This student-driven, instructor-skilled 20-hour course focuses on the critical thinking skills students will need when writing scholarship, admission, college-level course and SAT/ACT essays.

The resources for improvement include:
· sample essays
· practice textbook lessons
· essential theories and
· professional writing principles

In essence, the course will cover a broad scope of content required not only to hone your skills and scores but also to increase your confidence.

To receive the benefits of each session, your instructor recommends that you attend every session, stay engaged in the lectures, complete all homework and maintain the “no cell phone” usage policy during class time. You will have a break, at which time you can use your phone.

Course Goals/Outcomes

Along with your own personal goals for this course, you will fulfill the following general and specific goals:
· Know your role as a communicator
· Learn the elements of the Communication Triangle
· Know Writing as a Process (the stages of writing)
· Hone your skill in analyzing
· Learn and apply the 8 principles of effective writing
· Use rhetorical devices to improve style
· Be able to implement the 3 appeals of rhetoric
· Distinguish between hard and soft evidence
· Know the 4 characteristics of the body paragraph
· Apply cohesive devices to any genre of writing
· Build your vocabulary
· Turn some weaknesses into strengths
· Be able to apply the rules of mechanics: grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling and diction
· Increase your confidence as an academic writer