Welcome to Academic Writing!  I hope you will enjoy using this website and that it will provide many resources for you.  Please look through the tabs on the right to find materials related to our course. 

I wish you luck in your writing endeavors, and that you will work hard, it will be rewarding, and you will come out of this course a more effective writer. 

Imagine yourself at a cafe with a notebook in hand.  Look around you: What do you see?  What do you smell?  Is there anything odd or unusual in what you are envisioning?  How would you describe what you see to someone else across the world who has no context?  How would you provide visual clues so they may envision themselves there with you? 

While this course focuses on academic writing, you must take what you know about descriptive writing and use that as your guide to the academic world.  You must always envision your audience, and imagine that you are explaining your thoughts to a room of 300 people.  This room of 300 will want to ask you questions, will want to verify your expertise, will want to know how you come to your conclusions and who influenced you along the way.  You must be ready to address these questions, in your own words, by crafting your writing in a way that you address any doubts.  You must take your writing as your own creation, as something novel and new to the world. 

Writing is a process and it takes time to develop.  Writing takes multiple revisions and you must know it will never be perfect.  Do not strive for perfection; strive to write what you mean, and strive to write in your own voice.   This will take the scope of many years; this goal will take a lifetime to develop.  As your instructor, I do not expect perfection nor do I expect work worthy of Booker Prizes.  However, I do expect that you will do your best and treat your work with respect, honesty, and desire. 

I hope you will learn many things from this course beyond the vague description that will be provided the first day of class.  I hope that you will find your voice, which will carry you on to greater things in your future.  If I cannot do that, I most likely have failed my mission as your writing instructor. 

You will work very hard in this course, and there may be tears on your side.  I apologize in advance, but I am not a softie and do not accept excuses.  You must turn your work in on time, every time.  No exceptions.  You must turn in work that you are proud of, and if you are not, you must be prepared and able to tell me why you are not proud.  While you will work hard, you will also receive rewards that perhaps you may not come to realize until years later, but they will come, as long as you do the work required.  My job is to teach you to write academically, professionally, and capably so that you may be better able to communicate in the world that awaits you.  Good luck!