Burke Nixon

FWIS 100 introduces students to academic reading and writing through the study of a specific topic. In this course, students will acquire strategies to improve their critical reading comprehension and will learn how to enhance the clarity, style, and organization of their writing. Students will participate in group discussions and workshops, as well as individual consultations with Writing Coaches. Typical assignments include mapping an academic argument and summarizing a scholarly article. (This course does not fulfill the composition graduation requirement.)

This FWIS will consider the personal essay as a vehicle for expressing and wrestling with one's humanity. We'll read the work of the first personal essayist, Michel Montaigne, along with contemporary essayists who've followed in his wake, examining how these writers reckon with their complex selves and our complex world.