The first major paper of Sen Sem

Seminarians,

I am looking forward to the "Project Map" paper you are turning into prose for Thursday.  It occurs to me that there might be two different kinds of papers in the world: those that develop an argument out of one text (a close reading of a poem, for example), and those that develop  the implications implicit in many sources.  One is deductive; the other is inductive.

Your paper is inductive, developed from examples and patterns you've seen in many sources: the Table of Contents for your final Senior Seminar portfolio (you don't need to include the actual papers at this point), the StrengthsFinder results, those crazy dialogues where you created a roomful of characters discussing your future and abilities, and the original project map -- and each other as we discuss things in class.  Be sure you turn in all those pieces of "data" with the actual paper on Thursday.

Your goal is to make claims about what will/might/could count as writerly "success" for you from this day forward, through the semester's projects and beyond.  For data, you the sources above.

So the question you're trying to answer is this: What writing projects fit your experience, knowledge, and abilities?  How will you capitalize on those personal qualities as you push forward through this class and after graduation?  What kind of a writer should you be?

What's unusual here is that you're asked to look at productive tensions in your writing self -- the struggle, say, to be easy to read but at the same time challenging your reader (to draw from one of my own tensions).  How can both be true?  They are in contradiction.  But it is from trying to write through these tensions that everything emerges: your style, voice, topics, audience, self-image...and your version of success.

I'll be in my office all week if you want to stop by to talk over a draft.

THURSDAY: Project Map due in prose.  Topic: As a writer, what will count as “success” for you?  Draw from the early project map, the portfolio table of contents, strengths inventory results, dialogue among your inner voices (Feb 8), etc.  Examine the major tensions in your writing style, habits, topics, audiences, etc.  Five pages min.


That's it for now. 


DF