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Copyright (C) 2008-2009 David B. Axelrod |
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HELPFUL LINKS |
INTRODUCTION TO COMPOSITION
CLASS It’s delightful to be teaching you this term. We both are lucky! For me, this doesn’t feel like work and I get paid pretty well. For you, I hope, you get to do some good writing and get not just credit, but what should be some helpful edits/suggestions, and hey, I’m rooting for you to get a high grade! Poetry, as you can see from my being the reigning Suffolk Poet Laureate, is my art form. However, I’m not trying to convert you. This is an essay course—the "standard" composition course just about every college requires—and I’m sure I’ve written far more essays than poetry over a long career. In fact, I have writen and taught not just composition, but just about all the forms, from technical writing to poetry and creative writing. All forms of writing is what I do, and if I write poetry for the love of it, I’ll write just about anything else for money!
To give you more latitude, the only textbook I am assigning, other than my book of poetry for your first paper, is the Essential Handbook of Style (available in SCC Selden bookstore). I could have picked from a vast selection of essay anthologies, most of which are over-priced because they are sold as textbooks. Instead, I suggest that you read the New York Times, which, daily, has wonderful feature essays, and on weekends has an exemplary magazine. Read The New Yorker and other more “literary” magazines. Read and assimilate the essay styles of authors who have established reputations, not just in contemporary media but in our past. The literature is vast—so vast that, I am truly and humbly offering you a selection of my own essays even as I beg you to read much more. Good readers make good writers. Don’t think of it as homework, but rather, devote yourself to learning the craft by making this the semester you read a lot of essays! As for the mechanics of the course itself, I have assigned you three essays but to one—after it is written—I’m asking you to go back and add some research materials to complete what becomes a separate assignment. Thus, you will have four grades, the average of which determine your final grade. The links explain all this in detail. What I want you to do here is consider your own motivation in taking the course. If you just want three easy credits, just do the work and this shouldn't be too hard. I root for all my students to get good grades. You write, email me, get comments back. Tada! Three credits. But there is the constant, background precaution: You have to make an honest effort. It’s a required course and you are, therefore, required to live up to certain standards. Please don’t send me anything that appears sloppy—unproofed, heedless of form, just not what was assigned. Finally, in this introduction and as you read the links and lessons, you should begin to sense what, alas, is not paranoia on my part regarding research and use of sources, but a genuine skepticism in that one area, which I have regarding my students. It isn’t negativity—I don’t think badly of you. Rather, years of teaching have convinced me that most students have either never learned, or worse, have been misdirected when it comes to the proper use of sources.
Thus, I don’t even allow you to do research for most of what you
write. The first essay is an argument entirely of your own creation—with
examples you, yourself, provide. The second essay is a topical paper--which,
while it may come from news or local issues you have read about--should not use
any outside sources. The second paper should be entirely from your own personal
experience and knowledge. The third assignment builds on your second, topical essay, in it alone, you will use source material. Finally, your last essay will be a true story --about yourself--written only from your own experience. In the entire term, from a sense of duty, I ask you to properly find and use just two outside sources. I bracket off that lesson and will be very strict about your doing it correctly.
Let me end on a positive note. I began by saying I was delighted to be teaching you this course. I, myself, plan to do a lot of expository writing this term. I’ll be sharing work with you—from the publication, soon, of some of my writing, to events where I speak &/or perform. I hope to share my work with you personally. You can see a list of many of my activities where we could meet and talk: www.writersunlimited.org/laureate/eventschedule.htm. You also have other links to my other websites where I’ve written essays and
lessons. The writer’s life is a happy one—full of possibilities. Should you
wish to sell your writing, there is a burgeoning freelance opportunity. Should
you wish to give your own work a public airing, there are many open microphones
and groups that would enjoy meeting and hearing you. Let’s have a great term.
Good luck in all your creative endeavors!
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