Successful writing
starts with curiosity. Using the contemporary nonfiction readings found in From Inquiry to Academic Writing as a
guide, this course focuses on three aspects of critical intellectual
engagement—deep contemplation, careful reading and persuasive writing—with an
emphasis on different modes of academic writing.
In addition to
learning to identify and correct sentence-level issues, we will pay special
attention to the higher order concerns of the academic essay: elements such as
thesis statement, audience and purpose, organization, paragraph structure, etc.
We will also learn more about the research process, and how to identify and use
reliable sources. The skills you learn in this class will help you write
academic essays in many fields.
Assignments:
–Attendance and
participation
–4 formal essays
with peer review
–Final exam
–Occasional short
writing exercises and responses to the reading
Texts:
–From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader (2nd edition), Stuart Greene and April
Lidinsky
—A Pocket Style Manual, Diana Hacker and
Nancy Sommers