Writing Well (AL1020W)

Content

This unit introduces students to techniques and practices that advance their writing skills in various contexts and to various audiences – e.g., essays, reviews, preaching, reflections, eulogies, newsletters, opinion pieces, event advertisements, letters, etc.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

This unit compliments units taken in disciplines B, C, and D.

Pedagogy

The unit will involve a combination of pre-reading, lecturer/tutor presentation, assessed in-class student presentations, in-class discussions, and in-class writing exercises.

Indicative Bibliography

• Atwood, Margaret. Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
• Barnet, Sylvan and William E. Cain, A Short Guide to Writing About Literature, 12th ed., rev. Melbourne: Pearson, 2013.
• Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. New York: Harper Perennial, 2013.
• Doyle, Brian, ed. A Sense of Wonder: The World’s Best Writers on the Sacred, the Profane, and the Ordinary. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2016.
• Kaplan, Bruce. Editing Made Easy: Simple Rules for Effective Writing. Hinesburg: Upper Access Inc., 2012.
• Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Pantheon Books, 1994.
• Orwell, George. Why I Write. London: Gangrel, 1946.
• Sword, Helen. Stylish Academic Writing. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012.
• Williams, Joseph M. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990.
• Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. 7th ed., rev. New York: Harper Perennial, 2016.

Assessment