MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
2807 North Glebe Road Arlington, Virginia 22207-4299
(703) 284-1560
FAX (703) 284-3859
School of
Arts and Sciences
COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Number
Course Title
Creative Writing: Literary Nonfiction
Blackboard: http://bb.marymount.edu
Spring Semester
X
Fall Semester
Summer
Year
2011
Name of Instructor
Dr. Bess Fox
Meeting Day, Time, and Room Number
Gail G204
Final Exam Day, Time, and Room Number
Sat April 30, 12-2:30, Gail G204
Office Hours
TF 1:00-11:00 and 2:00-4:00
E-mail
bfox@marymount.edu
UNIVERSITY STATEMENTS
Academic Integrity
By accepting this syllabus, you pledge to uphold the principles of Academic Integrity expressed by
the Marymount University Community. You agree to observe these principles yourself and to defend
them against abuse by others.
Special Needs and Accommodations
Please advise the instructor of any special problems or needs at the beginning of the semester. If
you seek accommodation based on disabilities, you should provide a Faculty Contact Sheet
obtained through Disability Support Services located in Gerard Hall, (703) 284-1615.
Access to Student Work
Copies of your work in this course including copies of any submitted papers and your portfolios may
be kept on file for institutional research, assessment and accreditation purposes. All work used for
these purposes will be submitted anonymously.
University Policy on Snow Closings
Snow closings are generally announced on area radio stations. For bulletins concerning Marymount
snow or weather closings, call (703) 526-6888. Unless otherwise advised by radio announcement or
by official bulletins on the number listed above, students are expected to report for class as near
normal time as possible on days when weather conditions are adverse. Decisions as to snow closing
or delayed opening are not generally made before 5:00 AM of the working day. Students are
expected to attend class if the University is not officially closed.
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1.
BROAD PURPOSE OF COURSE
An in-depth study of literary nonfiction with attention to stylistic and technical elements and/or topical
concerns of the genre. This course is provided in a workshop format, focusing on production, critique, and
revision of student work, supplemented by assigned readings. Open to juniors and seniors, and to others
with the consent of the instructor. Prerequisite: EN 102.
The class will introduce students to the major genres of literary nonfiction and will include memoirs,
personal essays, profiles/interviews, portraits, travel writing, opinion pieces, and critical reviews. The
course culminates in a portfolio of five revised non-fiction essays introduced by a writer’s statement that
engages the ethical debates facing this emerging genre.
2.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be expected to:
Writing Intensive Objectives:
 Produce a variety of creative nonfiction essays, including a memoir, profile, interview, travel narrative,
review, op-ed, and writer’s statement, through a process that involves drafting and revision based on
feedback.
 Produce focused and coherent creative nonfiction essays that address a specific audience, move
effectively between generalizations and details, make honest use of sources, and engage complex ideas
without distortion.
 Produce creative nonfiction essays that show careful attention to fluent sentence structure, grammatical
correctness, and proper documentation.
 Identify a topic of human interest for scholarly inquiry in the humanities, analyze appropriate primary
and secondary source materials, and support a focused thesis or argument in a clear, coherent, and
engaging creative nonfiction essay in a recognizable genre, such as op-ed, travel narrative, interview, or
review.
Course specific objectives:
 Articulate a stance, with reference to their own writings, on the ethical dilemmas facings writers of
creative non-fiction
 Identify strengths and weaknesses as a writer
 Utilize the major tools of the craft of literary nonfiction, including sensory description, scene, dialogue,
character, ethos, framing, interview, fact
 Engage in the writing life by keeping a writer’s notebook
 Consider audience and purpose in the fashioning of an engaging voice and writing style
 Apply a critical eye to early and late drafts (their own and their peers) in service of revision
3.
TEACHING METHOD
Seminar, workshop, lecture, small group discussion, blackboard discussion board
4.
GRADING POLICY
55% Portfolio (3-5 page revised writer’s statement, 5 revised essays, 3-5 pages each)
20% Reading responses (several reading responses, 1 page each)
25% Participation (including several blackboard postings, each 1-2 pages, attendance, peer review,
workshop, small writing group revision, and conferences)
IMPORTANT DETAILS

Attendance, including physical as well as mental presence, is necessary if you are going to do
well in this class and if the class as a writing community is going to succeed. Whether excused or
unexcused, an absence, by definition, will affect a student’s participation grade. Because peer
reviews and workshops comprise a large portion of the participation grade, numerous absences
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and tardies will have a negative effect on the final grade of even the most vocal and engaged of
students.

Notebook entries posted to blackboard are due at 12:30 a.m. on the day of class. These cannot
be accepted late.

Reading responses, due in hand within the first ten minutes of class, cannot be accepted late or
made up for any for any reason. An excused absence or tardy provides no exception to this
policy because reading responses measure whether you are in class and prepared to contribute.

Texting (note that your professor can see you texting even if your phone is on your lap or behind
a book) and side conversations in class will negatively affect your participation grade. I will
deduct one to five letter grades, depending on the frequency of the offence, from a student’s final
participation grade for engaging in these behaviors.
LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER (LRC) - ENGLISH WRITING SUPPORT SERVICES
All writing, however strong, can benefit from a careful reader’s response. In addition to
feedback from your instructor and your classmates, writing assistance is available from peer tutors in the
Learning Resource Center. LRC tutors can help at any stage of the writing process – from getting started
to final editing. They can help you figure out an assignment, overcome “writer’s block,” or discover your
thesis. Remember, however, that tutors are not allowed to revise or edit students’ papers for them. All
changes, revisions, or corrections must be your work.
5. CLASS SCHEDULE
While the shape of the course will remain stable, the day-to-day schedule will change to fit the needs of
the class. Please check our course website frequently for any updates and adaptations.
Writing Life
Tues. Jan. 11: Introduction to course; in-class writing: our writing autobiography; lecture on the
characteristics of creative nonfiction (pages 2-14 in Writing True); indentifying these characteristics in
“Buzzard” (Writing True)
Homework: Read and respond to Sedaris “Let it Snow” (Writing True); post writing autobiography to
blackboard discussion board
Fri. Jan. 14: Practice RR due; class introductions; discuss “Let it Snow;” in-class writing: childhood home
Homework: Read Walker “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self” (Writing True) and Didion “On
Keeping a Notebook”; post in-class writing to blackboard
Tues. Jan. 18: On keeping a journal (extra points); discuss Walker and Didion; lecture on Voice (Writing
True 64-77); in-class writing
Homework: Post in-class writing to blackboard discussion board; read Lopate “Writing Personal Essays:
On the Necessities of Turning the Self into a Character;” read and respond to Ephron “A Few Words
about Breasts” (Writing True)
Fri. Jan. 21: Reading response due; Lecture on Gutland “Information Transfer and the Personal Point of
View”; discuss Lopate and Ephron; in-class writing
Homework: Post in-class writing to blackboard; Read Earley “Somehow Form a Family” (Writing True);
revise/expand one of your three blackboard postings and bring 4 copies to class (typed, at least 500
words)
Tues. Jan. 25: Small group workshop; discuss Earley
Homework: Read O’Brien “on Rainy River” and “Ambush”
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Fri. Jan. 28: Reading Response due; discuss Tim O’Brien; in-class writing on an event that haunts you
Homework: Students workshopping their essay bring 21 copies of revised essay (either the essay you
workshopped on Tuesday or an expanded blackboard posting)
Tues. Feb. 1: Lecture on “Workshoping a Draft” (Writing True 85-104) and “Taking Shape” (Writing True
46-61); whole class workshop
Homework: Revise one of your blackboard post with non-chronological shape and post to blackboard;
Students workshopping their essay bring 21 copies of revised essay
Fri. Feb. 4: Whole class workshop; lecture on “The Craft of Revision” (Writing True 106-128)
Homework: Read and respond to Tayebi “Warring Memories” (Writing True) and O’Brien “Spin”
Writing people
Tues. Feb. 8: Reading response due; Lecture: “Writing about People” (Bloom); discuss Tayebi and
O’Brien; in-class writing
Homework: post in-class writing to Blackboard; read “Miss Dennis School of Writing” (Writing True) and
“Going to the Movies” (Writing True); revise/expand one of your blackboard postings and bring 4 copies to
class (typed, at least 500 words)
Fri. Feb 11: Small group workshop; discuss readings
Homework: Post in-class writing to blackboard; prepare portfolio with blackboard post, workshop draft,
and revised draft of 2 essays; read O’Brien “Dentist” and “Stockings”
Tues. Feb. 15: Portfolio due; discuss O’Brien; in-class writing
Fri. Feb. 18: No class – conferences
Homework: read and respond to Schwartz “Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the Line?”, Kupfer “Everything But
the Truth,” and O’Brien “How to Tell a True War Story,” “Good Form”
Tues. Feb. 22: Reading response due; discuss Schwartz, Kupfer and O’Brien; lecture on the “Ethics of
Creative Nonfiction” (Writing True 163-178); interviewing (lecture and practice)
Homework: read and respond to Sedaris and Obrien “Notes”
Fri. Feb 25: Reading response due; discuss Sedaris and O’Brien; in-class writing
Homework: post in-class writing to blackboard; revise/expand one of your blackboard postings; bring 4
copies 500 words; read O’Brien “The Things They Carried” and “Love”
Tues. Mar. 1: small group workshop ; discuss O’Brien
Homework: Students workshopping their essay bring 21 copies of revised essay (either the essay you
workshopped on Tuesday or an expanded blackboard posting)
Fri. Mar. 4: whole class workshop
Homework: Students workshopping their essay bring 21 copies of revised essay (either the essay you
workshopped on Tuesday or an expanded blackboard posting
Tues. Mar. 8: Spring Break
Fri. Mar. 11: Spring Break
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Tues. Mar. 15: whole class workshop
Homework: Revise/expand one of your blackboard postings OR conduct and draft an interview for class;
bring 4 copies 500 words
Writing the world
Fri. Mar. 18: Small group workshop; lecture “The Role of Research” (Writing True 143-160); read op-eds
Homework: Read O’Brien “Speaking of Courage”; prepare draft portfolio with first drafts and revisions of 2
essays not included in first draft portfolio
Tues Mar. 22: portfolio due; in class writing – op-ed; discuss O’Brien; lecture on “Writing about Places”
(Bloom)
Homework: post op-ed with research question
Fri. Mar. 25: no class conferences
Homework: read and respond to O’Brien “Into the Field” and “Field Trip”
Tues. Mar. 29: Reading response due; discuss O’Brien; library research day; in-class writing - places
Homework: post writing about places with research or research question; read and respond to O’Brien
“The Lives of the Dead” and “Port Authority” (Writing True)
Fri. April 1: Reading Response due: Discuss O’Brien; create list of questions for Tim O’Brien
Homework: students workshopping their travel/place narrative or op-ed draft, bring 21 copies of to class
Tues. April 5: whole-class workshop – travel/place narrative or op-ed
Fri. April 8: No –class library research day/revision day
Homework: students workshopping their travel/place narrative or op-ed draft, bring 21 copies of to class
Tues. April 12: whole-class workshop – travel/place narrative or op-ed
Homework: students workshopping their travel/place narrative or op-ed draft, bring 21 copies of to class
Fri. April 15: whole-class workshop – travel/place narrative or op-ed
Homework: Bring two copies of writer’s statement for peer review
Tues. April 19: Peer review of writer’s statement
Homework: Final revision of essays in portfolio, revise writer’s statement
Thurs. April 21: Tim O’Brien
Fri. April 22: Easter
Homework: Revise final version of Portfolio (Writer’s Statement and 5 essays including one from writing
life, one from writing people, and one from writing world that contains library research
Sat. April 30 12-2:30: Portfolio due with first and revised draft of the writer’s statement that, in part,
explains the revisions of 5 essays (include any five essays but be sure to include one from writing life,
one from writing people, and one from writing world that contains library research). Essays should
contain an early and final draft.
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6.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Perl and Schwartz, Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction
Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried
7.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Bloom, Fact and Artifact: Writing Nonfiction, 2/E
Forche and Gerard Writing Creative Nonfiction
Gutland In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction
Gutland The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality
Root and Steinberg The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction
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