English 130:  Academic Writing

Our Section of 130:  Academic Writing; Society and Culture from a Dystopian Perspective

This semester in Academic Writing we are going to be using writing and research in order to look at our society and culture from a new perspective.  We will start of the semester by looking at some criticism regarding our society today and how we respond to some of the social crises we are in.  In the first unit you will read and discuss how writers are writing about our world and analyze some different types of writings.  We will then move into reading the dystopian novel The Partials.  Through your reading you will begin to research an issue or question that you find within the book.  You will read articles and write annotations and an annotated bibliography on your research findings.  After researching your inquiry question and writing about your sources, you will write a six (6) page research paper in MLA format.  At the end of the semester you will have the opportunity to share your research findings with other English 130 classes in The Rough Cut Festival that will be held on Tuesday, December 8th .   In our section of English 130 my hope is that you will discover research interests from some of the wide-ranging social and cultural issues that are considered in dystopian culture.  English 130 will, hopefully, stir in you the investigator and researcher and unlock your curiosity.  Dystopian society is a way for us to consider issues that we are facing in our world today. It gives us the opportunity to analyze our world around us and how we are trying to reconcile the problems that we have.  I look forward to this semester and the academic writing that comes out of our discussions and readings!  I hope you enjoy our class! 

[1] dys·to·pi·a   // [dis-toh-pee-uh] noun a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding