This course begins with a premise: the scariest moment for any writer comes when she must hand over her writing to a reader. At this moment, the writer must release her carefully tended thoughts and arguments into the den of a wild, unpredictable creature. Since we are all readers in addition to being writers, we know just how flighty a reader can be. Readers may skim or skip, misread or misunderstand, agree or disagree or just get bored. As writers, then, we must constantly reflect on how what we write will be read—an exhausting project, but one that we must undertake if we hope to clearly and effectively communicate with others.

The goal in this course will be to “write like a reader,” that is, to write in such a way that takes into account the ways in which a reader might make meaning from a text. As we read a variety of texts together—personal essays, short stories, argumentative articles—we will reflect on how certain rhetorical techniques and choices that a writer makes can influence different readers in different ways. As we read each other’s essays, we will help each other identify strengths and weaknesses in our own ways of addressing readers, offering them evidence, leading them to conclusions, and persuading them of arguments. There will be no good or bad writing, only writing that effectively navigates the gulf between writer and reader: writing that makes its point.

As we examine the mechanics of argumentative writing (developing a strong thesis, supporting your claims with evidence, evaluating and incorporating outside sources, identifying your audience, producing clear, concise prose), we will also consider the mechanics of the writing process itself (brainstorming, prewriting, drafting, revising, critiquing, receiving critique). By the end of the semester, it is my hope that you will be armed with a suite of strategies for negotiating the relationship between reader and writer, strategies that will help you throughout your college career and beyond.