The goal of CAA’s writing courses is to provide students with a solid foundation in college-level writing. Our courses focus on developing advanced critical thinking and writing skills, not on remediation. Students engage in close reading and discussion of student and published works in order to acquire the writing skills necessary for success in all disciplines. Each course follows the workshop format used in graduate-level writing programs such as Johns Hopkins University’s Writing Seminars. During workshops, students receive detailed responses to their writing from instructional staff as well as from their peers. The instructor’s role is that of an experienced fellow writer who is the mentor of a small writing community; instructors critique students’ work as carefully as they would that of their colleagues. Writing instructors typically hold advanced degrees in creative writing, composition and rhetoric, or literature, and are themselves active writers. Please refer to our Eligibility web page for minimum test score requirements for writing courses. Sample syllabi for all courses are also available.
Writing the Expository Essay
What makes powerful writing? How can we best say what we mean? How can we show someone else the world through our eyes? In this course, students explore the many purposes of writing and discover how to bring their own unique voices and perspectives to the page. Throughout the course, students read and discuss—often as models for their own writing—the work of authors such as Annie Dillard, George Orwell, Alice Walker, and E. B. White. Activities help students practice the elements of lively, powerful prose: vivid, precise diction and specific details; figurative language, including metaphor; and variety in sentence structure. As students focus on drafting strategies and revision, they experiment with different techniques for organizing essays and for beginning and ending their pieces effectively. In addition, students frequently work in groups to offer feedback to one another; the instructor guides this process, and students sharpen not only their own writing skills but also their abilities to be careful readers and constructive critics. Students prepare four to six polished essays, including narrative, persuasive, and critical pieces. Throughout the course, they acquire and refine skills that will prove useful in more advanced writing courses and throughout their academic careers. Sample texts: The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Non-fiction, Root and Steinberg; Elements of Style, Strunk and White. Session 1: Bethlehem, Bristol, Easton, Santa Cruz, Thousand Oaks
Session 2: Bethlehem, Bristol, Easton, Santa Cruz, Thousand Oaks Top
Writing by the Bay
What influence does a place have on who we are, or on what we write? The towering redwood forests and rugged coastline of Northern California are the setting for a complex tradition of nature writing as well as a distinct social and literary history. In this course, students explore the Monterey Bay area and its literature, using the physical setting and readings to inspire their own personal narratives and critical essays. Looking to writers such as N. Scott Momaday, Mary Austin, and Henry David Thoreau, the course begins by addressing the challenges of capturing a place on the page; students tackle ideas of the sense of place, the politics of space, and the ways authors create space in literature. The class then moves to texts by authors such as John Steinbeck, Ishmael Reed, and Shawn Wong, whose works reflect the social issues of a growing population. Through these readings, students consider how a single region can be captured in diverse literary styles and how local sites visited during field trips, such as Cannery Row or San Juan Bautista Mission, can have contrasting or even conflicting meanings to different writers. Personal and critical essay writing assignments help students develop creative writing skills such as “show, don’t tell” as well as the organization, sentence variety, and rhetorical precision that constitute strong nonfiction prose. As in all CAA writing courses, students read and comment on each other’s drafts in workshop sessions. Sample text: Materials compiled by the instructor. Field Trip Fee: $65 Session 1: Santa Cruz
Session 2: Santa Cruz Top
Whodunit?: Mystery and Suspense in Literature and Film
This writing class introduces students to an intriguing genre of popular culture: mystery. What elements create a mystery? How do cinematography and sound in film build suspense? What are the literary merits of the mystery genre, and what do mysteries tell us about our culture? Students read classic mystery writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, and Agatha Christie. They also study clips from a variety of films, including early horror classics and film noir from the Forties and Fifties. By examining literary techniques such as characterization and plot, as well as film techniques such as camera angles and lighting, students analyze the ways writers and directors manipulate these key elements to build suspense and heighten tension on the page and the screen. Students apply their knowledge of mysteries in formal critical essays and in their own brief stories and scenes. As in all CAA writing courses, students read and comment on each other’s drafts in workshop sessions. Sample texts: Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Poe; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle; And Then There Were None, Christie; Red Harvest, Hammett. Session 1: Bristol, Easton, Santa Cruz, Thousand Oaks
Session 2: Bristol, Easton, Thousand Oaks Top
The Graphic Novel
One of the most innovative literary forms of recent years, the graphic novel is a work that uses a combination of words and sequential art to convey a narrative. From the Filipina-American narrator in Lynda Barry’s One Hundred Demons to Bosnian survivors in Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde to an AIDS educator in Judd Winick’s Pedro and Me, the graphic novel has become a significant medium for tackling a wide range of historical, social, and political issues. In this writing-intensive course, students discover how graphic novels use words and images to expand traditional narrative structures and conventions. By examining literary techniques such as tone, flashback, and characterization, as well as visual elements such as framing, shading, and perspective, students analyze how artists and writers marry visual art and literature. Using a text such as Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics to guide them, students learn the particulars of the genre before proceeding to more advanced critical analysis. For example, students might examine Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ politicized deconstruction of superheroes in Watchmen, or they may discuss the use of extended metaphor in Art Spiegelman’s treatment of the Holocaust in Maus. Throughout the session, students apply their knowledge of the graphic novel in formal critical essays and in creative pieces that explore techniques of sequential art, such as layout and plot breakdowns. As in all CAA writing courses, students read and comment on each other’s drafts in workshop sessions. Note: This course includes some controversial material; it is recommended for students who have completed 9th grade or higher. Sample texts: Understanding Comics, McCloud; American Born Chinese, Yang; Dropsie Avenue, Eisner; Watchmen, Moore and Gibbons. Session 1: Easton
Session 2: Easton, Thousand Oaks Top | 
