UW Course Descriptions

Visit the GW Office of the Registrar for the latest schedule of classes by semester. Learn more about UW 1020 requirements, exemptions and hybrid and service learning options. For a list of Writing in the Disciplines (WID) courses, visit the Undergraduate Advising website.

Fall 2023

Abbas, Nasreen - The Othering of Muslims: Contemporary Diasporic Literature

In the aftermath of 9/11, Neo-Orientalist stereotypes emerged wherein Muslims were perceived as individuals consumed by religious fervor and therefore, proponents of terrorism. Subsequently, diasporic novel writers in English with northwestern Asian roots have also been accused of Re-Orientalism towards Muslims in order to garner Western readership. In this course, students will question what makes a nation: A common language, ethnicity, or religion? What role does gender play in a conservative society? How the different identities one holds within these communities can exclude one from being part of a country, an ethnic group or gender, regardless of where that individual resides—the West or the East.

Prescribed texts by diasporic writers, such as Home Fire, The Kite Runner, and independent readings will serve as an entry point to examine the larger issues of Re-Orientalist theory in the twenty-first century. You will also critically analyze what it means to be a girl/woman in a conservative society; to be condemned because of one’s ethnicity or religious beliefs; to be part of an ethnic diaspora or a subjugated class within a nation.

You will, moreover, explore topics and critically analyze what it means to be a post, post, post-colonial writer living and writing about the life choices and extent of assimilation of fellow immigrants within the UK. These immigrants continue to be condemned by their British counterparts for their lack of “Britishness” some four generations later. Is it because of ethnicity or religious beliefs that immigrants with Pakistani roots refuse to assimilate and continue to be part of an ethnic diaspora or a subjugated class within the nation? In this course, students will identify tropes within the texts that could possibly be deemed as Re-Orientalism. In what ways can a writer with Pakistani roots legitimately critique fellow Pakistani immigrants or their birth country without being accused of Re-Orientalism?

To prepare you for rigorous academic writing across the range of disciplines offered at GW, the course strives to develop or extend student writers’ capacity for critical reading and analytic thinking; your ability to explore information resources; your grasp of rhetorical principles; your ability to frame sound questions or hypotheses keeping your audience and purpose in mind; and your ability to edit and proofread carefully.

Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to write a total of three short papers, thereby developing your rhetorical and research skills. You will, moreover, be given the opportunity to formulate thoughtful questions to explore a point of interest in the texts. The final assignment for this course will be a researched position paper on an overarching topic covering a major theme across the texts, or a researched position paper that focuses on an aspect of a particular text that has engaged you. You will support your research questions using credible sources such as scholarly articles and reputed journalism, guided by your instructor and partner librarian, subsequently entering the conversation as junior scholars.

Art, Andrew - Saying I: Point of View as Rhetorical Strategy

When is it okay to use “I” in a paper? Can personal experience appear in a research essay? You’ve no doubt been told to avoid using certain personal pronouns, but in this course, we will examine and unpack the assumptions behind some of these rules. Together, we will explore aspects of personal writing and identify where they appear and when they can be useful. In turn, we will look at our own subjectivity as an energizing force for writing.

We will inquire into these aspects by examining the writing of others (including peers). Our common texts for discussion will be authored by individuals from a variety of backgrounds and fields: poets, critical theorists, filmmakers, historians, autoethnographers, personal essayists, journalists, scientists, and philosophers. In each case, we will consider the presence or the absence of the author, how they establish authority and trust, their style and use of form, and the roles that subjectivity and objectivity play in supporting an argument.

To practice bringing yourself to the conversation, you will have the opportunity to contribute to new knowledge by writing in different genres. These major projects will ask you to explore questions concerning the ethics of subjectivity in the processes of writing and research, as well as the dimensions of personal writing most interesting to you.

Barlow, Jameta - Writing Science and Health: Women's Health As Point of Inquiry

Note: Some of these courses are intended for WLP students only. Departmental approval required to register.

The space that resides between STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and society is a precarious one. STEM thirsts for knowledge to expand and build while the public desires STEM for its application, utility and effect. The latter is most often discussed in public spheres. Yet, this co-dependent relationship has the potential to ignite innovation, question moral ethic and inherently prompt moments of resistance. This course will operate in this precarious space and interrogate its very nature, with specific focus on science and health and using women's health as a case study.

We begin the course practicing self-reflexivity and exploring the role of privilege and standpoint in the development of philosophies of science. We engage in critical perspectives and decolonizing methodologies to interrogate traditional approaches in science and health. We end the course with a focused application of these approaches and concepts. This writing intensive is an interdisciplinary study of women’s health from a holistic perspective that builds on socioeconomic, political and biological aspects of women’s health. It explores the relationships between health and gender under political, biological, economic, spiritual, cultural and/or socially constructed influences. Students will engage in a comprehensive overview of health literature in public health, feminist and cultural studies, psychology, sociology, anthropology, medicine, and popular literature and social media. Students will use lectures, class discussions, readings, popular culture analyses, journaling, peer-reviewed group work, and in-class activities to explore writing on and about science and health.

Bolgiano, Anney - Queering the Essay: Criticism, Collage, and Genre Fluidity

Very few things in our world adhere to borders, categorization, and labels – so why would we expect this from literature? In this class we will explore texts that stand at the intersection of theory, criticism, poetry, visual arts, and memoir. Students will write two reading responses (short papers that respond to class readings), feedback letters responding to peer writing, a journal of in-class reflections and short writing exercises, a research project, and a portfolio of revised responses and exercises. The final research project in this class offers students flexibility to write about topics that matter to them. Students will formulate research questions derived from personal narratives or themes from course texts and seek to answer these questions through research, ultimately synthesizing scholarly, popular, literary, and artistic sources to argue an original thesis. Students will master the tenets of argumentative, scholarly writing and also have the opportunity to create extra-textual elements and thoughtfully break genre conventions. This class employs a full-class workshop model for peer review: students will benefit from hearing the full class discuss their writing in a supportive, positive, and academically rigorous environment.

Students with an interest in photography, zines, collage, visual arts, and poetry may find this class is a unique opportunity for those inclinations to serve as “ways in” to theory, research, argument, and criticism. Students who do not consider themselves artistic will also be at home in this class. While the reading list is quite varied, all the genre fluid works assigned in this class engage with scholarship and primary sources. Some will also give us the opportunity to ask How do queer authors use queer forms to depict queer lives? We will read innovative works from writers such as T. Fleischmann, Claudia Rankine, Layli Long Soldier, Maggie Nelson, Trisha Low, Sarah J. Sloat, Zadie Smith, Aisha Sabatini-Sloan, and others.

This is not a creative writing class. Students will indeed gain competency in traditional academic forms and conventions – I contend, however, that the critical/creative connection makes us stronger, more agile, and more resourceful writers.

Carter, Katharine - Critical Responses: Writing the Implications about Racism and Systemic Inequity

From laws to school rules, systems have historically placed barriers to people’s freedoms and access to opportunities on the basis of race. Additionally, these institutionalized drivers of inequity are often embedded into society’s culture, where they are far more subtle - but equally as unjust. Scholars have used critical responses to identify and address these occurrences.

In this course, students will learn the main principles of critical race theory, highlight examples of institutionalized racism in a wide variety of readings, and demonstrate applications of systemic inequity to real-life occurrences. This course will include readings from a variety of sources, including legislative proposals, existing laws, opinion pieces, social media posts, historical texts, and media coverage of current events. Through each assigned reading, learners will explore the various ways that inequity is related to its messaging. Students will use critical analysis to provide written responses to the readings that will communicate how the content of readings can have an impact on disadvantaged groups. The responses will examine the broader issues of systemic oppression and implicit bias beyond the primary message of the reading.

Counts, Benjamin - Conflict, Kayfabe, and Information Literacy

This course examines the idea of conflict rhetoric as strategic performance art. Students will be introduced to the novel frameworks of kayfabe and ur-conflict in order to examine several political conflicts, including ongoing disputes in the United States and internationally. Using performance art as a lens, we will come to see how all political conflicts operate at three levels: That which is shown, that which is hidden, and that which goes unnoticed.

Along the way, students will read from masters of political commentary, narrative, conflict analysis, and interpersonal rhetorics, including Umberto Eco, Joan Didion, Caroline Jack, and Jennifer Freyd. Students will learn how to spot the “inside baseball” played by media figures, allowing them to differentiate analysis from promotion, narrative from fact, and theater from strategy.

“Conflict, Kayfabe, and Information Literacy” will include a comprehensive annotated bibliography, research paper, argumentative essay, and a narrative argument. While the course will revolve around comparing and understanding conflicts both real and imagined, students will select conflicts outside the readings for their research. Students will take part in interdisciplinary conversation, critical thinking, and self-reflection. Creative thinking and approaches will be key.

Daqqa, Hanan - "Not Another Home Movie": How Do You Research When the Subject is Yourself?

What are the similarities between home movies and selfies? Have home movies progressed with technology? What does it take to write a script for your own family story?

In this writing class, you will move between academic and creative writing through the lens of a storyteller.

First, you will research and write a paper on the history of home movies and analyze what home movies might look like if a filmmaker participates in the process. What is participatory filmmaking and what are the strategies developed by filmmakers to ensure a fair representation of subjects on-screen? What are the different ways home movies can tell a story?

Second, you will research yourself, thinking of a personal family story that you would like to share with future generations, and write a personal essay on this story.

Third, informed by your research on other home movies, how would you like to tell your personal story? You will recreate that personal essay into a script that gives voice to the characters in your story. This script is your final product, and you can transform it into a short film — not another home movie — if you choose to collaborate with film students outside of the classroom.

Overall, this course will include three writing assignments: a research paper, a personal essay, and a script.

Donovan, Julie - Writing Women's Lives

Note: This course is intended for WLP students only. Departmental approval required to register.

This course examines graphic novels by women authors, focusing on the visual in literature and drawing out its aesthetic, political, and cultural implications. We’ll think about how words and pictures both elucidate and complicate meaning, and we’ll analyze how women have historically been depicted when visuals combine with text. As graphic novels gain increasing respectability in literary and artistic realms, we’ll also consider distinctions, legitimate or arbitrary, that are assigned to culture.

Erfani, Kylie - “Your Silence Will Not Protect You”: Using Rhetoric to Refuse Injustice

Amid global climate crisis, ever-widening social inequality, war, and intensifying forms of exploitation, the democratic imperative to “speak your mind” seems altogether too feeble to stand up to the challenges ahead. Indeed, speaking out--by itself--is not a formula for saving the world; but if we follow the insight of the great poet and feminist philosopher Audre Lorde, we learn that speaking out about what pains and oppresses us is existentially, intellectually, and politically necessary. Yet we don’t give much thought to the forms of effective complaint.

To be fair, complaint gets dismissed because it’s contraposed to real action; in other words, some people think that whiners aren’t doers. However, effective complaint is usually the first step to conflict resolution and social transformation. As a genre, complaining has a fascinating complex history that we can explore and excavate for contemporary ways of expressing discontent, challenging the status quo, and exploring new horizons of possibility.

Together we will read some of history’s most effective complainers and analyze their rhetorical, logical, and formal appeals for justice, redress and recognition. Close reading and analysis exercises will aid students in identifying the techniques employed in well-crafted complaints, including evidence selection, counterarguments, and persuasive language. Additionally, we will learn to assess different audience types and adapt rhetorical strategies accordingly to enhance the effectiveness of our own complaints. By framing our scholarly projects in terms of developing legitimate complaints, students will be encouraged to think critically about social issues, consumer experiences, and other relevant contexts that spark complaints. This will foster a deeper understanding of the power of language and scholarship in shaping public opinion. Moreover, students will have their own opportunity to participate in that shaping by crafting their own formal research complaint about a social issue of their choosing.

Fletcher, Wade - Reading without Words: The Image as Text

Note: Some of these sections of UW 1020 will grant priority registration to students living in the Art + Design Living Learning Community. Departmental approval required to register.

Are images texts? Can images be “read?” What does it mean to “read” an image?

As individuals, we are confronted with, interpret, process and ignore a multitude of images every day. Via these images, visual narratives and arguments manifest across many spectrums, from business, advertising, and politics, to popular culture, art, and fashion, with each image vying for our attentions. In this course, we’ll intersect with the study of visual culture and visual rhetoric, considering the role images play in our culture(s), while exploring what it means to examine something as an "image" and investigating how visual narratives and arguments are formed, composed, and realized. To this end, we’ll also examine images alongside written texts, exploring the parallels between the two forms.

Our subject matter will include two graphic novels, visual art (specifically the collections at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum) and iconic and cultural images, the latter of which will potentially comprise photographs, advertising, branding and marketing, iconic images, and much more. Assignments will include three essays of increasing length, each focusing on a particular image (or set of images) — a blog critique, an analysis of a visual argument and an argumentative research essay — as well as short visual projects and contributions to an online class discussion forum.

Francois, Emma - Fashioning Thought: Writing with Style & Intent

“Fashion has to do with ideas,” Coco Chanel said, “the way we live, what is happening.” This course explores the fundamentals of writing by considering fashion. What can the principles of design teach us about our own writing and the writing we love? How can we fashion our writerly identities to produce meaningful texts engaging the world we live, dress, and write in?

We’ll start the semester exploring fashion writing across genres by translating a scholarly essay into an article for a popular media platform. As we write, we’ll experiment with skills from the designer’s toolkit (like social brainstorming, vision boards, and sketches) to disrupt and examine our own writing processes. Other major assignments include a “collage annotated bibliography” and a class field trip to a museum in D.C. to explore how writing, in conjunction with other mediums, exists beyond the page. Drawing on this experience and research conducted throughout the semester, we’ll write an 8-10 page object essay to discern—and communicate—how one sartorial text can change and reflect the world.

Friedman, Sandie - The New Vanguard: Women Writing Radical Fiction

A girl tosses her friend’s beloved doll through a grate and into a cellar, where it can’t be retrieved. A wife’s head rolls off her body when her husband unties the ribbon around her neck. A young artist rides her motorcycle at record-breaking speeds—until she crashes.

With these snippets of plot, we glimpse fictional worlds created by 21^st century women. Critic Parul Sehgal observed that: “The books steering literature in new directions — to new forms, new concerns — almost invariably have a woman at the helm, an Elena Ferrante, a Rachel Cusk, a Zadie Smith.” How can fiction, in Sehgal’s words, “suggest and embody unexplored possibilities in form, feeling and knowledge”? How do women “invent a language for their lives” in the 21^st century (Sehgal)? In this class, we take as our starting point “The New Vanguard,” a collection of 15 works of fiction, assembled by three New York Times literary critics. The list ranges from Allison Bechdel’s The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For to Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Our project in this class is to develop our own writing skills by studying the work of radical fiction writers. Using a feminist lens, we consider what makes these works innovative—at the sentence level and through the arc of a whole narrative. We will read as writers, considering how groundbreaking fiction might inform—or even transform—our work as critics and academic writers. As the medium for developing our ideas, we will study and practice writing essays—a genre that blends personal experience, literary analysis, and research.

Gretes, Andrew - Existentialism and the Rhetoric of Authenticity

Few philosophical movements have sparked the popular imagination as vividly as existentialism. But what precisely was (is?) existentialism? Was it merely what we call “emo” in embryo, or was there something of more substance underneath all those black turtlenecks and angsty bumper stickers? In this course, we’ll explore rhetoric and writing by examining a host of existential concepts, such as absurdity, anxiety, authenticity, freedom, and mass-man (aka “sheeple”). In particular, we’ll take a close look at the various rhetorical stages that existentialists choose to audition their ideas—be they parables, dramas, aphorisms, or analytic essays—and how such genres entail specific appeals and strategies. Throughout the semester, students will engage in a variety of writing projects, including a research-based essay in which students will take a specific concept from existentialism and use it as a tool to explore and re-think an issue in our own culture.

Hayes, Carol - “I’m a Bad Writer” and Other Myths about Writing

Many people—both students and professionals in the world—believe they are “bad” writers. But what does that mean? The myth of the “bad” writer is often grounded on the belief that “good” writers know a single set of writing rules that, when followed, always produce “good” writing, regardless of the context. As someone who studies writing, however, I argue that there is no single set of writing rules that work in all contexts. Instead, a “good” writer is someone who adapts to whatever new writing context they find themselves in. Thus, for folks who say that they were “bad” at writing in high school English, I would point out that writing in business, the social sciences, or the sciences is very different (and something that can be taught/learned. This UW will teach a social science style of writing). For folks who say they don’t have a strong sense of so-called “standard” English grammar, I would respond that “standard” English is one of many Englishes, each with its own history (and we’ll talk about some of those in class). Finally, for those who say that they are “bad” writers because writing is hard for them, I would respond, “welcome to the club.” To write is to convey your thoughts on paper in a traceable form that others can then respond to. Writing is thus both a challenge (are you able to put what you mean into words on the screen or page?) and an act of vulnerability (you are opening yourself to response from your readers, whatever those responses might be). Very, very few people find writing “easy” (I am not among them). Your past experiences with writing and language, whether good or bad, will have shaped your emotions, your writing process, and your view of your own writing identity.

This UW class is designed to give you a space to explore your experiences and challenges with writing, with the goal of increasing your writing knowledge in ways that will support you transitions to writing in other contexts, such as other GW courses, internships, and beyond. You will use social science methodologies—interviews and surveys—to research the writing experiences of college-age peers who may share the challenges you have faced. Drawing upon writing studies research (yes, scholars research writing!) and research in educational psychology, you’ll use that research to help you analyze your own and your peers’ writing experiences.

Hijazi, Nabila - Contested Bodies: Beyond a Standard Refugee Narrative

Mainstream migration and refugee discourses often frame refugees as living in limbo and waiting to return home. Moreover, refugee women’s voices and experiences are framed within a dominant narrative of female fragility. Departing from these prevailing understandings of refugees as victims, objects of rescue, and problems, this course reconsiders refugees as fluid subjects and historical actors, inquiring into their social and cultural positioning. With refugee women as our primary case study, this course asks students to engage with the lived experience of refugee women, subjects that have been perceived as passive, vulnerable, or even violent in the Western context; and to evaluate their construction of agency. Engaging in various texts – including academic arguments, personal narratives, TED Talks, lectures by guest speakers, and documentaries, we will explore how refugee women are complex individuals experiencing immense challenges but also exerting great resilience. Instead of confirming the standard narrative that presents refugees as victims, we will examine how they are agents in finding ways not only to survive but also to thrive and gain economic mobility. This semester, you will learn to summarize, analyze, research, inquire, reflect, argue and remediate—rhetorical skills necessary for ethical public engagement, rigorous academic scholarship, and exemplary professional practice.

Janzen, Kristi - Beyond The Numbers: Business, Money & Markets

This course aims to deepen students’ understanding of business, money and markets, while introducing them to university-level research and academic writing. By examining writings on currently hot financial-news topics—such as inflation, cryptocurrency, the cost of higher education, corporate earnings, interest rates, mortgages, antitrust laws, the minimum wage, taxes, and more—students will both broaden their practical understanding of business and the economy and hone their ability to write about them. Students will read about the discipline of writing and examine different styles and types of business/economics writing. We will also discuss research techniques, context, information sources, and methods of evaluating those sources, while analyzing why and how particular choices are made about what data or information to include or exclude. Smaller writing assignments will lead up to a research paper, in which the student presents evidence and supports a new claim on a subject of their choosing within the realm of business, finance or economics. Over the course of the class, students will discuss their writing in class, not only to improve everyone’s writing, but also to enrich our understanding of the broad range of topics.

In general, UW1020 emphasizes practice in the processes and techniques of academic writing, drawing upon stimulating topics of current intellectual interest. The course focuses on framing important questions, constructing an argument through identifying and discussing both supportive and contradictory evidence, accommodating a variety of purposes and audiences, and using the ideas of other writers appropriately. The value of revision for clear expression is a constant emphasis; review of conventions for syntax, grammar and punctuation is incorporated as necessary.

Kristensen, Randi - Africa and the African Diaspora

Black Panther. Black Panthers. Black Lives Matter. Slavery. Colonialism. Modernity. Afro-futurism. Critical Race Theory. These and other signifiers of Black life in the 21st century circulate widely. What do they mean? Why do they matter? Why is their teaching being outlawed in some places in the United States? In this course, we will bring our critical reading, thinking, and writing skills to bear on these and other questions. We will also strive to discern the many and complicated versions of Blackness that co-exist, sometimes uneasily, in the US and worldwide. We will also question the implications of doing research within and across cultures; for example, what is the significance of our research and writing for those about whom we research and write? What are the effects of our choices of language and form?

As readers, writers and thinkers, we will develop our skills in recognizing and articulating these complexities, and will produce original and effective writing that reflects our close attention to the research questions that engage us, and sources that inform us. Major assignments include an autoethnography, and a carefully researched, documented, and argued research paper on a writer-selected topic that increases our understanding of contemporary Black life. In addition, we will develop a public-facing version of our research for each other and the wider community.

Mantler, Gordon - Memorials, Museums and Monuments: Writing the Past through Place and Space

The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened just a few years ago on the Mall – the culmination of more than a century of advocacy for such an institution. But while the museum has enjoyed tremendous attention in its first several years, many other museums, memorials, and monuments already here in Washington have commemorated and narrated the American story, or stories, of race for generations. From the African American Civil War memorial to the National Museum of the American Indian, public spaces throughout the city depict the nation’s often tortured relationship with race. A few, of late, have even been taken down, and yet, generally, visitors of these spaces consider them reliable vehicles for telling history. How historically reliable are such public history accounts? What sorts of pressures do these institutions face in relating their interpretations? And, perhaps most importantly for a writing course, are there explicit rhetorical features that distinguish academic history and argument from popular ones found in museums, memorials, and monuments? In this class, students will analyze these carefully crafted, sometimes controversial places and spaces around Washington and how they narrate American history, particularly its racial history, including these sites’ physical locations, visual symbolism, and written interpretations – as much as the pandemic will allow us, at least. In the process, you will be asked to write your own argument-driven narratives, sharpening not just your ability to convey your thoughts on paper but also bolstering an array of academic skills, such as critical reading, argument development, substantive revision, and primary source analysis.

McCaughey, Jessica - “I Tried to Live, but I got Distracted”: How to Think, Act, and Write in a World that Wants to Sidetrack You

Johann Hari, the author of Stolen Focus, suggests a motto for our era: “I tried to live, but I got distracted.” Deep work and focus are arguably more challenging right now than they’ve ever been. In this class, we’ll try to understand what this means for us as writers. We’ll interrogate factors ranging from stress and our environment to productivity culture and technology in an effort to make sense of why focus and complex intellectual engagement are so challenging. In doing so, we will interrogate our own experiences and consider, yes, issues of willpower and individual tactics to regain and harness our attention—but more so, we will deliberate how we operate in larger systems that are designed to distract. We’ll also try to determine whether or not, at this moment, it’s actually possible to be in control of our own attention and reach our goals without getting sidetracked.

Over the course of the semester, we’ll pay particular attention to the ways in which our distracted world makes an already extremely challenging process of development—becoming an adept researcher and writer at the college level—much, much harder. We’ll develop our academic writing and research skills through a series of increasingly complex assignments, each one scaffolded with the support of substantial feedback from peers and your professor. As we do so, we’ll consider catalysts and implications of “stolen focus” across disciplines, from environmental studies and national security to medicine and marketing, while working to develop the analytical skills necessary to consider, research, and express nuanced intellectual arguments clearly and effectively across a variety of forms of writing. We’ll also inevitably address what it means to be competing for the attention of others with our own writing, whether in college, the workplace, or publicly. Ultimately, it’s my hope that we’ll find lasting ways to engage and function in a world that seemingly wants to keep us operating only at the surface level—rather than engaging in the deep, focused thinking that complex writing requires.

McCaughey, Jessica - Professional Communication in International Nonprofits: A Service Learning Course in Partnership with Clinic+O

At its core, this course interrogates the question: How does writing allow mission-driven organizations to get work done? This class is themed around the topic of international healthcare nonprofit communication, particularly that of our class partner, Clinic+O, a relatively young organization in West Africa that is “committed to improving healthcare infrastructure and outcomes in Guinea, with the goal of creating a sustainable model for primary care that addresses the needs of all Guineans, particularly those living in poverty.” In teams and individually, students will work directly with the leadership at Clinic+O to learn not only about their outreach in rural communities, but also about the essential writing and rhetoric of the organization. Our class writing projects will–in a variety of ways and in genres as diverse as white papers, social media, and research reports–support the organization’s authentic development efforts.

In doing so, we will study the organization’s contextual backdrop–the healthcare structures and challenges of medical access in Guinea, particularly as they relate to issues of culture, political history, womens’ health, and rural vs. urban communities. We will also consider critical questions related to nonprofit communication such as: In what ways are culture and “data” sometimes at odds when it comes to healthcare? How do we ethically represent communities in development materials? West Africa has seen a number of NGOs “set up shop,” and then fail; how has this happened, and in what ways do community-based, local organizations differ from these international NGOs? What does it mean to “decolonize philanthropy”?

As we work to help solve some of the real-world writing problems faced by Clinic+O, students will gain an understanding of the work our partner organization is doing, the region and people involved, and how writing allows for progress here and in other authentic spaces. We’ll look at crucial differences–and overlap–between writing and research in academic contexts and professional settings, ask nuanced questions about audience and purpose, and work to rethink and remake arguments for various audiences in varied forms. Students will develop a structured research and writing process, as well as a set of rhetorical tools and techniques that will help them not only in our classroom and in our work with Clinic+O, but also in the future when they encounter new and unfamiliar writing situations.

Michiels, Paul - Writing and Learning

The theme of this writing course is learning. You will learn about writing as you learn what the fields of neuroscience, educational and cognitive psychology, and education have to tell us about how students learn. The theme of learning will anchor your research practices and help us select articles that we will read as a class to help inform your different writing activities. You will also use the theme as a springboard to develop your own individual lines of inquiry that you will follow and investigate throughout the semester, beginning with an assignment that asks you to investigate an issue/problem related to the theme of “learning,” then moving to a longer researched piece that more deeply explores one aspect of learning. We will conclude with an adaptation of your researched paper for a different audience and in a new form.

This class will focus on writing as a form of reasoning and knowledge production used in the university, at work, and in daily life, and it will explore how different writing situations and different audiences influence how we question, analyze, make claims, and present information and ideas. The course will explore critical writing skills which involve pre-writing, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, drafting, and revising. Particular (though not exclusive) emphasis will be placed on source-based writing as a means of acquiring, communicating, and transforming knowledge. Finally, special emphasis will be placed on peer review, in other words, on providing peers with useful, usable, and theoretically-informed feedback on writing (an essential skill with applications in academic, professional, and personal life).

Mullen, Mark - Paying (for) Attention

You’ve probably never heard of the Intention Economy. That is because it doesn’t exist. At least not yet. What you probably have heard about is the Attention Economy, the array of applications and processes that tech companies use to make money by keeping us watching/listening/reading/clicking for as long as possible.

If technology users are honest with themselves, they will admit that their technology usage often feels out of their control. They are right. It is out of their control. Thanks to an increasing number of whistelblower accounts from inside the tech sector—Anna Wiener’s Uncanny Valley, Christopher Wylie’s Mindf*ck, and Mike Monteiro’s Ruined by Design, to name just a few—we now know that tech companies are actively leveraging the latest psychological research in order to patiently and deliberately design applications to get us hooked, and keep us hooked. Yet, like any addict deep into their denial, people will rationalize and defend to the death their lack of control over their own lives. Technology isn’t good or bad, they say. It is how you use it, they say.

We don’t have to live like this. But what alternatives are there? As we investigate modes of communicating and viewing the world that try to balance technology and lived experience, we will be actively exploring the ways in which different styles and genres of writing can open up new ways of looking at the world. In addition to a research topic of your choosing about some facet of the attention economy, we will also be looking at styles of writing that require us to pay close attention to the people and environments around us. This will be a challenging course. If you aren’t prepared to confront some uncomfortable truths about your own technology usage (and who is controlling that) then this may not be the course for you. If you don’t think you could last a day without your cellphone, this is definitely not the course for you (because that is something we will all attempt). But if you are open to a new way of thinking about the world, and are curious about what forces are shaping the technologies we are already taking for granted, then maybe as a group we can bring into being something that does not yet exist; the Intention Economy.

Myers, Danika - Poetry + Research

“There is no telling this story; it must be told” – NourbeSe Philip, Zong

Are poetry and research opposing forms? Is poetry always subjective, while research is strictly objective? How does poetry seek truth? How can poetry become a medium for research and exploration? In this class, we will analyze books of poetry obsessed with communicating truth. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong dwells on the events of the 1781 massacre, when 132 of the 470 enslaved Africans held captive on the British ship Zong were thrown overboard. By drawing legal language into fractured poetics Philip subverts it to convey horror and grief. Layli Long Soldier’s book Whereas is a response to the 2009 Congressional resolution of apology to Native Americans that draws on historical documents to critique the contemporary legacies of settler-colonialism. Philip Metres' Sand Opera is a poetry collection that uses extensive research to explore the human cost of the United States' wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By combining poetic forms with meticulous research and reliance on sources, works like these challenge dominant narratives and offer new ways of understanding history and identity.

This section of UW1020 invites you to use texts that combine research + poetry as a starting point to explore research, writing, and the production of knowledge. It seeks to support you in developing a sophisticated understanding of the infinite ways sources can be engaged or critiqued, subverted or celebrated, and see how it feels to adopt such techniques in your own writing. We will also consider what these texts reveal about how other, more familiar forms of research-based and academic writing operate. How might traditional academic research–supposedly an objective form –silence particular voices or perpetuate systems of power? How can poetry transform our understanding of research and what research values? Assignments will include a book review, a group research presentation, and, for the final project, a choice between writing a research-based poem sequence or writing an academic paper about research + poetry. Homework will frequently require you to attempt archaic or byzantine poetic forms or ask you to render the conventions of academic genres in verse.

Paiz, J.M. - Composing in/for an AI-rich World

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) plays an
increasingly prominent role in various aspects of our lives, including writing and
composition. In this course, students will explore the intersection of AI tools, rhetoric,
and composition, aiming to develop a nuanced understanding of how we can effectively
integrate these tools while upholding the value of human expertise. This section of
University Writing begins by immersing students in the world of AI and its implications
for composition processes. This work will be supported by drawing on critical texts such
as Frank Pasquale's New Laws of Robotics and Kate Crawford's The Atlas of AI.
Students will critically examine AI adoption's ethical, social, and cultural dimensions in
writing and knowledge-work practices by engaging with these texts. These texts will
provide a foundation for discussions on the responsible and mindful integration of AI
tools in writing processes.

Throughout the course, students can experiment with various AI-based writing tools,
analyze their strengths and limitations, and reflect on their implications for creativity,
authorship, and intellectual property. Students will also explore how AI can assist in
generating ideas, improving grammar and style, and providing feedback on drafts. The
course will foster an understanding of the importance of balancing AI assistance and
human expertise in composing. Students will delve into topics such as the ethical
considerations of AI-generated content, the impact of AI on authorial agency, and the
potential biases embedded in AI algorithms. As students engage in hands-on activities,
critical discussions, and reflective writing, they will develop their abilities to navigate and
leverage the AI-rich composition landscape. By the end of the course, students will have
a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges that arise when composing
in an AI-rich world, enabling them to make informed decisions about integrating AI tools
while preserving the essence of human expression and creativity.

Utilizing a writing-as-inquiry approach, students in this section of UW will practice
composing in an array of genres—from informal discussion forum posts to explore initial
ideas to crafting operationalized definitions to create lenses for later inquiry that will
become crystalized in a formal research paper.

Note: This course assumes no prior knowledge of AI or technical expertise. It welcomes
students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who are interested in exploring the
intersection of AI and composition in contemporary society.

Pollack, Rachel - Dutch Painting at the National Gallery of Art

In this course we will develop writing skills through careful observation and analysis of 17th Century Dutch painting. Each student will write 2 polished catalogue entries (2-3 pages each) of works from the National Gallery collection, a short exhibition review (3-5 pages), a short research paper (5-7 pages) and a larger research project (15-20 pages). Artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Frans Hals will be the central focus of class discussion, as well as various landscape and still life masters. We will explore issues of technique (i.e. materials and methods) and art historical interpretations. Why do we consider Rembrandt a "genius?" Did Vermeer use the camera obscura? How did the new wealthy middle class affect art patronage? Together we will read a selection of scholarly articles related to each subject, as well as visiting the museum collection firsthand. Through critical writing, class discussion, and individual research, each student will learn to see and appreciate the art of the Dutch Golden Age.

Pollack, Rachel - The Greek Ideal in Art

This course examines the greatest surviving masterpieces of Greco-Roman sculpture and explores their enduring significance in western art from antiquity to the present day. From this essential canon of ancient sculpture, which includes the Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), the Laocoon, the Aphrodite of Knidos, the Spinario, and the Weary Hercules, we will analyze why these works have both inspired artists and stirred scholarly debate amongst ancient writers, art historians, archaeologists, Renaissance humanists, and Enlightenment philosophers. In this class, students will write art museum catalogue entries (~2 pages each) on related artworks and interdisciplinary research papers (~6-10 pages each) on related topics concerning the continued presence of Greek art in the western world.

Presser, Pamela - Writing Lives: Composing Consciousness and Service Learning

Note: This course is a service-learning course. Service-learning courses address a community need through direct or indirect service and community-based research. For more information, see the Honey W. Nashman Center website.

To what extent is your sense of self shaped by your culture, circumstances and location? How does where you are living and working influence what you dream? Does performing service, and writing about your experiences, change your ideas about who you are?

Such questions fall within the domain of consciousness studies, an interdisciplinary field which will be the subject of this class. Because consciousness studies in its present incarnation is a new and largely uncharted field, most questions its scholars are asking remain unanswered. This course, then, will be best suited for curious students eager to explore inner and outer space. Indeed, the course requires a willingness to leave the GW bubble, since students will be required to perform 20 hours of community service off campus, with a non-profit organization.

Assignments may include, but will not be limited to, collaborative projects, an annotated bibliography, a journal in which you engage in meta-cognitive writing, and a final paper combining research on service and consciousness. This is a hybrid class, and will include a significant amount of on-line instruction and discussion. Class texts will be drawn from several genres and will include academic essays, autobiographies and graphic narratives.

Quave, Kylie - Writing the Past for the Future: Archaeologies of Racism and Anti-racism

Reading the remains of the human past can help us chart a path into our future. However, the ways of knowing that have traditionally dominated archaeology have developed within researchers’ social and political contexts, as in other academic disciplines. In archaeology, this has sometimes reproduced white supremacist, orientalist, exoticizing, and primitivizing views of human societies. In this scientific and humanistic discipline, archaeologists should strive to incorporate pluralistic perspectives on the human experience, past and present, to mitigate assumptions and biases.

We will use the field of archaeology as a case study in knowledge production, as well as reflect on what this process means for us as researchers and writers. We will read and write about archaeology to examine how scientism and pseudoscience have impeded the endeavor of understanding human pasts. We will also focus on case studies of how archaeologists study racism in the past and how archaeologists are parlaying the tools of the discipline for a more just and equitable, anti-racist future. To communicate the human past to different audiences with a critical view of knowledge production, we will evaluate scientific evidence, write research proposals, respond to readings and peer writing, collaboratively and independently revise, and craft multi-modal writing on the human past. Students will rhetorically evaluate archaeological arguments and respond to them in socially relevant ways for both expert and broader public audiences.

Richter, Jacob - Writing Democracy: Professional Writing’s Utility for Democracy and Social Justice

Democracy is fragile. Polls that survey voters from across the political spectrum consistently show that many voters view democracy in the United States as being under threat. Discourse surrounding race-based gerrymandering, voter suppression, voting machines, mail-in ballots, and election misinformation is here to stay, with public communication of these topics being perhaps more important than ever. Topics related to elections and democracy might seem like odd fits for a writing course that engages professional writing genres, but as students in this course will learn, professional writing represents a valuable opportunity for civic communication related to Democracy.

In this “Writing Democracy: Professional Writing’s Utility for Democracy and Social Justice”-themed UW 1020 course, students will connect professional writing genres such as white papers, visual reports, and grant proposals with social justice topics related to democracy including race-based gerrymandering, voting machine discourse, and election misinformation. Topics related to democracy and elections—both past and future— provide compelling civic opportunities for writers to communicate complex information about voting machines, to educate the public about how gerrymandering impacts the political process, and to leverage visual communication to help citizens understand how social media platforms both enable and constrain political activities.

This course centers professional writing as an opportunity for educating audiences, for pursuing social justice related to voting rights, and for designing innovative rhetorical actions for civic impact. Students will connect professional writing genres with democratic rhetorical actions by completing projects such as the “Advocacy White Paper,” which examines election misinformation and voting machine discourse by working to educate and then persuade the public in a professional writing genre. Across the duration of this course, students will write, research, revise, and design in professional writing genres that enact communication of complex information related to the evolving discourse surrounding democracy in the United States.

Russ, Ebony - Anti-Racist Writing in the 21st Century

Understanding the importance of amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups in academia, publications, and media is key to contributing to anti-racist writing. Our writing skills and style are informed by the subject matter of which we partake. Approaching anti-racist writing with intent can be pivotal to your success as a well-informed scholar. Exercising inclusivity can be superficial and deceptive if one does not possess the foundational knowledge of the interplay of race, racism, and scholarship in academia. Anti-racist writing is a function of scholar activism which is a component of social justice which can contribute to overall equality and societal transformation.

In this course, we will examine tenents of anti-racist writing in the 21st century while comparing the similarities and differences in social justice work from past centuries. Our examination of anti-racism will be guided by exploring race and racism in scholarly writings. This will involve critically reading and writing about scholarly and popular text authored by African American authors as well as many other Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). Assignments include identifying scientific evidence, original research writing, responses to readings and peer writing, collaborative and independent revision, and graphical display of information (tables, charts, and infographics). Students will rhetorically evaluate scientific arguments and respond to them in socially relevant ways for both expert and broader public audiences.

Ryder, Phyllis - Writing for Social Change

NOTE: This course is a service learning course. For more information, see http://serve.gwu.edu/information-students.

Learning to “write well” means learning to wrestle with power. “Writing for Social Change” is a space where we will work with local DC nonprofits to confront social inequities, study how to use writing to build community, and convince people that a more just world is possible. We also will wrestle with the power of “writing well” at a more meta level: the rules for “good writing” are themselves tools that can include and exclude people from power. By the end of the semester, you will have your own toolbox for developing complex, meaningful writing projects and a philosophy of writing that reflects your personal values and engages diverse audiences.

Over the semester, you will build on the writing strategies you learned in high school to become stronger, more deliberate writers. I will challenge you to reflect on your own values and identity, so that you can connect with your readers. I will push you to think more fully about the sources you draw on, so that your essays are complex and compelling. I have high expectations, but you will have a great deal of support. The assignments are divided into manageable pieces and you will receive a lot of feedback along the way. If you do all the work, you will get a good grade.

Sauer, Beverly - Risk Communication

The Shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters, the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, the Woodley Park and Fort Totten Metro crashes, and the Surfside Condominium collapse demonstrate that communication plays an important role in risk management. Since the beginning of 2020, we ourselves have struggled to make sense of risk information about COVID as we consider whether to travel, see our families, party with friends, or mask (or not) in public spaces.

Risk demands action. But facts alone may not persuade stakeholders to act. What kinds of evidence can we draw upon to persuade people to act in what we perceive to be their best interests? Who can we trust? What does science tell us—or fail to tell us—about how to behave and act in the face of uncertain and contradictory data?

Writing assignments in this class are designed to help students construct persuasive fact-based ethical and logical risk communication messages for a particular audience. Although the disasters presented in the class are interesting from a technical point of view, we will focus our attention on communication strategies (visual, verbal, graphical, and written) that influenced the outcomes of the disaster. Students will summarize and critique previously published analyses of communication failures; construct a research-based assessment of risk of their choice; learn to construct a ‘mental model’ of what audiences know or believe (audience analysis) about a particular risk; explore the challenges of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary risk communication; and produce a short research paper in which they apply the skills they have learned to persuade, inform or move a specific audience to act to reduce risk.

Ultimately, students will develop critical thinking skills that enable them to identify and mitigate communication failures before, during, and after a crisis.

No technical experience is required.

Schell, Heather - Science and Public Controversy

When Darwin’s transformative On the Origin of Species was first published in 1859, people in England were deeply shaken. The theory of natural selection challenged literalist Biblical interpretations about human origins and the age of the earth. It took about forty years for the English to find a way to reconcile their religious beliefs and evolutionary theory. Today, evolutionary theory is the foundation of research in the biological sciences, and yet, on our side of the Atlantic, many non-scientists feel that the conflict between religion and evolutionary science has never been resolved. This has shown most clearly in our public school system, where a battle over the right to teach evolutionary theory, waged since the Scopes Trial of 1925, still lingers.

In the last decade, other public debates over science have become more urgent than ever, including vaccines, climate, gun violence, and reproductive health. In the unlikely event that you haven’t felt the effect of any of these debates yet, all of them are likely to shape your future experience of the world. In all these cases, scientists with vital expertise to offer are being ignored, sidelined, or even demonized by special interests, politicians, and members of the public. In all these cases, powerful rhetoric often outweighs reasoning based on solid scientific information. Public disputes about science still carry the legacy of America’s long struggle with the idea of natural selection.

This semester, we will look at the players involved in these controversies, from scientists, teachers, students, and religious figures to politicians, policy wonks, lobbyists, and even some colorful crackpots. We will start by studying the rhetoric of science communication and public distrust of science. Later, you will choose a topic where science, controversy, and students intersect; you will research the best available information and draft policy options for American high schools, aimed toward improving science education or enhancing the safety and well-being of students.

Smith, Caroline - Communicating Feminism

Most of us have probably seen the iconic image of Beyoncé in front of a giant screen on which the word FEMINIST is emblazoned. You may even be familiar with the feminist author Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s speech “We Should All Be Feminists,” which Beyoncé samples in her song “Flawless.” But, have you ever considered what Beyoncé means by feminism? Or how her feminism might be similar or different to Adichie’s? What does the term feminism actually signify?

In this course, we will study the history of the feminist movement and consider the various strategies that feminist writers use to educate and inspire their audience. Students will have an opportunity to explore a range of feminist issues from different disciplinary angles. We will also produce our own feminist writing in a variety of genres. Students will work in partnership with the Wiki Education foundation to create and revise content about feminists and feminist issues on Wikipedia in order to help close Wikipedia’s gender gap. Students will also research and write on the feminist topic of their choice for an independent research project. The skills we will work on in this introductory course will prepare students for other academic challenges throughout the remainder of their college career.

Smith, Nichole - I am #Kenough: Writing Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture

The course offers students the ability to engage-and begin writing on-aspects of how popular culture represents issues and inequalities related to gender and inequality. With the backlash of the feminist movements in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, debates surrounding representation has now been tied to aspects of “wokeness” and political correctness. This class seeks to answer the preliminary questions: how does popular culture-such as films like Barbie, Legally Blonde, and other forms of media-represent gender and sexuality, and critically engage with unique social issues of the twenty-first century? And, more critically, what is representation’s importance?

This course serves as an early introduction into writing about gender and sexuality issues, but tied with how such issues and inequalities are represented in the aspects of the everyday; from the movies we see (Barbie, Promising Young Women, etc.), to the books we read (Grass, among others), and the social media that we are engaging with. We are also going to critically think about how far we’ve come and how far we still must go for equality and social change.

This course is designated to give you an introduction to university writing, including the preliminary aspects of crafting and implementing research tied to your burgeoning interests within this course. On top of the ability to write short, preliminary papers, you will be responsible for a final research paper due at the end of the semester. I will be here to guide you through the writing process and answer any questions you may have.

Svoboda, Michael - The Political Brain

We like to believe we can be perfectly rational. Consequently, when others disagree with us when we think we are being rational, we also like to believe our opponents are being completely irrational. Sadly, both beliefs are almost certainly false, especially when it comes to politics. Our political convictions have psychological underpinnings. But, we must hasten to add, our psychological analyses of politics can also be prompted by political motivations.

In “The Political Brain,” we will examine models of cognitive psychology, media biases and effects, moral psychology, neuro-politics, and popular culture to see what they can tell us about contemporary American politics.

In this section of UW 1020, you can join the ever-increasing number of media analysts, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and, yes, voters, who are trying to understand the dysfunctional state of American politics. Through a carefully selected set of readings, you will participate in a broad interdisciplinary conversation. And through the critical thinking, creative research, and reflective writing you will practice in the assignments for this course, you will be able to make an original contribution to this ongoing discussion.

Tomlinson, Niles - Satire as Social Critique

While satire has a long history of exposing social/political excess and human folly, never has it been so prevalent as in our current cultural moment. From Last Week Tonight and Full Frontal to Squid Game to the mockumentaries of Sasha Baron Cohen to the films Sorry to Bother You and Don’t Look Up, satire is a potent tool for illuminating the absurdities of extremist views, economic injustice, and partisan propaganda. This course starts with the question of why satire has become such a pervasive phenomenon and then moves towards an exploration of the value of, and potential problems with, satire as a rhetorical lens of social criticism.

This course will include assignments like a self-written and performed satire that critiques a relevant current issue, a critical reading of a satirical film or novel, and a capstone research project which will give students a chance to explore in depth an example of satire and/or comedy in contemporary culture. In all, this course will make the larger points that the language of satire and irony is our language and that laughter and seriousness are not mutually exclusive.

Troutman, Phillip - The Culture Wars at GW: 1970-2000

Today we are in the United States’s second Culture War” a struggle in which people deploy the rhetoric of personal and collective identity in a political battle over control of American culture and the American state. College campuses are often the front lines, with debates over civil rights, diversity and inclusion, cancel culture, safe spaces, and free speech. In this course, you will explore the first Culture War of the 1980s and 90s on the GW campus by digging into the University Archives and analyzing and interpreting primary sources. While the 1960s was dominated by anti-war protest, it also saw the birth of the Black People’s Union (now the Black Student Union), and out of both of those movements, in the 1970s came Women’s Liberation (the movement and the student organization), GW Pride (under various names), the Jewish Activist Front, and the mobilization of Middle Eastern and Arabic speaking students in the International Student Organization. Meanwhile, members of Young Americans for Freedom, a long-standing conservative organization, continued to debate and counter-protest their GW peers. Through the 1980s and 1990s, students organized around divestment from South Africa, questions of hate speech, fraternity culture, LGBTQ rights, non-discrimination language, and more. In the 1990s, Latinx students began organizing as well, carving out new cultural and rhetorical spaces on campus. In this course, you’ll explore archival documents, including news and opinions in the Hatchet; visual representation in the Cherry Tree; and miscellaneous student org flyers, brochures, and other ephemera documenting student events and initiatives. The course guides you through the writing process: engaging with prior scholarship, framing a research question, archival note-taking, summary/description, interpretation, narrative-building, drafting/revision, and peer review to help you craft your own original interpretation of GW’s First Culture War of the 1970s-90s.

Wolfe, Zachary - Law as a Force for Social Change

Each student’s own research and reflection will form a major part of this course, particularly in the final weeks. This course culminates in a research paper on a subject for which advocates today employ law to advance their cause. Within those general parameters, the specific topic is selected by each student, so this course will reflect intense research on a variety of subjects. While finalizing the research paper, each student will contribute to the others’ understanding of their respective topics through participation in an in-class conference.

Zink, Christine - Minding the Body: Writing in the Medical Humanities

Check the pulse. Record the numbers. Diagnose, close the chart, and move on. The work of medicine often concentrates on clinical action, but the world of the medical humanities has drawn our attention closer to the human inhabiting the body at study. How we reckon with life, death, and everything in between invites in equal parts science and art; to divorce the two is to create a false dichotomy that works against real-life standards of care.

Involving disciplines as wide-ranging as visual art and film, philosophy and bioethics, the social sciences, law, literature, and technology, the interdisciplinary field of the medical humanities recognizes that with each big innovation in health sciences come new critical questions about what it means to be human. Narrative science, a division in the field, increasingly examines the rhetoric of those stories in connection to scientific knowledge, not just as explanation but as active argument towards discovery. Research, critical listening and analysis, evaluating and interpreting evidence, coming to new understandings: the very talents needed for innovative practices in health and medicine are, in fact, present values shared with the academic writer. Rafael Campo, a physician and a poet himself, argues that “the work of doctors will always necessarily take place at the intersection of science and language.” Projects for this course, then, focus on that intersection, first studying texts from writers who bring together diverse perspectives on medicine and science and then creating our own research that argues for new, collaborative understandings of body and mind.

Spring 2023

Abbas, Nasreen - The Othering of Muslims: Neo-Orientalism and Diasporic Literature in the Twenty-first Century

In the aftermath of 9/11, Neo-Orientalist stereotypes emerged wherein Muslims were perceived as individuals consumed by religious fervor and therefore, proponents of terrorism. Subsequently, diasporic novel writers in English with northwestern Asian roots have also been accused of Neo-Orientalism towards Muslims in order to garner Western readership. In this course, students will question what makes a nation: A common language, ethnicity, or religion? What role does gender play in a conservative society? How the different identities one holds within these communities can exclude one from being part of a country, an ethnic group or gender, regardless of where that individual resides—the West or the East.

Prescribed texts by diasporic writers, such as Home Fire, The Kite Runner, and independent readings will serve as an entry point to examine the larger issues of Neo-Orientalist theory in the twenty-first century. You will also critically analyze what it means to be a girl/woman in a conservative society; to be condemned because of one’s ethnicity or religious beliefs; to be part of an ethnic diaspora or a subjugated class within a nation.

You will, moreover, explore topics and critically analyze what it means to be a post, post, post-colonial writer living and writing about the life choices and extent of assimilation of fellow immigrants within the UK. These immigrants continue to be condemned by their British counterparts for their lack of “Britishness” some four generations later. Is it because of ethnicity or religious beliefs that immigrants with Pakistani roots refuse to assimilate and continue to be part of an ethnic diaspora or a subjugated class within the nation? In this course, students will identify tropes within the texts that could possibly be deemed as Neo-Orientalism. In what ways can a writer with Pakistani roots legitimately critique fellow Pakistani immigrants or their birth country without being accused of Neo-Orientalism?

Art, Andrew - Saying I: Point of View as Rhetorical Strategy

In this course, we will examine how authors include themselves in texts. When does the first-person point of view successfully contribute to an argument? How can drawing from our personal experience create an effective portrait of the author? What does storytelling afford our writing? How do we talk about ourselves? By considering the rhetorical implications of writers calling attention to their individuality, we will approach the topic of subjectivity as it relates to various academic disciplines. With this framework in mind, we will read and discuss texts in a variety of genres: documentary films, critical theory, peer-reviewed research, investigative journalism, poetry, and self-portraits. In each case, we will consider the presence or the absence of the author, how they establish authority and trust, and the roles that visual and linguistic rhetoric play in our response to argument and point of view. Among shorter writing exercises, you will have the opportunity to contribute to an existing body of scholarship in a research project that will include an exploration of the personal dimensions of thinking and writing within a discourse community. You will be encouraged to develop your own identity as a writer and consider how your lived experiences contribute to existing conversations.

Barlow, Jameta - Writing Science and Health: Women's Health As Point of Inquiry

This community engaged writing course meets any student, STEM major or not, at the door of discovery. Recent political moments have attempted to sanitize science in a way that can inhibit such discovery. We, as co-learners, will describe scientific discoveries so our audience could possibly replicate the experience. This method offers you to consider multiple standpoints, interrogate their philosophy of science and consider alternative ways of knowing—all skills critical to introducing you to university writing and an academic learning environment.

You will leave this class appreciating the discovery and application of science (STEM), improving critical thinking skills and communicating through multiple genres. Teaching students how to deconstruct research, as well as think critically about current events in STEM may encourage ongoing practice beyond the end of the course. Women’s health remains a timely science and health-based issue, deeply immersed in politics. We will anchor our learning process by using women’s health as the point of inquiry into writing about science and health, working directly with a DC area organization. Students will participate in community engaged writing and see their writing live on in the mission of the organization.

You will engage in a comprehensive overview of the intricacies between objectivity, moral ethic, science and truth. This process will expand your approach to information—how you receive it and how you understand it—as well as inform your worldview and give you applied experience.

Bolgiano, Anney - Apology Studies

Once we start paying attention, we find apologies everywhere – they are issued in press briefings from local government officials, folded into a national spending bill, posted on a celebrity’s Instagram, enacted through material reparations, recited on the floor of a nation’s parliament, sung in the lyrics of a song, inscribed in a memorial, spoken during a news conference or an interview on Oprah, or written in a personal letter.

Studying the amorphous genre of apology not only forefronts rhetorical principles but invites us into the fields of philosophy, political science, art and criticism, law, social work, communications, and more. In this course we will first examine and attempt to define the genre and subgenres of apology. We will then analyze various cases to study the rhetorical devices applied and identify the strategies and appeals the apologizer uses and assess their effectiveness (first discussing possible definitions of “effective”). Students are also invited to question – is an apology an argument? What are the limits of an apology? Are rhetorical frameworks helping in understanding apologies? What do apologies teach us about the workings of language in relation to our social values? Are apologies always helpful? We will explore these and other questions through writing, research, and discussion. We will practice writing as an extension of our private thought process, as well as towards a clearly defined purpose, including a researched argument at the end of the course.

Some students have reported that this course equips them with a practical knowledge of apologies and strategies they might apply, while others approach the course with greater interest in how to analyze, rather than how to make an apology. Through reflective writing, research, and discussions, I hope you are able to clarify and distill some of your thoughts. However, I’ll know I did my job well if you leave the course with more questions than answers.

Carter, Katharine - Racial Implications: Critical Responses Through the Lens of Systemic Inequity

From federal and state laws to school and workforce rules and codes of conduct, systems have historically placed barriers to people’s freedoms and access to opportunities on the basis of race.

Additionally, these institutionalized drivers of inequity are often embedded into society’s culture, where they are far more subtle but equally as unjust. Scholars have used critical responses to identify and address instances of these occurrences.

In this course students will learn the tenets of critical race theory, highlight examples of institutionalized racism in a wide variety of readings, and demonstrate applications of systemic inequity to real-life occurrences. Students will be tasked with reading a variety of sources, including legislative proposals, existing laws, opinion pieces, social media posts, historical texts, and media coverage of current events. Through each assigned reading, learners will explore the various ways that inequity is related to its messaging.

Students will use critical analysis to provide written responses to the readings that will communicate how the content of readings can have an impact on disadvantaged groups. The responses will examine the broader issues of systemic oppression and implicit bias beyond the primary message of the reading.

Corwin, David - Friendships, Rhetoric, and Identity

My course description is: This course will focus on the rhetorical constructions of one of most important, but often most complicated relationships---friendships. Through literature, television, the social sciences, and rhetorical theory, we will focus on the importance of friendships for college students, the rhetorical construction of friendships (Aristotle, Plato, and Montaigne’s rhetoric of friendships), representations in popular culture, and how through a deeper understanding of them these relationships can advocate for social change.

Our projects in this course will center around developing our writing, critical thinking, and research skills through friendships as our objects. In the course, we will complete a narrative argument assignment that asks you to make an argument about friendships and their important for college students, a research paper of your choice related to friendships within your major (broadly understand) or professional/personal interests, and a final assignment that asks you to rhetorically situate friendships within social change through a genre of your choice.

Counts, Benjamin - Conflict, Kayfabe, and Information Literacy

This course examines the idea of conflict rhetoric as strategic performance art. Students will be introduced to the novel frameworks of kayfabe and ur-conflict in order to examine several political conflicts, including ongoing disputes in the United States and internationally. We will familiarize ourselves with the jargon and narrative structure of professional wrestling, using its terms as lenses to examine Congress, Israel and Palestine, and any other conflicts that may be of interest. We will come to see how all political conflicts operate at three levels: That which is shown, that which is hidden, and that which goes unnoticed.

Along the way, students will read from masters of political commentary, narrative, and analysis, including Joan Didion, Colum McCann, Mark Leibovich, and Deborah Stone. Students will learn how to spot the “inside baseball” played by media figures, allowing them to differentiate analysis from promotion, narrative from fact, and theater from strategy.

Daqqa, Hanan - Not Another Home Movie

What are the similarities between home movies and selfies? Home movies and autobiographies? What does it take to write a script for your own family story?

This writing class will challenge you to dig deeper, get closer, experience the power of vulnerability, and connect with your strength.

Through several small assignments, you will experiment and search within until you find that personal story you want to document and maybe share with future generations.

Next, you will follow your curiosity and write an exploratory paper, an intelligent detective story, exploring a question inspired by your personal story.

Informed by your research, you will enrich your story and then recreate it into a script that gives voices to the characters in your story. This script is your final product, and you can transform it into a short film — not another home movie — if you choose to collaborate with film students outside of the classroom or use the media resources available at our library.

Overall, this course will include three writing assignments: a personal essay, a research paper, and a script.

Fletcher, Wade - An Empirical Approach: Writing in the Social Sciences

Media portrayals of social science research, such as a Time Magazine report on “how laughter can boost one’s attractiveness,” often result in sensational claims made in limited contexts, which some scholars say devalues the important work being done in fields such as sociology, psychology, and education. How is social science research relevant to our daily lives? What ethical implications accompany such research? How do disciplinary conventions function in social science disciplines, and how do these differ from those with which we are more accustomed?

In this course, we will seek to better understand how knowledge is constructed in the social sciences, explore how this knowledge is communicated rhetorically, and consider how tenets of social science research and writing can inform our own work in other areas and disciplines. Assignments will include three papers of increasing length — a genre analysis, a rhetorical analysis, and an argumentative research paper on a current issue in a social science discipline — as well as short projects, a poster presentation, and contributions to an online class discussion forum.

Francois, Emma - Fashioning Thought: Writing with Style & Intent

Friedman, Sandie - Writing About Writing

Who are you as a writer? What experiences have shaped your relationship to writing? How do your ideas about writing help or hinder you when facing a new writing challenge? This course begins by inviting you to reflect on your past experiences of writing, both in and out of school. We go on to study key texts and concepts in writing studies: the field of scholarship that seeks to understand the social forces and technologies that shape us as writers, how people learn to overcome blocks and write effectively, and how writers transfer knowledge from one context to another. The premise of this course is that by studying writing itself, you can become a more effective writer in any context—academic, professional, or social.

For the major project of the semester, you will choose an issue related to student writing, for example: writing in STEM fields, being a multilingual writer, or the challenges of writing during Covid. Working in research teams, you will gather survey data from your peers about this issue, and write a research report to present to your team and perhaps to share more widely. By conducting your own research on writing, building on other scholars’ research, you can become a more skilled, self-aware, and flexible writer. You may even, as Jesmyn Ward asserts, come to feel that you have more power over your own life: “I believe there is power in words, power in asserting our existence, our experience, our lives, through words.”

Gamber, Cayo - Legacies of the Holocaust

Every UW 1020 course requires ‘finished’ writing, developed in a rigorous composition process often consisting of pre-draft preparation, drafts, and revisions based on instructor’s advice and classmates’ comments. In this course, the series of tasks you will perform — including writing a research paper that integrates both primary and secondary sources — are designed both to help you become familiar with an array of research efforts as well as familiar with writing an authoritative study of your chosen topic. In this course, we analyze primary documents from the Shoah — photographs and oral histories, in particular. I ask that we engage with these materials because such research encourages us to value the research findings of others; to acquire research skills; to recognize the ways in which primary materials are central to both the research process and the conclusions one draws; and, perhaps most importantly, to realize our analysis allows us to make meaningful additions to the academic conversation about a given topic. The range of research topics is wide, from the role art played in the Holocaust to the workings of a particular concentration camp; or from the role liberators played (or failed to play) to what is known about the "bearers of secrets," the Sonderkommando, who were eyewitnesses to the Final Solution. While we may not be able to make amends for the Holocaust, I believe that through the careful study of the lives of those who perished and the words of those who survived, we become witnesses for the eyewitnesses, witnesses who are willing to be bearers of the stories and history of the Shoah.

Gretes, Andrew - Existentialism and the Rhetoric of Authenticity

Few philosophical movements have sparked the popular imagination as vividly as existentialism. But what precisely was (is?) existentialism? Was it merely what we call “emo” in embryo, or was there something of more substance underneath all those black turtlenecks and angsty bumper stickers? In this course, we’ll explore rhetoric and writing by examining a host of existential concepts, such as despair, angst, authenticity, freedom, and mass-man (aka “sheeple”). In particular, we’ll take a close look at the various rhetorical stages that existentialists choose to audition their ideas—be they parables, dramas, aphorisms, or analytic essays—and how such genres entail specific appeals and strategies. Throughout the semester, students will engage in a variety of writing projects, including a research-based essay in which students will take a specific concept from existentialism and use it as a tool to explore and re-think an issue in our own culture.

Hijazi, Nabila - Contested Bodies: Beyond a Standard Refugee Narrative

Holloway, Shaun - Food Fight! Reading and Writing about Food

As often as food brings people together, it also has the power to erect divisions. From debates around what constitutes authentic food (does ‘real’ chili have beans in it?), from geographical discrepancies (New York vs. Chicago style pizza), to cultural (appropriate versus appreciation), ethical (eating meat and dairy) and economic concerns (labeling of non-dairy milks), to combinations of all of the above (how much to tip a delivery driver?).

This course will examine the multitude of ways that food binds us in glutenous strands or divides us like oil and water. We will do this through a variety of approaches resembling a potluck, including reading a variety of texts including articles, restaurant reviews, and recipes, as well as listening to podcasts, watching videos, and engaging in the gustatory pleasure of food. While doing this we will engage in the writing process to generate work. Throughout the course, we will develop your skills in writing, reading, critical thinking, research, collaboration, and technology.

This course aims to push the boundaries of what you may consider ‘typical’ of writing, and the most successful students are ones who approach with an open mind and are able to think of new ways to conduct research and engage in writing as a collaborative process. To grow these skills, we will produce three essays: an personal essay, an opinion piece, and a radical revision based on the previous two, turning your essay into a new form of media. To prepare for these projects, we will write weekly responses to readings to facilitate a fruitful class discussion.

Snacks are encouraged.

Janzen, Kristi - Beyond The Numbers: Business, Money & Markets

This course aims to deepen students’ understanding of business, money and markets, while introducing them to university-level research and academic writing. By examining writings on currently hot financial-news topics—such as inflation, cryptocurrency, the cost of higher education, corporate earnings, interest rates, mortgages, anti-trust laws, the minimum wage, taxes, and more—students will both broaden their practical understanding of business and the economy, and hone their ability to write about them. Students will read about the discipline of writing and examine different styles and types of business/economics writing. We will also discuss research techniques, context, information sources, and methods of evaluating those sources, while analyzing why and how particular choices are made about what data or information to include or exclude. Several smaller writing assignments will lead up to a research paper, in which the student presents evidence and supports a new claim on a subject of their choosing within the realm of business and economics. Over the course of the class, students will discuss their writing in class, both to improve everyone’s writing and to enrich our understanding of the broad range of topics.

Machaqueiro, Raquel - Environmental Injustice, Racism, and Social Inequality

In this interdisciplinary course, we will use an intersectional lens to examine several cases of environmental injustice, ranging from situations of neglect on the part of authorities, to cases of corporate greed, and situations that reproduce old colonial logics of exploitation. Using case-studies from different parts of the world we will explore how race, social class, and gender determine how certain populations are disproportionately affected by environmental problems. We will also focus on how intentional neglect, institutional regulations and policies, and/or corporate decisions deliberately target certain communities, as well as how certain environmental conservation initiatives actively contribute to forms of dispossessing poor populations. Throughout the semester, each student will develop their own research – using academic sources accessed through the library databases and media material – on a specific case of injustice, racism, and/or inequality involving the environment, fulfilling several writing assignments that will lead to a final project on the student’s case of choice. In this final project each student will apply key-concepts and analytical frameworks from class reading materials, refining their writing skills and analytical capacities.

McCaughey, Jessica - “I Tried to Live, but I got Distracted”: How to Think, Act, and Write in a World that Wants to Sidetrack You

Michiels, Paul - Writing and Learning

Mitchell, Carol - Exploring Linguistic Justice

The way we express ourselves orally is as much a reflection of our identity as any other characteristic we present to the world. It should therefore be no surprise that language is often a source of discrimination; the way one speaks can determine how one is treated and whether one’s voice is heard or silenced. English dialects, for example, African American Vernacular English, are ranked and pigeon-holed into specific situations in which they are considered acceptable and others in which they are unacceptable. How does this ranking impact the speakers (both those whose language is ranked lowest and highest) in terms of the way they are perceived and their access to resources? What are some of the ways in which linguistic justice and racial justice interact? How can multiple Englishes co-exist in informal, formal, and educational settings? How should our understanding of language grow to better recognize the diverse nature of the people who speak it? These are some of the ideas we will question, discuss, research, and write about as we explore Linguistic Justice through readings, film, and other media.

This is a writing intensive course in which you will add your voice to the conversation and develop your rhetorical and research skills through reflective writing, a rhetorical analysis project, a researched argument paper (including an annotated bibliography), and a final assignment which will allow you to hone your skills in writing in a genre of your choice.

Mullen, Mark - Paying (for) Attention

Myers, Danika - Making It!: Etsy Economics, Pinterest Aesthetics, and American Craftwork

In the spring of 2020, with COVID-19 creating a global health crisis, the New York Times published a printable pattern for sewing a face mask, and people across the United States threaded needles and got to work. Some were sewing for their families, some for extended social networks, and some craft collectives used social media to form, organize, and produce thousands of masks in just a few weeks. COVID-19 may be new, but the intersection between hi-tech communication and old-timey craft traditions is not. Since the early 21st century, new platforms like Reddit and YouTube have provided resources for those interested in learning old skills and sharing new techniques. Even as craft-specific social networks like Ravelry have helped knitters connect and innovate, and banned knitting patterns that support white supremacy, crafters of color have used Instagram and Twitter to call out racism and exclusionary practices in predominantly white craft circles and “little yarn shops.” Craft and craft communities provide evidence scholars can use to answer myriad questions about culture, society, labor, and aesthetics. What has it historically meant to make something by hand in America, and what does it mean now? Why is it so surprising to see a man knit a sweater? Why are “crafts” treated as different from “art”? Why do scholars find craft blogs useful for understanding 21st century labor and economics, and community gardening useful for understanding principles of human-technology interface design? In this section of University Writing 1020 we will approach scholarship about American craftwork and crafters as a case study for learning about academic writing and research conventions. We will both become familiar with and practice some of the genres scholars use to write about craft and craft labor, developing sufficient expertise to provide each other with feedback on the writing we produce. This section of UW1020 also uses labor-based contract grading to support rigorous engagement with writing practice. This model is designed as an anti-racist teaching practice that supports every student's right to use their own written language to communicate. As part of this model you will learn new approaches to writing that you can rely on in future classes where traditional grading models are still in place.

Pollack, Rachel - Dutch Painting at the National Gallery of Art

In this course we will develop writing skills through careful observation and analysis of 17th Century Dutch painting at the National Gallery of Art. Each student will write 2 polished catalogue entries (2-3 pages each) of works from the National Gallery collection, a short exhibition review (3-5 pages), a short research paper (5-7 pages) and a larger research project (15-20 pages). Artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Frans Hals will be the central focus of class discussion, as well as various landscape and still life masters. We will explore issues of technique (i.e. materials and methods) and art historical interpretations. Why do we consider Rembrandt a "genius?" Did Vermeer use the camera obscura? How did the new wealthy middle class affect art patronage? Together we will read a selection of scholarly articles related to each subject, as well as visiting the museum collection firsthand. Through critical writing, class discussion, and individual research, each student will learn to see and appreciate the art of the Dutch Golden Age.

Presser, Pamela - Writing Lives: Composing Consciousness and Service Learning

NOTE: This is a service learning course. Learn more about service learning courses.

NOTE: This course will be taught via remote instruction.

Quave, Kylie - Writing the Past for the Future: Archaeologies of Racism and Anti-racism

Russ, Ebony - Anti-Racist Writing in the 21st Century

Ryder, Phyllis - Writing for Social Change

NOTE: This course is a service learning course. For more information, see http://serve.gwu.edu/information-students.

Sauer, Beverly - Risk Communication

Ultimately, students will develop critical thinking skills that enable them to identify and mitigate communication failures before, during, and after a crisis.

No technical experience is required.

Schell, Heather - Enthusiastic Consent: Love and Romance in Contemporary American Culture

In the era of incels, swiping left & #metoo, we might be forgiven for thinking that romantic love is in the midst of a terrible crisis. Critics worry that this new environment will ruin sex, or that it frames everyone as either a victim or a villain. Some conservative pundits are still panicking over same-sex and interracial marriages, which they see as the threat to the very existence of the family. What we’re witnessing is a historic, complex transformation in how Americans understand their intimate relationships. Many of these changes are being driven by young people. Our cultural representations of love reflect these shifts, with popular romance novels, rom-coms, songs, comics, computer games, and so forth, exploring new protagonists, new scenarios, and even new subgenres.

How will modern love reshape our culture? What changes should we foster, and which should we resist? This course will explore the issue by studying the perspectives of romance novelists, scholars, intellectuals, and other experts, as well as romance novels. Your big writing project will invite you to formulate and systematically investigate some key research question about a specific issue related to our changing cultural understanding of romance, love, or relationships.

Smith, Caroline - Happily Ever After: Writing about Romantic Comedies

Girl meets boy. It’s the simple plotline of the incredibly popular genre known as the romantic comedy. While admittedly rom coms are entertaining, these “fluffy,” “feel good” films also contain strong messaging about American ideals and values — particularly regarding gender, race, sexuality, and class.

In this class, we will watch and discuss romantic comedies, focusing on the ways in which this genre treats identity politics. Who do we see in these films? Who don’t we see? What roles are men supposed to play in these films? What roles do women play in these films? And, why do we often see a surge of interest in the genre during particularly distressing times in American culture. (This remains true in the age of COVID-19 as films such as Jennifer Lopez’s upcoming Marry Me, series such as Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever, and upcoming adaptations such as Camille Perri’s When Katie Met Cassidy have been popping up.)

We will also read and write about these films. Rom coms provide us with a clear example of the concept of genre and prepare us as we read different genres. We will discuss how audiences have different expectations depending on genre (for instance, we probably don’t want to see a protagonist die at the end of a rom com) and how various genres require different “writerly” expectations (for instance, when reading a scholarly article about a film, the writer would probably not use slang). Students will produce writing assignments in a variety of genres, including an independent research project on the topic of their choice. The skills we will work on in this introductory course will prepare students for other academic challenges throughout the remainder of their college career.

Svoboda, Michael - The Political Brain

Tomlinson, B. - Fake News and Ironic Views: Satire as Social Critique

While satire has a long history of exposing social/political excess and human folly, never has it been so prevalent as in our current cultural moment. From The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to The Simpsons to the mockumentaries of Sasha Baron Cohen to the controversial Jutland Post Muhammad cartoons, satire is a potent and sometimes dangerous rhetorical tool for illuminating the absurdities of extremist views and partisan propaganda. This course starts with the question of why satire has become such a pervasive phenomenon and then moves towards an exploration of the value of, and potential problems with, satire as a rhetorical lens of social criticism.

This course will include assignments like a self-written and performed satire that critiques a relevant current issue, a rhetorical analysis of a scholarly article on satire, a critical reading of a satirical film or novel, and a capstone research project which will give students a chance to explore in depth a particular example of satire in contemporary culture. In all, this course will make the larger points that the language of satire and irony is our language and that laughter and seriousness are not mutually exclusive.

Wilkerson, Abby - Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability, Intersectionality, & Social Justice

From Disney villains, blind superheroes, and YA romances with cancer storylines, to sports injuries and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for disabled students, we see social dynamics of disability. According to the philosopher Susan Wendell, “the oppression of disabled people is the oppression of everyone’s real bodies” — and, we should add, our minds and emotions. If you care about social justice, this class will interest you, even if you have never thought much about disability before. What do disability perspectives reveal about what is considered normal and why “normalcy” seems to matter so much? What do they reveal about the effects of labeling and stigmatizing people’s identities? How does disability intersect with race, sexual identity, socioeconomic class, and gender?

And what do the words “out and proud” mean to you? For some disabled activists identifying as “crip,” these words convey resistance to demands for conformity. Some “crip” activists, writers, and artists are LGBTQAI+ activists identifying as “queer,” or inspired by queer activism and culture. Together we’ll explore how the language we use to talk about disability and the stories we tell might shift perspectives. For the major research project, students collaborate, interviewing people you know and composing narratives, then putting these stories in conversation with published scholarship in order to highlight, understand, and critique social dynamics of disability.

Wolfe, Zachary - Law as a Force for Social Change

This course uses the theme of law and its role in progressive social movements to introduce students to university-level research and writing. Understanding that law is an important means by which we structure social relations consistent with shared values, this course will examine historical and contemporary social movements that have used the language of rights and turned to legal systems for solutions. We will explore how advocates for social change — in the streets, in courtrooms, and in academic journals — have challenged and redefined foundational concepts, invoking history and law in order to challenge the status quo. Throughout all of this, we consider how to evaluate arguments, what makes for effective advocacy, and the ways in which thoughtful analysis contributes to our understanding of contentious social issues. Each student’s own research and reflection will form a major part of this course, particularly in the final weeks. This course culminates in a research paper on a subject for which advocates today employ law to advance their cause. Within those general parameters, the specific topic is selected by each student, so this course will reflect intense research on a variety of subjects. While finalizing the research paper, each student will contribute to the others’ understanding of their respective topics through participation in an in-class conference.

Zink, Christine - Minding the Body: Writing in the Medical Humanities