WRT 205-226 Syllabus, Spring 2003

Rebecca Moore Howard
Office: 239A HB Crouse
Office hours: By appointment
Telephone: 443-1083
E-mail: rehoward@syr.edu
Home page http://wrt-howard.syr.edu

Schedule (tentative)
WRT 205-226
Unit 4: Prose Style


Spring 2003
Time: TTh 10-11:20
Place: 107 Hinds Hall
Website: http://wrt-howard.syr.edu/Syllabi/WRT205S03.html


In Unit 4, we will focus on issues of prose style:

April 17-21

Individual appointments scheduled in addition to class meetings. These will be held in my office, 239 HB Crouse. If you have not yet scheduled a meeting, send me your available times on 4/17 and 4/21, and I'll schedule an appointment for you.
Bring to the appointment:
  1. Your editing checklist
  2. Copies of the reports you've written for this class
  3. Copies of papers you've written for other classes in which you received what you consider to be significant reader (usually but not necessarily instructor's) feedback.



April 22: Organization. Class will meet in 227 HB Crouse:

Preparation
  1. Study sections 7d, 7e, 7f, and 7g of the Longman Companion, 2nd ed. (sections 6d, 6e, 6f, and 6g in the 1st ed.). How might the techniques described here help you reorganize paragraphs in the report that you've chosen to revise? How might these principles of paragraph organization be applied to the entire report?
  2. Review the Arnett and de Genova reports. What issues of organization do you identify in these reports? How are the reports well organized, and how could they be improved? Take notes on what you observe.
Bring to class
  1. Your notes on the organization of the Arnett and de Genova reports.
  2. The report(s) that you have chosen to revise for your final portfolio.
  3. Your copy of the Longman Companion.
In class
  1. We'll discuss principles of organization.
  2. You'll work with one or more classmates to revise the organization of one of the Arnett and de Genova reports, and we'll discuss those revisions. Your revisions can be to the organization of paragraphs, the organization of the entire report, or both.
  3. You'll exchange papers with a classmate and advise each other on possible revisions to organization. I'll be available to answer questions.
  4. I'll give you a handout on sentence style, from ch. 19a of the Little, Brown Handbook, 7th ed.

April 24--Class will meet in 227 HB Crouse:

Preparation
  1. Study the handout on sentence style, from ch. 19a of the Little, Brown Handbook, 7th ed. How might the principles described here help you restructure sentences in the report that you've chosen to revise?
  2. Study chs. 21 & 22 of the Longman Companion, 2nd ed. (chs. 18 & 19 in the 1st ed.). How might the principles described here help you identify and correct sentence fragments and comma splices in the report that you've chosen to revise?
  3. Review the Arnett and de Genova reports. What issues of sentence style and sentence punctuation (comma splices and sentence fragments) do you identify in these reports? How well do the reports manage sentence style and sentence punctuation, and how could they be improved? Take notes on what you observe.
Bring to class
  1. Your notes on the sentence style and sentence punctuation of the Arnett and de Genova reports.
  2. The report(s) that you have chosen to revise for your final portfolio.
  3. Your copy of the Longman Companion.
In class
  1. We'll discuss principles of sentence style and sentence punctuation.
  2. You'll work with one or more classmates to revise the sentence style and sentence punctuation of one of the Arnett and de Genova reports, and we'll discuss those revisions.
  3. You'll exchange papers with a classmate and advise each other on possible revisions in sentence style and sentence punctuation. I'll be available to answer questions.

April 29

Preparation
  1. Study ch. 34 of the Longman Companion, 2nd ed. (ch. 30 in the 1st ed.). How might the principles described here help you identify and correct comma errors in the report that you've chosen to revise?
  2. Review the Arnett and de Genova reports. What issues of comma placement do you identify in these reports? How well do the reports manage commas, and how could they be improved? Take notes on what you observe.
Bring to class
  1. Your notes on comma placement in the Arnett and de Genova reports.
  2. The report(s) that you have chosen to revise for your final portfolio.
  3. Your copy of the Longman Companion.
In class
  1. We'll discuss principles of comma placement.
  2. You'll work with one or more classmates to revise the comma placement in one of the Arnett and de Genova reports, and we'll discuss those revisions.
  3. You'll exchange papers with a classmate and advise each other on possible revisions in comma placement. I'll be available to answer questions.

May 8

Portfolios due. Click here for directions for assembling and submitting the portfolio.



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