Spring 2010 Syllabus
ESG 21W.735, Writing and Reading the Essay

Instructor: Dave Custer Office: 24-611, 2nd door, first desk on the left Office Hours: probably Mondays, 5:00 to 7:00, and many other odd times Phone: x3-7787 (this phone is currently broken) E-mail: custer@mit.edu

Connecting the dots

Writing and Reading are iterative, fractal, recursive, and collaborative processes that connect the dots of human experience. 21W.735 provides participants with the opportunity to find, create, and connect dots; further, it provides participants with a dot starter kit that includes dots related to nature and energy. Participants are expected to contribute both dots and connections according to the expertise and inclination of the contributor &mdash there is no requirement that these added dots have any direct bearing on nature or energy.

21W.735 learning objective: develop intellect &mdash an addiction to dots, connecting dots, and recognizing patterns in the web of dots and connections.

Writing

Writing is a way of figuring out how to connect dots. The result of writing is yet another dot. Participants are expected to write 7 essays, of various lengths. Each essay should develop over a period of weeks. Expect to share drafts with fellow participants for comment. You are encouraged to experiment with several types of essay; expect the topics/constraints of the essays to be generally open ended. If you like, by all means disregard the assigned topic's constraints, though it is best to let Dave know of such changes in a timely manner.

A note on page count: page length in and of itself is not a characteristic of good writing. Nonetheless, for the sake of estimating work load and targeting essay ambition, expect your semester's worth of essays to weigh in at about 35 pages by the semester's end.

brief essay listing:

Reading

The process of moving one's eyes across paper or screen in a finite, linear manner is merely a single step of the fractal, recursive essence of reading. Expect to re-read, annotate, analyze, and connect the text being read. Document the reading, the analysis, and the connection in your reading journal. Some readings may not require such scrutiny, in which case you'll be alerted to the reduced reading expectation.

The nature/energy essay reading dot kit will (probably) include:

Additionally:

Collaborating

Field Trips

I will arrange a Wed afternoon/evening field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts to survey how "nature" appears in art. Probably the Wed before Spring Break, March 17.

In May when the weather is good and the trees are green, I'd like to take class to the source: Walden Pond.

Grading

Your grade is based on the evidence of the connection of dots. Expect that the grade is weighted according to the time expected of each activity, roughly 25% class participation/discussion, 25% reading, and 50% writing. Dave will let you know as soon as the evidence suggests inadequate performantce (less than C level).

Come to class; do not challange the Writing Program policy of auto failing students who miss more than 5 classes.

Prolonged or unscheduled procrastination is the most common impediment to timely writing and reading; thus the most common impediment to 21W.735 success. Dave will structure the assignment schedule to even out the workload over the semester, but Dave is a poor enforcer of deadlines and has a genuine disinterest in giving grades, so you'll need to find other ways to motivate your reading and writing.

Target muster for an A essay: essays in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine.

The big bad P word: plagiarism

Plagiarism: Using someone else's language and/or ideas without proper attribution is academically dishonest. As members of this class and the larger scholarly community you are expected to abide by the norms of academic honesty. While a good deal of collaboration is encouraged in and out of class, failing to acknowledge sources or willfully misrepresenting the work of others as your own will not be tolerated. Everything you submit must be your own work, written specifically for this class. Plagiarism can result in withdrawal from the course with a grade of F, suspension, or expulsion from the Institute.

The booklet Academic Integrity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: A Handbook for Students explains these issues in detail, and you are responsible for understanding its contents. You are also welcome to consult the Writing Center's online site, Avoiding Plagiarism. If you have questions, talk to Dave.

The writing center

The Writing and Communication Center (12-132) offers free one-on-one professional advice from lecturers who are published writers about all types of academic, creative, and professional writing and about all aspects of oral presentations. Go to http://writing.mit.edu/wcc and click on "Appointments." The Center's core hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; evening and Sunday hours vary by semester &mdash check the online scheduler for up-to-date hours.