This course aims to introduce first year students to the challenges and rewards of academic writing, and to develop the self-awareness that is necessary in order to navigate and participate in academic discourse. Through a variety of course materials, assignments and in-class exercises, you will sharpen your annotation and critical thinking skills, recognize the elements of a rhetorical situation and explore the best methods with which to present well-constructed arguments to your audience.
This semester, we will read and write, critically and purposefully, on what is considered the new public sphere: the internet. We will do this by investigating major areas of internet culture, beginning with the freshest of topics: the recent mainstreaming of large language models, such as ChatGPT, and the opportunities and risks such artificial intelligence presents. Next, we will rewind a bit to look closely at how the rise of the internet has, some argue, shifted our behavioral foundations in highly risky ways. Our major research project will be on meme culture and the culture of web activism (sometimes referred to as clicktivism or slacktivism).
As we progress through the materials, you will see that all of these categories tend to overlap and push a larger conversation as to how we negotiate the participatory nature and culture of the internet. Through informal writing assignments, we will reflect and track how our attitudes and opinions on a given topic or idea have developed and evolved over the time we have spent with it.
We will also explore critical/creative thinking strategies, database research, and ways of writing your ideas with which you might be less familiar. For instance, you will learn and practice persuasive strategies, descriptive writing, and methods for engaging an audience – all of which are crucial to a well-written and effective argument. In addition, you will develop an understanding of just what it takes to present your ideas authoritatively, to accept accountability for your positions, and to fulfill your ethical responsibility to an audience.
This semester, we will read and write, critically and purposefully, on what is considered the new public sphere: the internet. We will do this by investigating major areas of internet culture, beginning with the freshest of topics: the recent mainstreaming of large language models, such as ChatGPT, and the opportunities and risks such artificial intelligence presents. Next, we will rewind a bit to look closely at how the rise of the internet has, some argue, shifted our behavioral foundations in highly risky ways. Our major research project will be on meme culture and the culture of web activism (sometimes referred to as clicktivism or slacktivism).
As we progress through the materials, you will see that all of these categories tend to overlap and push a larger conversation as to how we negotiate the participatory nature and culture of the internet. Through informal writing assignments, we will reflect and track how our attitudes and opinions on a given topic or idea have developed and evolved over the time we have spent with it.
We will also explore critical/creative thinking strategies, database research, and ways of writing your ideas with which you might be less familiar. For instance, you will learn and practice persuasive strategies, descriptive writing, and methods for engaging an audience – all of which are crucial to a well-written and effective argument. In addition, you will develop an understanding of just what it takes to present your ideas authoritatively, to accept accountability for your positions, and to fulfill your ethical responsibility to an audience.
- Teacher: Ana Hartman