English 113 Expository Writing I Variants
Fall 2009

Course Descriptions

American Lives 113.01
Dykstra, Natalie A.

     This is an introductory writing course that will explore American lives by focusing on three key themes of American life: work and play, the American frontier, and citizenship. How is our work ethic specifically American? How did it develop over time? How do our notions about work impact our own lives? What was the effect of the West on the development of the country and its values? Where is the West and what is a Western? Who is a citizen and what does citizenship require of us? Are there those who are excluded from full citizenship and why? To consider these questions and more, we will be using a variety of interdisciplinary evidence, including literature, autobiography, film, and historical sources. Finally, this class is an occasion to learn to write clearly, persuasively, and with authority. To that end, class time will be devoted primarily to discussion and writing workshops.

Wit, Wisdom, Wizardry 113.02
Lunderberg, Marla

     When you have to make a difficult decision, how do you proceed? Do you carefully analyze the circumstances and rationally weigh your options? Do you cry, “It’s not my fault!” and lash out at the world that forced the decision upon you? Do you close your eyes, grit your teeth, and just accept whatever wild ride you’re on, vaguely hoping for the best?
      In this class, we’ll read several novels together, looking at how different characters approach the process of decision-making. We’ll discuss different factors that affect their decisions, from family expectations and gender issues, to friendships and special talents. We’ll write about ourselves and how we make our own decisions, as well as about these characters and what we can learn from them. Writing for this course will include daily reading responses, several short essays and a research paper.

Crime and Punishment 113.03
Hemenway, Stephen I.

     Did your mom or dad or grandparents take this same course from me? I have offered it for 38 years; only the books and faces have changed. This is your chance to play Erin Brockovich or James Bond or Ralph Nader or Agatha Christie, hot on the trail of clues leading to the exposure of past or current problems of law and order, cops and robbers, race and gender, crime and punishment. Readings, written exercises and experiments, compositions, research projects, interviews, discussions, and classroom capers will focus on such significant issues as prison conditions, crimes against women and minorities, biological terrorism, drinking laws, the Holocaust, environmental crimes. With luck and skill, you may write the perfect crime or, at least, the perfect expository essay.
     Several classes will be devoted to writing workshops where you will read and comment on early and polished drafts of papers by class members. TV programs and occasional films may supplement the reading material.

Author, Purpose, Audience 113.04
Mezeske, Barbara

Are you interested in becoming a better writer? Love the idea of spending a cold January afternoon in the library surrounded with piles of books on a topic that intrigues you? Want to develop habits of thinking and core writing skills that are highly valued both in academics and in "the real world"? Join us!

We'll read and write a lot. And we'll work together to help each of us learn about
• Author: discover situations that call for your response, create essays that honor your personal investment in your topic
• Purpose: be clear on what you want your readers to understand as a result of reading your words and learn ways to construct essays in order to achieve this goal
• Audience: appeal to readers, support your argument, anticipate other points of view

Read as a writer, analyze arguments, investigate topics you're curious about, develop your own fresh perspectives, participate in larger conversations through use of sources and write pieces that will win your readers' minds and hearts. You can do it!

In the Field: Nature & Writing 113.05
Peschiera, Pablo A.

     As a people, we’ve conquered nature: we can keep ourselves comfortable in the harshest locations (Antarctica, Sahara Desert), and remove ourselves from dangerous ones (flood zones, hurricane zones, etc) if we choose to. So, why is nature still our antagonist in popular literature and culture? Recent movies like Into the Wild and Touching the Void show us that people continually, naively, pit themselves against deadly odds. We will read books, stories and poems—and watch films—in which humans struggle against nature. While doing so, we’ll also read books and watch films that talk about the natural landscape we encounter everyday, and see if there isn’t more adventure in that kind of nature than we realized. We’ll look at nature from various perspectives, and we’ll develop ideas that will allow you to write about nature in new and familiar ways. If you like the disaster story, the survival story, or the story about the jungle in your own backyard, this is the class for you.

Eating for Health 113.06
Douglas, Kim M.

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Stephen King 113.07
Verduin, Kathleen

     Is Stephen King a “good” writer—or is his tremendous popularity just a sign of the depraved tastes of contemporary America? Should his fiction be considered “literature”—and does it belong in the college classroom? Does he engage—intellectually, morally, spiritually—any serious issues, or should he be discredited as trash? These questions will underlie our discussions, and we will concentrate on two of King’s novels, The Shining and The Green Mile, to try to sort out his concepts of human nature, American culture, the tradition of gothic horror, and the good and evil. We’ll also take in a few film versions of King’s work. But we will also consider King as a fellow writer, involved as we are in thinking, studying, doing research, and learning to convey meaning through words. Lots of reading, writing, conversations. Not for the timid.

Writing Your Life 113.08
James, David R.

     Relative freedom of choice, plenty of interaction among peers and between students and prof, and multiple opportunities to revise writings before final evaluation will headline this workshop-driven writing course. Choices will include what to write about, when to write what, and how much to revise after initial submissions. With their final works to be collected in a portfolio at semester’s end, students will not only learn more about themselves by writing, but also about the worlds of others around them and how to communicate better in various modes (narrative, informative, investigative, and persuasive), for various audiences (informal to formal), and to serve various purposes (to entertain, inform, persuade, inspire). The course’s required readings will suggest many options and inspire creative possibilities. People who like (or are willing to learn to like) examining and expressing what is important to them, who, with acclimation and practice, will not be bashful about discussing such things in critically thoughtful ways, and who do not procrastinate will thrive best in this self-motivated course.

Creative Impulse 113.09
Rappleye, Gregory J.

     Why do writers, painters, sculptors, playwrights, musicians and dancers do what they do? Are creative artists different from the rest of us? How do they nurture their creativity? What are their creative habits? In “The Creative Impulse” we will explore these and related questions. Our reading will include The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use it for Life by Twyla Tharp and
The Collected Works of Flannery O’Connor, as well as several handouts. We will watch two films, and you will be encouraged to attend exhibitions, readings, concerts and plays. We will have lively class discussions, and you will write four short essays, participate in a group presentation, and write a longer research paper. We will utilize the “workshop” format for the discussion of each other’s work. Each student will assemble a final portfolio that will contain all five papers and a very brief introductory statement. We will also receive some expert training in how to use the Van Wylen Library. The ultimate objective of this course is to make you a better writer and critical thinker.

The Will to Survive 113.10
Moreau, William H.

     After all, isn’t that what life is all about anyway—surviving? To what extent do human beings fight to survive? To what lengths and extremes will we go to cling to life? What is the limit of our hanging on?
     In this English 113 section, participants will read, discuss, and be asked to write in response to literature that exemplifies humankind’s desire to survive. To inspire our discussing and writing, we will explore three nonfiction pieces of “survival” literature. Titles include In Harm’s Way by Doug Stanton, Alive by Piers Paul Read, and Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody.
     And, speaking of survival, a major goal of this class will be to help you “survive” the writing that will be demanded of you in the real life of college and beyond; therefore, in response to our reading, we’ll explore and practice writing that narrates, persuades, reviews, informs, profiles, and/or entertains.
     Class time will be spent discussing the assigned literature and (to a greater extent) responding to and helping each other with the writing we create—in pairs, in small groups, and as a whole class. We will also spend time learning together through informal lectures, student presentations, in-class writing, reading our writing aloud, and individual student-teacher conferences. We’ll choose from different types of writing in order to create some final products, and eventually, we’ll create a more in-depth research project.

Writer's Workshop 113.11
Aslanian, Janice B.

     What do Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, King’s I Have a Dream, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address have in common? How did mere words have the power to produce profound political and social change? How can the command of language stimulate people to think, behave, and act in ways that transform humanity? How can you acquire this dynamic power?
    According to Professor Peter Elbow, author of Writing with Power, “Power means the power to make a difference, to make a dent…you want power in your words to transfix readers and make them hear what they don’t want to hear or give them an experience they didn’t set out to have…”.
     No matter what your future profession will be, the art of incisive writing can influence thinking, alter decisions, and impact lives. Learn how to unleash your writing power by constructing essays that are clearly and authoritatively written.
     This combination lecture/workshop class will develop your ability to write confidently and persuasively. In addition to classroom discussion, you spend time in the computer lab drafting, revising, and critiquing your papers. You will polish your “works in progress” throughout the semester and submit them in a portfolio for a final grade at the end of the term.

Approaching Life   113.12
Emerson, Derek

     If Zorba is happy, he dances. If Zorba is sad, he dances. Christopher knows he will have a good day when he sees a red car. Yellow car? Bad day. We share the same planet, same college campus, and same college classroom, yet we approach life differently. What is your approach to life? Are other people simply wrong, or do they offer us a new way to approach life? We will read two very different novels, Zorba the Greek and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which explore how people approach the world. We will write about how we approach the world and whether we think that is the way we should continue. Readers, speakers, movies, music, and other elements will provide us with jumping off points, but in the end you write about what your approach to life looks like.

Perception, Power, Difference 113.13
Cho, David

     This section of English 113 will be focusing on the over-arching theme of differing "Theories of Perception, Power, and Difference." Along with examining various issues in Composition and Rhetoric, to help prepare us for writing academic essays, we will also be looking at essays written by individuals like John Berger, Mary Louise Pratt, and Michel Foucault, respectively, to give us a very broad and challenging range of ideas, definitions, terms, to grapple with intellectually, and for their many applications to other academic and "real-life" contexts. These essays can be found in Gail Stygall's Reading Context. Also, in light of Hope College's commitment to researching and teaching on issues of culture, diversity, and race, (Phelps Scholars Program, IDS Courses, Mission Statement), we will also use our essays as a foundation for us to help in considering issues of race, ethnicity, and difference, using Beverly Daniel Tatum's somewhat oxymoronic title, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting in the Cafeteria Together?, along with a novel, John Okada's No-No Boy, which fictionally delves into a very non-heralded portion of American history and letters, namely the "internment" of Japanese Americans across the West Coast, during WWII and afterwards.

Crichton's Jurassic Park 113.14
Smith, Richard K.

     Like the movie? Want to read the book? In this course we'll read Jurassic Park and at least one other novel by Michael Crichton, and we'll see the film adaptations of them. We'll use the stories themselves as a way to generate topics for a series of essays; and we'll use novel/film comparison as the basis for a discussion of the sorts of things that control the process of revision. Students will have the opportunity to revise their papers throughout the semester (but not, I think, into cinematographic form).