Course Descriptions for WRI 101 & WRI 102

WRI 101: First Year Writing

Offered Every Semester

Prerequisite : Placement

First Year Writing offers writing support for FSP First Seminar and WRI 102 Academic Writing. A zero-credit, ungraded, repeatable studio courses, First Year Writing must be taken concurrently with FSP or with WRI 102. May be repeated.

WRI 102: Academic Writing

1 Course Unit

Offered Annually

Academic Writing offers students the opportunity to develop, advance, and practice skills in the production of academic prose. Within a framework of sophisticated readings, highly coordinated writing workshops, and instructor feedback, students practice the modes of writing necessary to succeed in college. Students read critically, cultivate habits of effective and ethical research, practice conventions of documentation, and use information technologies. Topical readings may vary among sections.

WRI 102 is offered in thematic sections. Sections offered in Spring 2009 include:

The American Adolescent

Students in this course will analyze images of the American adolescent in material ranging from /Catcher in the Rye/ to "Mean Girls." They will then tackle some of the greater social, sexual, political, and educational issues facing today's teen

The American Dream

How attainable is the American Dream in the early part of the 21st century? Students will join in the conversation about the viability of the dream as they read selections from contemporary writers including David Brooks, Barbara Ehrenreich, Thomas Friedman, David Shipler and Enrique's Journey by Pulitzer-prizewinner Sonia Nazario.

Angles of Vision in Mass Media

In this course we will examine contemporary images and texts in our effort to explore how various angles of vision in mass media contribute to our construction of personal and social identities. Our discussions and readings will include topics such as corporate responsibility, gender discrimination, and body image.

The Argument of Film

We will focus on the implicit arguments that films make and, at the same time, study more explicit written arguments. In order to write about these movies, we will study the structure of argument, including logic and logical fallacies, along with the structure of film.

Burgers, Bathrooms, and Bias

Focusing on social justice, the students will read about the fast food industry, low wage workers, and racism to argue different sides of these issues.

Creating Identity in Pop Culture

We will look at two ways youth identify and represent themselves to society: through consumerism and through the creation of virtual/personal 'space' on the internet. Studying these vehicles will allow students to explore questions about what it means to create an identity within the public sphere of popular culture and to investigate problems that arise as a result.

For Students, By Students

The topics for this section are chosen with help from the students in preceding sections of WRI 102. Topics have ranged from 'The Simpsons' to 'the relevance of the SAT's'. At the end of each semester, the class is asked to choose the topics for the next semester based on their experience with argumentative writing.

Gender and Sexuality in Advertising

An advertisement, like any other text, communicates information about a culture. Unlike any other text, however, advertisements exist for one reason only: to sell something. By examining essays about the place of advertising in American culture as well as by analyzing actual visual advertisements (commercials, print ads), students will develop arguments about the complicated relationship between our advertisements and our collective and individual ideas about our gender and sexual identities.

Human Rights

This course focuses its attention on human rights in the context of gender, language, and race/ ethnicity. We address how violations of these rights are managed by the human rights system.

Issues in Film

Issues in Film will encourage and enable students to appreciate the cinematic and dramatic structure of visual media, especially films, and to confront serious issues in film, including issues of bias and stereotyping, whether based on ethnicity, gender, age, disease, or physical disability.

A Post Racial America?

This section will examine how the 2008 presidential election has affected how we think about race in America, and specifically, whether we now live in a period that can be called post-racial.

Race and Gender in Disney Films

Focusing on five Disney films, the class will engage in critical argumentative discussion about race and ethnicity as well as femininity and masculinity. In addition to the main text, students will read critical articles that will help inform and support their class discussion.

Reading The New York Times

Each week we'll be reading the Sunday edition of the New York Times to learn about the rhetorical strategies writers use to argue effectively. After several shorter assignments, including a letter to the editor, the class will choose several contemporary issues on which to write their own researched argument and a proposal for a feature article in the weekly magazine. Extensive weekly reading on current events is required.

Representations of Disability

Students will be introduced to the many facets of disability studies by reading short stories, essays, historical and legal documents, journal articles, etc. We will examine how disability is represented in the media, support groups, marketing to the disabled, biographical work of famous disabled people, and the history of The Americans with Disabilities Act.

Sports and Virtual Sports

The course will examine controversies and issues in sports in America and video games. Students will be asked to enter the conversation pertaining to such issues as the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs in professional sports, the argument for video game play as an emerging medium for education, and the pull of money in college athletics. Readings include Barry Bonds Gonna Git Your Mama: When Steriods Attack by Dave Zirin and Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports by Andrew Zimbalist.

Writing about New Jersey

In this class we will learn to see place, and in particular New Jersey, from new perspectives. In what ways does place determine our identity? Do representations of place affect our sense of belonging? What political, social, or cultural issues stem from our hometowns, and how can we most effectively address our concerns? Students will write a persuasive letter to the editor and argue their points of view on a variety of New Jersey-related topics.

Section themes will be updated by the end of October.