{"id":3950,"date":"2011-08-16T15:11:16","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T19:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/?page_id=3950"},"modified":"2011-08-26T11:09:59","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T15:09:59","slug":"editors-note","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/journal\/past-issues\/issue-3\/editors-note\/","title":{"rendered":"Editor&#8217;s Note"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rule\">Marisa Milanese, Editor<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/writingprogram\/files\/2011\/08\/EditorsNote1011.pdf\">Download this note<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the course goals of the Arts and Sciences Writing Program is to craft \u201csubstantive, motivated, balanced arguments.\u201d By \u201cmotivated,\u201d we mean that our students\u2019 essays should address what Kate L. Turabian calls an essential \u201cgap in knowledge or understanding,\u201d something that provides an occasion for the essay that is more meaningful than its due date. Rather than supplying our students such motivation with a direct prompt, we encourage them to locate the gaps that motivate them. The nine essays in the third issue of <em>WR <\/em>were selected from more than 350 submissions. What distinguishes them is ambition, eloquence, and a motivation manifest in both writer and writing.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 7,000 Boston University undergraduates take a Writing Program course each year, and the essays here represent the impressive work our students produce on often unfamiliar subjects. They reflect the increasing diversity of topics that our courses cover, from public health to documentary film to technological innovations. In addition, our three prize-winning essays demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of our students\u2019 interests and projects. Krissy King considers the relationship between olfaction and consciousness in James Joyce\u2019s <em>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man<\/em>. Sean Manton argues that Dissociative Identity Disorder\u2014once called Multiple Personality Disorder\u2014has both neurobiological and neurodevelopmental origins. And Laura Brubaker draws on Soviet history and film theory to explore the influences underlying Elem Klimov\u2019s war film <em>Come and See<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time in <em>WR<\/em>, we are including instructor forewords that describe the broader context and specific strengths of each essay. We want not only to recognize our instructors for their successes, but also to show the diverse ways that they participate in the formation of motivated arguments. With expertise and patience, our instructors help to shape claims that are informed and balanced, far removed from Stephen Colbert\u2019s rhetorical strategy: \u201cI can&#8217;t prove it, but I can say it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Intellectually and rhetorically, these essays engage their readers, and, as every writer knows, that is no simple achievement. To sustain our interest over the course of ten to fifteen pages requires both an argument worthy of such attention and a writer commensurate to the challenge. Representing the best efforts of this year\u2019s Writing Program courses, these authors successfully motivate us to think about their work long after we have finished reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marisa Milanese, Editor Download this note One of the course goals of the Arts and Sciences Writing Program is to craft \u201csubstantive, motivated, balanced arguments.\u201d By \u201cmotivated,\u201d we mean that our students\u2019 essays should address what Kate L. Turabian calls an essential \u201cgap in knowledge or understanding,\u201d something that provides an occasion for the essay [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4801,"featured_media":0,"parent":3740,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4801"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3950"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3964,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3950\/revisions\/3964"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}