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Winter 2002
This information effective for Winter 2002.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
Winter 2002
Instructor: Sarah Rabkin, Lecturer in Writing
TTh 8:00–9:45 a.m.
Social Sciences 1 145
Restricted to upper-division ES majors who have fulfilled the “C”requirement
“I write to oppose injustice, to defy power, and to speak for the voiceless. ...I write to give pleasure and promote aesthetic bliss. To honor life and to praise the divine beauty of the natural world. I write for the joy and exultation of writing itself. To tell my story.” —Edward Abbey, “A Writer’s Credo”
This course helps students improve their writing skills in order to increase
their impact as environmental activists. Assignments emphasize getting ideas
on paper quickly, revising adeptly, researching effectively, and tempering powerful
passions with carefully developed arguments. Students read each other’s
work as well as that of established writers in order to identify the qualities
that characterize persuasive environmental writing in a variety of genres.
Each student is expected to complete in-class writing exercises, draft and revise several formal assignments, participate in peer editing sessions, and prepare and present a brief talk on an environmental writer. Deadlines are frequent and usually non-negotiable, so only take the class if you are willing to keep up. The quality of discussions hinges on your preparedness, so I expect you to attend class meetings on time, participate attentively and actively, and do the assigned reading faithfully. There will be no examination, but please save the scheduled final exam time slot for a class reading. You will be required to hand in a detailed self-evaluation at quarter’s end; please keep all returned work until then.
There is usually a waiting list for this class. If you miss or come late to the first or second meeting, you can lose your place.
Sarah Rabkin, 439/441 Natural Sciences 2. Office hours: Wednesdays 11:00-2:00.
Office phone: 459-2306. E-mail: srabkin@cats.ucsc.edu
A Message from Slug Books: The textbooks and reader for this class will be available exclusively from the Slug Books Co-op. Please DO NOT purchase your textbooks from the Bay Tree Bookstore. Slug Books is a student/alumni-run co-op discount textbook store. Payment may be made by cash, check, or credit card, and returns are accepted through sometime around the second week of the quarter. (Contact Slug for exact dates.) Slug Books is located at 224 Cardiff Place, by 7-11 and Bay Federal Credit Union, just two blocks from the base of campus. Hours are usually 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the first week of the quarter and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend of the quarter. Normal hours are usually 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information please contact Slug Books at 469-SLUG, info@slugbooks.com, or http://www.slugbooks.com
Rant and Rave
Initial Writing in Class Tuesday, January 9
Revised Passage Due Thursday, January 11
In class, after the introductory discussion, choose an environmentally-related
issue that heats your blood—one that arouses your anger, grief, exultation,
or other passion. For twenty minutes, write quickly, without stopping, everything
you feel, think, believe, care about, know, and wish you knew in relation to
this issue. Take this piece of “hot” writing home with you, let it
“cool” for a few hours; then use it as the basis for a passage (roughly
one page) crafted not only to express your feelings about the issue, but to
communicate them effectively to an audience of your peers.
No research is required for the second document, although you’re welcome
to do some.
Short Persuasion Piece
First Draft Due Tuesday, January 16 (note that writer selection is also due)
Revision Due (with implementation report) Tuesday, January 23
Choose a timely, specific environmental issue or event, preferably one that
invites citizen action. Write a short (one to two pages) document designed to
persuade a particular audience about some aspect of the issue, and to engage
this audience in some form of action (volunteering, contacting a public representative,
participating in a scheduled demonstration or nonviolent action, casting a vote,
donating money, changing a behavior…). You must choose a specific form
for this document and disseminate it to your intended audience. For example,
you might write and distribute a flyer or e-mail; write and send a letter to
a friend, relative, or acquaintance; compose a letter to a government representative;
write and submit an op-ed piece; or send a letter to the editorial letters section
of a publication. Your final version should reflect not only prose revisions
but the additional research necessary to make your piece accurately informative.
Writer Presentation
Writer Selection Due by Tuesday, January 16 (note: persuasion draft is also
due)
Handout Due Thursday, January 25
10-Minute Presentation to be scheduled for a class day between 1/25 and 3/13
Choose a contemporary or historical English-language writer whose prose (nonfiction
and/or fiction) you believe has helped effect positive environmental change
and/or increase environmental understanding. You may choose from the list of
about 200 suggested writers that will be provided in class, or you may propose
another writer. Do some research on this writer’s work and life. Prepare
an accurate three-to-five-page handout on the writer, including a brief biography
and a complete bibliography. Your handout should also include one or two representative
brief passages from the writer’s work (so we can get a sense of the writer’s
voice), and a short statement about why you believe this writer’s work
to be important. Give an informative, interesting, well-prepared ten-minute
talk in class about your findings. This is a chance to practice effective public
speaking while sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm about a writer with the
rest of the class. Note: only one student may present on any one writer. I will
distribute assignments on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re set
on a particular writer, get your choices to me early!
Literary Environmentalist Essay Drawing on Experience and Research
Proposal Due Thursday, February 1
First Draft Due Tuesday, February 13
Revision Due Tuesday, February 20
Write a carefully-crafted, five-to-seven-page essay exploring an environmentally-related
idea in an original way. This essay should draw on personal experience and
insight as well as research (books, articles, interviews, multi-media sources…).
Environmental Interpretation Assignment
First Draft Due Tuesday, February 27
Revision Due Thursday, March 1
This will involve practice with natural history interpretive writing. More information
to come.
Writer’s Credo
First Draft Due Thursday, March 8
Revision Due Friday, March 16 (along with Self Evaluation)
Write a carefully-crafted, three-to-five-page essay in which you develop your
own writer’s credo. Why write? Why does writing matter? What are the purposes,
pleasures, beliefs and obligations that drive you as a writer? How do you answer
these questions for yourself, particularly as an environmental studies major
and a citizen who cares about environmental issues? Be careful to avoid excessive
abstraction. Use narrative, example, analogy, and concrete detail to get your
point across.
Self Evaluation
Due Friday, March 16 (along with Writer’s Credo)
More information to come.
Please complete all readings by the beginning of the class day for which they
are assigned. All readings are either in the course reader or in the course
text. Please bring this calendar to all class meetings so that you can record
changes and additions.
Thursday 1/4
Course introduction and logistics.
Tuesday 1/9
Free writing, blast-drafting, and other techniques for getting ideas on paper
without being hassled by internal critics or censors.
READING DUE: Peter Elbow, “Freewriting Exercises”; Natalie Goldberg,
“The Rules Of Writing Practice”; Anne Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts”
and “Perfectionism”; Hacker, pp. 1–12.
Thursday 1/11
How to get the most out of peer editing groups by giving and receiving effective
editorial commentary.
READING DUE: Peter Elbow, “Feedback”; Linda Flower, “Transforming
Writer-Based Prose Into Reader-Based Prose”; Atkinson & Rabkin, “Sharing
Writing In A Group”; Jesse Virago, “Making Intellectual Community.”
Additional Readings: Quinn, “Courting The Great Gray Lady”; Santa
Clara University News Bureau, “How To Score With Your Op-Ed”; “Dear
Legislator”; “Why Genetically Altered Food Won’t Conquer Hunger”
Tuesday 1/16
Meet in peer editing groups on short persuasion pieces.
READING DUE: Hacker, pp. 13-16
Thursday 1/18
Introduction to research techniques. Discussion of revision techniques for persuasion
pieces.
READING DUE: Hacker, pp. 17–23; Rabkin, “Doing Internal Research”;
“Doing Interviews For Class Papers (A Checklist)”; “Exercise:
Reaching Skeptical Audiences”
Tuesday 1/23
Library research instruction session (tentative).
READING DUE: Hacker, pp. 51–78
Thursday 1/25
Environmental essays.
READING DUE: Mark Hertsgaard, “A Global Green Deal”; Timothy Egan,
“Natives”; Terry Tempest Williams, “The Clan Of One-Breasted
Women”; Hacker, pp. 24–48
Tuesday 1/30
More on environmental essays.
READING DUE: Selections From John Trimble, Writing With Style: Conversations
On The Art Of Writing; Stephen Lyons, “Why I Ride The Bus”; Geneen
Marie Haugen, “The Next Great Adventure: Stay At Home” And “Outlaws
On An Upscale Road”; Hacker, pp. 79–91
Thursday 2/1
Tuesday 2/6
Language.
READING DUE: Patricia Nelson Limerick, “Dancing With Professors: The Trouble
With Academic Prose”; Virginia L. Warren, “Guidelines For Non-Sexist
Use Of Language”; Physical Review Letters, “The Best Grammar Review
I Know”
Thursday 2/8
Advising day. No class.
Tuesday 2/13
Meet in groups on environmental essay first draft.
READING DUE: Hacker, pp. 91–93
Thursday 2/15
Tuesday 2/20
Thursday 2/22
Guest Speaker: Ed Grumbine.
Tuesday 2/27
Guest Speakers: Jenny Anderson and Kim Hayes (tentative).
Thursday 3/1
The writer’s credo.
READING DUE: Edward Abbey, “A Writer’s Credo”; David James Duncan,
“Man Of Two Minds”;
Scott Russell Sanders, excerpts from “The Country Of Language”
Tuesday 3/6
READING DUE: Rick Bass, “Why So Many Nature Writers?”; Barry Lopez,
“We Are Shaped By The Sound Of Wind, The Slant Of Sunlight”; Scott
Russell Sanders, “Garden,” “Grief,” “The Real Questions,”
and “Writer”
Thursday 3/8
Tuesday 3/13
Discussion; class evaluations
Friday 3/16
Monday 3/19
Final exam time, 8:00–11:00 a.m. Class reading and celebration, location
TBA.
If you do decide to take a letter grade, please be aware that you have to do truly excellent work in this course to earn an A. That means stellar attendance, preparation, participation, and adherence to deadlines, as well as first-rate work on drafts and substantial, effective revisions.
Whether or not you opt for a letter grade, your work in the course will be evaluated on the basis of your attendance, preparation, participation, and adherence to deadlines as well as the quality of your drafts and revisions.
More than two missed class meetings over the course of the quarter may be grounds
for failing the course, as may missed assignments or slipped deadlines. Please
avoid turning in any assignment late. If circumstances necessitate it, please
confer with me BEFORE you slip a deadline.