<p>What does this mean? I could use specifics please!</p>
<p>Also, any sample papers I could take a look at so I know what quality of work can be expected?</p>
<p>A "typical" social science course at Swarthmore will have two papers during the semester.</p>
<p>Many times, an "exam" is really a take-home essay question.</p>
<p>From the essay topics my daughter has shared with me, I have been truly amazed at how much Swarthmore professors ask questions that cannot be answered without really thinking about the topic and taking a stand. </p>
<p>The one that sticks out was an essay question in American Politics (the basic intro course that covers the structure of American government and the roles of the exec, legislative, and judicial branches). The question was simple:</p>
<p>"What good is judicial review....really?"</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about the the quality of work that is expected. It's very high...but here's the deal: the whole point is that Swarthmore teaches you to be smart and express yourself.</p>
<p>Swatties take advantage of the Writing Associates program to get drafts of their papers reviewed by student writing mentors. It's a model program that is held up as an example of how to do it by other top liberal arts coleges. In fact, many courses require a WA review. Many other courses require a draft to be turned in and reviewed by the professor.</p>
<p>My daughter had, IMO, poor writing preparation at her public high school. Swarthmore taught her what she needed to do to write good papers. I was stunned at the difference in her writing as a senior in high school and a year later after writing Swarthmore papers.</p>
<p>BTW, standard papers are not the only assignments. My daughter took other courses where the assignments including doing podcasts, multi-media presentations to the class and my favorite...a course where the writing assignments were in the format of a letter to the editor of the NY Times.</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/alchemy.xml%5DSwarthmore">http://www.swarthmore.edu/alchemy.xml]Swarthmore</a> College :: Writing Program :: Alchemy<a href="keep%20in%20mind%20that%20those%20are%20just%20a%20sample%20of%20papers%20that%20were%20chosen%20-%20they%20are%20probably%20better%20than%20%22average%22,%20though%20not%20necessarily%20%22the%20best%22...">/url</a></p>
<p>I would suggest that every first-year Swattie take this course, unless you are confident from your high school prep and writing background that you don't need it:</p>
<p>
[quote]
*ENGL 001A. Insights Into Academic Writing *</p>
<p>This course offers students an opportunity to develop their skills as college writers. Through frequent practice, class discussion, and in-class activities, students will become familiar with all aspects of the writing process and will develop their ability to write for an academic audience. A variety of writing assignments, given throughout the course, will offer students an opportunity to work with different purposes and for different audiences. Readings have been selected to serve as an impetus for critical reading, writing, and thinking. Students will also participate in conferences with the instructor to discuss writing related to the course as well as other academic assignments. </p>
<p>After completing ENGL 001A, students who wish to continue to work on their academic writing skills may take ENGL 001AA. This is a 0.5 credit (NC/CR) course in which each individual student meets weekly with the instructor of 001A to discuss independent writing projects. </p>
<p>Meets the distribution requirements but does not count toward the major. </p>
<p>Writing course. </p>
<p>1 credit.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's not a terribly "fun" course, but it builds a solid foundation for the college writing you will do over the following 3 years.</p>
<p>On writing at Swarthmore:</p>
<p>Don't miss this humorous blog article on essay writing by Tim Burke:</p>
<p>Easily</a> Distracted Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay</p>
<p>Burke really captures that, despite the reputation for serious academic pursuits, Swat professors really don't take things that seriously and hardly expect perfection.</p>
<p>BTW, my daughter spent four years trying to pull off the "set 'em up, knock 'em down" essay" that Burke says is his favorite.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"set 'em up, knock 'em down" essay"
[/quote]
I think it is a pretty standard form for essays in philosophy.</p>
<p>^as a philosophy major i can attest to that.
good times.</p>
<p>also, i've gotta say that i really enjoy prof. burke's blog and have read it several times before. the random musings of an intellectual that teaches at the school i am obsessed with, how could i not enjoy it? </p>
<p>do many swarthmore students follow his blog?</p>
<p>ha</p>
<p>I'm so out of touch that I don't even know what makes those essays good. All we've ever done is 5 paragraph themes. I can't even find the thesis statement in those Swat essays.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting though, and what are the "set 'em up, knock 'em down" essay"?</p>
<p>That's one of the essay types Prof. Burke described in his blog:
[quote]
Set-em-up, knock-em-down. When it’s done right, this is just about my favorite kind of short analytic essay, and it is one of the structures well worth learning for its general utility outside of the college environment. In this structure, the writer explores some simplistic or banal assumption or argument for the first part of the paper, carefully bracketed off as a sort of “Let’s suppose that X is true”, where it is clear that the author is just thinking it through. Then halfway through the essay, the writer pulls the rug out, revealing that the initial argument is totally wrong, and substituting some other argument or line of analysis in its place. In the end, the reason I like set-em-up, knock-em-down essays is that they are so clearly focused on the purpose of analytic writing, at least in my classes, and that’s persuasion. This is why I grade descriptive essays so relatively low: they only prove that someone did the reading. An essay that is persuasive is an essay that shows a student has command of the material, has taken ownership of it. It doesn’t matter if their knowledge is less than encyclopedic in that case.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Okay great - I'm a lot better with ideas than I am with prose.</p>