This is a reading and composition course that fulfills the university’s R1B requirement. The course will develop students’ abilities to read texts carefully, research and interpret works of literary theory, and to formulate and express literary arguments. As such, we will be focused equally and simultaneously on the interrelated skills of close reading and intensive writing. Class discussion will focus on developing and articulating ideas about texts and on collaborative close reading. The various writing activities, from the major analytical essays to shorter creative exercises, will connect critical thinking and writing, improve students’ control over their writing voice, and introduce new ways of thinking about structure and development. The course builds toward a research paper, to be presented in class during the final weeks of instruction, demonstrating the ability to form an original reading of a literary text as well as conducting research into and incorporating the work of existing literary scholarship. show less