Time Schedule:
Judith A Howard
WOMEN 590
Seattle Campus
Offered by visitors or resident faculty as a one-time in-depth study of special interest.
Class description
In this seminar we will focus on writing for publication in feminist academic outlets. The course will have several distinct emphases. First, we will emphasize how to write for publication. There are certain conventions and strategies in writing for publication, and we will go over these in some detail. As you know, competitiveness on the (academic) job market increasingly demands at least some publications. Hence one concrete goal for the course is that each of us conclude the quarter with an article, chapter, or other work ready to be submitted for publication. With this in mind, I ask you each to begin the seminar by identifying a manuscript that you would like to publish. This could be a master's thesis, seminar paper, dissertation chapter, utopian vision, or other varieties of work; the key is that you have an existing manuscript you would like to publish, and to publish in an academic outlet (broadly defined). We will emphasize feminist academic outlets (again broadly defined).
A second emphasis is on how to write powerfully, that is, how to communicate our ideas so that the reader pays attention, is compelled to take seriously the ideas presented in the paper. As you know, academic writing can be tedious and labored; we will explore ways to avoid these characteristics.
A third emphasis is larger in scope. Through the course activities, I hope to suggest that academic work is a collective enterprise. Despite prevalent stereotypes that cast academics as loners working in isolation, writing, doing research and teaching are highly social activities. Most of us tend not to view writing in this way, however. Hence one goal of this course is to encourage you to develop habits of sharing your work with your colleagues, using your intellectual companions to improve your work. This kind of exchange is particularly important in writing, since achieving the distance necessary to effectively critique one's own work can be difficult. With this goal in mind, reading and commenting on the papers of others in the class will be as central to the class as revision and rewriting of your own manuscript.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
