by Patricia Kain
Courtesy of Harvard University
Expository Writing Program


The Writing and Thinking aims to introduce freshman to the terms, methods and goals of intellectual discourse, and this mission necessarily determines course goals. Whatever the theme or content of the individual courses, all Writing and Thinking courses will share the same overarching goals. Those goals are likely to cluster around the following reading and writing skills.


CRITICAL READING

• Close reading, i.e. finding patterns of meaning in a text (text=novels, business memos & reports, advertisements, religious icons, films, paintings, etc.)
• Summarizing a text
  
• Evaluating and judging meaning (social, cultural) and information (historical, political) in texts

• Identifying a question or problem in the data to focus an essay
• Developing an arguable thesis

• Adducing evidence in support of the thesis
• Analyzing and interpreting the evidence
• Handling quotations
• Considering counter-arguments

• Providing a clear beginning, middle, and ending
• Organizing evidence and sub-topics so as to develop the thesis in a logical order
• Making transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections to show how the parts connect to each other and to the whole

• Distinguishing between primary and secondary sources
• Integrating sources into an essay
• Citing and documenting sources
• Evaluating sources and conducting library research

• Using the conventions of grammar, usage, and punctuation
• Attending to clear word choices and sentence structures
• Addressing readers respectfully in a graceful, conversational style