Writing

This course is designed to introduce students to college-level critical thinking and writing. The courses include practice in rhetoric, voice and audience, research methods, and producing content for a variety of texts and platforms.

An internet quote about writing states that writers "hate writing but love having written." Writing is hard, most people agree. Philosophers have written for centuries about the qualities of good writing, what separates okay writing from great writing, and advice for achieving both. Writing Studies has produced several decades of research about how writing works and how to help teach writing. This course wades through the history and the research of writing and writing studies to explore what we know and don't know about writing as well as how to teach writing, in individual, small group, or larger classroom settings. This class will help students understand their own writing better as well as equip them to teach writing to others. This course is required for students who wish to work in the writing center as peer consultants and fulfills the Core Requirement of the Writing Studies Track and Writing Studies Certificate Prerequisites: ENG 112 or WRI 118.

Practice writing creative non-fiction with an emphasis on structure, mechanics, and developing a sophisticated, polished style. Readings in genre and discussions of logic, semantics, syntax, and various rhetorical strategies are included. Prerequisite: ENG 112 or WRI 118.

Practice in writing various forms of fiction and poetry, with help from a study of theory and models. Prerequisite: ENG 112 or WRI 118. This course fulfills the Personal Place requirement in the General Education Curriculum.

Study of a selected topic of special interest, such as writing practices in a specific professional field or academic discipline, or creative writing workshops focused on specific approaches or genres. The topic may be proposed by either instructors or students and may be taken for credit any number of times, provided a different topic is studied each time. Prerequisite: ENG 112 or WRI 118.

Advanced practice in writing various forms of fiction and poetry, with help from a study of theory and models. Prerequisites: ENG 112 or WRI 118 and WRI 325.