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main syllabus
components
assignments
& handouts
resources
policies
miscellany
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Miscellany
Instructor and Class information:
English 200-053
MWF 10:00 - 10:50
Business 2136
Instructor: Sara Herbert, office Hibbs 408-H
Office hours: M 2-4 Tu 4-5
and by appointment
website: www.courses.vcu.edu/ENG-snh
English office: Hibbs 306, 828-1331 (can leave a message)
Basic course supplies
- three-ring binder (at least 2")
with section dividers
- 2 floppy disks
- pens (blue or black), highlighters,
stapler and staples
- an email account (either free through
VCU/hotmail or private)
Required Texts
Cooper, Elizabeth and Elizabeth Hodges. The
Guide to
Composition
and Rhetoric 2000-2002.
Gutkind, Lee. The Art of Creative
Nonfiction. 1997.
Murray, Donald. The Craft of Revision.
4th ed.
Ruszkiewicz, Hairston, and Seward. The
SF Writer. 1999.
Critical Thinking
In "Using Writing to Develop and Assess Critical Thinking," an
article published in the February '95 issue of The Teaching of
Psychology, Carole Wade identifies eight skills as components of
critical thinking. She says that a critical thinker:
- asks questions and is willing to wonder;
- defines problems clearly;
- examines evidence;
- analyzes assumptions and biases;
- avoids emotional reasoning;
- avoids oversimplification;
- considers alternative interpretations;
and
- tolerates uncertainty
Creative Thinking
In A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative,
Roger Von Oech writes that "much of our educational system has taught
us to look for the one right answer. This approach is fine for some
situations, but many of us have a tendency to stop looking for alternative
right answers after the first right answer has been found. This is
unfortunate because often it's the second, or third, or tenth right answer
which is what we need to solve a problem in an innovative way" (32).
Keep this in mind as you consider research
and revision options. In what other ways might you begin/ end/
organize the information? Whom else might you interview? Where
else might you find relevant information? What other angles might
you bring to bear on the topic? How else might you approach
it? How might someone else feel or think about what you're
saying? How else might you arrange your material? You may find
it useful to ask one another these questions in workshop, also.
** These sections, about Critical
Thinking and Creative Thinking, I borrowed from Angier
Caudle's English 200, Spring 2000 syllabus
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