? Calvin College thought so, too, and set up the Rhetoric Center. Why not get the most for your tuition dollar and (in all likelihood) improve your grades in this class? The Rhetoric Center is located in the Commons Building across from Uppercrust; stop by or call x7088 to make an appointment. See:
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engl/101/sresources/rhetoriccent.htm

Plagiarism
Your words are yours and others' words are theirs. The ideas of others must be put into your own words. There are specific and severe implications of these principles for class policy. Students who are determined to have committed plagiarism will receive a failing grade on their plagiarized paper, and are subject to failure of the course, pending a conference between the department chair and me. So make sure you read and bookmark this page:
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engl/writing/plagiar.htm

More generally, because "truth is our traction on reality," in the words of Calvin Seminary president Neal Plantinga, honesty will be our general policy in this class. Don't tell a peer her work is brilliant or terrible if it isn't. Don't argue in favor of something you don't personally believe. Don't withhold your thoughts and words when they're needed in class to clarify the truth.

The Typo Awards
Keep a log of typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors you read in anything that has been edited and published, or in anything unedited that has been written or said by a professional writer or speaker (such as a personal Web site or TV appearance). One point per error you find. Three points for any of my errors (not because they're rare, but because they're ironic in this setting). The student with the most points at the end of the semester gets a prize. Each student must submit a minimum of five typos. Our findings will be posted at our class weblog.

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Schedule and Assignments
Distributed separately from this portion of the syllabus, and posted at KnightVision. Subject to revision.