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| Summer 2009 Course Descriptions The Expository Writing Program offers summer courses in Academic Writing. Classes are small, no more than 12 students, and are organized around three major sequences of instruction. Students work closely with instructors on how to read and summarize texts, how to analyze texts, and how to organize their thinking in clearly written essays. Courses are offered this summer in two categories: Writing about Literature, and Writing about Social and Ethical Issues. In all sections, however, the central subject is writing: the strategies and techniques of academic writing. TERM II 060.105.01 Academic Writing: Writing about Literature (MWTh 1:00-3:30) This writing seminar will examine how scientists and figures of monstrosity are represented in two classic fictional works, Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" and Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We will consider how these works address the limits of ambition and scientific knowledge as well as questions of family, identity, and sexuality. The class will focus on close readings of the fictional texts and analysis of the critical sources. Readings will be supplemented by viewings of recent film adaptations. 060.105.02 Academic Writing: Writing about Social and Ethical Issues (MWTh 3:00-5:30) In the 60s and 70s, Baltimore city leaders launched an ambitious project to redevelop downtown and the Inner Harbor. Many observers celebrate this project as the centerpiece of a renewed Baltimore and recommend it as a model for other cities; critics claim the redevelopment has created two Baltimores, one affluent and one not, and thus discourage the "Baltimore Model" of redevelopment. In this writing seminar, we will analyze competing claims about Baltimore's redevelopment in the context of current political and economic thinking about the global economy. The course includes a walking tour of downtown and the Inner Harbor. 060.105.03 Academic Writing: Writing about Social and Ethical Issues (MWTh 4:00-6:30) Are rational beliefs always supported by evidence, or can faith-based beliefs also be rational? This writing seminar will examine the relation between faith and reason through a careful reading of W. K. Clifford's "The Ethics of Belief," which argues that it is always wrong for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence, and of William James's "The Will to Believe," which argues for a legitimate role for faith-based belief. Sources include short fiction (Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery") and documentary films (The Devil's Playground, Religulous). |