LIBS 201 (Writing Social Justice)
English Composition Program

LIBS 201: Writing Social Justice is a composition course for students who have completed the University Writing Requirement.  The course is a General Education requirement for undergraduates in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Education, as well as selected major programs in the Music Conservatory.

This course is designed to develop advanced college research and writing skills in the context of current social justice issues.  It will also serve as a bridge for writing and research skills within the university, moving students past the introductory level toward the more in-depth writing and critical thinking they will need for courses within their chosen major, with an emphasis on the practice and principles of contemporary academic scholarship.  Each course will examine one particular pressing community problem as a thematic and practical way to focus the writing and reading assignments.  Students generally write three short essays based on readings and class discussion; for the culminating project of the course, each student will complete a longer, multi-drafted final essay that investigates a well-researched social justice issue of their own choosing.

Recent texts in LIBS 201 have included:

The Price of Motherhood by Ann Crittenden

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

The Trouble with Diversity by Walter Benn Michaels