[Octavia Butler’s notes to herself. The “See to it!” makes me especially happy.]
Academic and Professional Writing
Mondays, 5-8pm
MLB 2108
Allison Alexy
Office hours: Wednesdays, 1 to 4pm. Sign up for office hours here.
Despite our many topical, regional, and disciplinary differences, we are all writers. This course is designed to introduce graduate students to diverse writing methodologies in order to prepare them for the academic and professional writing they will do throughout their careers. Focusing on strategies and techniques applicable across disciplines, we will also pay careful attention to disciplinary differences. Rather than suggesting a single formula for "good" writing, this course will sensitize students to the process through which they can decide what works best for them, enabling students to better find and express their ideas through writing. Course requirements include a lot of writing and revision of academic writing, peer editing, maintaining a writing journal, and reading course books.
Each week is designed to introduce a new writing strategies and offer immediate opportunities to try it out. While disciplinary differences always matter, and writers always need to be focused on the particular audience they want to convince, there are positive techniques common across fields that help make writing more compelling, stronger, and more engaging. We will practice those techniques to enable students to decide what works best for them.