ENGL 1180, Fall 2017
HOW WE WRITE
We Use a Process Model With Three Steps
Maps are not only the colorful squares and globes that we traditionally imagine. We also “map out” a strategy, or we “map our future” when we plan a career. Thus, to “map” something means to understand it. Our maps are going to be drawn in words, in ideas, and in our general understanding of a topic.
Step 1. Mapping the Territory: "they say"
Writers—and you are learning to be a writer—begin by making maps of how others have explored a subject. They give names to important landmarks, methods of exploration, and discoveries. To write well is to improve existing maps, and thus you have to know what others have already discovered. Your first step is to map the world . . . the world of other writings.
Step 2. Identifying Gaps in the Map: "I say"
Explorers and writers map the field so they can find the blank spots where they can write their own discoveries. The gaps invite you to propose a new maps that makes original additions to the field. Explorers do not want to simply repeat the discoveries of others. They want to add to the existing map. The blanks in a map motivate the exploration, give it focus, and connect it to the discoveries of others.
Step 3. Re-Drawing the Map: "we say"
Explorers can discover a new island, a new lake, or even a continent. These discoveries force them to re-draw the map. The old map still matters because their discoveries connect to what is already known. Your writing will do the same thing. You will produce a new “map” (paper) that uses existing knowledge, but you will make discoveries that require a re-writing of the map to improve it. Your redrawn map becomes the map to which future writers will respond. It is an endless process of improvement.
WHAT WE WRITE ABOUT
Class, Education, and Choice
We will first build background knowledge about types of education, socioeconmic classes, and our own experience in education. It is an experience shaped by educational software, curricula, politics, and many other forces. We will read and write about some of these. Our work will improve our understanding of how they control our lives. The concept of "digital redlining" will play an important role throughout the term. Once we have built our understanding of these issues, we will be ready to start our final project. Remember, all the papers are connected, and each paper will use what has been written in previous assignments.
• The connection between our social class and the kind of education we receive
• The different meanings of “success” in college . . . and how schools predict it
• The differences between a “highly selective” college like Barnard and an “open admissions” college like Macomb
• Personalization, online identity, filter bubbles, platforms, surveillance, privacy, and digital redlining: re-thinking our idea of education
These four topics will build a clear "map" of how education works in the United States. Then, you will use the readings, discussions, videos, images, and your own papers to write a longer paper that describes the development of your expectations and discoveries about how you developed your idea of college and how it has changed. The audience for this final paper will be incoming students.