This course
puts the writing process under a microscope, examining some of the strategies
and techniques that you can use communicate your thoughts more effectively in
college and in life. You will complete a total of ten short writing
assignments. Each assignment responds to a different text, and each gives you
practice in a different genre of writing: personal essays, short stories, film
reviews, textual analysis, exploratory research, philosophical dialogue, and
others. The goal of the course is not just to become better writers and
readers, but also to understand writing and critical thinking as a tool that
deepens and enriches our everyday lives. We’ll read in order to consider,
critique, and challenge the ideas of others, and we’ll write in order to clarify,
complicate, and refine our own ideas.
Course Texts
(Available at campus bookstore)
- Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer
- The Stranger, by Albert Camus
- Pan’s Labyrinth (film)
- Course Reader (available at Campus Copy)