The goal of the critical writing seminar is to help our students become better writers.

Writing is a skill that improves with practice. Our objective is to equip students with the means and motivation to develop as writers beyond the writing classroom.

In the critical writing seminar, students learn that:

• writing is a social act-and therefore writers must understand the conventions and expectations of audience, as well as anticipate the effect of their writing on that audience
  
• writing is a process-involving observation, consideration, and revision-as well as a product
  
• writing improves writing
  
• writing is an act of cognition, a way of thinking, as well as an act of communication.

Recognizing that students have different learning styles, we use a range of approaches: individual and collaborative assignments; online and classroom-based projects; individual conferences, writing workshops, and peer reviews; group discussion and consensus-building; and assigned readings. Most importantly, students write frequently-formally and informally, in and out of class.

A critical writing seminar:

• Assigns 40-50 pages of writing, including drafting and revision.
  
• Provides students with practice in major forms: description, explanation, persuasion, argumentation, analysis, critique, narration.
  
• Attends to the specifics of the writing process, from planning and time management to reading aloud and proofreading.
  
• Requires extensive drafting and revision, driven by the processes of peer review and writing workshops, and intended to help students internalize and apply criteria of evaluation.
  
• Teaches students how to proofread, how to diagnose and address problems with grammar and usage, as well as how to identify and avoid plagiarism. (The handbook A Writer's Resource has been adopted across seminars.)
  
• Assigns readings that introduce students to a topic in the discipline but also serve as models of good writing for both popular and academic audiences.
  
• Aims for precision and clarity of expression, and explores how to use elements of style, such as diction, tone, punctuation, organization, citation, and pacing to achieve precision and clarity.

To fulfill the Writing Requirement, students must receive a grade of C- or better. Grades are based on specific criteria developed in each seminar, and typically take into account effort and improvement as well as product.