Some sentences I admire

• According to my favorite source of information – Wikipedia, The McDonald’s of encyclopedias – Drive has already gained a “large cult following.” [Daniel Campos, e2.d1]
• It takes Woolf pages to get to her point, because she likes to ramble. Or rather, she likes to put on the facade of a rambler. The writer sequences calculated preludes to each of her points, placing a traditional topic sentence anywhere other than at the beginning of her proof. [Lia Cromwell, x9]
• Rather than forcing a style upon us, Woolf invites us to throw the small fish back in the water to allow for contemplation, to allow our ideas to thrive, as we craft a style of our own. [Rebecca Dickerson, x9]
• Subordinate, or Hypotactic, vs. Additive and Conversational Writing [Becca Gil, x8]
• I view him as a cryptomnesia-afflicted, mentally-unbalanced pity case, perhaps less blameworthy of his gutless conformity by reason of insanity. Perhaps. [John Hosey, x3]
• And it is in these moments when we hate Don, and Don hates himself, and we hate Don for dealing with his self-hatred like this, and then we hate ourselves for loving him at the same time. [Alex Kreger, e2.d1]
• Frost misinterprets Kellogg’s poem in a way that makes George feel even more lost than before; Rand only sees herself in Jeff’s story and tries to force her ideologies upon her audience; the narrator is left unsatisfied after his meeting with Friedman because he cannot identify with her as a writer any longer because “the problem was how she looked at things” (162). [Anna Lamb, x2]
• If Ryan sat down and wrote out a full account of his wife’s state of health, would I respect him more for it? Certainly not. It’s the constancy of his updates, which bring us straight to Jill’s bedside, which moves me to tears. [Avery Lennard, e2.d1]
• My biggest complaint with their book, and its impact on society, is that it’s managed to standardize “good” writing to the point where the majority of nonfiction prose—at least the nonfiction written with professional intent—is at risk of blending together stylistically, with only content to distinguish it. [Kate Lyons, x7]
• One day Deb will be content, I hope that she chooses to be more Debs then Deborah. . . . As for now I am just stuck betwINeen. [Deb Mayers, e2.d1]
• Having begun to understand the individual parts of cummings’ poem, we witness their inherent contrast. Clear introspection (composed though it may be of contradicting words, the concept there is something we can basically understand) held against nonsensical observation, interspersed with bursts of dynamic feeling—the three varying segments of the work. [Shannon Potter, e2.d1]
• The additive style is at heart colloquial—an unplanned splattering of thought, ebbing, slowly waiting, until gravity is switched on and the sentence accelerates like a heron swooping down for its prey—and then—a conclusion, oftentimes sticking out like an asparagus in a candy shop. [Ben Schwab, x8]

Closing thoughts

Please fastwrite a response to the following two questions. You don’t need to sign your name, and I won’t read your responses until after I turn in grades next week.

• This was a course in “academic writing.” But we approached the subject obliquely, through discussions of plagiarism, remixing, and style. So, as we come to the end of the term, what would you say you’ve learned about academic writing? How did you learn it?
• Describe a “snapshot” of experience—a particular moment, in class or out of it—that you will use to remember this course.

And, finally, a true moment of zen

Good luck! I’ve enjoyed working with you, and hope to have the chance to do so again!

~jh

This is the last feedback you’ll get from me on your project. Bring an annotated version of the most recent draft of your essay with you, and be ready to talk about the work you’re doing and any questions you might have about it.

Course Evaluations

Essays: Editing Draft 1.1

• Supratext: Name, date, assignment, page numbers
• Title: Evocative at start, clear at end
• References
• Document design: Fonts, line spacing, ¶ spacing, BLQs

To Do

1. Mon, 4/23, or Tues, 4/24: Continue work on essay. Be ready for conference.
2. Wed, 4/25, 9:00 am: Post x12 to your Dropbox folder. Bring 13 copies to class.
3. Tues, 5/01, 9:00 am: Final draft of essay (e2.d2), with acknowledgements and reflection.

Reproduce each passage and briefly describe what you admire about them. (Be sure to note the author and assignment.) In commenting on these moments in style, you may want to make a connection to some of the writers on writing that we’ve discussed together, or you may want to point to a feature that seems distinctive to this particular author. The goal is to draw attention to something that a writer has achieved in terms of voice or style.

Do your best to fit your two examples on one side of a page. Make 13 copies of that page and bring them with you to class. We’ll read and discuss them. But please also post a copy of your x12 to your Dropbox folder by 9:00 am on Wed, 4/25.

I look forward to seeing the work you bring forward!

Workshops

• 15 minutes per draft
• Authors: Ask two questions, read two pages, take notes.
• Readers: Read note to author; respond to questions.

First draft, Wiflred Owen, "Anthem for Dead Youth," with Siegfried Sassoon's revisions

To Do

1. Tues, 4/17, 1:00 pm: Email me your revision plan
2. Wed, 4/18, class: Bring print copy of  e2.d1.1
3. Mon, 4/23, or Tues, 4/24: Conferences. Bring annotated copy of e2.d1.5

What’s key here is that you think of the work before you as centering on developing your draft. This is an opportunity, that is, for you not simply to edit your prose, but to add to, change, and refine what you have to say and how you’re saying it.

As before, your revision plan should have three parts:

1. Summarize the advice you received from your readers. What do they feel is working well? What do they suggest you work more on?
2. List at least two or three things you plan to do at this point to develop your essay. Be as specific as you can.
3. Tell me what questions you have for me at this point.

I will reply to your revision plan, not to your draft. So you will want to make this plan as full, precise, and clear as you can.

Please email your plan to me by 1:00 pm, on Tues, 4/17. This will allow us to talk briefly about it in class the next day.

We’ll then meet together in conference on either Mon, 4/23, or Tues, 4/24, to go over the work you’re doing in revision and any questions you might have. Bring an annotated version of your piece as it then stands—showing changes you’ve made and changes you’re considering—with you to that conference. Your e2.d2 will then be due at 9:00 am on Tues, 5/01.

Good luck!

e2: Working drafts: Getting beyond, “It’s clear and you seem like a nice person.” (C+)

Trade pages with the person next you. Read through the page you’ve been given with the aim of describing the other person’s style as a writer. As you do, keep in mind some of the terms we’ve used so far in talking about style:

• Hypotactic and paratactic
• Writerly and conversational
• Strunk and White/Orwell/Fish/Woolf/Weathers

Jot down some notes about your impression of the other person’s style. Chat with them about what you see and hear on the page.

x9: Positioning yourself as a writer in relation to Woolf

• Rebecca, “Virginia Woolf and the Off Beaten Path”
• Lia, “A Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar: _________ Fill in the Blank”
• Shannon, “Crossroads: Looking Forward, Behind, and Around”

As theorists of style, how do the authors describe Woolf’s approach to writing?

As fellow writers, how do the authors position themselves in relation to Woolf? What aspects of her style do they adopt, tweak, or resist?

If terms of gender seem problematic to use in discussing style, what other terms might we use to describe the distinctive qualities of Woolf’s approach?

To Do

1. Thurs, 4/12, 9:00 am: Post e2.d1 <lastname e2.d1.docx> to group folder on Dropbox.
2. Mon, 4/16, class: Workshop e2.d1. Post responses (x10) to group folder and bring print copies with you to class.
3. Tues, 4/17, 1:00 pm: Email x11, revision plan, to me.
4. Wed, 4/18, class: Working session; discuss x11, revise e2

Winston Weathers

Some devices of Grammar B

• Crots (14)
• Labyrinthine sentences and fragments (16)
• Lists (20)
• Double voicing (23)
• Repetition (28)
• Linguistic variety (32)
• Synchronicity (35)
• Collage/montage (37)

Sandeep Prasanna, “TXT/SPK Diglossia”

• What is Sandeep’s take on Weathers? What does he add to Grammar B?
• Exercise: Turn a brief passage from Sandeep’s essay into a crot (or several).

Gertrude Stein, “On Punctuation”

• Grammar C?

To Do

1. Wed, 4/11, class: Title and one good page of e2; discuss x9
2. Thurs, 4/12, 9:00 am: Post e2.d1 to group folder on Dropbox
3. Mon, 4/16, class: Responses to e2.d1 (r10); workshops

Writing Like Woolf

• Our Map of Chapter One
• Chapters Four to Six

Fastwrite: Find two passages in these chapters—one in which Woolf impresses or convinces you, in which her voice as a writer seems clear and sure, and another in which she seems to you to struggle a bit, to strain to persuade. Based on these two passages, how would you define Woolf’s own style as a writer? Is it womanly? Man-womanly? Something else altogether?

To Do

1. Friday, 4/06, 9:00 am: Post x9 to Dropbox
2. Mon, 4/09, class: Discuss Weathers; begin serious work on e2
3. Wed, 4/11, class: Discuss x9
4. Thurs, 4/12, 9:00 am: Post e2.d1 to group folder on Dropbox

Mapping the First Chapter of A Room of One’s Own

But in order to make some amends I am going to do what I can to show you how I arrived at this opinion about the room and the money. (Woolf 4)

¶1 (pp. 2–4)

• Subject: What is it about?
• Slant: What does Woolf have to say about the topic? What’s her perspective?
• Method: How does she develop her “train of thought”?
• Tone: What stance does she take toward her readers?

Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge

In pairs: Please draft a couple of sentence in which you address the above questions in relation to the passage you’ve been assigned. Also, try to situate the passage you’re working with in the context of the chapter. How does it pick up on what has been said right before it and how does it lead into what follows? Please email the sentences to me.

• ¶ 2–4 (pp. 5–8): Becca & Lia
• ¶5 (pp. 8–10): Rebecca & Anna
• ¶6–8 (pp. 10–13): Avery & Shannon
• ¶9–11 (pp. 13–17): Alex & Kate
• ¶12 (pp.17–20): Deb, Ben, & John
• ¶13–14 (pp. 20–24): Whole class

Newnham College, Cambridge

To Do

1. Wed, 4/04, class: Finish Woolf
2. Wed, 4/04, class: Subject (text) and slant for e2
3. Friday, 4/06, 9:00 am: Post x9 to Dropbox

• Becca Gil, “Subordinate, or Hypotactic, vs. Additive and Conversational Writing”
• Anna Lamb, “The Greeks Had Style”
• Ben Schwab, “Plan the Structured . . . and the Spontaneous?”

Questions

1. How well does the writer understand and apply the lessons taught by (a) Stanley Fish, and (b) the sentences they quote and analyze?
2. Where does the writer make interesting use of hypotaxis or parataxis in her or his own prose?
3. Point to some interesting sentences that are neither hypotactic or paratactic, or that are both.
4. Point to a passage that you’d say is characteristic of the writer’s—Becca, Anna, Ben—own style. How would you describe that style?

x9: Gender and Style

To Do

1. Mon, 4/02, class: Read Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, chapters 1–3
2. Wed, 4/04, class: Finish Woolf
3. Fri, 4/06, 9:00 am: Post x9 to Dropbox