English 5376
Writing Project
Audience: Professionals in your field
Purpose: To develop an extended project related to your field of study that will contribute to your academic or professional career.
Assignment: Early in the semester, identify an issue/need/gap within your field of study or your profession that you can address through writing. Then develop a writing project that will address this need and take the form of a recognized academic or professional genre. Most of the work you do in this class will relate directly to this project.
The following are some suggestions for Writing Project formats:
A typical class research paper is NOT an acceptable genre for this assignment. You are not simply showing your knowledge of the field; you are contributing to the knowledge of the field. The genre you choose must have a professional context, not just be an academic exercise. Do not use a term paper from another class unless you are revising it into a professional document.
Throughout the semester, you will work on your Writing Projects individually and in groups. Final projects will not be considered for a grade unless you have worked on them throughout the semester during the Writing Workshop activities. In other words, if you work on a project throughout the semester and then decide the last week of class to turn in a completely different project, the work will not be accepted. The emphasis in this class is on the process of putting together a project, not just turning in a final document for a grade. A project proposal is due early in the semester. You may not significantly change your topic once this proposal has been approved.
For English MA students interested in community college teaching: Community colleges (including Del Mar) are becoming more strict about their instructors having education and experience in the teaching of basic writing. TAMUCC only offers one course in basic writing; the new standard is to have three on your transcript. Del Mar, however, seems willing at this time to accept a major project focused on basic writing in another class as a substitute for one of those three courses. Thus if you are interested in community college teaching as a career, you may wish to consider pursuing basic writing as a topic for your project.