[The most frequently referenced journal title abbreviations used below: CE (College English), CCC (College Composition and Communication), and RTE (Research in the Teaching of English).  Articles available online can be read from journals indexed in JSTOR by means of hyperlinks from the syllabus's parenthetical bibliographic information, like this: (available via JSTOR, from CCC,  1981).  You will have to use EbscoHost, yourself, to access Genesee ("Brain Research") in ERIC for Week 5.]

Week 1

Wednesday, 8/31: As soon as you can, buy the anthologies edited by Perl and Podis & Podis; get the packet of photocopied articles from the stack outside VM G57; read Faerm, "Tutoring Anne" (photocopy ex-WLN, 1992) and Emig, "The Composing Process: Review of the Literature" (In Perl, 1-22). Think about how strange "language" is, how it is linked to seeing and hearing and speaking, to the rest of our senses, and to memory. Also, if you have not already done so, learn how to navigate the public folders and how to send and receive emails with attached files. These will be useful techniques, and are more easily learned early in the semester than when they're absolutely needed.

        In the writing due for this week, we will be introducing ourselves to each other by describing how we write before the class meets.  Post your "How Do I Write" description to the public folder for 221 [under English Department] by Monday, 8/29.  After you have read your colleagues' descriptions of their composing processes, if you have time, talk to some other members of the class (see "Who we are 2005").   In class on Wednesday, we will divide our time between talking about the similarities and differences you observed in your colleagues' "How do I write?" essays, the varieties of approaches to researching writing which Emig describes, and the tutoring experience you will encounter in Faerm's article.

Week 2: What do we do when we write?--What do tutors do when performing tuition?

Wed., 9/7, Read Graves, "An Examination of the Writing Processes of Seven-Year-Old Children" (In Perl, 23-38).   "Introduction"; Gilmartin, "Working at the Drop-In Center"; Turk, "On Working with a Class" (In Podis & Podis, 1-32).  If you're wondering what I think about these readings, click here for some guidance.  This will give you some idea where I would take a discussion, but the more important question is where you want to take the discussion.

Writing Due: on Monday, 9/5, a 1- to 2-page analytical response to the "how do I write?" papers, drawing upon this week's readings when you see connections.  See the "Bottom Line" page or talk to me for advice about the responses.

Week 3: Minds/Brains/Symbols--Cognitive process theory and emotion.

Wed., 9/14, Flowers and Hayes, "A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing" (available via JSTOR, from CCC,  1981); Koundakjian, "Speaking the Written Voice" (in Podis & Podis, 33-37); and Brand, "The Why of Cognition: Emotion and the Writing Process" (available via JSTOR, from CCC, 1987).

Writing Due: Monday, 9/12, response to readings and first annotated bibliography entry to the public folder.  See the "What Makes a Bibliographic Annotation Useful" page or talk to me for advice about how to structure your annotation.

WRITING CENTER TUTORING OBSERVATIONS BEGIN (1-HOUR/WEEK)

Week 4: Cognitive Process Theory and Its Critics

Wed., 9/21 Lester Faigley, "Competing Theories of Process" (available via JSTOR, from CE, 1986).  Peter Elbow, "Closing My Eyes as I Speak: An Argument for Ignoring Audience" (available via JSTOR, from CE, 1987).  Shambelan, "Defining a Persona" (P&P, 193-98). 

Writing Due: Monday, 9/19, response to readings and second annotated bibliography entry to the public folder.  (You can take until Friday or the weekend to do the bibliographic annotation, but please do not delay it beyond Sunday or you will have to write two assignments in one day for Monday's reading response.  The whole reason I extended the bib annotation due date was avoid that collision in the previous week!)

Week 5 :Function and Dysfunction at the Junction: the Writer's Brain

Wed., 9/28: Fred Genesee, "Brain Research: Implications for Second Language Learning."  (ERIC Digest, December 1, 2000,   available via EbscoHost from ERIC)  Wewers, "Writing Tutors and Dyslexic Tutees: Is There Something We Special We Should Know?" (P&P, 229-238); Steve Hendrix, "Why Stevie Can't Spell," The Washington Post, 20 February 2005: 26-28 & 41-44 (English 221 Public Folder Posting from Arnie, 2/20/05, plus one photocopy page in packet).  If you are adventurous, take a look at the Princeton University "Brain and Language" web site and especially note the list of "Functional Areas of the Brain" on the "Anatomy" page--how much of the brain is devoted to spoken/heard language, and how much of it is devoted to written/read language?  What does this tell us about the relationship between spoken and written language, and what might it mean for writers, tutors, and teachers?

Writing Due: Monday, 26, collaborative response to readings--BIB. Holiday, no annotation due.  Click on the hyperlink for advice about how to create a collaborative reading response.

Week 6 : Skilled and Unskilled Processes; Authority and Dialect

Wed., 10/5: Perl, "Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers" (Perl 39-61 and available in a very rough microfilm ERIC version of the conference paper on which the article was based, 1979) and Sommers, "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers" (Perl 75-84 and available via JSTOR, from CCC, 1980); Harris, "Composing Behaviors of One- and Multi-Draft Writers" (available via JSTOR, from CE, 1989).

Writing Due: Monday, 10/3, collaborative response to readings; BIB. Holiday, no annotation due.

Week 7: Why the Writing Center Matters, Part 1

Wed., 10/12: North, "The Idea of the Writing Center" (available via JSTOR from CE, 1984); McCarthy, "A Stranger in Strange Lands" (photocopy ex-RTE, 1987); Pryor, "Writing in Academia" (P&P, 221-27).

Writing Due: Monday, 10/10, response to readings--and third annotated bibliography entry to the public folder.  (You can take until Friday or the weekend to do the bibliographic annotation, but please do not delay it beyond Sunday or you will lose the whole effect of having a week off for mid-semester.  If I were you, I'd post it before I left.)

Friday, 10/14-Sunday, 10/16: Mid-Semester Holiday--think deep thoughts about what you might research for your final project, and perhaps read ahead for the grammar class. The Bibliography Project also is on holiday.  For next week, by Wednesday, send me an email containing any and all questions you have about grammar, i.e., syntax (word order) and usage (word choice).

Week 8: Grammar, Syntax, and Usage; Writers' Isolation & Two Styles of Composing

Wed., 10/19: Read Hartwell, "Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar" (available via JSTOR from College English, 1985) and  Krishna, "The Syntax of Error" (photocopy ex-Graves) in preparation for The Grammar, Syntax, Spelling, and Style Encounter Group during the first half of the seminar. Get ready to bare your soul about what you know, don't know, love, hate, fear, and wonder about the English language. Bring a handbook, a hard-cover dictionary of recent vintage, and a generous spirit. We want to make sure all of us leave class feeling like competent users of formal grammar for practical purposes, able to explain sentence structure and spelling conventions, and equipped with an enhanced sensitivity to style. Refreshments will be served.  For some historical background on how punctuation evolved to its current exalted state, click here.  For links to online grammar tutorial sites, click here.

Writing Due: Nothing formal or graded is due this week, but by Monday, 10/17, send me an email containing any and all questions you have about grammar, i.e., syntax (word order) and usage (word choice).  The Bibliography Project is still on holiday.  Take advantage of the break in writing to re-read some of your colleagues' annotated bibliography entries and postings to the public folder.  Look for people with interests you share already or who can help you discover an interest you didn't know you had.  Those people might be good to work with on your collaborative research project.  Click here for "Tips for Getting Started in Collaborative Research."

Week 9: Why the Writing Center Matters, Part 2

Wed., 10/26: Brufee, "Peer Tutoring and the Conversation of Mankind" (photocopy, ex-Murphy & Law, eds. & Olson, ed., 1984); Dyehouse, "Peer Tutors and Institutional Authority" (P&P, 53-57); Howey, "No Answers: Interrogating 'Truth' in Writing" (P&P, 117-221); Axel-Lute, "Consciousness, Frustration, and Power" (P&P, 151-68).

Writing Due: Mon., 10/24, response to readings and fourth annotated bibliography entry to the public folder.   (You can take until Friday or the weekend to do the bibliographic annotation, but please do not delay it beyond Sunday or you will have to write two assignments in one day for Monday's reading response.  The whole reason I extended the bib annotation due date was avoid that collision in the previous week!)  THIS IS THE END OF THE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENTS.   BY THIS TIME, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEGUN TO FORM FINAL PROJECT GROUPS (2-3 PER GROUP), AND PLAN PROJECTS (proposal due 11/12, written project reports due 12/13).  Click here for "Tips for Getting Started in Collaborative Research."

Week 10: Writing in the body(-politic) / Research Group Formation

Wed., 11/2: Min-zhan Lu, "From Silence to Words" (Perl, ed., 165-76); Flynn, "Composing as a Woman" (Perl, ed., 177-89); Love, "Learning From Writer's Block" (P&P, 143-50).  After we have talked about Lu, Flynn, and Love, our attention will turn to collaborative research strategies.  I will describe some ways to organize collaborative research and problem solving techniques that have proven useful to previous groups.  I will pay special attention to inventive ways to divide the workload, and to stage your research process, so that the remaining three weeks of the course produce the maximum productivity from your group, and as little wasted time as possible.  If you have questions before we meet and if you have not already consulted "A Few Words About Collaborative Research," please read that web page.  By the end of class, you should have some idea of which groups you might be involved with, and by next week, you will know for sure.

Writing Due: Monday, 10/31, a poem, short anecdote, or short fictional story about silence, authority, and/or gender.  This assignment will not be graded, but will be yet another way to get to know the people you are working with.  In addition, you should be discussing possible research groups based on ideas that are mutually interesting and compatible.  Please feel free to schedule group or individual conferences with me if you need help getting started, organizing yourselves, finding sources, focusing the project, or anything else that helps.  Seek help finding secondary scholarly sources from me, from other relevant Goucher faculty, and from the library's bibliographic research staff (ask Randy Smith, Jim Huff, or Margaret Guccione.

Week 11: Research Project Conferences (In VM G57, project groups): no class meeting.

By appointment at G57 on Tuesday 11/8, Wednesday 11/9, or Thursday 11/10: Research project tutoring sessions.   Bring your ideas, photocopied and original sources, preliminary data, and anything else you would bring to a Writing Center conference for help constructing your project.  Our goal is to solve problems in your collaborative distribution of tasks and information, and to help you acquire information and expertise to help your group finish the project on schedule.  Be prepared to adjust your project's focus a bit in the interests of practicality, remembering always that English 221 research projects often evolve into Independent Study courses or Senior Honors Theses.  You don't have to do it all this semester, and the current project can take the form of a gathering of resources for a proposal to do a bigger project later. 

Week 12: Research Project Proposal Day

Wed., 11/16: Read for your projects and share what you read with your group, and with groups working on related topics.   Writing Due: 3-PAGE PROPOSALS FOR FINAL COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS DUE Wednesday IN CLASS. Bring enough copies for each class member plus one for me.  These should be descriptions of the problem you're trying to understand, with a description of the method you might use to learn about it and a guess as to how you'll divide the work among yourselves.  The page count is negotiable--they can be shorter or longer.  One member of your group should be designated to read the proposal aloud to help us consider carefully what you are proposing to do.  I would be delighted to read and respond to earlier drafts of your proposals before class.   Click here for a description of what should be in a well-constructed proposal.

        Add to your proposal's text your current bibliography or Works Cited list of resources, and be prepared to give us an update on where your project has gone so far, what you are currently doing, and what help you could use.  As you listen to other groups, be prepared to offer suggestions, including research strategies or sources you have come across.  If your group receives significant assistance from members of another group, please remember to give them credit in an endnote or footnote (depending on which format you choose to follow).  In the last class meeting, your group will present a preliminary report of your findings in the last class meeting, and a final report on the project is due after classes are over.

Wednesday 11/23 through Sunday 11/27--THANKSGIVING VACATION.