This course focuses on developing coherent and effective academic writing, specifically in response to literary work. Students will read a number of different genres and styles and explore the benefits of critical reading and thinking in an attempt to foster successful writing skills. By engaging with materials that address ideas of identity and its relationship to landscapes— physical, physiological, technological, rhetorical—students will further develop their skills of reading comprehensively and analytically as a way of understanding how arguments are formed. Readings in this course will cover a range of topics, often with emphasis on individual and group identities and their relationship to place, landscape, and movement. Primary texts will include contemporary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and will be supplemented with multi-media material and craft based essays. Along with extrapolating and developing strategies for successful writing, students will also be asked to contextualize themes of assigned readings in regards to cultural and personal relevance. An important aspect of this class will be community based learning and discussion as well as progression and revision of work throughout the semester. While the majority of the course work for this class will be writing, students will also be evaluated on their completion of assigned readings and in class activities, as well as participation. Students should expect to gain a proficiency in college level academic writing, critical thinking, and craft analysis.