English 118 - COLQ: THE DOCUMENTARY IMPULSE

In sections limited to 15 students each, this course primarily provides systematic instruction and practice in reading and writing academic prose, with emphasis on argumentation. The course also provides instruction and practice in conducting research and in public speaking. Bilingual students and nonnative speakers are especially encouraged to register for sections taught by Holly Davis and Ethan Myers. Priority is given to incoming students in the fall-semester sections. Course may be repeated for credit with another instructor. We rely on dominant media culture to formulate objective representations of our social reality. Yet surely the truths we learn from newspaper, magazine, radio and television journalism are not all the truths, nor is the traditional way information gets presented always the most representative of the story being told. In this class, students respond to alternative modes and structures of documentary writing, investigate the range of subjects oftentimes overlooked by conventional journalism and explore the creative possibilities of expressing the world around us in their own writing. Can be repeated for credit with a different topic. Enrollment limited to 15. (E)