Dartmouth College

Writing Program
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2

Welcome to the
Teaching Expository Writing Sans Fiction
Writing Program’s
second newsletter
by Tom Cormen, Writing Program Chair
of 2005-06. In this In my other life, I am a professor of Computer it only seems natural that they should write
installment, you’ll Science. I teach CS 5, Introduction to about novels at Any College, USA, too.
read about: Computer Science. In CS 5, I teach students
how to write good computer programs. Good There’s a flaw in this picture: the vast majority
• Baseball computer programs don’t just produce the of the students at Any College, USA won’t be
• Tibet correct result; they must be well designed writing about fiction very often once they’re
• Dick, Jane, and Spot and written with good style. When I teach done with their first-year writing course.
• Personal CS 5, I show my students scores of example There’s another flaw as well: many of the
Experiences computer programs that are written in students feign enthusiasm in their expository
• Parties precisely the style that I am trying to teach. pieces about fiction. Let’s face it: writing
• Prizes The programs that my students see serve as about fiction year after year doesn’t float
• How all of the models for the programs they are to write. every student’s boat. For some, it does. But
above relates to for many—and quite possibly for most—they
writing Now let’s look at the traditional first-year would rather be writing about something else.
expository writing course at Any College, I adopt the radical notion that students are
Thank you for taking USA. How much of the material that students more invested in the writing process, and that
a moment to read read is expository writing of the type that they produce better writing, when they are
our newsletter. We they are expected to write? In a traditional writing on a topic about which they truly care.
appreciate your course, not much. Most of what the students
feedback. read is fiction, novels in particular. The It was for these reasons that I encouraged the
reading fails to serve as a model for the core Writing Program faculty to incorporate
writing. more expository sources into their syllabi.
Some have, and some have not.
Sincerely, Instructors of the traditional first-year
The Writing Program expository writing course at Any College, USA Indeed, I was one of those who did. I
Staff ask their students to write expository pieces taught a section of English 5 (now Writing
about the fiction they have been reading. The 5) in the Winter 2005 term. Rather than
students write these papers because that’s reading and writing about grand themes that
what they wrote about in high school, and so (continued on page 2)
...In This Issue
Chair’s Column; Welcome, Judith Hertog!
Welcome New Hires 1 The Writing Program is pleased to
Faculty Spotlight on announce that Judith Hertog has joined
Karen Gocsik the Writing Program staff as an English
3 as a Second Language (ESL) Specialist.
Faculty Contribution Hertog—who received her Masters
from Terry Osborne; degree in TESOL from Indiana University
Celebrating Writing in 1999 and has taught ESL in Taiwan,
4 Israel, and Tibet—has been tutoring
Celebrating Writers international graduate students in the
5 Computer Science department since last
Winter Party Review year. As of this term, Hertog offers her
7 services to all graduate students seeking
Professional ESL instruction.
Development News;
What’s New! The Writing Program (and before it
8 the Composition Center) has long
Student Contribution understood the need for an ESL
9 specialist to support the work of its
(continued on page 2) Hertog working with students in Tibet

Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
Prof. Cormen’s WRIT 5 class w/ guest speaker Jim Bouton, Ball Four author about which many
What can Judith
do for You?
To assist international
students in meeting
the challenges of their
graduate work, Judith
Hertog, the Writing
Program ESL Specialist,
is available to meet with
students for 45-minute
consultations. Students
determine what their
most pressing needs
are and then use these
consultations to:
• Edit academic papers
and dissertations
• Recognize error
patterns in writing
and speech
• Review grammar
issues
• Improve reading
skills
• Expand vocabulary
• Make effective
presentations
ESL office hours are
Monday through
Thursday from 9:00am
to 2:00pm. Professors
who wish to refer their
students to Hertog can
contact her at Judith.
Hertog@Dartmouth.edu.
For more information
about ESL issues and
support, visit the
Writing Program website
at www.dartmouth.
edu/~writing.
Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
(Expository Writing
continued from
page 1)
permeate society
as reflected in
fiction, I chose a
topic that is much
less important. I
chose a topic that
admits plenty of
argument and
students have
strong opinions, even though the topic itself
is relatively unimportant.
I chose baseball.
Not the misty-eyed, Ken Burns, fathers-and-
sons bonding, whoever-wants-to-know-the-
heart-and-mind-of-America-had-better-learn-
baseball writing. And, heaven forbid, not
if-you-build-it-he-will-come, mystical-magical
redemption story of Shoeless Joe (the basis for
the film Field of Dreams). We read argument
pieces about baseball, and we analyzed and
critiqued the argument structure in these
pieces. We read and analyzed articles about
why baseball should reinstate the spitball,
why it has been a mistake by baseball’s
official record keepers to consider the Union
Association of 1884 as a bona fide major
league, why the American League was superior
to the National League in the early 1960s,
why Willie Mays was a better player than
Mickey Mantle, and why Mickey Mantle was a
better player than Willie Mays. We read and
analyzed a 1957 article by Bobby Bragan,
manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, advocating
a different method of constructing the batting
order; Bragan’s argument even included
results from a controlled experiment that
he performed using his own team. And we
read and analyzed Michael Lewis’s Moneyball,
perhaps the most controversial baseball book
of the past decade (not counting the spate of
books revealing that players who hit 70 home
runs per year just might use steroids), which
details how the Oakland Athletics field a good
team every year, despite one of the lowest
payrolls in the major leagues, by exploiting
inefficiencies in the marketplace for player
talent.
My students responded to these topics by
(Hertog continued from page 1)
international graduate population. Tom
Cormen, Writing Program Chair and Professor
of Computer Science, and his faculty colleagues
in Computer Science have experienced first-
hand the challenges of addressing ESL errors
in theses and other advanced academic work.
Troubled by the array of ESL problems he
regularly encounters, Cormen approached
2
writing their own argument pieces. By the end
of the term, almost all of them were writing
crisp, objective analyses. One student wrote
an outstanding paper about Moneyball, in
which he quantitatively analyzed how much of
the game is pitching. He even included scatter
plots for individual teams’ pitching staffs
plotting earned run averages against won-loss
percentages, showing that effective pitching
leads to winning records.
I found that my students’ writing reflected
the reading. They wrote objective analyses
in response to books and articles that were
explicitly argument. Conversely, they backslid
toward high-school writing in a paper that was
based on two season-long diaries written by
ballplayers. The regression was partly because
the prompt I supplied was too vague: “Think of
an aspect of these books that (a) interests you
and (b) for which you can state a thesis and
argue in favor it, and write about it.” But I also
suspect strongly that it was because the two
diaries were so unlike the rest of the reading—
they did not stake out clear arguments—that
some of the students took this difference as
a cue to write differently from the argument-
based pieces that they had been writing.
Of course, a topic such as baseball can
succeed only if students see course
descriptions and can choose their own
sections. Fortunately, just as the Writing
Program was coming into being, the English
Department, the First-Year Office, and the
Registrar were setting up such a system for us;
we continue to use it.
Perhaps you are concerned that I am launching
an assault on literature in first-year writing
courses. If so, observe that I wrote, “that I
encouraged the core Writing Program faculty
to incorporate more expository sources
into their syllabi.” The key word here is
encouraged. I believe strongly in academic
freedom. Writing 5 instructors should choose
the sources with which they feel they can do
the best job in teaching expository writing.
For example, see Terry Osborne’s article in
this issue. We need to recognize, however,
that topics which engage the instructor might
engage some, but not all, of the students.
Furthermore, sources that present explicit
argument serve as valuable models for our
students to read and analyze.
Charlie Barlowe, Dean of Graduate Studies, to
request funding for an ESL specialist. Barlowe
approved a half-time position, with a portion
of the funding coming from the Thayer School.
The Writing Program, joined by Sandra Spiegel,
Director of Graduate Recruiting and Diversity,
began its search for the ESL specialist in
February. Hertog was chosen from a strong
applicant pool in March.
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
3
Working with an Award Winner is Tough: Two Cents from
You’ve Got a lot to Live Up to! Students...
by Kiara Vigil, Writing Program/MALS TA “I’ve always managed
to swim in the sea of
I first met Professor Karen Gocsik in the summer that students take on in her particularly rigorous
knowledge fairly well,
of 2004, during a high-pressure interview to Writing 2-3:
but the first few classes
hire tutors for Writing 2-3. Though the stakes
My students moan under the weight of it. And yet, with Karen I felt like I
were, for me, high, the interview was actually a
in the end, they look back and understand that was drowning. Karen
warm event in which we discussed at length our something important happens under the weight took away all comfort
own ideas regarding pedagogy. I didn’t know of the workload. They are thinking differently.
in conventional wisdom
then that I would be working with Karen as They even start to enjoy writing. The impossible
workload is, in the end, possible after all. There and sent me to struggle
her TA for the next two years—nor did I know
is method in the madness, and the method works. in the waves of complex
that, in the winter of 2006, Karen would receive I’ll concede that it’s overwhelming. Overwhelming ideas. In the beginning,
the Winter 2006 Student Assembly Profiles in and confusing. At least at first. But good learning
begins with confusion. And the best learners are I thought it was pointless
Excellence Teaching Award.
able to tolerate their own uncertainty. Claude to have discussions
Bernard said that it’s what we already know that without an answer in
In February, the Student Assembly hosted a gets in the way of our learning. And I guess that’s
sight. Over the two terms
dinner to celebrate Karen and her teaching. At true. That’s why I begin my courses with exercises
in “unlearning.” [of Writing 2-3], I have
the dinner, Karen talked about how she became
come to understand
a teacher in the first place, describing a memory
Karen argues that everyone, students and that discussions are not
from early childhood:
teachers, need to question their assumptions: always about answers,
One of my first memories is of a teaching moment. “How will you know if your assumptions but are pointed at refining
Specifically, of my mother, teaching me to read. can stand if you don’t hunt them down and questions, wrestling with
My generation learned to read from the Dick and ideas, and ultimately
interrogate them?” This question embodies
Jane books. “See Dick. See Jane. See the dog
Spot. See Spot run.” I still remember the book—it the ethos of Writing 2-3, especially because it being comfortable with
had a greenish cover and that smell that old isn’t asked by students alone, but by teachers, the state of doubt.
books have: a little musty. And in the memory, administrators, and teaching assistants alike: The more energy I
I’m looking at the book, and I’m feeling confused, put into the struggle,
because my mother doesn’t read to me the way
we’re all working to be better at what we do,
others read to me. For some reason, when my and questioning what we already know plays a the more intellectually
mother reads books, she pounds the page with critical role in that process. and spiritually alive I
her forefinger and stretches become. Karen’s class
out the sounds. “SSSSSSSee
D-d-d-d-d-ick r-r-r-r-r-un.” I am
was not light, but it was
mortified. I sit next to her, enlightening.”
sucking my fingers, worried Joanne Cheung ‘09
that there is something very
wrong with my mother. No
one else reads to me in this “Karen...pays attention to
peculiar way. My grandfather, every one of her students,
who is from Greece, has the spending tremendous
habit of adding an extra “e-d”
to all the past tense verbs, so
amounts of time on
that it’s “Timothy bear walked- us. Going to her office
ed through the forest.” But hour is not just about
that’s nothing compared to this discussing papers. The
spastic show that my mother is
putting on. session often turns out to
be about everything: life
Karen’s story about her experiences, religion, her
mother’s method made daughters, or even pop
the point that teachers can music. Karen is terrific.
sometimes behave strangely, She can turn U2 into a
but usually there’s a method thought provoking class
to their madness: “Teachers project in which we all
make visible that which learn a great deal about
wasn’t visible before. I didn’t writing. The greatest thing
understand my mother’s methods at the time. At the end of her speech, Karen credited the is that while she made us
I understand them now. My mother, with her infrastructure attached to the first-year writing write hard and work on
strange contortions, made me see.” program—an infrastructure that includes not our multi-media projects,
only the faculty and TAs in the Writing Program she herself made us a
As her TA, I know that Karen works each day to but also the Library, Jones Media, and Academic class tribute film! Writing
make the writing process visible, to make the Computing—as essential to her teaching at 2-3 is definitely one of
ideas in books visible, and that she will certainly Dartmouth. She ended by acknowledging her my best experiences at
go through any number of strange contortions students, thanking them not only for the award, Dartmouth.”
until every one of her students “gets there.” She but also for teaching her how to be the award- Phyllis Ya Kan Luk ‘09
also recognizes the incredible amount of work winning teacher that she has become.

Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
D.I.Y. Narrative Tips
Focus: Imagine you’re
telling someone about
a strange experience
this morning. Will you
mention every single
detail, every single
second? Of course not.
Instinctively, you’ll focus
only on the appropriate
ones. The same holds
for written narratives:
the best ones limit
themselves to necessary
information.
Depth: One way
to determine the
necessary information is
through “depth.” Every
experience—especially
an important one—has
a depth, a lingering
resonance. Successful
narratives unearth
and articulate that
depth. Try accessing
it by considering
these questions: What
makes this experience
important? Why have you
chosen to write about it?
What do you want your
reader to know about you?
Intention: When you try to
communicate to a reader
the depth of a focused
experience, you’ve found
intention. When you
discover how to make
your written narrative
fulfill that particular
intention from beginning
to end, you have holistic
intention. And you have
a great story.
Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
4
It’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It:
Personal Narrative in College Writing Instruction
by Terry Osborne, Writing Program Senior Lecturer
Here’s your assignment: it’s a Personal
Narrative. Write a story about a compelling
experience you’ve had in the last couple of
years. Keep it to five pages.
Students in a Writing class would jump at
this, right? It’s one of those fluffy, “creative”
assignments. No reading or analysis of a text,
no claiming of a “critical perspective.” There’s
no “argument” to build or structure to worry
about, because it’s just a story, and there’s
no need for precise language, because in a
story the writer just says what he or she wants.
Personal narratives are great because you can
write them without having to think.
Among college students and faculty members,
that’s often the attitude toward a writing
assignment like this. As a writing teacher and
a writer whose professional work is based in
personal narratives, I marvel at the attitude’s
deep roots, but its outgrowth is unmistakable:
every day I interact with colleagues, in both the
sciences and humanities, whose scholarly work quantifiable evidence. Interestingly, that
depends on their ability to translate themselves distrust continues inside of Writing Programs,
and their thinking into story, yet who consider the new homes for college writing instruction.
personal narrative as somehow anti-academic. You can see it in a quick perusal of Ivy League
Writing Program websites. “Expository” writing,
Academia’s rejection of personal narrative as “argumentative analysis,” and “critical analysis”
a rigorous and valuable writing form has an are clearly the privileged academic forms, while
interesting, uneven history too complicated personal narrative plays the role of eccentric
to go into here. But its depth and persistence uncle—the extended family member who isn’t
must be driven by powerful, larger influences, to be taken seriously or introduced to anyone
such as our cultural distrust of what we now publicly unless there’s a function where you
call “subjectivity,” in favor of more “scientific” need entertainment. Only Brown University
thinking—an objective truth supported by (continued on page 5)
Celebrating Writing! to the performance of “composers of moods
and madness.” The Dartmouth Bipolar
The Dartmouth Bipolar Ensemble Ensemble performed on March 9 in Collis
Writing Program instructor Justin Rudelson was Common Ground with over 70 people in
surprised this winter to find that two-thirds of attendance. Students performed works by
the students in his Writing 5 course, “Manic- Elgar, Schumann, Chopin, Scriabin, Poulenc,
Depression and Tchaikovsky, and one jazz piece by Charlie
the Creative Parker. Students who did not play instruments
Process,” were read poetry by Baudelaire, Keats, Whitman,
accomplished Sexton, Plath, St. Vincent Millay, Gibran,
musicians. Poe, Dickinson, and Goethe. Prior to their
Within the performance of each piece, the students read
first weeks of a short biographical sketch describing the
class, students artist’s background and the impact of mental
decided to illness on his or her work. Rudelson stated in
create the an article for The Dartmouth that he hoped the
Dartmouth performance helped “educate students about
Bipolar depression and manic-depression as well as
Ensemble, their prevalence in the artistic community.”
dedicating Rudelson also teaches courses in Chinese
themselves language at Dartmouth.
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
(Personal Narrative continued from page 4)
mentions “creative nonfiction” as well as
“journalism” in the same breath with “academic
writing” in its Program description. Even here,
though, the description makes a clear value
distinction: academic writing is cited for its
“intellectual rigor,” while creative nonfiction is
distinguished by its “latitudes.”
As I’ve said, all of this strikes me as curious.
Anyone who has written a serious personal
narrative understands that it’s as rigorous
as any writing form, engaging the same
intellectual skills that other academic writing
does. But in order to expose students to this
academic rigor, the personal narrative, like
any other writing form, has to be taught, and
taught with expectations. The italicized writing
assignment I led this piece with was a tease; in
a course I never leave a writing assignment so
undirected or unexplained.
In classes leading up to an assignment, we
analyze personal narratives for their content,
tone, structure, and language. We discuss
the distinction between expression and
communication, the relationship between
writer, reader and text, and the ways that a
written text shapes a reader’s psychological
expectations. We address the ideas of story,
of dramatic and emotional modulation, of
purposeful description. We recognize the
relationship between topic focus and thematic
depth. We talk about the writing process, and
the mysterious movement between idea and
draft and revision. Along the way I explain why
I want them to fill the page limit but not exceed
it. And I emphasize the importance of “holistic
intention,” of a piece of writing that sets out to
accomplish something and then does.
In other words we do what other writing classes
do. And that’s my primary point. The teaching
Celebrating Writers!
Annabelle Cone
Belated congratulations to Annabelle Cone,
who last year received the college’s
Distinguished
Senior Lecturer
Award from
the Dean of
Faculty’s Office.
Cone plans to
apply the award
to a research
project on the
representation
of working
mothers in French fashion magazines of
the 1980s and 1990s. Cone teaches a
First-Year Seminar, “Families Untied,” in the
Comparative Literature program and is a
member of the French and Italian faculty.
Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
5
of personal narrative as one part of
a writing course or program is not a
departure from responsible writing
instruction. It’s not anti-academic.
Done with pedagogical purpose,
it addresses issues common to all
writing instruction and provides a
comparable rigor.
It does something else too,
something surprising that I’ve
only recognized in recent years: it Prof. Cormen and Elena Riccio
introduces students to issues of Davidson pictured in front of FG
critical analysis and argument in
ways they don’t get in writing more traditional
forms. Faced with having to communicate in Writers Celebrating
writing the story of an experience, student Writing
writers find themselves asking: “Where am I in
this experience? What characteristics of mine This May, members of
do I want to show? What details should I use? the Writing Program core
What tone? Why am I writing this version of the faculty will gather to
experience versus another?” Suddenly, they’re celebrate the other work
face to face with the constructed nature of their that they do—as writers.
identity, not to mention the constructed nature
of experience. Recognizing that our
faculty are not only
And as they incorporate this awareness into accomplished teachers
the broader challenge of the assignment—the of writing, but also
struggle to fulfill the evolving holistic intention prolific writers, Nancy
of their narrative—they have no choice but to Crumbine and Karen
position themselves as critical readers of their Gocsik are gathering
own constructed texts (not to mention, of faculty together over
themselves as text). They must make sense lunch at the Jewel
of their experience through analysis, must of India to share the
understand the argumentative intent of this challenges, frustrations,
experience, and then must try to configure and joys of the writing
that argumentative intent to fit the specific life.
requirements of the narrative form. In this way,
the personal narrative not only presents its own The Writing Program
challenge, it also exposes students to the broader counts among its ranks
demands of academic writing and thinking. poets, screenwriters,
scholars, memoirists,
But really, it’s just a story. essayists, journalists,
short story writers, and
Tom Cormen
Tom Cormen and his graduate student, Elena
textbook authors.
Riccio Davidson, have finished a chapter We expect that a good
entitled “Using FG to Reduce the Effect of time—and a good talk
Latency in Parallel Programs Running on —will be had by all.
Clusters” to appear in the CRC Handbook of
Parallel Computing: Models, Algorithms and
Applications.
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
In November, Gretchen Gerzina appeared in
a BBC television documentary on the slave/
abolitionist Olaudah Equiano. In January,
Norton published its Critical Edition of The
Secret Garden, which Gerzina edited. In
April, Gerzina will appear in a BBC radio
documentary on The Secret Garden. Her
article, “Bushmen and Blackface: Bloomsbury
and Race,” will appear in the spring edition
of The South Carolina Review. Gerzina teaches
(continued on page 6)

What Have You
Been Up To, Lately?
Have you been publishing?
Scored a fellowship?
Won an award? The WP
Newsletter posts news
about our faculty, the work
they do, and the accolades
they earn. Don’t be shy; let
us brag about you. Send
your news to Karen Gocsik.
Dickey Doings...
The Dickey Fellowship
for Manuscript
Review is designed
to provide feedback
to faculty preparing
monographs or other
similarly large works
prior to submission for
publication. Manuscripts
selected for participation
in the review program are
copied and distributed
to Dartmouth faculty
(identified by the author),
as well as to two external
readers. The Dickey
Center will then arrange
for a review seminar in
which all readers gather
to discuss the work
and assist the author in
developing strategies
for the manuscript’s
improvement and
placement for publication.
Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
(Celebrating continued from page 5)
the First-Year Seminar “Writing Lives:
Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir”
in the English Department.
Karen Gocsik
Norton Publishing has contracted Karen
Gocsik to pen Writing About Film, a
companion to Richard Barsam’s Looking
at Movies, Norton’s primary text in
film studies. Gocsik is a screenwriter
and producer whose films, Because of
Mama and From the 104th Floor, both
premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In
addition to serving as Executive Director of the
Writing Program, Gocsik also teaches
Writing 2-3, Writing 8 (“Writing with
Media”) and Writing 9 (“Composition
Theory and Practice”) and sometimes
serves as second reader on
screenwriting theses for MALS.
Richard Kremer
Richard Kremer has just published
Study, Measure, Experiment:
Stories of Scientific Instruments at
Dartmouth College. Co-authored
by David Pantalony and Francis
Manasek, the book explores
Dartmouth’s impressive collection of
historic scientific instruments—the
same collection that Kremer features
in his First-Year Seminar, “Reading
Artifacts: The Material Culture of
Science,” which Kremer teaches in
the Physics Department.
Gary Lenhart on Eight Poets
Gary Lenhart’s most recent book, The Stamp of
Class: Reflections on Poetry and Social Class,
was published in February by the University
of Michigan
Press. The
book’s eight
essays address
incidents in
the history
of English
language
poetry
(primarily
American
poetry) from
the eighteenth
to the twenty-
first century,
casting new
light on a few
famous poets,
but more
often casting rare light on the less celebrated.
Lenhart teaches Writing 2-3 and Introduction to
Creative Writing. He has also taught the first-
year seminar “Mood Indigo: Jazz Inflections in
American Writing” in the English Department.
6
Jonna Mackin
Jonna Mackin received a
Fellowship for a Manuscript
Review from the Dickey
Foundation (see sidebar) to
assist her as she develops
her dissertation, “Subject
to Laughter,” into a book.
Mackin’s work concerns
the role of literary humor
in the creation of identity,
particularly ethnic and racial
identity. Mackin writes,
“Because comedy uses history as raw material,
it is able to play with real-world social tensions.
Concurrently, it provides a vision of the future,
one that often seems ‘patently ludicrous.’ Yet
that vision has the power to change collective
identifications.” Mackin looks at how this
process works in selected African American,
Jewish American, Native American, and Asian
American texts. Mackin teaches Writing 5 and
has also taught Writing 2-3.
Jim Murphy
James Murphy’s new book,
The Philosophy of Positive
Law, has just appeared from
Yale University Press. The
book is the first book-length
study of positive law, tracing
a fundamental continuity among four
philosophers: Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas
Hobbes, and John Austin. Yale Press writes, “In
their theories of positive law, Murphy argues,
these thinkers represent successive chapters in
a single fascinating story.” Murphy teaches a
first-year seminar, “The Virtues of Teaching and
Learning,” in the Government Department.
Terry Osborne on Noel Perrin
Terry Osborne has selected the pieces and
written the forward for Best Person Rural:
Essays of a Sometime Farmer, a selection of
Noel Perrin’s best-loved rural essays. Included
in the collection are five previously uncollected
essays. Best Person Rural will be published
this spring by David R. Godine, Publisher.
Osborne teaches Writing 5 as well a first-
year seminar, “The Ecological Memoir,” in the
English Department. He also teaches several
writing-centered courses in the Environmental
Studies Program, including “Nature Writers” and
“Ecopsychology” (new next year).
Bill Phillips
Bill Phillips has
just completed an
adaptation of Larry
McMurtry’s novel,
Leaving Cheyenne. The
script was purchased
and is being shopped
by Kings Road
(continued on page 7)
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
7
(Celebrating continued from page 6) Self: Evocations of the Tragic in the Christian
Productions, Ken Aguado, producer. Phillips Vision of Flannery O’Connor” in the Flannery
regularly teaches “Screenwriting One” and
A for Effort?
O’Connor Review and is working on a book
“Screenwriting Two” for the Film Department, on Hawthorne and
How did our local
as well as a Screenwriting course for MALS and O’Connor. Piper
restaurants stack up in
a first-year seminar, “Film Adaptation from teaches Writing 2-3
the eyes of the AA this
Stage to Screen,” in the Theater Department. and Writing 5.
past January? No grade
inflation on this report:
Wendy Piper Kimberly Williams
on Flannery Kimberly Williams
Gusanoz. It was definitely
O’Connor will be presenting a
a challenge finding quality
Wendy Piper paper at the American
Mexican food living
presented Education Research
approximately 2254 miles
a paper, Association in San
away from the nearest
“Sacrament Francisco in April. The title of her paper: “Can
Mexican town—that is
or Scientism: We Sustain Violence Prevention Programs
until Gusanoz took the
Flannery Without Money? Compelling Conclusions and
Upper Valley by storm
O’Connor and Policy Implications from a Four-Year Research
last year. These people
the Ethics of Project.” Williams has also recently published
were an absolute dream.
Romance,” at an article in the journal Current Issues in
They custom created
the International Education, called “Collaboration between
vegan and vegetarian
O’Connor elementary schools and community agencies to
mini taquitos and chimis
Conference reduce violence: Can it work?” Williams teaches
especially for our event.
in Georgia at the end of March. Piper has a first-year seminar, “Revolution in Today’s
Delivery was prompt, the
also published “The Hubris of the Sacred Education,” in the Education Department.
food was delicious, and
the price was on target.
When Faculty and Fun Collide AA Grade: A

by Susan Lord, Writing Program Administrative Assistant Jewel of India. Jewel’s

samosas and naan
Please be unlocked...Please be unlocked... nervous (Panicked AA) because Tom, our varieties were such a hit
Pleeeeease... This was my broken-record plea Chair, was due to arrive at any moment with at our party last year,
to the Universe as I struggled to the front the most important piece of our party puzzle: we increased the order
door of the DOC House this past January, the wine. Was this some kind of Karmic for this year. But when I
fingertips a mottled purple from supporting payback for forgetting to fill the coffee arrived at the restaurant
the weight of eight plastic Co-op bags stuffed machine with water or not checking the to pick up the order,
with assorted celebratory sustenance. Could I expiration date on the cream? Well played, nothing was ready. After
have made several trips to the car to preserve Universe...well played. a sincere apology, the
my digital circulation? Absolutely, chefs quickly prepared
but there’s just no sport in that our order. Fifteen
for this “Extreme AA.” minutes later, I was back
at the DOC House with 40
I put the bags down, waited for piping hot samosas and
the feeling to return to my fingers, fifteen fresh naan.
took a deep breath, and grasped AA Grade: B
the door handle. It didn’t budge.
I tried again, thinking maybe the The Hanover Co-op.
mechanism just needed a little Everything was status
coaxing, a hint of suggestion, quo: prompt delivery,
or a bit of english. Nothing. good food, nice prices.
Whimpering pitifully, I pressed AA Grade: B+
my face up against the glass and
longingly gazed inside. That’s Big Fatty’s. My repeated
where I want to be. The locked requests for price quotes
door is every keyless AA’s worst were somehow “forgotten.”
nightmare—or at least this AA’s Delivery was prompt, but
worst nightmare, followed closely the pulled pork didn’t
by one where all the buttons make the splash we had
on the copier mysteriously disappear (how I snapped back into action, pried my face hoped for the price. But,
the heck am I supposed to sort and staple from the glass, stuck it to my cell phone, they did make a special
NOW?) and the one where I’m suddenly and and called the professionals at C&SE. Within spicy sauce upon request.
inexplicably seated behind my desk wearing moments, the door was unlocked, food was AA Grade: B- with sauce
nothing but some hastily strung together delivered, and setup began. Tables, sofas, adjustment citation
interoffice envelopes. In addition, I was napkins, and corks flew around the room in
running late (Extreme AA) and was becoming (continued on page 8)

Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
Dickerson
Prizes for
All First-Year
Writing Classes
For several years,
the First-Year
Seminar Program
has sponsored the
Albert I. Dickerson
1930 Prize for the
best first-year essay.
Typically, this prize
has been awarded to
the student who has
written the strongest
paper in a first-year
seminar. This year,
the Writing Program is
also offering prizes to
the writers of the best
essays produced in
Writing 5 and Writing
2-3. Professors
are encouraged to
nominate their best
student essay(s) to the
Director of the Writing
Program by June 30. A
prize committee will
judge the entries and
determine the winners
in the summer.
Anne Bellows ‘06, Public Policy Intern
Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing
(Fun continued from page 7)
an Oz-ian tornado as we quickly prepped for the
party. Flying monkeys aside, everything came
together perfectly just in time for the first arrivals
of a quickly growing crowd. Faculty members,
librarians, administrators, and teaching
assistants circled around the room, sampling
food from local restaurants, enjoying themselves
and each other’s company. I personally found
the scientific “employee + alcohol” effect in the
party petrie dish especially entertaining.
As I attended to our guests and dropped in
and out of conversations, I realized just what
a unique and dedicated group of individuals
service this program. I watched the way they
interacted with each other in this close setting,
talking about their families and their lives as
well as their jobs. It was enlightening and
Professional Development News
Writing Teachers Share Skills
The Writing Program teamed up with the
Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of
Learning to offer professional development
workshops on teaching writing. Professors
from across the divisions and disciplines
who teach first-year seminars and other
writing courses gathered for three 90-minute
sessions during the first two weeks of spring
term. Karen Gocsik, executive director of the
Writing Program led the sessions and recruited
presenters to speak on a range of topics:
diagnosing writing problems, responding to
students’ papers both on paper and in person,
promoting small group learning and
peer-to-peer writing workshops,
teaching students to evaluate
research resources and including
librarians as co-teachers. Leading
discussions were Tom Luxon, Karen
Gocsik, Stephanie Boone, Nancy
What’s New!
Internship in Public Policy Writing
Students who minor in Public Policy
have an exciting opportunity to
use their writing skills in a real-
world setting by participating
in the Policy Research Shop, an
undergraduate student-staffed
research enterprise dedicated
to providing objective research
briefs to the New Hampshire and
Vermont Legislatures on current
policy issues. Recent issues have
included Medicaid spending, dry
cask storage, wind turbine siting,
and technical education.
In order to ensure that students
achieve their aim of producing clear,
8
refreshing to see such a passionate group of
individuals who truly enjoy what they do. They
love to write, love to teach, and readily share
their knowledge and experience supporting
their students and each other. These people
are whole-heartedly devoted to expanding
and challenging the young minds on campus
and enriching their own experiences through
collaboration and conversation. I found myself
awed by their honesty, generosity, creativity,
and commitment.
When the last of the group left, Tom and I
resumed our roles as caterers and cleaned up
the remains of a wonderful, uplifting event. I
consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to
work with such an inspiring, committed group
of people, and am proud to sit behind this desk
every day—fully dressed, of course.
Crumbine, Tom Cormen, Barbara Will, and
Susan Fliss.
DCAL and the Writing Program expect to repeat
these workshops with various presenters and
topics, at least twice each academic year.
DCAL regularly sponsors workshops, seminars
and other programs that support the general
faculty’s development as teachers. For specifics,
see the DCALendar distributed at the start of
each term. The DCAL director, Thomas Luxon,
and associate director, Vicki May, offer one-
on-one consultations with faculty on syllabus
and assessment design, using information
technology for teaching, designing plagiarism-
resistant research assignments and any other
matter regarding teaching and learning. DCAL
is happy to arrange video and audio recording
of your lectures and classes and someone will
review the recordings with you.
well-written briefs, Scott Carrell and Karen Liot-Hill
contacted Writing Program Chair Tom Cormen
to see how the Writing Program might support
their efforts. Stephanie Boone, Director of Student
Writing Support, proposed piloting a Public Policy
Internship, which was established this winter.
The Public Policy Intern, hired from the RWiT
staff, assists students in researching, writing,
and presenting their papers. The Intern is
attached not only to the Policy Research Shop,
but also to two courses, PP90, “Introduction to
Public Policy Research,” and PP91, “Independent
study in Public Policy Research.”
Anne Bellows, the first Public Policy Intern, is
an experienced writing tutor and Government
major who has long been engaged in, and
committed to, public policy issues.
(continued on page 9)
Spring 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 2
(What’s New! continued from page 8)
New Courses
This spring, the writing program added three
new courses to its course offerings:
“Writers at Work,” a first-year seminar taught by
Nancy Crumbine, explores how writers’ cultural
histories shape their identities and inform their
work. The overarching goal of the course is
to help students develop a concrete writing
process, gaining voice and self-consciousness
within their own cultural stories. Students will be
encouraged to write not only about other writers’
writing processes, but also about their own.
“Dartmouth Writers,” a first-year seminar taught
9
by John Donaghy, looks at the work of current
Dartmouth Faculty to explore writing as a form Comments?
of problem solving that crosses the particularities
of the various academic disciplines. Faculty Questions?
members from across the disciplines come to
class as guest speakers to share their writing Contact Executive
processes with Donaghy’s students. Director Karen
Gocsik at karen.
“Writing with Media,” taught by Karen Gocsik, m.gocsik@dartmouth.
introduces students to the principles and edu or Administrative
practices of writing with media, offering Assistant Susan
instruction in how to read and to write multi- Lord at susan.
media compositions. Assignments include c.lord@dartmouth.
developing visual arguments, creating effective edu.
multimedia presentations, and composing a
video documentary.

Training Helps Talented RWiT and WAP Staff Develop Skills

Kacy Gordon ‘06 is the Head Writing Assistant attend OGT in each of the
with the Writing Assistance Program. She has three elements of the RWiT
worked for the program since her sophomore collaboration: writing,
year. She is a Genetics major and plans to pursue research, and information
a research career in biology after graduation. technology. This term we
hope to tackle the college’s
RWiT and the Writing Assistance Program prepare new federated searching
to serve the Dartmouth community by recruiting portal, Search360, for our
student writers of the highest caliber and research training; we also
providing them with thorough training to become will address issues relevant
excellent tutors. The student staff boasts a to learning disabled students
community of scholars. Our tutors are thesis for the writing portion of our
writers in the Sociology, Biology, English, History, training.
and Government Departments. We count among
our ranks an early Phi Beta Kappa, a Senior Fellow, Because each type of student
a Noncy Boehm Coster Public Policy Fellow, and project draws on a different pictured left to right: Kacy Gordon ‘06, Head Writing Assistant
the David McLaughlin International Intern. Tutors subset of tutoring skills, and Grace Chua ‘07, Writing Assistant and RWiT Tutor
have studied in Rome, London, France, Nicaragua, our staffers achieve a good
Vietnam, and Benin. They have won the Rick balance by working as both RWiT tutors and
Angulo World Experience Award and the Andrew Writing Assistants. RWiT tutors see a variety of Coming in
Warden Edson Memorial Prize. students, from first-year students in their first
writing course at college to senior thesis writers Future Issues:
RWiT and the Writing Assistance program offer and a number of graduate students. Our four
• Pedagogies and
these talented undergraduates opportunities Junior Staff members observe tutorial sessions
Practices
to share ideas and experiences about writing to ensure that every tutor on staff can tutor
and research, as well as to learn new skills from effectively. • Professional
expert professionals. These opportunities begin Development
with fall training, a four-day, six-hour-per-day Writing Assistants, on the other hand, are • Program News
training program for newly hired staff. During attached to a writing-intensive course, such • Staff Notes
fall training, students participate in interactive as Writing 5 or a First-Year Seminar, and work • Writing in the First
Year
presentations that address all aspects of in partnership with the professor to address
RWiT tutoring. Students practice creating and writing in the course. Writing Assistants often • Writing in the
Disciplines
diagnosing different types of composition, from develop excellent working relationships with their
academic essays to PowerPoint presentations professors and may work with the same professor • Writing with Media
to multi-media compositions to personal for a number of terms. The opportunity for such • Technological
Innovations
statements. They also learn how to help clients a mentorship to develop is one of the perks of
find and evaluate academic sources. In sum, fall working as a Writing Assistant. • Tips for Teaching
• Students’
training prepares new tutors for the variety of
student work they will encounter in our program Our focus on staff development serves the Perspectives
by equipping them with a “tutor toolkit” to program, as it better prepares our tutors to do • Writing Program
Collaborations
address that work. their jobs, but it also serves these hardworking
student tutors. Not only do our programs • Program Aims
Ongoing training (OGT) continues to build provide a much-needed service to the campus
that toolkit throughout a tutor’s tenure with community, but they teach our tutors to be better
the program. Each term, our staff members writers themselves.

Dartmouth College Writing Program • 6250 Baker/Berry Library • Hanover NH 03755 • 603.646.9748 • www.dartmouth.edu/~writing