ENG 250 is a writing intensive (W) course that counts toward the CCS writing requirement.  All W courses have the same requirements:

    • A minimum of 20 pages (or about 5,000 words) of process writing—i.e., writing that has been submitted in drafts and revised in response to feedback from readers.  In our class, those readers most directly include your classmates and me.  (You may have readers outside our class whose feedback you value, and you are welcome to share your writing with them, but for the purposes of satisfying W outcomes, your readers are the people in our class.)
    • Writing happens across the semester rather than in one assignment at the end.
    • There is discussion of your writing process and relevant writing conventions in class and/or in writing conferences.

Here are the kinds of writing assignments you can expect in this course

    • Informal writing, in class and for homework.
    • Writer’s notebook.  2 entries/wk describing and reflecting on some encounter you have had with an animal.  An encounter may be something that happens face-to-face, but doesn’t have to be.  You can write about any kind of encounter with any animal—except human animals—in any form, living or dead.  So, e.g., you might write and reflect on the significance of seeing a coyote while walking on the Arts Trail, a dead bird who collided with a window outside Skillman library, or the bacon you had for breakfast.  By “reflect on the significance of,” I mean situate your encounter within the larger context of what you are learning in this course by bringing some aspect of one or more readings to bear on what you observed, and what you thought about what you observed.
    • 4 blog posts (475-500 wds/ea), submitted as drafts and then revised and published on here on this site.   For the first introductory post, you should introduce yourself to the class.  The other 3 posts should develop entries from your notebook (1 entry/post) by drawing on some relevant idea or argument from the reading as a lens  through which to understand your animal encounter.  And they should take advantage of the affordances of WordPress.  A schedule of due dates for these posts is available on Moodle.
    • A longer autobiographical piece (2000-2500 wds) in which you research and tell the story of some non-human animal on this campus.   (See the schedule for due dates.)
    • An infographic, based on the research for your autobiographical piece, to be displayed on campus and designed for the purpose of educating the Lafayette community about your campus animal.  (See the schedule for due dates.)
    • 2 reflection essays (1250 wds), one at midterm and one at the end of term, about your writing and thinking this semester.

I will provide feedback on your writing in a variety of ways including (but not all at the same time) written comments, in-class discussion, and through individual writing conferences.  Rather than grade individual pieces of writing, though, I will instead ask you at midterm and at the end of term to collect your work into a portfolio.  That porfolio, as a whole, will receive one letter grade.  When I read your midterm portfolio, I will also give you an estimate of your participation/preparation grade.