Classes and Workshops
Each semester Academic Resources offers several classes. These classes offer non-divisional credit to students seeking to hone their academic skills. They can be taken in conjunction with other coursework and are open to all students.
Offered in the current semester:
Writing on Texts and Images (ARC 110)
This 2-credit course is designed to improve reading and writing skills by drawing on talents most of us already possess: the ability to react to visual media. This semester, we will focus on film. Particular attention will be paid to the different registers of writing, from informal writing that enables us to grapple with a text or image, to revised and finished drafts that meet the expectations of particular audiences. This class will specifically address the challenges faced by non-native speakers of English when reading and writing academic work. Projects will include summaries, short writing assignments, and essays. Students may sign up for this class online but must meet with the professor before completing registration.
Professor: Scott Partridge
W 1:30-2:50 PM HDR 101A F 1:30-2:50 PM Olin 309
Essay and Revision (ARC 205)
4 Credits In this writing-intensive course, we will sharpen our skills at writing and revising academic essays. By breaking down the writing process into its component parts, considering what each step needs in order to be useful, and anticipating the experience of a reader, this class allows students to hone their skills at producing successful academic writing. Along the way, we’ll consider such things as question framing, using outside sources, editing, and other skills necessary to write effectively. This semester, we will read and write about the relationship between language and identity. Students should expect to produce 25 pages of finished writing, through various assignments with multiple revisions. Students may sign up for this class online but must meet with the professor before completing registration.
Professor: Scott Partridge
T, Th 1:00-2:20 PM Olin LC Lab
Grammar, Rhetoric and Style (ARC 212)
4 Credits This writing-intensive course explores the strategies and tools available to writers seeking to capture complex ideas in clear and concise prose. As we write and revise essays, we will consider how we, as writers, can control the reader’s experience of the text by writing sentences that are not only correct but also powerful and precise. As we expand our range of rhetorical devices, we’ll consider such questions as, How does grammar relate to content? At what point in the writing process should I worry about grammar? When is it okay to break the rules? If you’d like to gain greater control over your writing from the sentence up—from basic grammar to more complex sentence structures and rhetorical moves—come join us as we write our way into more forceful, assertive prose. A total of 25 pages of revised prose will be expected. Students may sign up for this class online but must meet with the professor before completing registration.
Professor: Peg Peoples
M, W 10:30-11:50 AM Heg 106
Essays and Evidence (ARC 215)
4 Credits This writing intensive course will sharpen students’ skills in writing persuasive analytic essays. Paying particular attention to the variety of ways we use other people's voices in our own work—to support, qualify, or broaden the scope of our argument; to get at the underlying assumptions of another writer's claims; or to acknowledge and offer alternate viewpoints—we will examine and practice the rhetorical devices available to us as we use textual evidence to convey complex ideas. Our topic this semester will be Modern Memory: we’ll consider the nature and meaning of memory in the modern world and ask such questions as, How does personal memory differ from collective memory? What constitutes an ethical relationship with the past? And what is the role of forgetting in remembering? A total of 25 pages of revised prose will be expected. Students may sign up for this class online but must meet with the professor before completing registration.
Professor: Peg Peoples
M W 12:00-1:20 PM Olin 304
Intensive ESL (ARC 107)
(4 credits, 2 semester sequence) A Liberal Arts education is designed to engage people across a variety of disciplines in order to teach thinking skills and associative skills; however, if students have never encountered this type of educational environment before, this broad definition can hinder meaningful engagement in academic courses. This yearlong class is designed to give incoming international students an overview of the Liberal Arts experience through exploring some of the fields of study Bard has to offer. Through this investigation, students will develop the academic and study skills needed to survive this challenging academic environment. An emphasis on reading and writing will provide opportunities for students to develop vocabulary, improve grammar and strengthen their grasp of the written language. Students may sign up for this class online but should speak with the professor before completing registration.
Professor: Scott Partridge
T, W, Th, F 10:30-11:50 AM Olin LC Lab
Composition Theory and Pedagogy (ARC 235)
4 credits This writing-intensive course is designed for advanced writers who want to deepen their understanding of composition, rhetoric, and grammar. Topics will include composition theory, grammar and its role in the service of meaning and rhetoric, and revision in both theory and practice. We will address questions of composition pedagogy to see how successful models of teaching (and tutoring) writing can inform our understanding of the genre itself, not in theoretical isolation but as a live and critical practice. Students will write and revise essays, provide feedback to fellow writers, and complete an independent project. Students may sign up for this class online but must meet with the professor before completing registration.
Professor: Philip Pardi
T, Th 1:00 – 2:20 PM Albee 106