This schedule is subject to potential revision as the semester does what it does.

January 10: Introduction, or the Peculiar Nature of Academic Writing

• In preparation for this class session, please read chapter 1, “The Workshop,” from Sarnecka, The Writing Workshop, as well as the excerpted chapters from Silvia, How to Write a Lot.
• We’ll spend this session talking a bit about the weirdness of academic writing, as well as the overflow of writing advice out there.
• We’ll also use this session to get set up for the writing you’ll do over the semester. If you have a laptop, bring it with you to class.

January 17: NO CLASS

January 24: Notes

• Chapter 2, “Planning Your Time,” from Sarnecka, The Writing Workshop.
• Sönke Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes.
• Experiment with your notetaking in completing your reading for another class. You can use note cards, a bullet journal, or notetaking software such as Obsidian (my personal favorite). Bring the results of that experiment with you to class.

January 31: Blogs and newsletters

• Chapter 3, “The Practice of Writing,” from Sarnecka, The Writing Workshop.
• Blog posts:
  • Andrea Kaston Tange, “What If We Could Measure Value in Units Besides Dollars?,” Thinking about the Humanities.
  • Cathy Davidson, “The Single Most Essential Requirement in Designing a Fall Online Course,” HASTAC.
  • Maha Bali, “From Twitter Thread to Model to Keynote #OpenEd20 & #MandL20,” Reflecting Allowed.
  • Amanda Chesley, “What Happens Next,” Words Make Everything Better.
• Other blogs and newsletters to explore:
  • Jade Davis, Performing the Digital.
  • Janneke Adema, Open Reflections.
  • Dan Lockton, Architectures.
  • Virginia Yonkers, Connecting 2 the World.
  • Shawn Graham, Electric Archaeology.
  • Maha Bali, Reflecting Allowed.
  • Amanda Visconti, Literature Geek.
  • Jill Walker Rettberg, jill/txt.
  • Lisa Duggan, Commie Pinko Queer.
  • Grace Lavery, The Wazzock’s Review.
• During the week before this class, write a blog post that links to and thinks through several blogs that you find influential or important.

February 7: Public writing

• Donald E. Heller, “Writing Opinion Articles,” in Marybeth Gasman, ed., Academics Going Public.
• Columns/essays to read:
  • Corey Robin, “How Intellectuals Create a Public”
  • Mark Greif, “What’s Wrong with Public Intellectuals?”
  • Tressie McMillan Cottom, “The Dolly Moment”
• Other public-facing publications to explore:
  • Public Books.
  • Los Angeles Review of Books.
  • The Feminist Wire.
  • The Conversation.
• During the week before this class, write a blog post that begins the work of translating your current research (where “current” can mean a paper you’ve written during a previous semester, or something you’re working on now) into an argument for a public audience.

February 14: Manifestos and screeds

• The Combahee River Collective, “The Combahee River Collective Statement”
• Audre Lorde, “Poetry Is Not a Luxury”
• V21 Collective, “Manifesto of the V21 Collective”
• Eric Zimmerman, “Manifesto for a Ludic Century”

February 21: Personal statements and other application materials

• Academic Job Market Support Network, various shared documents.

February 28: Proposals 1: Grants

• Chapter 6, “Proposals,” from Sarnecka, The Writing Workshop.
• Model grant proposals

March 7: NO CLASS

March 14: Proposals 2: Comps, Dissertation, Book

• Chapter 4, “Literature Reviews,” from Sarnecka, The Writing Workshop
• Sample book/dissertation proposals
• Update! Amanda Visconti shared the earliest draft they could find of their dissertation proposal.

March 21: Letters of recommendation

• NYT Magazine columns (sadly, the online versions get new headlines that hide the “letter of recommendation” schtick, but they’re still great essays)
• Sample (redacted) letters of recommendation

March 28: Peer reviews and reader’s reports

• Sample peer reviews

April 4: Responses to reports

• “Revise and Resubmit,” in “Scientific Articles,” from Sarnecka, The Writing Workshop
• Sample responses to peer reviews, reader’s reports, and other assessments

April 11: Revising

• William Germano, On Revision
• Select one piece of writing from this semester – a blog post, a personal statement, whatever – and really revise

April 18: Working/workshop day

April 25: Conclusion(s)