This writing course focuses on the creation of complex, analytic, well-supported arguments that matter in academic contexts.  Students work closely with their peers and the instructor to develop their written prose.  Readings cover a variety of different genres, with a primary focus on literary texts.

     This particular section will aim at enhancing, broadening, and enriching your written expression through studying and responding to diverse examples of innovative writing. Readings will include selections from singularly expressive writing such as Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse, Annie Dillard’s creative nonfiction, and idiosyncratic verbal forms such as that of e. e. cummings. We will also examine satire from The Onion and Gloria Steinem’s “If Men Could Menstruate”, and writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Dorothy Allison who draw on culturally specific language systems in order to more express themselves more fully. Students will also be asked to share a passage of one of their favorite works, and to discuss what about this writing they find so compelling. Throughout our investigations, we will be asking how each unique type of writing does what it does, with an eye toward improving the skill, force, and authenticity of our own writing. Peer workshopping will be an integral part of the learning process, and we will also discuss grammar, mechanics, and structure on an as-needed basis.