This workshop-style course focuses on the techniques of writing creative non-fiction.  You will complete 12 specific short exercises designed to illuminate issues of style and form, plus two polished, full-length essays and a book review.  You will be asked to read aloud from shorter works in class.  We will be discussing assigned readings from contemporary authors and the work of fellow student writers, during which active, thoughtful participation is essential.  Your written critiques of your peers' manuscripts should include comments throughout the texts as well as a summary of your impressions at the end of the work.  Students of any discipline will  enefit from this course--you need not  be an English major-- but do come prepared for a challenge.

Text: The Contemporary Essay, ed. By Donald Hall, St. Martin's Press.