Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies 367.01
U.S. Women's Experiences in Film and Fiction: U.S. Women Writers
Credit hours: 3
GEC categories:
Prerequisites: First-year Composition
Text Books:
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN |
| March | Geraldine Brooks | Penguin | 0-14-303666-1 |
| The Color Purple | Alice Walker | Harcourt Brace | 997806771166617028 |
| The Awakening | Kate Chopin | Bantam Doubleday Dell | 9780553213300 |
Course Objectives: This course offers students the opportunity to improve their writing and analytical skills through the study of U.S. women's experiences as reflected in film and fiction.
Course Content: What were those female pioneers really up to, or those late 19th-century southern belles in their awakening? You'd be surprised! How about the New England little women left behind during the Civil War, or those poor, abused black women who found beauty in the color purple? And, more recently, that gorgeous, legally blond Yale student struggling to be taken seriously? Find out the answers while learning to become a better writer. The texts include several films and three relatively short novels.
Method of Presentation: The course presentation will consist of lively class discussions, occasional brief lectures, writing workshop and revision sessions, and films. Students will also have the opportunity to present to the class the results of their individual research projects.
Method of Evaluation: The writing assignments will include two papers, with revisions, whose topics will grow out of class discussions and analysis of the films and novels we study. There will also be a research paper on some aspect of women's experiences in U.S. history and culture. Since the emphasis in this course will be on the process of writing, revision of papers will be important. The final grade will be based upon the following: research project, 30%; class presentation of research, 10%; two other papers, 20% each; process work (drafts, sub-assignments, in-class activities) 10%; and peer reviews and class presentation, 10%.