This course introduces English prose to freshmen and sophomores. Students will read and discuss essays written by well-known writers (e.g., E.B. White, George Orwell, Annie Dillard, Stephen King, Amy Tan). Reading and writing activities are designed to help college readers understand writers’ ideas and writing strategies, and develop critical thinking skills. Through analyzing lively prose models classified by rhetorical strategies and themes, students are guided to read with a writer’s eyes and to write with a reader in mind.

By the end of the semester, students will be able to: 1. improve reading comprehension of English prose; 2. understand writers’ ideas and writing strategies; 3. develop critical thinking skills; 4. develop ideas for their own writing; 5. apply writing strategies in personal essays.

The Short Prose Reader (13th ed.) by Gilbert H. Muller and Harvey S. Wiener
The New Yorker
The New York Times