Enrollment is limited to 20 in each section. Students should have a working knowledge of the conventions of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Lectures, group discussions, and individual conferences. Introduction to the vocabulary, techniques, and pleasures of literature through close study and discussion of poems, plays, short stories, and novels. Short critical papers develop ability to analyze and interpret literature.
Students undertake several writing projects, developing each through several drafts and revisions.
They learn techniques for establishing and maintaining focus in their writing, organizing and developing analyses and arguments, and producing clear, direct prose. Charles Yarnoff Students will write two drafts of a short story. They also will write several exercises to practice such techniques as building conflict, manipulating point of view, and conveying emotions through specific details. These drafts and exercises will be read and commented on by the rest of the class. Students also will discuss fiction techniques used in stories by classic and contemporary authors.