WRI320H, History and Writing
This calendar entry describes the goals of the course:a course in the Professional Writing and Communication Program,
University of Toronto at Mississauga, Spring 2009;
Dr. Margaret Procter.This page gives basic information about the course as I taught it from 2003 to 2009. Students also saw a Blackboard site with further detail about exercises, assignments, and resources.
NOTE: This page is presented only to describe a past course. It does not apply to WRI320 as currently taught. Links were checked in October 2011.
Examines written history as rhetoric and considers various conceptions of history and procedures for historical research and writing with reference to a range of models from Thucydides to contemporary writers of specialized and local histories. Students will conceptualize, design, and carry out primary source historical research to produce original history using locally available sources and materials. Prerequisite: WRI203H.
- The course outline for Spring 2009 includes a sketch of course aims and activities, a list of required and recommended readings, and an explanation of the grading scheme. The course engages students with historical reading and research while building on their experience with expressive writing.
- A page of online resources shows the types of writing and research done in the course. It first lists readily available examples of historical writing of the sort students will aim at. It then sets out links to online collections of primary sources, to classic reference resources, and to material on writing about history and on applying rhetorical analysis to historical documents.
- The UTM librarian Elaine Goettler prepared a webpage on relevant library resources specifically for this course, including many online indexes and online reference works as starting points for course projects.
- The course reader, Writing History, Volume 2 (Life Rattle Press, 2007), was a collection of work from past students in the course. It was a required resource for course exercises analysing possible techniques and approaches. Copies of an earlier collection, Writing History (Life Rattle Press, 2004) were also available for purchase.
Last modified on 19 October 2011 by Dr. Margaret Procter