Harvard Summer School

Expo S-39: The Advanced Essay

Summer 2017: MW 3:15-6:15 pm
Sever Hall 112; Course #32384

Instructor: Chris Walsh

E-mail: crobertwalsh@gmail.com

Overview: This course aims to help you more fully realize your voice as a writer. You
will do so by reading old and new essays, by meeting essayists and editors, and, most
importantly, by writing essays of your own. To structure the class, I have selected certain
texts and devised a series of writing assignments—but in this advanced seminar you will
have a significant role in determining what we read and write.

Reading Assignments: I have assigned several readings in the first two weeks, and after
that we will also read the work of writers who will be visiting us. But most of the rest of
the readings will be selected by the class. On the schedule at the end of this syllabus, you
will notice some blanks beginning the third week. These will soon be filled in with your
names and with the authors and titles of essays you choose from the course anthologies.
On the days your name appears, you and I will lead discussion of the essay you chose for
the class to read, paying particular attention to what the essay has to teach us as writers.

Writing Assignments: You will be well prepared to help lead discussion of the two
essays you chose for the class to read, for the first paper you write will be an analytical
appreciation of one of them, and you will also write a one-page outline or "x-ray" of the
other. The second assignment will require you to write an emulation in which you follow
(more or less) the structure of some model essay but give it an entirely new content. The
final essay will be an ambitious and independent project to be undertaken in consultation
with me. It will be the longest of the papers you write, though some may wish to fulfill
the assignment by writing a series of shorter pieces. The essay is a famously commodious
form; personal, academic, humorous, and editorial essays are just a few of its
incarnations, and of course these subgenres often mix with each other; new media forms
such as the blog also can be essayistic. After the first assignment, I have not specified the
exact kinds of essays you will write, but I will of course set standards of quantity and
quality. The assignment descriptions to be provided will specify length requirements. We
will have conferences about each paper before you turn it in, and you will also benefit
from the feedback of your classmates.

Participation—that is, regular attendance as well as thorough preparation for and full
engagement in class discussions—is crucial not only to your success in this seminar, but
to the success of the seminar as a whole. Complete each assigned reading in its entirety
by the class for which it is assigned. You are also expected to revise drafts thoroughly
and thoughtfully, and to be committed to the peer review process, showing respect for
your classmates and the academic setting. Please email me if you’re going to miss class
or be late. More than two absences will hurt your course grade, and note that official
program policy states that, “because courses proceed by sequential writing activities,
your consistent attendance is essential. If you are absent without medical excuse more
than once, you are eligible to be officially excluded from the course and failed. On your
first unexcused absence, you will receive a letter from me warning you of your situation.”
 S-39 Summer 2017 2

Three essays (preceded by drafts and conferences) will account for your final grade:
Essay #1 is worth twenty percent (20%); Essay #2 thirty-five percent (35%); and Essay
#3 forty-five percent (45%). Graduate students will be expected to write an additional
reflective piece on each of their essays. Papers are due at the beginning of class on the
dates noted on the schedule. Half a grade will be deducted if a student brings a paper late
to class on the due date; a full-grade penalty will be assessed for each day a paper is late;
papers not turned in within three days of the due date are assigned a grade of zero. Late
final papers cannot be accepted. Here is the official program policy on the completion of
assignments:
Because your writing course is a planned sequence of writing, you must write all of the
assignments to pass the course and you must write them within the schedule of the course--
not in the last few days of the summer term after you have fallen behind. If you fail to
submit work when it is due, you will receive a letter from me reminding you of these
requirements. The letter will specify the new due date by which you must submit the late
work. If you fail to submit at least a substantial draft of the piece of writing by this new
due date, you are eligible to be excluded from the course and failed.

Grading standards, which appear on pages 7 and 8 of this document, reflect my high
expectations for the style and substance of your prose, and my assumption that you have
already mastered fundamentals of grammar; we will, however, review grammatical
matters as they come up in your writing. The grading standards will remain the same over
the course of the semester, but assignments will become more challenging in both
complexity and length.

Formatting: Unless otherwise noted, all assignments must be submitted in 12-point

typeface, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The first page should include your
name, the date, the course number, and my name. The last page should specify the works
cited. Always number your pages and staple them together. Please keep a copy of drafts
of all work that you submit. No electronic submission without permission.

Required Reading
Please purchase the following texts, available at the Harvard Coop, textbook department:
Leah Hager Cohen, I Don't Know (Riverhead, 2013).
Jonathan Franzen, ed., Best American Essays 2016 (Houghton Mifflin, 2016).
Philip Lopate, ed., The Art of the Personal Essay (Anchor Books, 1997).
David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (Back Bay Books,
2007).
Joseph M. Williams and Joseph Bizup, Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace, 5th
ed. (Longman)

You should also have a good grammar reference and a good dictionary.
Harvard has a helpful website on Writing with Sources:
http://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/
The following website may also be of some use for matters of grammar and citation:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
 S-39 Summer 2017 3

Outside of Class Communications and Assistance

We will meet for individual conferences and I am also happy to communicate via e-mail,
but please write in formal, grammatically correct prose. You should also know that the
Harvard Writing Center, located in the Barker Center Basement, 12 Quincy St., has tutors
available to help you with your essays at every stage, from pre-drafting through polishing
your final versions. I encourage you to pay a visit. For information and to make an
appointment visit the website:
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k33202

Disability Services
Students with accessibility issues should contact the Accessibility Services office
at Accessibility@dcemail.harvard.edu or 617-998-9640.

Statement on Plagiarism
All students are expected to observe Harvard University rules regarding all forms of
academic honesty, including, of course, rules prohibiting plagiarism, which the Summer
School Student Handbook defines as follows:
Plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s ideas and work. It is the incorporation of
facts, ideas, or specific language that are not common knowledge, are taken from
another source, and are not properly cited.

Whether you copy verbatim or simply rephrase the ideas of another without
properly acknowledging the source, the theft is the same. A computer program
written as part of your academic work is, like a paper, expected to be your original
work and subject to the same standards of representation. In the preparation of
work submitted to meet course, program, or school requirements—whether a draft
or a final version of a paper, project, take-home exam, computer program,
placement exams, application essay, oral presentation, or other work—you must
take great care to distinguish your own ideas and language from information
derived from sources. Sources include published and unpublished primary and
secondary materials, the Internet, and information and opinions of other people.

You are expected to follow the standards of proper citation and to avoid plagiarism.
Please consult the Harvard Guide to Using Sources, prepared by the Harvard
College Writing Program, for a helpful introduction to all matters related to source
use: identifying and evaluating secondary sources, incorporating them into your
work, documenting them correctly, and avoiding plagiarism. We also recommend
that you complete our online tutorials “Using Sources, Five Scenarios” and “Using
Sources, Five Examples” before you submit any written work this summer. These
tutorials take 15 minutes each to complete, and they will help you learn what you
don't know about using sources responsibly.

In cases of suspected plagiarism, student papers may be submitted to a private

contracted service that reviews content for originality. Results from this review
may be used to inform the Dean of Students Office in its inquiry. Papers submitted
to this service are retained by that company and become part of their database of
materials used in future searches. No personal identifying information is submitted
or retained by the service.
 S-39 Summer 2017 4

SCHEDULE

Writing and reading assignments should be completed by the beginning of class on the
day noted. The blank spots on the left of the schedule below will be filled in with your
names; the ones on the right will be filled in with the titles of the essays you have chosen
from the course anthologies for the class to read.

June 19
In-class writing diagnostic; Hazlitt, “On the Periodical Essayists”; Eliot, “Tradition and
the Individual Talent”; Emerson, "Self-Reliance"

June 21
Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”; Borges, “Blindness” (Lopate 377-386);
White, "The Ring of Time" (Lopate 538-545); Waller, “On Borges’ Blindness and My
Own Failing Eyes”; Sear, "An Annotated 'Ring of Time'; or, an afternoon with E.B.
White in Sarasota"; Williams, Preface
Select two essays to add to syllabus (no more than one from Franzen, Lopate, or Wallace)
Self-Review and Goals due (see page 6)
First stage of essay #1 (see page 9)

June 26
Wallace, “Authority and American Usage” (66-127); Woolf, “The Death of the Moth”
(Lopate 265-267);
Williams, Lesson 1 and Lesson 6
Draft of Essay #1 due

June 28
Baldwin, "Notes of a Native Son" (Lopate 587-603); Williams, Lesson 2;
Ginzburg, "He and I" (Lopate 423-430)
McPhee, "Draft No. 4" (handout)
Revised draft of Essay #1 due

July 2 Email final version of Essay #1 to me at crobertwalsh@gmail.com by Sunday

night 11:59 pm

July 3
Williams, Lesson 3
Saro-Wiwa, "Final Statement"
___________________ ____________________
First stage Essay #2 due
Self-introduction
 S-39 Summer 2017 5

July 5
___________________ ____________________

___________________ ____________________
Williams, Lesson 4
Complete draft of Essay #2 due

July 10

___________________ ____________________
Williams, Lesson 5
Lopate, Introduction to Art of the Personal Essay (xxiii-liv)
Revised Essay #2 + commentary due

July 12
Cohen, I Don't Know
Guest: Leah Hager Cohen
Final version of essay #2
Williams, Lesson 8

July 17
William Pierce, "In Uniform"
Guest: William Pierce
___________________ ____________________

___________________ ____________________
First stage Essay #3 due

July 19
___________________ ____________________

___________________ ____________________

July 24
Williams, Lesson 10 and 11
___________________ ____________________

___________________ ____________________
Draft of Essay #3 due
 S-39 Summer 2017 6

July 26
Williams, Lesson 9
___________________ ____________________

___________________ ____________________
Revised draft of Essay #3

July 31
___________________ ____________________

___________________ ____________________

Williams, Lesson 8

August 2
___________________ ____________________

___________________ ____________________

Final version of essay #3 due in class

Self-review and goals

In a paragraph or two (200-300 words), reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a
writer, based on your experience in the academic setting and more generally. What skills
do you feel you have mastered? Which ones do you need to work on? What are your
goals as a writer, for this course and beyond?
 S-39 Summer 2017 7

Grading Standards

Grades reflect the quality and quantity of a student’s work submitted throughout the term
according to the grading standards listed below. Undergraduate- and graduate-credit
students may earn the following grades:

• A and A− grades represent work whose superior quality indicates a full mastery
of the subject and, in the case of A, work of extraordinary distinction. There is no
grade of A+.
• B+, B, and B− grades represent work of good to very good quality throughout the
term; however, it does not merit special distinction.
• C+, C, and C− grades designate an average command of the course material.
• D+, D, and D- grades indicate work that shows a deficiency in knowledge of the
material.
• E is a failing grade representing work that deserves no credit. E may also be
assigned to students who do not submit required work in courses from which they
have not officially withdrawn by the withdrawal deadline.
--from http://www.extension.harvard.edu/policies/grades

Excellent (A) papers have clear claims and soundly organized arguments that reflect
detailed, nuanced understanding of both primary and secondary sources. They are
precisely and concisely written and have few if any mechanical problems—even minor
ones. They acknowledge and respond to counterargument, and integrate quotations
smoothly and forcefully. A vital, graceful voice animates such essays; they say something
compelling in a compelling way.

Good (B) papers have clear claims and are thoughtfully and reasonably organized. They
may be marred by a few infelicities of style, but they will have no major mechanical
problems—and not many minor ones either. These are solid, disciplined papers that make
a definite point in a logical, coherent manner to a definite audience.

Satisfactory (C) papers have a claim supported by evidence. The writing is clean and
properly proofed, but not always compelling; it may be marred by some minor
mechanical problems and one or two major ones (like fragments or run-ons). While their
arguments may not be particularly cogent, these papers do say something interesting, and
they say it in a comprehensible and responsible way.

Poor (D) papers, while giving evidence of effort on the part of the writer, lack a claim,
have major mechanical problems, poor organization, betray serious mis-readings of the
text, and show little sense of subject or audience.

Failing (F) papers have weaknesses even graver than those indicated for poor papers.
They usually betray a lack of effort on the part of the writer. Any evidence of plagiarism
(intentional or otherwise) will result in a failing grade—and referral to the Academic
Conduct Committee.
 S-39 Summer 2017 8

HOW YOUR GRADE IS CALCULATED

You will receive letter grades on the final versions of your papers. Final grades are
computed by calculating these grades on a 4-point scale that correlates with the
calculation of g.p.a.: A=4, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3, and so on. I also sometimes give split
grades on papers: a paper that earned a C+/B-, for example, would earn a 2.5 (the average
of 2.3[C+] and 2.7[B-]).

Here are two hypothetical cases for students in a class like this one, in which the first
paper counts for 20% of the final grade, the second for 35%, and the third for 45%.
Student X earns a C-, then a B/B+, then a C+. Here is how her grade would be
calculated:
Paper #1: C- =1.7 x 20% = 34
Paper #2: B/B+ =3.15 x 35% = 110.25
Paper #3: B- = 2.7 x 45% = 121.5
Her total points would be 265.75, which translates into 2.66, or a B- final grade.

Student Y earns an A-, then a B, then an A-. Here is how her grade would be calculated:
Paper #1: A- =3.7 x 20 = 74
Paper #2: B =3 x 35% = 105
Paper #3: A- = 3.7 x 45% =166
Her total points would be 345, which translates into 3.45, or a B+ final grade (the student
would have to have a 3.5 or above to earn an A-).

For either student, significant absences (see syllabus) would lower the final grade. There
is no way to raise the final grade.
 S-39 Summer 2017 9

Expo S-39
Advanced Essay Writing
Assignment #1

Write a five- to six-page essay (~1500-1800 words) that engages with an essay of your
choosing from Franzen, Lopate, or Wallace. (You should select two essays to add to the
syllabus; your paper should focus on one of these. Do not choose an essay that already
appears on the syllabus.) For your first draft, it might help to think of your reader as the
class, and to convey to us why you think we will benefit from reading the essay (X)
you’ve chosen. What is X about? What does X do? How does it do it? What made you
choose X for yourself, what did you learn from it, in content, shape, and style, and what
can the class learn from it? Include a quotation or two.

The examples by Sear and Waller (to be distributed soon) are meant to inspire and not
constrain you.

As you draft, it may help to keep in mind a working claim that begins, “I recommend that
we read X because... (and perhaps despite...)”—but in the final version this claim will
probably be implicit, at least the "I recommend" part. And while you'll explore the
writer's methods in your essay, your main focus will probably be on what X says about
Y. Indeed, ultimately, your paper might well focus not so much on X as on the subject of
X--on Y, that is, which you'll be examining for yourself in the company of X.

Students taking the course for graduate credit will write a one-page reflection on their
essays. Details to come.

Due Dates

For next class (June 21), choose the two essays you'd like to add to the course syllabus
(they must be from different books) and write a total of 300-500 WBP words about one
or both of them.

A complete draft of this essay is due in hard copy in class on June 26.

A revised version of the complete draft is due in hard copy in class on June 28.

The final version should be emailed to crobertwalsh@gmail.com by 11:59 pm on July 2.

 S-39 Summer 2017 10

THE WRITING PROCESS AND REVISION:

MOVING FROM WRITER-BASED TO READER-BASED PROSE

“Writing” is not one thing. It is better understood as a complex process incorporating a variety of
activities: exploring, planning, drafting, revising, and editing. I would also include reading and
thinking, since these activities are inseparable from the act of writing. One name for that portion
of the writing process that takes place after you have put your initial thoughts into words is
“revision.” Revision can be thought of as a movement from what the composition scholar Linda
Flower calls “Writer-Based Prose” to what she calls “Reader-Based Prose.”

WBP is writing meant primarily for the writer herself or himself. Its purpose is to document and
facilitate the unfolding of the writer’s thoughts, and it therefore shares many of the features of
verbal language.

In structure, it reflects the associative path taken by the writer when discovering and
developing his or her ideas: often narrative (i.e., a chronology of your discovery or
thinking) or survey (i.e., stepping through the evidence in the order it comes, without
filtering out and emphasizing the important points).

In content, it often does not include background information or framing a reader would
need to make sense of the writer’s ideas. (The writer already knows this stuff, so why
include it?) It may also be about the writer rather than about the writer’s ideas.

In language, is often relies on terms that have private or shifting meanings (“I know what
I mean...”) and syntactical structures that are loose or associative.

RBP is writing meant to be read by others. Its purpose is to communicate an idea.

In structure, it reflects conceptual or logical relations between issues and evidence, rather
than the associative path of discovery.

In content, it includes background information and framing a reader would need to make
sense of the writer’s ideas. It is typically about the writer’s ideas rather than the writer.

In language, it uses a shared vocabulary (define your terms!) and syntactical structures
that demonstrate relationships between ideas.

Writer-Based Prose is writing to discover and work out what you want to say.
Reader-Based Prose aims at communication. Because they have different purposes, the
movement from a Writer-Based first draft to a Reader-Based final version is less about
refinement than it is about translation or transformation. Flower writes, “The second version . . .
is not so much a ‘rewrite’ as it is a transformation of the old one.” In other words, when you
write, the way you thought of something is not necessarily the best way to explain or
communicate it!

Flower, Linda. “Writer-Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing.” College
English 41.1 (1979): 19-37.