Writing is at the Heart of the Liberal Arts

Academic reading, logical organization of ideas in communication, and effective writing are central to a liberal arts education anywhere, and deeply held values at FLC. Our Liberal Arts Core Communication courses are designed to support our students in building their education on a strong liberal arts foundation.

Courses cover strategies for writing academic research papers, the interpretation of arguments, identification of bias, and the organization of counter-arguments. They also cover writing in a non-academic context as well as Action Research, a method of inquiry that involves creating change as a product of conducting research.


Communication Courses

COMP 150: Rhetoric & Research

This course introduces students to the discipline of Writing Studies. Students develop a foundation of academic writing as transformative and transferrable through an anthology of readings and emphasis on threshold concepts such as: writing is linked to prior literacy experiences; writing is a social and rhetorical activity; good writing depends on the situation; and all writers have more to learn.

COMP 250: Academic Inquiry and Writing

COMP 250 builds on introductory rhetorical and genre theories. It focuses on analysis of specific genres and their conventions through critical thinking and writing in academic contexts. Students address specific audiences based on genres; determine appropriate exigencies; evaluate sources of evidence; deepen their understanding of writing as an activity within genre; and create and present an extended research project.

COMP 253: Action Research

This course builds on introductory rhetorical and genre theories. It focuses on analysis of specific genres and their conventions through critical thinking and writing in community-based research contexts. Students address specific audiences based on genres; determine appropriate exigencies; evaluate sources of evidence; deepen their understanding of writing as an activity within genre; and create and present an extended research project.

COMP 254: Writing in the Disciplines

This course builds on foundational rhetorical and genre theories to focus on writing in disciplinary contexts. Students examine specific genres and their conventions; evaluate methods for sources of evidence; deepen their understanding of writing as an activity within a discipline; and create an extended research project in order to better understand writing in the disciplines.

COMP 350: Rhetoric of Knowledge

This advanced course develops mastery of writing and research in students’ field of study. Students deepen their professional skills, scholarship and/or grant writing skills, as well as an understanding of the methodologies and ideologies of their disciplines. Students progress to a proposal for a senior seminar project or research paper in their field.

Read about additional communication courses in the catalog's liberal arts core curriculum description.