Course Objective

“Writing the Essay” is to serve as a foundation course for college writing. With focus on the development of both vocabulary and argument in writing, the course aims to provide upperclassmen with an adequate basis for thinking more critically and analytically—a skill set that will be of crucial importance in the collegiate environment. After all, good writers make good thinkers.

The course will be rooted in the philosophies of Southern American writers, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor, whose One Writer’s Beginnings and Mystery and Manners, respectively, discuss the nature of writing (particularly that of fiction writing) as revelatory—of revealing to us things, in their essence, that too often go unnoticed in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. These two women have much to offer us in the way of reading deeply into the text and becoming deep thinkers—as writers—ourselves.

Thus, their works will provide the foundational philosophy for this course, which, practically speaking, will focus on developing your skills as writers of literary criticism and of critical research. We will hone in on a lot of short fiction and essays—poetry, short story, and autobiography—to flex our own creative and critical muscles.

There will be a major writing assignment due before the end of the semester so stay tuned and pay close attention—you never know what lay ahead in those unforeseen shadows of the written word and your own mind.