English 455 / Spring 2002
Portfolio Development for Writing Majors

english 455 course proposal

The document below shows you how the English department described this course to the College faculty as a whole.

New Course Proposal

COURSE TITLE: Portfolio Development for Writing Majors

DEPARTMENT: English

COURSE NUMBER: 455 MAX ENROLLMENT: 15

CATALOG DESCRIPTION: An intensive, guided writing workshop for English writing majors. Students will reflect on their long-term goals as writers and develop a portfolio of writings suitable for publication or other professional purposes, concentrating on nonfiction (such as journalism or professional writing) or creative writing (fiction, poetry, or drama). Senior standing is highly recommended. Prerequisite: two upper-division writing courses.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: This is the capstone experience for English majors in the Writing Track. In this course, students will have the opportunity to rethink and extensively revise their writing--including works they have written in other courses, on assignment for the Leader, in professional settings, etc.--in the context of a challenging and supportive writing workshop. Students will gain extensive critical experience as they respond to each others’ work in this forum. Mixing students with different professional goals in one classroom will enrich students’ sense of the rhetorical dimensions of writing, reading, and response, as students enact the roles of writer and audience from different perspectives and for different kinds of texts.

The instructor in this course will act as workshop coordinator, select common readings to support class discussion of writing as a vocation, and also invite and schedule guest speakers from the College community and beyond who can offer students additional perspectives on careers in writing.

STAFF AND FACILITIES: Current faculty and facilities.

REASONS FOR THIS COURSE/DEPT PROGRAM: This course offers advanced students a unique opportunity--to focus fully on the experience of being a writer. Writers must be able to discipline themselves to work whether the Muse seems to be present or not; they must accept criticism from others; they must be able to adopt a critical stance toward their work. Students in this course will learn to work independently from the direction of a course syllabus and professor as they define their own goals and projects in a supportive and partially structured context.

REASONS FOR THIS COURSE/COLLEGE MISSION: This course bridges the liberal arts and professional preparation, helping English majors to define themselves as working writers and develop the materials they need to move forward in their careers. Furthermore, the course allows students to take considerable responsibility for their own work while encouraging them to respond seriously to the work of others--thus creating a context for a mature interdependence.