WRITING PROFILE
Intro to Creative Writing
ENGL 1000 I Spring 2018 I Brian Laidlaw
We spent our time in this workshop-based class creating our own original pieces while using contemporary texts as a guide. This class explored the major genres of creative writing: poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. We also looked at creative non-literary genres such as song, television, theater, and film. Through experimentation with these different styles, we were able to develop our creative writing skills while finding new forms for our creative expression.
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Theories of Writing
WRIT 2000 I Fall 2020 I Dr. Tara Taczak
At this point in our journey as writers, we already had years of practical writing experience. This class, however, asked us to reexamine our understanding of writing in a search for the answer to the question, “what is writing?” Through textual analysis and reflection, we studied different theories and perspectives on the history and future of writing, the transition from oral to written culture, and the dynamic between writer and audience. We kept a physical journal that we updated weekly with responses to the weekly readings as well as our own personal reflections on our identity as a writer. Our final project culminated in producing our own theory of writing that explored how the mediums, methods, and tools used to create writing intersect and connect.
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Memoir and Personal Writing
WRIT 2040 I Spring 2020 I Doug Hesse
There are two broad genres of personal writing: memoirs and personal essays. Memoirs are a rendering of an event or a certain time in the writer's life, requiring the author to analyze their memory, select key experiences, and invent narratives to convey their life experiences in a compelling manner. Personal essays narrate experience, but introduce ideas or personal reflections to the story. For this class, we wrote for both genres through a series of writing exercises that were workshopped by our classmates. This class focused on our storytelling: the ability to transform a mundane moment into something profound. At the end of the quarter, we polished three pieces and selected one to be published in an anthology of class writing titled At Home in the Corona: Memoirs and Essays.
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Topics in Writing Theory
WRIT 2500 I Winter 2021 I John Tiedemann
The class focused on broad ideas in writing and rhetorical studies and their real world application, especially city planning and policy making. The readings, ranging from classical rhetorical theorists to contemporary urban theorists, examined the intertwined history of city development and rhetorical theory. Class time was devoted to discussing this history and its modern implications, though much of it was used for the purpose of creating and sharing composition pieces with classmates. At the end of the quarter, we were tasked with writing a prompt for our own final project. We then responded to our own prompt, creating a unique project that illuminated, challenged, or even upended the rhetorical ideas we had spent the last nine weeks studying. For my project, I created a Zine that addressed Denver’s antihomelessness policies, breaking down the bills that had been passed and expressing the city’s frustration through a creative and easily digestible artifact.
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Writing Design and Circulation
WRIT 3500 I Spring 2021 I Dr. Rebekah Shultz Colby
This class acted as the capstone for the writing practices minor, designed to reinforce all of the writing experience and instruction students received in the last four years. We reflected on our writing as it has evolved with our own abilities. By doing so, we analyzed our writing process and revised our most important compositions. The class culminated in an online Writing Portfolio. In order to create this Portfolio, we had to arrange a collection of our most effective writing compositions from our time at DU. Not only did this Portfolio demonstrate our growth as writers and as students, but it also gave us an opportunity to learn about the curation and circulation of writing in an online space designed for a public audience. In this class, we were able to develop the skills necessary to distinguish our writing process for both print and digital writing, taking into account not only rhetoric but also visual design.