This course calls for analytical writing based on readings and research materials. Students are expected to read complex texts —both fiction and nonfiction—and the work of their peers in order to develop a critical understanding of argument and reason, both in the recognition of the strategies of other texts and the effective management of their own writing. Students must demonstrate the ability to write accurate, coherent, and thoughtful argumentative essays and to integrate academic source material into their writing. To this end, instruction will focus on strategies for organization, development, research, and revision. We will examine writers and artists from various mediums, while exploring the strategies they use to find their "voice". Many of these strategies reference mainstream culture in relation to a culture or subculture that has been seen as marginal. Almost all of the writers and artists we will look at this semester engage in comparisons between mainstream "modern" Western society and repressed (gay subculture) or formerly repressed cultures and subcultures (colonialism). Some of these comparisons involve critiques of modern Western society. Various strategies are used for such critiques including parody, humor, and comparative framing.Writing 1 is an introduction to college-level writing, reading, and discussion. Initial writing assignments will involve students with language as a personally expressive, creative, and imaginative medium. Later assignments will bring this expressiveness to bear on practical writing tasks typical of college-level work: research, analysis,argument, etc. Reading is designed to stimulate discussion and present models for the students'own writing. Although writing and reading are the main emphases, attention will also be given to informal discussion and oral presentation.

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