English 400 is a general education course designed to help students enter the public and professional spheres where instead of writing about something people write in order to do something. One might consider it a general education capstone of sorts. As such, it is interdisciplinary, and each semester the sections focus on a theme in the public sphere. Students also write in the public sphere for audiences outside of the Longwood community.
- Interdisciplinarity: the course uses a theme shared across to integrate and interrogate various disciplines and their approach to the theme
- Rhetorical Analysis and Skills: the course is about understanding and using ethos (the development of rhetorical authority), pathos (the appeal to your audience in context), and logos (the development of a good argument), along with other rhetorical devices.
- Writing "in order to" instead of writing "about": most college writing is "about" something (art, biology, literature, psychology), but English 400 is writing "in order to" get something done in the public sphere.
ENGLISH 400. Active Citizenship: An Advanced Writing Seminar. Develops rhetorical skills needed for citizenship in a democracy. Includes interdisciplinary inquiry into and analysis of at least one significant public issue across all sections. Prerequisite: Fulfillment of Goals 2 and 3; 75 credit hours or permission of the Chair of the General Education Committee. 3 credits.
GOAL 14: The ability to synthesize and critically analyze through written discourse and a common educational experience information pertaining to issues of citizen leadership (three credits). The Goal is satisfied through an interdisciplinary advanced writing seminar under the ENGL prefix (ENGL 400) taken after the student has earned 75 credit hours or obtained the permission of the Chair of the General Education Committee.
Students will:
- Engage in the process of citizen leadership by investigating multiple perspectives on an important public issue
- Understand the nature of public discourse/debate as determined by purpose, audience, and context
- Choose appropriate formats in writing for a variety of purposes
- Analyze the effectiveness of their own texts and processes for specific rhetorical situations
- Understand how the knowledge, skills, and values learned in general education are interwoven and interrelated, and how they can contribute to the process of citizen leadership
- Writing assignments will total at least 4000 words including revisions. These will comprise texts written in preparation for and to audiences in the public sphere. Students will also be encouraged to use a variety of strategies in approaching public writing tasks and to reflect on their own texts and writing strategies.
- English 400 will require readings on the nature and function of the public sphere.
- English 400 will include readings to be used as source materials and models for analysis. For example, students may be asked to examine classical texts, letters, media releases, grant proposals, petitions, ballot initiatives, essays, pamphlets, autobiography, activist literature, and other public writing.
- All sections of English 400 will require interdisciplinary inquiry into and analysis of a public issue. This inquiry and analysis must involve research appropriate to the topic.
- English 400 will have a component in which students write for publics outside the university setting.
- All English 400 sections will be capped at 15.
