English 118 - COLQ: HOW TO LIVE

In sections limited to 15 students each, this course primarily provides systematic instruction and practice in reading and writing academic prose, with emphasis on argumentation. The course also provides instruction and practice in conducting research and in public speaking. Bilingual students and nonnative speakers are especially encouraged to register for sections taught by Holly Davis and Ethan Myers. Priority is given to incoming students in the fall-semester sections. Course may be repeated for credit with another instructor. Through wide-ranging readings from ancient philosophy to contemporary memoirs, we engage this most essential question: How are we to live our lives? Philosophers and artists, farmers and writers, religious leaders and political activists have given us a rich variety of approaches to this question, envisioning utopias both large and farm-small, proposing maxims to live by, conducting private and public experiments, condensing hard-won knowledge into prose. The range of forms of these provocative writings leads to this class's second question: How are we to write about matters? Can be repeated for credit with a different topic. (E)