Special note: Final paper and portfolio details were reviewed in class April 18. You can review these here. Don’t hesitate to be in touch with questions!
For class, April 25:
Due no later than the beginning of class: Your final SITE piece is due by email to Julia. I must have these in digital form so I can deliver them to SITE for publication. No late work will be accepted due to that deadline.
All work must be:
• error free
• in a Word Doc (no PDFs)
• titled
Due in class: Five copies of your rough draft of a lyric essay. You will be reading these in groups in class and offering feedback.
Options for the lyric essay:
• You can use the rough draft begun as a collage essay in class
• You can review last week’s presentation on the Lyric Essay on the class presentation page.
• You can use any of the lyric essay exercises from Tell It Slant from pages 123-126 to generate a draft of a piece.
• All drafts must be typed
Reading for class:
Read Ben Marcus essay on The Lyric Essay
Read this excerpt from Jenny Boully’s “The Body”
Please read “On the Form of the Video Essay,” by Marilyn Freeman (TriQuarterly)
“On the Origin of the Video Essay,” by John Bresland (Blackbird)
We will watch some video essays in class and discuss them.
In-class assignment
You will also have an in-class graded critical writing assignment on the lyric essay, so be sure to have thoroughly read and reviewed all the reading assignments.
Preparing for our final class:
Our final class will be on Monday, May 2. We will spend the class having a seminar discussion on Janet Malcolm’s The Journalist and the Murderer, which include a presentation by me on some of the elements of this book. Remember that your participation in class discussions is key to your success in this class.
Final paper and portfolio requirements:
Your final paper and portfolio are due no later than 5 p.m. Monday, May 9. Late work will be docked 10 percent for each day it is late and no work will be taken after Wednesday, May 11.
Portfolio Requirements:
• rough draft and revision of your memoir
• rough draft and revision of your personal reported essay
• rough draft and revision of your lyric essay
• One page of writing that discusses the revisions you made to your pieces and how it incorporated the feedback you received in critique and your own understanding of the elements of creative nonfiction.
Final Paper:
• 800-1,000 words
• follows MLA style
You have two options for your paper:
Option No. 1 Craft Analysis of Creative Nonfiction Techniques
Analyze Malcolm’s use of two elements of creative nonfiction, with cited examples from the text as well as use of our critical readings to bolster your examples of the types of creative nonfiction and their importance in the text.
Option No. 2: Critical Analysis of the Issues of Nonfiction
Discuss, with a thesis, the issues and concerns raised in The Journalist and the Murderer as it relates to the reporting and writing of nonfiction, using secondary sources to bolster your argument.