Intermediate Composition (205-0-20)
Topic
Nature & the Nature of Argument
Instructors
Kathleen Carmichael
847/467-5592
555 Clark, Room 239
Office Hours: By appointment
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 224: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
In the latter half of the twentieth century, the time-honored genre of nature writing saw the emergence of a parallel literary tradition: Writing (and other media) devoted to drawing the world's attention to impending environmental catastrophe - and the steps human beings could take to avert it. In this course, students will examine the intersection of these two genres - that of traditional nature writing and environmental activist texts - with an eye to developing a portfolio of writing and communication work that showcases their unique voices, rhetorical strategies, and perspectives on this critically important topic. We will consider how people come to develop felt relationships to the natural world and what activist strategies seem to have the greatest potential to spark broad-based positive change. To that end, students will be asked to keep a journal of observation and reflections on the natural world as a foundation for later research and argumentative work. Some classes will be held outside at a range of campus (and possibly off-campus) locations, weather permitting, to allow for in-class observation and reflection workshops. Course readings/viewing will include selections from classics such Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and the 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth as well as Greta Thunberg's The Climate Book, essays by Elizabeth Kolbert, and selections from Hope Jahren's The Story of More. We will also consider practical topics such as how University library resources and experts can help students locate and evaluate key sources and develop authoritative arguments.
Class Materials (Required)
They Say / I Say. Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Norton (2010). ISBN 978-0393933611; any edition fine and used encouraged (though Norris will only stock 4th and latest edition). Students do NOT need the version with readings.
Writing With Power. Peter Elbow. Oxford UP (1998) ISBN 978-0195120189; any edition fine and used encouraged.
Silent Spring. Rachel Carson. Any edition fine and used encouraged. ISBN 978-0618249060
The Climate Book. Created by Greta Thunberg. Penguin Press (2023). ISBN-10: 0593492307
Students will also be asked to purchase "Rocketbooks" - reusable notebooks that let writings be uploaded to the cloud - for field observations.