UW20 Courses - Summer 2008

Last Updated: 4/7/08 | 5:00 pm

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About UW20

Because all UW20 sections are theme-based, with their own individualized readings and writing assignments, it's important that you peruse the course descriptions below to find a theme that is of interest to you.

REQUIREMENTS: The following requirements and workload expectations are consistent across all sections of UW20. Students will complete a total of 25-30 pages of finished writing, developed through a process that may include pre-draft preparation, drafts, and revisions based on instructor's advice and classmates' comments. Each student will complete at least three writing assignments of increasing complexity. Papers will be based on assigned texts and often on additional reading; although instructors will develop assignments that reflect a variety of academic writing projects, one paper will require significant research.

Summer Courses

Regular Classroom

SECOND SUMMER SESSION

Summer Distance Learning

SECOND SUMMER SESSION (07/07/08 - 08/16/08)

Summer Scholars

  • Writing Seminar for Summer Scholars - UW002 (07/07/08 - 08/16/08)
    CRN 11782 Section M1 | MTWR 12:30 - 1:30 (SCIE 102) & F 9:00am - 10:15am (SCIE 102) | Siczek, Megan
    CRN 11784 Section M2 | MTWR 3:30 - 4:30 (SCIE 102) & F 10:45am - 12:00noon (SCIE 102) | Siczek, Megan
    NOTE: These courses are taught at the Mt. Vernon campus. Registration restricted to Summer Scholars Program.

    Writing Seminar for Summer Scholars helps students hone critical thinking and analytic writing, skills essential for academic discourse in any college environment.  With Washington , D.C. as a thematic focus, students will engage in an exploration of the rich history, culture, and politics of the nation's capital.   A major project of the course will be a research essay and digital presentation, on which students will collaborate with their peers.  Required foundation course for the Summer Scholars Program.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Charity Fox & Melinda Knight - All That Jazz

Jazz has often been described as the most American of all musical forms to evolve in this country.  Certainly, it has permeated popular and elite culture for more than a hundred years and has proven to be hugely popular abroad.  This version of UW20 will explore the origins of jazz, including the social and historical factors that contributed to its success.  Students will conduct research on jazz music, using audio recordings, film, autobiography, archival materials, and criticism, among other possible sources.  The joint purposes for this course are to strengthen every GW student's ability to write clearly and effectively at the university and in other arenas and to emphasize the importance of strong writing for success in all academic, public, and professional enterprises that require critical thought and communication.  The course will focus on framing feasible research questions and problems, setting clear and measurable objectives, analyzing audiences,  formulating communication strategies, structuring arguments, using and citing sources appropriately, rewriting to achieve intended outcomes, and enhancing editing and proofreading skills.  Students will listen to and critique jazz music, participate in online discussions, write  and revise essays on specific topics to varied audiences and for different purposes, review each other's work, and use digital technology to facilitate the process of reading, writing, and research.  Artists to be studied will include Louis Armstrong, Bennie Moten, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Mary Lou Williams, George Gershwin, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Albert Ayler, among others. 

Katherine Larsen - Washington on Film

Hollywood has depicted Washington as target of alien attack, a hotbed of conspiracy, a site of student excess, and the wonk capital of the world.  This course will examine the ways that Washington has been used (and perhaps abused) on film.  To do this, you will be introduced to basic film techniques, including lighting, set design, costuming, camera angles and editing.  In most cases these are merely variations on the techniques that writers have always used to create effects on paper.

In addition to engaging in careful analysis of image, dialogue, and mise-en-scene, students also will investigate the larger context of at least one film, taking into account the historical moment, political climate, impact of the film when it was first released and enduring legacy it may have left behind. 

Lauren Sallinger - Imagining America: Social Reflection and the Politics of Place

In 1939, Marian Anderson, an African-American woman denied the right to perform at Constitution Hall, sang instead from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before 75,000 people. During the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. deliberately gave his visionary “I Have a Dream” speech in the space where Marian Anderson had stood. In these and many other instances throughout American history, citizens have spoken to and for the nation by claiming its public spaces. In this course, we will examine how writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Edward Abbey have used journeys into the American wilderness to parallel meditative journeys about national progress. Our investigation will then focus on the national stage of historic marches and debates within steps of our campus. We will explore how the streets of Washington have been used to reflect the national consciousness in such influential demonstrations as civil rights marches and Vietnam protests. This will be an active class, in which students will explore their own places in D.C., pursue their own viewpoints, and investigate the boundaries of their own education through mapping, traversing, and learning from the city. As a class, we will attend demonstrations and write about the questions, demands or visions they present. Thus, the course content will be determined in part by the national issues being played out on the streets of Washington : possibly the Iraq war, reproductive rights, or immigration issues. These messages embedded in our environment will be the starting points for two short papers exploring the essential elements of college writing and independent thinking, and will culminate in a large research project.

Caroline Smith - Picture This: Writing About the Visual and Verbal

Have you ever noticed just how much of an impact images have on our lives today? Each morning, we may wake up, turn on the news, eat our breakfast and flip through the newspaper, glancing at the advertisements on the pages in between. On our way to work or school, we may pass a flyer or two, each decorated with a catchy image and a few phrases. From television to advertisements to paintings to the Internet, it's hard to escape this infiltration of images! In this class, we will explore the intersections between critically seeing and critically reading. For instance, how is “reading” a painting different from “reading” an essay? How is it similar? Does knowing more about an artist's life change our perceptions of his/her work? How does knowing background information about an author affect the reading of his/her text? While our course will be grounded in the study of “classic” works of art (painting, photography, sculpture), we will also use the critical reading skills we develop to analyze pop culture creations (product packaging, advertisements, music videos, movies), examining how, in many of these mediums, the visual and verbal often work together. For example, how do designers incorporate effective text and images into a product's packaging? The visual and written texts we look at will, in turn, serve as the starting points for our writing assignments, as we experiment with our own methods of argumentation. Writing assignments for this class are as varied as the texts we will consider. Students will write response papers, short essays, and longer, research based essays. At the conclusion of the semester, students will produce an illustrated, personal narrative exploring their development as a writer over the course of the term. As a class this semester, we will explore – through observing, reading, researching and writing – the ways in which both the visual and verbal affect our everyday lives and shape our culture.

 

Robbin Zeff - Political Junkie: Writing about Politics in the Nation's Capital

Washington, DC, is the ultimate political town-where national politics is local. This writing-intensive course will explore the exciting world of contemporary American politics by monitoring how political issues are debated and observing how national policy is made. Students will conduct original research on a topic of their choice that will have them digging deep into the inner-workings of the library's database holdings and doing fieldwork into the hallways of Congress. Both short and long writing assignments will be used to learn the rigors and expectations of academic writing. Course reading will cover the craft of research and writing as well as contemporary political issues and events. In addition, students will be required to monitor daily news sources to stay on top of the current political landscape. A significant amount of work for this course will be conducted online; students will participate in online class discussions, use content management software, and use digital technology to facilitate research, writing, and revision.