Hello and Welcome to the Class Syllabus

If you've gotten this far, you are probably interested in the subject of the personal essay. Below is the complete description of the course—Lives in Common—followed by a schedule of lectures and assignments for the 15-week course.

Download the Course Syllabus (PDF)

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Instructor: Bradford Connatser
Office: Remote
Office Hours: 8:30 to 10:30 M W F and by appointment
Phone: 541-430-4548
Email: bconnatser1245@gmail.com

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Mission

This fifteen-week course provides a path from the student’s way of thinking to the conflicting, adverse thoughts of “others.” These two poles can be reconciled through language so that the student can thoughtfully communicate and form relationships with people who do not share the student’s belief—without tearing those people down. Each student will prevail against common but often objectionable human impulses to attack “the other” by studying exemplars of personal essays, virtually attending lectures from the teacher, practicing writing techniques and strategies with discipline, and finally bringing all learned writing skills to bear upon building an essay from scratch that conveys a personal message to the reader.

Each personal essay must be framed as a polemic, based upon a subject that is in controversy. The audience is a vague notion of the student’s adversary, whom the student will try to convince to listen to and appreciate an opposing point of view. The course encourages people to think about what they have in common with those whom they consider antithetical to their beliefs while making a case for reconciling differences. Each essay will be brief but very rich and far more complex than the five-paragraph essay taught in high school and college. By dedicating themselves to precision, students will compose personal essays that appeal to a wide range of readers, weaving tapestries of universal meaning as best anyone can. Brevity of expression will be emphasized to limit each essay to a manageable length, which will no doubt be a startling chore.

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“I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter.”

     -- Blaise Pascal

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Cost of the Course

This course is free but requires that each student have a modern computer or access to one (such as the computers at the local library).

Conduct

Because the purpose of this course is to bring opposing views and dissident voices together to explore our differences and similarities, bigotry, intolerance, unfounded accusations, profanities, salty words, and cursing of any kind will not be permitted in class or in assignments except, perhaps, as a purely academic exercise to explore responses to extreme rhetoric. Students are expected to attend classes virtually, participate in discussions, and keep up with homework and writing assignments.

Grading

Students will not receive letter grades for their work. Instead, successful students—those who complete all assignments and work diligently, earnestly toward the completion of a superb essay—will be given the opportunity to have their final essays published at livesincommon.com, which will optionally include the biography and photograph of the author. Essays will be polished, beautiful, and worthy of world-wide reception.

A student must gain 50 points throughout the semester to be eligible to have his or her essay published at the end of the semester. Students can work toward 100 points in these ways:

Seven quizzes at 0 to 5 points each = 35 maximum points
Reading assignments = 15 maximum points
Participation in group discussions = 15 maximum points
In-class exercises = 15 maximum points
Peer reviews = 15 maximum points
Gifting expertise = 5 maximum points

Attendance Policy and Late Assignments

Because all students will be marching in lockstep toward the objective of publishing student essays, attendance is an essential element of this course. You are allowed three unexcused absences without penalty. More than three may lower your accumulation of points. Excessive unexcused absences may result in failure.

The instructor will try to help students through difficulties. However, if a student anticipates difficulty with meeting a deadline, contact the instructor immediately for a possible extension.

Materials

Goods and textbooks are not cheap. To make this course available to people of all income classes and to enable people with financial hardships to participate, all materials will be provided by the instructor, and these materials will belong to students permanently upon receipt. Optional materials will also be made available at no cost upon request.

Required Textbooks

The following two books will be provided to each student at no cost.

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Optional Reading

Reading Exemplar Essays

Throughout the semester, the instructor will provide links to essays from giants like George Will, Joan Didion, Sam Harris, James Baldwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Bertrand Russell, Jorge Luis Borges, Thomas Carlyle, T.S. Eliot, Friedrich Nietzsche, René Descartes, and some favorites of the students.

Writing with Style

Optional Reading: The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, by Steven Pinker, Penguin Books; Reprint edition (September 22, 2015).

Writing with Logic

A video on how to argue at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVF0ojfhSrE

What Is the Personal Essay?

The personal essay is a unique type of narrative (nonfiction storytelling of one or more real-life experiences) and expression of thought. Embedded in the essay is a message designed to impress the reader—even so much as to change the reader’s mind about a particular subject or position. Personal essays are obviously written in the first person (from the author’s point of view) and often have the power to inspire, enlighten, and/or warn others.

What Is the Process of Writing a Personal Essay?

The process of composing a personal essay is aligned with the process of composing other nonfiction genres, such as theme papers, research papers, news articles, and position papers (these can be lumped into the uber category “expository writing”).

After all students have selected subjects for their essays, we will discuss brainstorming, which is the heart of any writing project. The student will let all ideas flow and explore potential themes while reading about the selected subject. Developing a theme is a rigorous rhetorical process whereby the student must determine why he or she is writing an essay. The recommended theme of this course is reconciliation, in which the student exposes him- or herself through narrative, recollection, projection, logic, and other rhetorical devices. In fact, reconciliation will be a steady motif of the course, where you write an essay to expose your thinking on a subject (without resembling a confessional), with a vague sense of your notional adversary as the primary audience. We will consider the different vectors of reconciliation, such as:

Political (Democrat versus Republican)
Religious (Christian versus Muslim)
Economic (Liberal versus Conservative)
Nationality (USA versus India)
Skin Color (White versus Black)
Science (Evolution versus Creation)

After the student settles on a subject and vector of reconciliation, he or she will continue to brainstorm and begin to conduct research. Notes taken during brainstorming and research will then coalesce in the student’s mind, and the student will have insight into how the essay should be organized. Using a word processor, the student will organize, modify, add to, and delete from his or her notes. Annotating the outline is essential at this point. These annotations will evolve into sentences as the student starts to think about each note.

The next stage—drafting—is the process of writing sentences and developing paragraphs based upon the annotated outline. Continual revisions based on self- and peer reviews result in polished work. The final step is to lay out the essay, which may include images, tables, illustrations, and art fonts. With the student’s permission, the teacher will then publish the student’s personal essay at livesincomon.com. All of this takes place in a collaborative environment, where students review the works of other students, have meaningful conversations within groups, partner for homework assignments, and share expertise that enables all students to accomplish the course objectives.

During the course, the instructor will lecture, guide students, hold regular office hours, and correspond regularly. Students will be presented with exemplars of personal essays written by giants of the craft. Students can then “reverse engineer” these essays to develop best practices.

Schedule of Lectures and Assignments

  Day 1: Introduction to the Course

±Day 2: Structure and Parts of the Essay

  Day 3: Communication Triangle: Audience, Purpose, Subject

±Day 4: The Process of Writing an Essay

±Day 5: Editing Your Own Work

±Day 6: Grammar and Mechanics

±Day 7: Writing Tools

±Day 8: Writing Techniques (Best Practices)

±Day 9: Writing Techniques (Best Practices) Continued

±Day 10: Writing Techniques (Best Practices) Continued

±Day 11: Writing Techniques (Best Practices) Continued

±Day 12: Writing Techniques (Best Practices) Continued

±Day 13: Writing Techniques (Best Practices) Continued

±Day 14: Rhetorical Modes

  Day 15: Using Dialogue

  Day 16: Understanding Silent Speech and It’s Implications

  Day 17: Avoiding Rhetorical Fallacies

  Day 18: Being Vulnerable and Revealing in Your Prose

  Day 19: Developing Characters

  Day 20: Naming of the Parts

±Day 21: Psychology

  Day 22: The Lesson or Moral of the Story

  Day 23: Analysis, Precision, and Accuracy

±Day 24: Art and Layout

  Day 25: Copyright

  Day 26: Plagiarism

Bonus: Essay Design in HTML