The aim of this section is to help you engage in a writing process that results in compelling, clear, observant and intelligent prose. The reading and writing we will pursue over the course of the semester will focus on both academic and personal essays: objectivity, critical thinking, argumentation, analysis and the incorporation of research will be combined with subjectivity, personal experience, reflection and a variety of narrative structures. Literature that focuses on the theme of place and landscape will guide our reading and writing assignments, and serve as the fundamental basis for which we make our discoveries.

Our exploration and discussion of the readings will focus largely on ideas of style, craft and execution. Workshop will also be an important part of your experience in this course. The opportunity to share your work with your peers, and to receive as well as construct peer critiques, can lead to invaluable discoveries. The ability to identify and respond to the craft elements and rhetorical strategies of other writers (in our readings by published authors as well as in the work of your classmates), is key in developing and improving your individual voice.

This course is designed in a way that encourages exploration and risk-taking in your writing as a means of discovering and cultivating unique, authentic voices, that will be appropriate in both academic and creative contexts. Finally, it is my hope that this course will find its focus and momentum in Jack Driscoll's statement, “We write to bring beauty and clarity into our lives.”