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  • Berkeley Global

Writing Skills Workshop

ENGLISH X13

41070
Delivery Options Online

Good writing isn't fussy. It's clear, concise and grammatically correct, no matter the audience or purpose. In this course, you’ll draft, write and revise your own work; read literary essays as examples of effective syntax and coherent structure; share work in a supportive, focused workshop environment; and review common grammar pitfalls. Build your writing skills and confidence through critical reading of outside work, frequent writing exercises and class discussions. The skills emphasized in this course lend themselves to business or technical writing, as well as journalism or college-level essay writing.

Course Outline

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Course Objectives

  • Understand the writing process
  • Critique writing effectively and appropriately
  • Identify characteristics of effective prose, including audience, purpose and tone
  • Develop an individual voice
  • Choose an effective structure for a piece of writing
  • Revise writing based on self-editing and comments from others
  • Express ideas with greater assurance and precision
  • Understand and use coherent syntax and style
  • Identify and correct common grammatical errors

What You Learn

  • Purpose, audience and the writing process
  • The sentence as a building block
  • The paragraph as a building block
  • Putting the building blocks together to develop structure
  • Choosing the right words for tone and voice
  • Using the right words for details, metaphor and points of view
  • Revision, including content, organization and word choice
  • Revision of punctuation, spelling, grammar and formatting
  • How to critique others’ work and accept criticism as feedback

How You Learn

  • Discussion forums
  • Journal assignments
  • Practice exercises
  • Short essay and revision
  • Final project revision

Is This Course for Me?

This course is designed for those wishing to hone their skills for any writing need.

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Sections

Section 066

Full

Feb 16, 2021 to May 11, 2021 Online

Course Fee(s)

Course Fee credit (2 units)

$675.00


Type Online, Fixed Date

Enroll in this course by its start date and complete it by its specified end date. There are no live sessions, but plenty of opportunities to collaborate with your classmates and instructor.

Dates

Feb 16, 2021 to May 11, 2021

Delivery Options

Online

Available for Credit

2 semester units

Instructors

  • Nancy DeVille

Section Notes

TEXTBOOK NOTES: Students may also use the regular 9th edition of A Writer's Reference (9781319057442). LaunchPad is recommended, but is not required for this course.

Section Materials

  • Textbook (Mandatory) The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate (editor) © 1995 Anchor Books ISBN 038542339X Textbook ISBN: 9780385423397
  • Textbook (Mandatory) On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser © 2006 HarperCollins ISBN 0060891548 Textbook ISBN: 9780060891541
  • Textbook (Mandatory) A Writer's Reference with LaunchPad by Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers © 2018 Bedford/St Martin's 9th edition ISBN 1319153801 Textbook ISBN: 9781319153809

Section 065

Mar 02, 2021 to May 25, 2021 Online

Course Fee(s)

Course Fee credit (2 units)

$675.00


Type Online, Fixed Date

Enroll in this course by its start date and complete it by its specified end date. There are no live sessions, but plenty of opportunities to collaborate with your classmates and instructor.

Dates

Mar 02, 2021 to May 25, 2021

Delivery Options

Online

Available for Credit

2 semester units

Instructors

  • Maggie Trapp

Section Notes

TEXTBOOK NOTES: Students may also use the regular 9th edition of A Writer's Reference (9781319057442). LaunchPad is recommended, but is not required for this course.

Section Materials

  • Textbook (Mandatory) The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate (editor) © 1995 Anchor Books ISBN 038542339X Textbook ISBN: 9780385423397
  • Textbook (Mandatory) On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser © 2006 HarperCollins ISBN 0060891548 Textbook ISBN: 9780060891541
  • Textbook (Mandatory) A Writer's Reference with LaunchPad by Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers © 2018 Bedford/St Martin's 9th edition ISBN 1319153801 Textbook ISBN: 9781319153809

Section 067

Mar 30, 2021 to Jun 22, 2021 Online

Course Fee(s)

Course Fee credit (2 units)

$675.00


Type Online, Fixed Date

Enroll in this course by its start date and complete it by its specified end date. There are no live sessions, but plenty of opportunities to collaborate with your classmates and instructor.

Dates

Mar 30, 2021 to Jun 22, 2021

Delivery Options

Online

Available for Credit

2 semester units

Instructors

  • Holly Thompson

Section Notes

TEXTBOOK NOTES: Students may also use the regular 9th edition of A Writer's Reference (9781319057442). LaunchPad is recommended, but is not required for this course.

Section Materials

  • Textbook (Mandatory) The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate (editor) © 1995 Anchor Books ISBN 038542339X Textbook ISBN: 9780385423397
  • Textbook (Mandatory) On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser © 2006 HarperCollins ISBN 0060891548 Textbook ISBN: 9780060891541
  • Textbook (Mandatory) A Writer's Reference with LaunchPad by Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers © 2018 Bedford/St Martin's 9th edition ISBN 1319153801 Textbook ISBN: 9781319153809

This course applies to the following programs:

Interdisciplinary Writing Program

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Individualized Study Plan

  • Effective Writing in the Workplace
  • Writing for Social Media: Prose That Works for Web 2.0
  • Grammar, Mechanics and Usage for Editors
  • Journalism Workshop
  • Science Writing
  • Writing the Feature Story
  • Introduction to Public Relations Writing
  • Writing and Editing Internship Program
  • Editorial Workshop I: Introduction to Copyediting
  • Writing Skills Workshop
  • Writing Creative Nonfiction
  • Creative Nonfiction Workshop
  • Developing the Memoir
  • Developing the Memoir II
  • The Craft of Reading
  • The Craft of Writing
  • Exploring Creative Writing
  • Introduction to Writing Fiction
  • Intermediate Fiction Writing
  • Advanced Fiction Writing
  • Developing the Novel
  • Screenwriting: The Art of Visual Storytelling
  • Poetry Workshop
  • Poets Studied and in Conversation
  • American Fiction
  • The English Novel
  • Great Novels You Always Meant to Read
  • Mystery Fiction
  • Shakespeare

Learn More About this Program

Professional Writing Program

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Required Courses

  • Effective Writing in the Workplace
  • Introduction to Public Relations Writing
  • Writing for Social Media: Prose That Works for Web 2.0

Electives

  • Writing Skills Workshop
  • Journalism Workshop
  • Writing the Feature Story
  • Editorial Workshop I: Introduction to Copyediting
  • Technical Communication I
  • Writing Creative Nonfiction
  • Creative Nonfiction Workshop
  • Screenwriting: The Art of Visual Storytelling
  • Science Writing

Capstone Project

  • Professional Writing Program - Final Project

Learn More About this Program

Certificate Program in Writing

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Required Courses

  • The Craft of Reading
  • The Craft of Writing
  • Writing Skills Workshop

Electives (Literature)

  • American Fiction
  • Contemporary Voices: Speaking From the Margins
  • The English Novel
  • Fact or Fiction: Reading and Writing the Personal Essay
  • Great Novels You Always Meant to Read
  • Great Writers Steal: How the Work of Other Writers Can Inform and Inspire You
  • Mystery Fiction
  • Shakespeare
  • Short-Story Masterpieces
  • Meet the Writer: Guided Study and Discussion With Fiction Writers
  • Ursa Minor Production Class

Electives (Writing Workshop)

  • Exploring Creative Writing
  • Introduction to Writing Fiction
  • Intermediate Fiction Writing
  • Advanced Fiction Writing
  • Writing Genre Fiction: Science Fiction, Mystery, Romance and More
  • Mystery Writing
  • Developing the Novel
  • Screenwriting: The Art of Visual Storytelling
  • Screenwriting Workshop
  • How to Write a Story
  • Writing and Appreciating Poetry
  • Poetry Workshop
  • Poets Studied and in Conversation
  • Writing Creative Nonfiction
  • Creative Nonfiction Workshop
  • Developing the Memoir
  • Developing the Memoir II
  • Journalism Workshop
  • Science Writing
  • Writing the Feature Story
  • Writing and Editing Internship Program

Courses of Related Interest

  • Children's Picture Book Writing Workshop
  • Story Lab
  • Writing the First-Person Essay

Learn More About this Program

Notes

Departmental contact: extension-letters@berkeley.edu | (510) 643-1110

Prerequisites

In order to succeed in this course, it is recommended that non-native English speakers have achieved a minimum TOEFL score of 90. All other non-native English learners should instead consider COLWRIT X400.1 Academic Writing for ESL or COLWRIT X411 Business English for ESL Students. Please contact the department if you require any additional information.

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Course Fee

Online

Nancy DeVille

Nancy DeVille is an award-winning journalist who has spent the last decade writing about everything from politics, education and health to the environment and growth and development. She is currently a producer at Youth Radio, the youth desk for NPR. At Youth Radio, Nancy works with teens to produce stories for local and national outlets. Nancy has done work for several media outlets including Pacific Standard Magazine, USA Today, KQED and NPR’s Latino USA.She’s taught journalism and writing courses at Tennessee State University and Santa Rosa Junior College. The California native is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Fisk University in Nashville, TN.

Course Fee

Maggie Trapp

Maggie Trapp, Ph.D., received her doctorate in English from UC Berkeley. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in creative writing at Pacific University. Her essays and book reviews have been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle Weekly and Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing, among others.

Read Trapp's take on why you should study Shakespeare.

Course Fee

Holly Thompson

Holly Thompson, M.A., is the author of the young-adult verse novels The Language Inside and Orchards, winner of the APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, both published by Delacorte/Random House, and the forthcoming middle-grade verse novel Dragon's Mouth (Henry Holt). She is also author of the adult novel Ash (Stone Bridge Press) and the picture book The Wakame Gatherers (Shen's Books). Thompson edited Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories (Stone Bridge Press) and is a regular contributor of personal essays for the Double Take column of Wingspan, the ANA inflight magazine. She serves as regional advisor for the Japan chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

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