This course introduces students to the rigors and discipline of the writing process, stage by stage, from choosing a topic, to collecting information, brainstorming, planning and outlining, drafting, revising and editing, to proofreading and finalizing. Each stage is punctuated with assignments and exercises that familiarize students with the rhetorical modes, from description, to comparison/ contrast, narration, classification, extended definition, cause-effect, and argument. In in-class and at home work, students will practice producing grammatically correct and logically sound claims, arranged in coherent paragraphs; understand and develop the thesis statement; learn to distinguish between primary and secondary sources; learn to annotate sources, and incorporate quotes in their writing with proper lead-in sentences and follow-up; begin familiarizing with citation styles; learn to use information technology, from research to writing and formatting.

This course is a seminar on the principles of effective expository writing with a focus on the critical perspectives and theories that enliven contemporary literary, art, and cultural studies. Through an historical survey of critical theory, including an introduction to relevant terminology, the course will cover various types of arguments, appropriate to different concerns and cultural contexts. The theory addressed in this course spans theories of race, class, gender and national identity, postmodern and poststructuralist perspectives, Marxist critique, and psychoanalytic approaches. Writing assignments will provide students with the opportunity to apply these theories to literary works, film, painting, and built space.

The aim of the course is to situate select theoretical and literary texts within the post-modern aesthetic, and to understand both postmodern theory and post-modern writing as commentary on, and reaction to, a world disenchanted of the myth of progress, suspicious of the legitimacy of authority, and filled with anxiety over the attribute of authenticity in identity, experience, and “things in the world.”

A seminar in which students select a publication, production or research project to complete over the course of two semesters. Students are required to choose a project in creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, or creative non-fiction), or a scholarly thesis, work with an advisor to complete their projects over the course of their final two semesters as seniors.

This course prepares students to plan, research, and write academic-level research papers au- tonomously. Students are guided through all writing stages, from preparing an articulated re- search proposal, to collecting sources and arranging them in an annotated bibliography, to out- lining, drafting, and, finally, completing the paper in accordance with current MLA guidelines. Each stage is also punctuated with writing drills in the form of in-class essays, citing and quot- ing drills in the form of worksheets, annotation drills on select academic sources related to the class theme, and a thorough overview of the use of library resources, both material and elec- tronic. Students will also practice discussing and explaining their project in workshop sessions.

This course serves as an introduction to the variety of forms and themes of dramatic literature. Major problems treated by dramatists will be examined, as well as genres: tragedy, comedy, farce, melodrama, tragicomedy, and the thesis play.

Using examples from Juvenal to Jon Stewart, this course examines elements of comedic and satiric technique, style, and genre. It will investigate the psychological, social, and political functions of laughter and comedy, as well as satire’s most common targets and its various forms. Through practical exercises, literature, and screenings of TV, film, and stand-ups, students will explore what and why we find some things funny.

A seminar in which students select a publication, production or research project to complete over the course of two semesters. Students are required to choose a project in creative writing (fiction, poetry, drama, or creative non-fiction), or a scholarly thesis, work with an advisor to complete their projects over the course of their final two semesters as seniors.

The course surveys the major writers from the Anglo-Saxon period, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment such as the Beowulf poet, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Spenser, Milton, Pope, Swift, and Samuel Johnson.

This course is an overview in literary editing for publication. We will explore in-depth the publishing industry for both writers and editors. Students will develop skills such as copyediting, revision, query letters, literary critique and analysis, and submitting and reviewing work.

This workshop instructs students in the mechanics of travel writing from research, interviewing techniques and pitching editors to crafting essays and articles for newspapers, magazines, books, and the internet.