Writing as Exploration (WREX-UF)

The first in a two-course series, Writing as Exploration expands and complicates students’ understanding of the essay in its varied forms and functions. The course offers occasions to practice essay writing in several modes, including personal, critical, academic, and journalistic. It also exposes students to writing, reading, and critical thinking skills necessary for interdisciplinary, undergraduate work as well as writing beyond academic contexts. While each course is themed around a particular subject that draws on the professor’s area(s) of expertise, all courses emphasize the role writing plays in narrating and analyzing global issues and/or perspectives. In addition, the theme of each course considers global issues (in part or through the whole of the course) and perspectives through reading and writing assignments.

Writing I has two main objectives: first, to develop the students’ self-confidence and fluency by engaging them in the use of writing to express, explore, and develop ideas through a variety of forms, including informal writing (free writing, journal writing, etc.); second, to engage them in practicing the same kinds of critical and analytical skills they will use throughout their two years in Liberal Studies’s writing intensive program. The class is conducted as a workshop. Students produce a wide range of writing, both in and out of class, which forms the basis for classroom activities. All papers go through multiple drafts, often with input from peers as well as the instructor.