Has the Internet Destroyed Writing?
A syllabus
This fall, I’m very excited to be teaching two sections of a First-year Seminar called “Has the Internet Destroyed Writing?” at Quinnipiac University. (This will be my first time teaching/creating the course.)
For the fans at home: You can find the full course description below, as well as my course calendar and prompt menu linked here!
-Prof. Seckler :)
Has the Internet Destroyed Writing? (Full Course Description)
Well no, actually, it hasn’t: Great writing is alive and well on the internet, and we’ll be reading many examples of it in this seminar. But while I have you, let me specify this clickbait-style question with a closely related line of inquiry: How has the internet altered the way people read, and how can or should writers respond to these changes? To what extent is effective writing dictated by timeless, generalizable principles of composition, and to what extent by the demands of its current medium or social context? Is the act of sustained faith and attention required by long-form reading even possible in a media landscape dominated by Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok?
In answering these questions, we will study writing from (at least) two angles: First, we will tackle concerns of craft, ranging from flow and structure, to generating suspense, to various philosophies of revision. Second, we will tackle concerns of psychology, ranging from finding creative motivation, to attracting and keeping eyeballs on one’s work, to unique considerations and challenges faced by authors from different cultural and demographic backgrounds.
Ultimately, students will investigate these issues via the creation of personal blogs, through which they will gain first-hand experience writing for an online audience. (Students may write under a pseudonym if they wish to do so, and are not required to publicize their work to a wide audience.) Students’ final posts will be paired with a formal presentation of their writing/experience in the class.
Sign me up!