Academic Writing and Literature, is a first-year writing course offered by the University that focuses on literary analysis to help students learn to analyze and produce arguments, write in multiple genres, and read each other’s work as part of the workshop and revision process. The aim of this course is to help you hone critical thinking skills that will assist in your composition of well-organized, clearly-written essays. These skills will be developed through analysis of texts organized around the theme of heroes and anti-heroes in American popular culture. Questions that will arise in the course as we examine relevant texts are: What characteristics identify heroes and anti-heroes and how are those qualities developed in this particular piece? How are heroes and anti-heroes represented differently in various genres, such as conventional literature, graphic narratives, and film? How does the construction of heroes and anti-heroes relate to questions of race, socioeconomic status, and gender? You will closely examine these texts and walk through a series of writing sequences that build to the construction of solid arguments. I hope undergoing this process will help you gain a renewed appreciation for writing as a form of expressing your thoughts and opinions. My hope for the class is to break down some of the confusions and difficulties surrounding the construction of a good essay and help you better articulate your ideas through writing.