The Agony of Writing

1
The Agony of Writing

• Arghhhh! Writers block. Im dead!
• There are techniques for research and writingset
  skills that can be learnt.
• Harvard Programme learn by learning how to read,
  pose questions, develop research skills and
  advance an argument.
• Recognise the elements of an essay.

2
Assignments

• You write three assignments
• Close reading assignment. A short three to four
  page critical analysis on one of the readings set
  for the course. (20)
• Hypertext assignment. A short hypertext composed
  of lexias and links and written in HTML. (25)
  Only in this class!
• Research paper. An 8 to 10 page research paper on
  a topic of your choosing relevant to the broad
  topic of 'Information and Society. (35)
• You write a draft of each assignment and meet me
  personally to discuss your work!

3
Assessment

• So how are you assessed?
• Paper 1 20
• Paper 2 25
• Paper 335
• In-class work15 (asking questions, offering
  comments, vital in a seminar!)
• IVLE5 (A minimum of six postings.)

4
Introducing UWP2101C

• Class structure first hour
• First hour writing, second hour discussion of set
  reading
• We start at 10.05
• Short presentation by me about 15 min on writing
• Writing exercise on Macs (not formally assessed!)

5
Course Overview

• Class structure second hour.
• Short presentation by student.
• Close reading what is the main idea in the
  reading? How is the argument advanced?
• Brainstorminggeneral discussion of issues raised
  by the readingmaking connections between the
  reading and other readings/films/new stories.

6
Some final points

• Its vital that you do your readings before you
  come to classfeed your brain!
• Writing is a processwe need to be honest about
  how we write and do research. Assignment two will
  go online and the best research papers will be
  published in the interface web.