102 - 24: Intermediate College Writing - WC

Spring 2009

Instructor: Lamsal, Tika
Meeting Times: MWF 1:00 pm - 1:50 pm
Room: DA 104
Registration Number: 6838

Class Description:

The goal of this course is to help you develop an investigative approach through the process of fieldworking and help you become better researchers, readers, and writers. As you read, write, research and reflect on your encounters with the other subcultures, you learn to observe, listen, interpret, and analyze the behaviors and languages of those around you and then include others' perspectives in your own writing.

Focused mostly on ethnographic and cultural research, this course emphasizes your authority over your work, including making creative rhetorical choices and defining your position in argumentative structures of your writing. As you revise your own drafts, and also work on them with a group of classmates, the clarity, coherence and correctness of your writing will improve.

Throughout the semester, we will be situating our general discussions about literacy in a study of the literate practices of a local subculture- for example a study group, a student club, a religious group, a group of employees on campus, a sports team, a Sunday school and so on. You will also develop your project by conducting experiments, surveys, observations and interviews or any other field research in developing and supporting an argument. When doing such research activities, you will draw on research methods and writing techniques that are suitable to accomplish your purpose and engage your audiences. Overall, this course is designed to help you further your research and critical reading skills.

Required Text:

Sunstein, Bonnie Stone, and Chiseri-Strater. Fieldworking: Reading and Writing Research. 3^rd ed. Publisher: Bedford/St. Martins.