Workshop and Essays

Workshop

Everyone will submit material for friendly, constructive workshop discussion a minimum of TWICE in the semester. When it's your turn to be workshopped, you'll email the class a copy of your work by noon of the day prior to class. Don't forget to paginate your work, provide your name on the work, and use standard Times 10-12-pt. font. We'll all print it out and read it, then discuss it in class. The item to be workshopped is entirely your choice.

Other IMPORTANT Workshop Considerations: CLICK HERE

Essays

Everyone will write two very short essays. One of these will report what you heard and learned when your work was workshopped, and one will report what critical skills you practiced as you workshopped your classmates' work.

Workshop Reflective Essay

During and/or at the end of the term, you will write a brief reflective essay. This piece—at least 2 pages, typed, double-spaced, and stapled—should do the following:

1. summarize the feedback you received during your workshop sessions, explaining what you learned about the strengths and weaknesses of your writing;
2. explain how you revised the work in question, based on the feedback you received;
3. address the possibilities and directions for future new work which came out of these sessions;
4. put your thoughts into the larger context of your overall progress and development as a writer.

The purpose of the essay is to help you think about and best use the feedback you received. The purpose is also to show that you were attentive to the class's responses and that you have applied those responses to engaged, ongoing revisions of your work.

Critiquer's Reflective Essay

At the end of the term, you will write an additional reflective essay, at least 2 pages, typed, double-spaced and stapled. This time you should:

1. explain what new critical principles you practiced applying in this class;
2. explain how the course has revised, shaped, undermined, or enhanced how you read creative work and how you judge it.

The purpose of this essay is to help you reflect on how you read your own work as well the work of others. It is also to show me that you've grown as a critic/reader in the course of the semester.

For Both Essays

Audience: the workshop sessions are for all of us; the essays are for me and for yourself. They should demonstrate your commitment to improvement, and help me to evaluate your progress and seriousness as a writer.

Evaluation criteria: your essays should carefully follow the instructions described above, and each should include a heading which identifies the assignment. Provide well-developed and focused paragraphs, and be sure your essays are edited and proofread for lapses in clarity, style, and mechanics. Your workshop performance may affect your chapbook score.

Due date and penalties: Refective Essays are due in my SE 318 mailbox or in a labeled box on hallway floor by 5pm, Fri., May 2nd. Any material turned in after 5 pm will not be accepted except in cases of documented emergencies or illness.

Essay Grade Scale:

A = 14-15
B = 12-13
C = 10-11
D = 8-9