The principles and conventions of traditional expository writing will stand firm, yet new tools for writing and new forms and formats for written communication open exciting frontiers. This section of Writing Seminar III will seize those opportunities and introduce you to expository writing through the use of computers, networks, and the World Wide Web. This section aims to prepare you for writing in the twenty-first century by introducing you to the technological tools available to writers today and by refining your abilities as a writer in an academic setting. By concentrating on reading, research, and revision, the course strives to increase your sensitivity to and awareness of the demands of writing. E-mail, newsgroups, chat rooms, Moos and Muds have highlighted the social construction of knowledge and the collaborative nature of writing.
Writing is a collaborative act.
Because of the collaborative dimension of writing, you must be a thoughtful reader of your own work as well as of the writing of others. Our Peer Critiquing Program will give you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the collaborative aspect of writing. Despite the collaborative nature of writing, the ultimate responsibility for the text remains with you, the autonomous writer. As writers collaborate, their visions of their texts often change, becoming clearer or going in new directions. Writers revise not to correct errors but to make meaning clearer.