Spring 2006

WGS 345 • 20-Women Through the Life Cycle-W

Course Description

This course gives you an opportunity to read and write about women's lives and women's issues. The texts on this syllabus will help us explore the developmental stages of a woman's life (though what those phases are called and how they are defined is subject to debate). Using feminist and psychological theory, we will identify and analyze cultural, familial, and environmental forces that shape female development; we will also discuss issues that are important to women at various of their lives. All of this makes great fodder for your writing. The major assignments for this course are three papers: a narrative or memoir, an argument, and an analytical paper. For each major paper, we will have a drafting workshop and peer critique session. You will also complete substantial postings to the class Discussion Board every week. Occasionally we will have ungraded writing assignments that are designed to generate class discussion or help you prepare for your major paper assignments.

Grading Policy

Discussion Board and Short Assignments: 10% Critiques: 10% Paper 1: 20% Paper 2: 20: Paper 3: 30% Presentation: 10%

Texts

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway Operating Instructions by Ann Lamott Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Writing with Style by John Trimble A course packet with assorted essays, stories, poems, etc. Films to be viewed outside of class: The Hours

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