I. Description and Goals of the Course
English 1050H, the concluding class in the composition sequence for Honors students at the University of Georgia, is a topics course developed by the individual instructor. As part of the interdisciplinary sequence centered around the Human Genome Project, English 1050H complements, rather than merely supports, the other classes. Students will work on papers and writing skills related to other courses in the sequence, but will also concentrate on writing and critical thinking as subjects in themselves. English 1050H: In Search of Daisy: Writing about the Human Genome Project, has six general goals:
1. To help students write"in the disciplines." In this course, students will be encountering the vocabulary and conventions of several different academic disciplines: genetics, statistics, philosophy, speech communication, and English. The Freshman writing course introduces students to the rhetoric of the different disciplines that they encounter. Students study kinds of writing as writing in order to understand the rhetoric of different disciplines. Students also practice basic modes of writing--reports, description, comparison/contrast, synthesis, analysis, and argument--as required by the disciplines included in the course. Thus, the writing class supports and reinforces the learning that goes on in other parts of the class by helping students write critically about a single subject from several disciplinary perspectives. The class will also include an emphasis on technical writing and editing in the disciplines.
2. To use writing as a "mode of learning." Research has shown that writing is one of the best tools available to human beings for understanding and thinking critically about intellectual problems and the content of their reading. Students will use informal writing exercises and a continuing on-line journal to recount and reflect upon their readings and class discussions in the course as a whole.
3. To use writing to promote critical thinking. Rhetorician Richard Lanham has argued that the Freshman writing class provides students with a unique space, where they may collate and reflect critically upon information and intellectual perspectives encountered in other portions of their undergraduate courses. Thus, the Freshman writing course provides unity for an otherwise fragmentary academic experience. With this aim in mind, students use personal and analytic writing to reflect ethically upon those issues and to translate the vocabulary and technical information of the disciplines into the language of everyday use. Put simply, students learn to translate technical ideas for a general audience that includes both themselves and other persons within and outside the academy. In this way, students use writing to develop as citizens, to communicate with varied audiences, and to focus generally on writing skills, irrespective of discipline.
4. To practice modes of writing useful for college students. At the University of Georgia, the Freshman Composition sequence emphasizes the rhetoric of the essay. Students learn to master the kinds of writing tasks and forms that will help them in their college careers and beyond.
5. To learn and practice processes of invention, revision, and editing. As in the standard Freshman Composition sequence, the English 1050H class will focus on writing as both process and product. Students will learn methods of invention as well as arrangement, will receive feedback on drafts of their papers from both teacher and peer review groups, and will attend to matters of form and grammar in their final drafts.
6. To write within a computer-mediated environment. The Freshman Composition sequence at the University of Georgia recognizes that in both school and the workplace, writers are now deeply involved with technology. For this class, students will use a course web site, participate in an on-line discussion group, and produce a collaborative web site.
Writing in the Disciplines:
II. Assignments and Reading
As stated before, in this class students will study and practice both the kinds of writing necessary for other classes in the interdisciplinary sequence, but they will also concentrate on writing as a craft. They therefore will work on papers for other classes, but will also have assignments unique to the Freshman Composition course. Writing activities will include:
| Week 1 (Jan 9, 11) | Lives of the Monster Dogs |
| Week 2 (Jan 16, 18) | Lives of the Monster Dogs |
| Week 3 (Jan 23, 25) | Lives of the Monster Dogs
James Dickey, "Sheep Boy" Jan 25: Paper #1 due |
| Week 4 (Jan 30, Feb 1) | Frankenstein |
| Week 5 (Feb 6, 8) | Frankenstein
Darwin excerpts (on-line) |
| Week 6 (Feb 13, 15) | Frankenstein
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| Week 7 (Feb 20, 22) | Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker |
| Week 8 (Feb 27, Mar 1) | Richard Lanham, Revising Prose |
| SPRING BREAK (Mar 5-9) | Independent Study and Reading |
| Week 9 (Mar 13, 15) | Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker
Mar 15: Paper #3 due |
| Week 10 (Mar 20, 22) | William Shakespeare, The Tempest |
| Week 11 (Mar 27, 29) | William Shakespeare, The Tempest
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| Week 12 (Apr 3, 5) | Aime Cesaire, A Tempest
Apr 5: Paper #4 due |
| Week 13 (Apr 10, 12) | Ursula K. Le Guin, Left Hand of Darkness |
| Week 14 (Apr 17, 19) | Ursula K. Le Guin, Left Hand of Darkness |
| Week 15 (Apr 24, 26) | Ursula K. Le Guin, Left Hand of Darkness
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| Week 16 (Apr 30) | Apr 30: Collaborative Website due |