Fall 2013

M 8:00-8:50am; W, F 9:009:50am
Olin E132

ENGL 110
Language and
Writing

Language and Writing

Instructor: Prof. Lydia McDermott

E-Mail: mcdermlm@whitman.edu
Phone: 527-5699
Office: Olin 217
(Writing Center Olin 224)
Office Hours:10:00am-10:50am M,
W, F
Other hours by appointment

Overview

Materials

Language and Writing as a

title for a course is
(un)comfortably broad and
could include any number of
possibilities. My personal take
on this course is as a
supplemental course designed
to help students improve their
language skills in the context
of academic writing. To do this,
I think it will be an important
philosophical project for us to
examine the nature and
relationship between language
and writing.

Nathan, Rebekah. My Freshman

Year: What a Professor Learned by
Becoming a Student.

The focus of this course will be

on fieldwork or ethnographic
forms of writing. Though this
may seem specialized to
particular social sciences, such
as anthropology, this kind of
writing and research supports
three foundational aspects of
(arguably) all academic
writing: inquiry, analysis and
synthesis.
Some key words:
Inquiry: a seeking or request for
truth, information, or knowledge.
Analysis: a. The separation of an
intellectual or material
whole into its constituent
parts for individual study.
b. The study of such
constituent parts and their
interrelationships in
making up a whole.
Synthesis: a. The combining of
separate elements or
substances to form a
coherent whole. b. The
complex whole so formed.

An Important Caveat:
This course is taught and has
been taught by a variety of
professors from different
backgrounds. Therefore, there is
no uniform focus or text for this
course. Our goals, however, are
all similar in that we want to help
you become better academic
writers. I cannot teach you to
write within the particular
discipline
you choose
to pursue.
Language
and Writing
Every discipline has different
conventions and genres of writing.
You will learn these best from the

Sunstein, Bonnie Stone and

Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater.
Fieldworking: Reading and Writing
Research. 4th Ed.
Wolf, Margery. A Thrice-Told Tale:
Feminism, Postmodernism &
Ethnographic Responsibility.
You will need a binder for collecting
data, a field notebook for notetaking on site, AND a
journal/notebook for writing in
class. Consider a manila envelope
for collecting odd-sized artifacts.
I recommend you have both your
handbook and stylebook from
Encounters.

Milestones
Wed, Sep. 18

Positioning paper due for

review
Wed, Oct 9

Artifact analysis due for

review
Wed, Oct 30

Interview write-up due for

review
Wed, Nov 13

Language analysis due for

review
Week of Dec 2

Individual conferences:
Bring an annotated
bibliography and rough
draft/plan for final paper.
FINAL EXAM TIME: Thu
Dec. 19, 2:00-4:00pm

Research Portfolio AND

final draft of miniethnographic essay due.

Tips for
participation:

Bring readings to class.

Write on your books and
handouts.
Turn off your cell phone.
Come to class each day
with a question about the
reading or writing.
Respect your

Tentative Schedule:

(Check class announcements, email and Cleo site for day to day

assignments)
FW= FieldWorking; MFY= My Freshman Year; TTT=A Thrice Told Tale
Week 1

W 9/4Introductions and syllabus

F 9/6FW Chapter 1; Annotate text; Do Box 1 and Box 3
Week 2

M 9/9FW Chapter 2; Box 4; Begin Box 6 and do all week

W 9/11 FW Chapter 3 (pp.101-118); Do Box 9; Have chosen culture and field site; you should be taking
field notes
F 9/13Box 8 (p.88); Box 10
Week 3 (Archives?: Date TBA) continuing field notes and artifact finding

M 9/16small group workshops of Positioning paper draft

W 9/18Positioning Paper Due
F 9/20Chapter 1 of MFY; write a response journal: What do you think of Nathans research project? What
field sites can she use? What archives and artifacts might be useful to her? Are there ethical concerns in
her research?
Week 4 (Archives?: Date TBA) continuing field notes and artifact finding

M 9/23Chapter 2 of MFY; dialectical journal

W 9/25Chapter 3 of MFY; write your own definitions of community and diversity: Does Whitman seem
similar to AnyU in terms of community and diversity goals and realities?
F 9/27Chapter 4 of MFY; dialogue journal
Week 5 continuing field notes and artifact finding

M 9/30--Ch. 3 of FW (pp.119-164); Box 15; Box 32 (p. 341)

W 10/2Ch. 7 of FW (pp. 311-345); Boxes 30 and 31
F 10/4workshops
Week 6

M 10/7--workshops
W 10/9Artifact Analysis Due
F 10/11Chapter 5 of MFY; take field notes in a classroomcompare to Nathans findings/assumptions
Week 7 [Oct 14-15 Mid-Semester Break: No Classes]
Week 8 TBA

Language and Writing

Week 9 TBA
Week 10 [Nov. 1 Prof. McDermott out of town: Alternative class work on Cleo]
Week 11 TBA
Week 12 TBA
Week 13 [Nov 25-29 Thanksgiving Break: No Classes]
Week 14 TBA
Week 15 TBA
Week 16 TBA

Language and Writing