UWP 48

Style in the Essay

Catalog Description
 

UWP 048—Style in the Essay (4)

Lecture/Discussion—4 hour(s). Prerequisite(s): UWP 001 C- or better or UWP 001V C- or better or UWP 001Y C- or better or ENL 003 C- or better or COM 001 C- or better or COM 002 C- or better or COM 003 C- or better or COM 004 C- or better or NAS 005 C- or better; or equivalent. Restricted to completion of UWP 001, or equivalent, with C- (P) or better. Principles of style, language, and structure in the essay. Analysis and development of voice and genre, including sentence revision for force and clarity, and development of effective paragraphs and essays. Not open for credit to students who have taken UWP 018. GE credit: AH, WE. Effective: 2018 Spring Quarter.

Course Goals
  • To help students understand the relation between grammar and style
  • To help students identify a variety of models for invention and for organizing ideas
  • To provide students with review and intensive practice in standard written English
  • To provide students with practice in stylistic modification and experimentation
  • To explore, through reading and writing, the concepts of stylistic variation and eloquence: to present the principles of stylistic analysis, and to help students develop a vivid, sophisticated and appropriately varied prose style
  • To help students develop their own written voice
  • To explore through both reading and writing the concepts of audience, purpose, persona, voice, authority, and tone, as they relate to essays on a wide variety of topics
  • To examine the conventions and uses of the essay
  • To provide instruction and practice in the uses of figurative language and other rhetorical devices
  • To explore the relations among form, style, and content in the essay
  • To practice skills covered in other writing courses
     
Entry Level

Students should have completed UWP 1 or ENL 3 or the equivalent. The course is designed for students at the sophomore level; it may also be appropriate for upper-division students in some majors or as a preparatory course for UWP 101, 102, or 104. Students should be familiar with the general principles of good writing upon entry into the course.
 

Topical Outline
  • Reading for style and language; comparing and contrasting texts for style and language
  • Applying principles of stylistic analysis
  • Analyzing audience, voice, and stylistic modification
  • Adapting texts for different audiences and purposes
  • Examining tone and mood in non-fiction prose
  • Practicing various sentence structures and variety: the relation between style and content
  • Using figurative language; practice in metaphor, symbolism, and analogy

 

Criteria for Grading
  1. The course will be graded by a letter grade.
  2. Grades will be based on the students = performance on in- and out-of-class writing assignments and a final exam. Students will write a minimum of 6000 words; the number of assignments and the weight of each assignment will vary according to the instructor in accordance with departmental guidelines.

    Assignments and sequencing vary from instructor to instructor, but in general assignments will become increasingly complex and sophisticated as the quarter progresses. Assignments should help students learn not only to recognize the formal qualities of non-fiction prose through reading but also modify, revise, and vary their own prose style and essay structure.

Reading

Instructors will typically select an anthology of essays by contemporary writers, such as Ten on Ten or Eight Modern Essayists . The readings are designed to help students develop an awareness of stylistic patterns, of the connections between style and content, and of the possibilities for variation in non-fiction prose. In addition, instructors will typically assign a rhetoric and/or handbook, which will allow students to explore a variety of issues related to writing skills and strategies, such as Murray, The Craft of Revision or Hall and Birkerts = , On Writing Well .
 

Explanation of Potential Course Overlap  

UWP48 does not overlap with any other courses. It is distinguished from UWP 1 and UWP 101 by its focus on stylistic analysis and the skills of writers at the intermediate level. It is distinguished from UWP 49, our other sophomore-level course, by its focus on stylistic analysis and development rather than research and argumentation.
 

Justification of Units

UWP 48 is a four-unit course; representing four hours of lecture/discussion per week.