Writing Program

From pop culture to academia, queer narratives are often equated with sexuality. As bell hooks states, being a queer person can include sexuality, but there is an important aspect of queerness we will focus on in this class: transformation. Queer folks have had to create and imagine new ways to survive and thrive in the world. So what does this mean for writing and thinking? To queer a narrative or idea means we will read and write and revise with attention to form and context, to challenge systems of power including patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism, whiteness, cisgenderism, and heteronormativity. As writers and thinkers, we will “garner strength from the diversity of people’s stories, the diversity of people’s imagination” (bell hooks).

As we discuss readings and construct our own writing, we will consider Timothy Oleksiak’s definition of queer rhetorical listening, in which “we catch ourselves in an unending stream of response and transformation…An unending commitment to be transforming.” To this end, we will explore the following questions: How does writing relate to identity formation? What does it mean to queer the writing process? How is queerness constructed under systems of power? How does queer writing and rhetoric affect our individual lives, relationships, and communities? And how can queer lenses help us challenge and explore new meanings? Together, as bell hooks imagined, we will “invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”

This WRI-110 course will use the supposed schooling crisis as a vehicle for exploring research and public writing. You will pick an issue related to schooling that is interesting to you and conduct a research project that examines the different evidence and arguments surrounding it. Then, you will come to conclusions about how schools, students, teachers, or families should do something about it. Finally, we’ll examine public conversations about your chosen issue and try to understand how that conversation represents the problem — the good and the bad. You’ll get an opportunity to design your own contribution to that public conversation, intervening where you think we are missing crucial information.

From pop culture to academia, queer narratives are often equated with sexuality. As bell hooks states, being a queer person can include sexuality, but there is an important aspect of queerness we will focus on in this class: transformation. Queer folks have had to create and imagine new ways to survive and thrive in the world. So what does this mean for writing and thinking? To queer a narrative or idea means we will read and write and revise with attention to form and context, to challenge systems of power including patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism, whiteness, cisgenderism, and heteronormativity. As writers and thinkers, we will “garner strength from the diversity of people’s stories, the diversity of people’s imagination” (bell hooks).

As we discuss readings and construct our own writing, we will consider Timothy Oleksiak’s definition of queer rhetorical listening, in which “we catch ourselves in an unending stream of response and transformation…An unending commitment to be transforming.” To this end, we will explore the following questions: How does writing relate to identity formation? What does it mean to queer the writing process? How is queerness constructed under systems of power? How does queer writing and rhetoric affect our individual lives, relationships, and communities? And how can queer lenses help us challenge and explore new meanings? Together, as bell hooks imagined, we will “invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”

WRI 111 N/O: Writing Seminar: Wander, Gather, Write
Prof. Guy Witzel
WRI 111-N: MWF 10:00-10:50am
WRI 111-O: MWF 11:00-11:50am
How often do you let your mind wander? How often do you allow your thoughts to drift without purpose? And what about your feet? Is there time in your schedule to step away from your work, step out into the world, and let happenstance and a good pair of shoes surprise you? Do you know the joys of strolling through the park, hitting the streets, hiking the trail, or otherwise getting your steps in? Such meandering journeys, whether in the land of daydreams or on dirt paths, can freshen your perspective and focus your attention in startling ways.

In this course we view wandering, be it out in the world or within the boundlessness of our very skulls, as vital to the practice of good writing. This may seem strange when we describe, for instance, the strong academic essay as focused, well-organized, and logical. And yet, without time to experiment, think on the page, stumble upon the unexpected, and gather new insights and experiences, strong writing rarely manifests.

Writing and wandering have long been fellow travelers. Our earliest written stories are rich with journeys, flights, migrations, and adventures-on-foot. This course invites students to embrace this tradition—symbolically, yes, through writing activities designed to let your mind roam free while improving your skills as a writer. But this course also asks students to venture forth literally. Assignments and class sessions will take students out of the classroom and onto the paths that wind through and just beyond campus, all in an effort to find and refine one’s voice, style, and place as a writer. Consequently, students will leave this course better equipped to gather and assess evidence, map critical conversations, challenge common sense, and invent meaning through writing.

WRI 111 P/Q/R: Writing Seminar: Rhetoric and Literacy for Life
Prof. Sara Littlejohn
WRI 111-P: TR 2:00-3:15pm
WRI 111-Q: TR 3:30-4:45pm
WRI 111-R: TR 5:00-6:15pm
In a globally connected world, what does it mean to be literate today? We can see that power and knowledge flow through media in digital networks, and in order to gain access to that power, we must understand the history, structure, and language of rhetoric and literacy.

In this course we will take literacy beyond traditional print-based forms to include multiple ways of knowing, such as visual, spatial, aural, gestural, and multimodal forms. As you already know and experience, “texts” are rarely limited to print only; they are more often images, video, sounds, and shapes or some combination of these forms, expressed in digital contexts. This course immerses you in both the theory and practice of multiple literacies and considers how technology and the internet has made (and continues to make) this environment even more complex.

As a framework for writing, we will develop a working knowledge of foundational rhetorical terms and theory while examining the broader concepts of literacy. We will focus on various forms of writing, including the traditional essay as well as other genres. Your assignments will include readings, draft work, peer review, analysis, critical reflection, and revision.

WRI 111 S: Writing Seminar: Writing as Public Action
Prof. Alisa Russell
WRI 111-S: MWF 9:00-9:50am
Have you found that you’re deeply passionate about an ideal, a stance, a movement, or an issue? You want to do something — engage with others, open a new line of thinking, and/or bring about change for your community. But how do you get in on the conversation? How do you reach a variety of audiences? This course focuses on a variety of written genres that allow one to engage and shape public conversations.

In the first half of the course, we will focus on learning the language of GENRE — the way various elements of writing (e.g., author/audience, main claims/stakes, evidence/appeals, organization/formatting, tone/style) come together in patterned ways to achieve particular actions in the world. No matter your major or career goals, writing will be part of your regular routine because it is how we record, communicate, argue, inform, understand, and share ideas across time and space. In this course, you will gain the analytical language and tools to figure out any new genre you may encounter in the future. Even more, we will keep a critical eye on these genres (e.g., who gets included and excluded? what values do they emphasize?), and we will even play with the boundaries of genre to investigate their flexibility.

In the second half of the course, we will use our new knowledge of genre to write about the public issues we care about most. You will choose which genres would best fulfill your chosen purpose and reach your chosen audiences in order to accomplish the public actions that will bring about positive change in your communities. We will compose genres across modes and mediums, and we will practice shifting rhetorical strategies from genre to genre to build our flexibility. We will especially consider how composing is rather messy: We’ll explore a number of writing processes and strategies, and you can experiment with which ones work for you, including ChatGPT. We’ll also find that writing is an inherently social activity; you will use your peers (and me) as resources for feedback and growth in your writing skills as part of your process.

WRI 111 T/U/V: Writing Seminar: Noticing What You Notice
Prof. Elena Makarion
WRI 111-T: MW 12:30-1:45pm
WRI 111-U: MW 2:00-3:15pm
WRI 111-V: MW 5:00-6:15pm
This first-year writing course, “Noticing What You Notice,” will invite you to engage with writing as a practice of deep listening: to texts, to yourself, and to the physical world around you. Based on Mary Oliver’s conviction that “attention is the beginning of devotion,” you will practice forms of attentiveness, such as: using texts as “mirrors” to examine your own responses, biases, and values; observing your physical surroundings through sensory details; and listening across differences by attending to contexts, histories, and dominant narratives.

As a way of engaging these ideas, you will keep a writing notebook of weekly observational entries, reflective and creative exercises, and emulations of authors like Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, and Joan Didion. You will discover that strong writing follows not from some “universal” formula but rather from noticing what moves, irks, or bores you in your reading and personal life. Through habits of observation and rhetorical listening, you will strengthen your capacity for self-reflection and agency in your writing choices. In addition to the reflective entries, you will present at a symposium, complete writing workshops, conduct research, compile an annotated bibliography, compose a synthesis essay, and contribute to our seminar-style class discussions.

WRI 111 W: Writing Seminar: Your Brain on Writing
Prof. Erin Branch
WRI 111-W: MWF 2:00-2:50pm
In late 2022, the arrival of ChatGPT struck fear in the hearts of teachers everywhere and prompted journalists and pundits to proclaim the death of the essay. While the full impact of this new tool (and others like it) remains to be seen, what is known is that thinkers have debated for centuries how and why we write–and what writing is good for. In fact, Socrates himself thought writing was nothing more than a useful reminder.

But his view runs directly counter to what many writing scholars know today, which is that writing is one way to figure out what we think. Writing is not, despite romantic ideals to the contrary, the simple transcription of clear and distinct ideas from brain to page (or screen).

Ideas and arguments develop through the process of writing itself, messy as that might be. As Anne Carson writes, writing is about “the struggle to drag a thought over from the mush of the unconscious into some kind of grammar, syntax, human sense; every attempt means starting over with language, starting over with accuracy.” 

This course will investigate ideas about what exactly IS happening in our brains when we write, and how modern technology intersects with those processes. We’ll study arguments about invention and the writing process from various fields as we develop our own protocols for capturing, articulating, and analyzing writing processes. Readings may include philosophical arguments, academic research articles, contemporary journalism, and personal essays; the course culminates in the publication of a digital magazine of students writing.

WRI 111 X/Y/Z: Writing Seminar: The Language of Health, Wellness, and Self-Care
Prof. Abby Bryan
WRI 111-X: TR 11:00-12:15pm
WRI 111-Y: TR 3:30-4:45pm
WRI 111-Z: TR 5:00-6:15pm
What does it mean to be well? Every day we are confronted with messages prompting us to care for our health and well-being. Influencers and celebrities promote the latest self-care trends on TikTok and Instagram, healthcare providers flood our inboxes with tips for “being well,” and big-box stores advertise an endless array of products promising to make us fitter, healthier, and happier. In this class, we will analyze how a variety of everyday wellness messages—from food blogs and meditation apps to university initiatives and wearable fitness technologies—shape how we think about health and well-being, often in subtle and even invisible ways.

Together we’ll ask: What do these everyday wellness messages suggest about what it means to be healthy and well? What assumptions do such messages make about bodies, normalcy, personal responsibility, and care? And, perhaps most importantly, how do these messages shape our own behaviors and influence how we care for ourselves and others? As we explore these questions, we’ll develop a set of analytical tools that will strengthen our skills as writers, researchers, and rhetors and enable us to engage critically with our contemporary wellness culture.

WRI 111 ZA/ZB/ZC: Writing Seminar: Narrative Across Genre & Media
Prof. Adam Fagin
WRI 111-ZA: TR 11:00-12:15pm
WRI 111-ZB: TR 12:30-1:45pm
WRI 111-ZC: TR 3:30-4:45pm
“We think we tell stories,” writes Rebecca Solnit, “but stories often tell us…The task of learning to be free requires learning to hear them, to question them, to pause and hear silence, to name them, and then to become the storyteller.” In this class, we’ll take Solnit’s words to heart, interrogating the modes and methods of storytelling while exploring our own narratives in a variety of contexts.

Our work and the works we’ll read will privilege ambiguity and openness while refusing easy resolution, searching for the big questions and ideas that drive us. Along the way, we’ll read texts by Ben Lerner, Maggie Nelson, Jenny Boully, Claudia Rankine, and others, exploring how stories move and motivate us, how they influence our thinking and shape our worlds as we write at the intersection of personal experience, public history, language, and culture.

In addition, we’ll read and think across genre, considering writing that combines the poetic, essayistic, and graphic, and investigate various media, including podcasts and films. Some of the work we’ll discuss defies formal convention. Some use a traditional approach to explore the meta-narratives threaded through our lives. We’ll see what possibilities await as we merge critical and creative approaches to composition, discovering that writing is a recursive process which relies on invention, experimentation, and revision.

WRI 111 ZD/ZE: Writing Seminar: Writing as Conversation
Prof. Jon Smart
WRI 111-ZD: MWF 12:00-12:50pm
WRI 111-ZE: MWF 1:00-1:50pm
Language is humanity’s primary method of interaction; we use it to express ourselves, to share ideas, to build relationships, and for many other purposes. Written forms of language, from texting to academic research, differ from spoken and signed languages in important ways, but allow us to engage in complex academic and professional conversations. In this course, we explore how forms of writing are used interactively to share information and explore new ideas. We examine written registers and genres to learn how to participate in scholarly discussions. Through this course, you will develop your own processes as a writer to engage with others, both as a reader and a contributor to the building of knowledge.

WRI 111 ZF/ZG: Writing Seminar: Us vs. Them
Prof. Elisabeth Whitehead
WRI 111-ZF: MWF 1:00-1:50pm
WRI 111-ZG: MWF 2:00-2:50pm
Sometimes we choose the group, and sometimes the group chooses us.  But whether it is race, gender, religion, sexuality, a nation, a political party, or an ideology, we all can claim numerous group affiliations.  Group membership can fulfill important needs, helping us to negotiate and establish identity, reduce chaos, and create a sense of larger purpose.  It can also instill in us a feeling of safety and confidence, or even aid in our survival.  So, when is group alliance functioning in a life-giving way, and when does it become dangerous?

In this course we will be investigating the psychology and rhetoric of groups, especially as it relates to written text. We will look at themes such as conformity, obedience to authority, dispersal of responsibility, group privilege and power, and stereotypes.  We will discuss through what lens groups see each other, speak to each other, and write about each other, and will analyze texts about issues including censorship, racism, cults, and conspiracy theories among many others. In addition, we will study authors who embrace a very different vision, of empathy and inclusion, including Martin Luther King Jr. who once wrote: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

This is a reading and writing intensive course.  We will be exploring a variety of texts, including nonfiction essays, journalism, psychological studies, film, letters, speeches, poetry, and the graphic novel.  In addition to analytical and researched writing, you will also have the opportunity to write narratives from personal experience.

Texts may include work by Martin Luther King Jr., Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, Art Spiegelman, and Deborah Layton.

WRI 111 ZH/ZI: Writing Seminar: Words for Water: Environmental Writing in North Carolina
Prof. Sebastián Terneus
WRI 111-ZH: TR 12:30-1:45pm
WRI 111-ZF: TR 2:00-3:15pm
Why does each ChatGPT search use sixteen ounces of local water? What connects Patagonia, Nike, and Lululemon to “forever chemicals”? What do pigs have to do with North Carolina’s water quality? Would you like to take a canoe trip down a local river to see conservation in action?

This semester, we’ll explore these and other questions to understand how water issues shape life in North Carolina. Together, we will examine how various stakeholders frame water challenges, such as pollution, climate change, and artificial intelligence, to explore how rhetoric impacts public understanding and decision-making. Class discussions will help you engage with diverse perspectives while strengthening your persuasive and research-based writing skills.

Our work will also extend beyond the classroom through different field trips. On campus, you’ll learn how Wake manages stormwater and local creeks. Off campus, a canoe trip down the Dan River will give you first-hand insight into how waterways recover from coal ash pollution. Through these experiences, you will develop as a writer who can connect research, creativity, and advocacy to address pressing environmental concerns.

WRI 111 ZJ: Writing Seminar: Do-It-Yourself?! Rhetorics of Making, Hacking, and Creating
Prof. Franziska Tsufim
WRI 111-ZJ: TR 9:30-10:45am
“Weaving an argument,” “constructing a thesis,” “sculpting an essay,” “cooking up a story,” “forging a text,” our everyday language is filled with metaphors that compare writing with handicrafts. From references to fiber arts, to blacksmithing, to culinary endeavors, writing is cast as a process of creation that requires patience and perseverance. If you have ever picked up a needle or hammer for a sewing or woodworking project, you know as much: Rome was not built in a day. And neither should be your next essay.

In this writing class, we will dig deep into this analogy and explore it both for its emphasis on process and for what it tells us about originality. After all, crafters do not shop for mass-produced commodities such as clothing, furniture, or dinnerware but “do it themselves” creating one-of-a-kind pieces on the way. And yet, craftspeople rely on common techniques and crafting traditions. Put differently, why should a potter reinvent the wheel every time they throw on the wheel? Returning to our analogy, how do originality and conventionality go together both in crafting and writing? When do we obey the rules and when should rules be broken? Is a cup still a cup without a handle? Probably. But what about when it misses a bottom? Similarly, when do writers have to follow the rules to serve their audiences, and when should they push back against established conventions while still reaching their readers? And what is the purpose of such rule breaking?

As we will explore those connections, we will create, craft and write in both physical and digital spaces: Be prepared to hone a new skill and make something in the on-campus Makerspace, learn to research and write for Wikipedia, and create a Zine, a small self-published, multimodal booklet. Just one more note before we dive in, you do not need to be a “crafty” person to do well in this class, but you should be curious about learning new things and getting out of your comfort zone. Clay, glue and ink: Getting your hands dirty will, no doubt, be part of the process.

WRI 111 ZK: Writing Seminar: Writing Lived Experience
Prof. Eric Ekstrand
WRI 111-ZK: TR 3:30-4:45pm
The word “phenomenology” might sound intimidating until you learn what it means: a way to study the lived quality of experience. In this course, you will conduct your own original phenomenological research alongside fellow, budding phenomenologists. This research project will be designed by you, with the help of your instructor and classmates, and grounded in an important experience in your life that is shared by others.

Early in the semester, you will use reflective and observational writing to interrogate meaningful experiences you have had in the past, working towards an “lived experience description with thematic reflection,” a real-world essay genre where you will narrate one experience so as to elicit the quality of that experience in the mind of your reader and explore its embedded themes. In the second half of the semester, you will develop a research question that emerges from previous writing. This might be something like, “What is the lived quality of singing with others in a gospel choir?” or of being dumped, or of losing something important, etc. Using your question, you will collect relevant lived experience descriptions from sources other than yourself. You will conduct interviews in addition to discovering descriptions in literature, film, other phenomenological human science writing, etc. You will use these descriptions and your analysis of them to further penetrate the quality of the experience you study.

Along the way, you will undertake short writing and research assignments, in and out of class, that will build into the sustained work. In class, as well as through group conferences and workshops, you will frequently read and reflect on your own and others’ developing writing. In addition to reading about the processes of composing, we will read examples of phenomenological writing by students and adult, expert writers in order to inform your own original work. This way, you will not prepare to be an academic writer so much as begin academic writing in earnest.

WRI 111 ZL/ZM: Writing Seminar: Writing New Media Across Difference
Prof. Moisés García-Rentería
WRI 111-ZL: MWF 12:00-12:50pm
WRI 111-ZM: MWF 1:00-1:50pm
In a world that is becoming more fragmented and interconnected at the same time, one of the most significant challenges we face is giving everyone an equal opportunity to express their own views. Modern democracies have responded to this challenge by expanding access to literacy and education, arguing that to participate successfully in public life, citizens need high levels of reading and writing skills. But how can education live up to the promise of equality through literacy in a society where memes and emojis are used as the primary means of expression?

This course is inspired by the principle that not only traditional reading and writing can allow you to participate fully in public and academic life, but also the kinds of reading and writing practices that resonate more with you. Using cutting-edge academic research, we will explore our understanding of literacy to consider visual, digital, and embodied means of expression and their relationship to identity, democracy, and power. We will study a broad range of media, from memes to urban art, using traditional academic writing and practical embodied activities like multimedia mapping workshops. Following a pedagogy of solidarity and caring, we will build common experiences that promote your autonomy in the choices you make about writing within the communicative context of college and beyond.

WRI 111 ZN/ZO: Writing Seminar: On Play and Games
Prof. Marianne Erhardt
WRI 111-ZN: TR 12:30-1:45pm
WRI 111-ZO: TR 2:00-3:15pm
What does it mean to play?

In this class, we will write our way through an inquiry of games and play. What is play and why do we do it? What is the value of play and who determines that value? How does play function for children? For adults? What is play’s relationship to privilege? Who gets to play? What makes a game work? What makes it fair? How do our ways of playing and pretending reflect and shape culture?

We’ll treat writing itself as a form of play. Writers use tools. We make, follow and break rules. We write to explore, to attempt, to persuade, to win, to question, and to make sense of. Writing can be an act of play with the potential to engage countless readers, playmates, competitors, and referees.

We will develop our rhetorical skills while exploring topics such as childhood play, youth sports, video games, politics, academia, country music, theme parties, AI, and sports betting. The authors we study will come from a diversity of identities, experiences, and perspectives. Over the course of the semester, we will explore a variety of genres and complete three major projects, all with the support of a collaborative and playful class community.

Video game designer and writer Ian Bogost says that to play is “to take something – anything – on its own terms, to treat it as if its existence were reasonable.” He promises that “The power of games lies not in their capacity to deliver rewards or enjoyment, but in the structured constraint of their design, which opens up abundant possible spaces for play.” Let’s write together.

WRI 111 ZR/ZS/ZT: Writing Seminar: Everyday Rhetoric and Writing in Popular Culture
Prof. Kendra Andrews
WRI 111-ZR: TR 12:30-1:45pm
WRI 111-ZS: TR 2:00-3:15pm
WRI 111-ZT: TR 3:30-4:45pm
When we hear the term “rhetoric,” we typically think about the lectures of ancient philosophers or the speeches of tricky politicians; however, rhetoric is deeply ingrained in everyday aspects of our modern life. Rhetoric is a part of everything that surrounds us from the way that we dress to the things that we buy to the way that we communicate – any time that a message is communicated with an audience or purpose in mind, an argument is made and rhetoric is enacted. The influx of rhetorical messaging in everyday “texts” becomes even more striking as we spend more time online or on digital devices. While we are all subjected to thousands of rhetorical messages on a daily basis, we are often unaware of their power of persuasion.

In this class, we will look directly at the rhetorical messaging in our popular culture and ask questions such as: how does advertising shape the way we see the world? Can social media posts change the state of a nation? What could music videos or sitcoms tell us about academic genres? What are the ethical obligations of a celebrity or influencer? How does what we read online affect what we write and who we are as a culture? By asking these types of questions, we can break the cycle as mass consumers of popular culture and media and we will learn how to thoughtfully digest information and critically engage with the rhetorical world around us.

During this class, we will expand our understanding of rhetoric by locating examples of rhetorical texts in our everyday lives. Through the critical reading and analysis of popular media such as music videos, commercials, viral videos, and social media posts, we will begin to unpack the underlying power that these rhetorical messages have in our everyday lives. Throughout our rhetorical inquiry, we will read scholarly texts such as academic articles and conference presentations as well as non-scholarly texts such as song lyrics and a scene from popular television shows. We will not only have a wide range of readings, but we will also compose in multimodal ways. During this class, we will develop student-driven writing projects including argumentative rhetorical analysis, genre remix, individual blogging, and inquiry-based research. As part of our work in the class, we will also develop a writer’s website that demonstrates their engagement as critical consumers and producers of modern rhetorical texts.

200- & 300-Level WRI Course Sections

WRI 210 A: Exploring Academic Genres
Prof. Keri Epps
WRI 210-A: MWF 10:00-10:50am
We often approach “academic writing” as if it is constructed from a set of predetermined—and perhaps inexplicable—rules. This course aims to demystify some of these “rules” and ways academic writing comes to be. To do so, we will use rhetorical genre studies as a primary lens and examine sample texts from across genres and disciplines to learn how academic writing represents the needs and values of the discourse communities that use it.

We will consider questions such as the following: what counts as evidence in this disciplinary genre? How do writers position themselves toward their research and toward their readers? What does the writing reveal about how disciplinary writers value knowledge creation and dissemination in their fields? Throughout the semester, you will analyze patterns and conventions of academic writing and practice using some of the rhetorical strategies you discover to develop your own writing for discourse communities that you care about most.

WRI 212 A: Literary Nonfiction: The Art of the Essay
Prof. Elisabeth Whitehead
WRI 212-A: WF 11:00-12:15pm
The word essay (essai) comes to us from Michel de Montaigne, who in the late 1500’s turned to a practice of self-observation in his writing, as a way to better understand and reflect on the human experience. He named the form after a word meaning attempt or trial.  Montaigne asks, “What do I know?” highlighting the importance of discovery, exploration, and attempt in the process of writing. In a similar spirit, this course is designed toward your own discovery: of the form itself, as well as a deepening of your own ideas and writing life.  During the semester we will read and practice rhetorical and literary analysis, considering a variety of authors, styles, and forms of the literary essay. Your deep engagement with the texts will be the starting point for your own writing.  We will also engage in a number of contemplative exercises as a way to slow down, open to a greater capacity for depth, listening, self-reflection, and empathy—all necessary for us as writers.  In the end, your success in this course depends on your willingness to take risks, experiment, slow down, and dive deeply with curiosity into what Michael Depp calls “that inconclusive, most outwardly formless of forms.”

WRI 306 A: Writing as Access: Toward Socially Just Schools, Workplaces, and Governments
Also listed as WRI 606-AG
Prof. Alisa Russell
WRI 306-A/606-AG: MW 12:30-1:45pm
In this course, we will explore how writing shapes access to three major institutions—schools, workplaces, and governments. Institutions are not just composed of people or buildings, but of written texts. Think of all the genres you’re encountering just to choose and register for classes: course descriptions, email reminders, instructions, online registration portals, major/minor requirement lists, notes from your advisor, professor review sites, program websites… Just this one slice of university life is made possible by dozens of writing forms. This means that writing becomes a significant factor in gaining access to institutional spaces.