Writing Program Overview
Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
— Gene Fowler
There’s an old joke among musicians: Q: "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" A: "Practice, practice, practice."
To be a writer, a good writer, you must also practice, practice, practice. Many students assume that speaking a language fluently means that writing papers, essays, stories, and so forth in that language will come naturally and easily when needed – usually during an all-night paper-writing session. That assumption does not hold true any more than being able to drive a car makes you a mechanic, or being able to walk makes you a marathoner.
Fortunately, you can learn to write well by practicing. That is why the Scholars Online writing curriculum is based on practice. The courses encourage you to look at your own writing critically. We teach you the skill of writing by using the discipline of re-writing. We also teach you how to apply peer reviews and instructor’s edits without becoming defensive.
… Then anyone who leaves behind him a written manual, and likewise anyone who receives it, in the belief that such writing will be clear and certain, must be exceedingly simple-minded…
— Plato
No matter what field of study you intend to pursue, you will be required to write. Outstanding writing will set you apart as an outstanding student or worker — even in Math class, or as a professional engineer. Any discipline requires you to organize your thoughts; writing helps you to visualize the thoughts and present them clearly for others to understand or apply.
Our goal is to help you to present your thoughts plainly and concisely, but also understand and respect the conventions of scholarly and professional writing.
Individual courses
Writing for the College-Bound is especially suitable as a composition supplement for Scholars Online literature and history courses, with topic options coordinated to course content.
If you would like to see a couse not yet listed, please use the EMAIL US link below to contact Scholars Online Administration with your course request.
Students who were enrolled in courses from previous years will find the teacher, text, and course description information available from the student's unofficial transcript, which can be reached from the parent's Account Management Center, or from an alumni's own Account Management Center.
To see details about an individual course, click on the black triangle to the left of the course name
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Molding Your Prose • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 7 or above • [Summer course]
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: Bruce McMenomyClasses meet from June 14, 2011 to August 9, 2011Tuesday 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM ETTuition: $150.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | This course fosters familiarity with the writing process by asking the student to write a sequence of exercises based on the same basic narrative material. Along the way, students learn that written material does not steer itself: it can be adapted almost infinitely to a variety of forms and requirements. In this respect, it is an introduction to both other writing courses and to literary study.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | At the beginning of the summer, each student chooses a simple story, like a fairy tale or a classic fable. Each week throughout the course, he or she rewrites the story according to a different set of criteria, and posts it to the bulletin board for the course. Students are assigned one other student's story each week to review for the next week's discussion in class, on a round-robin basis so that, over the course of the summer, most students have reviewed most other students' work.
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Prerequisites
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Recommended background
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| | Any previous writing experience would be helpful, though advanced writers might profit more from another course in the "Molding Your..." sequence
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Instructor's Notes
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| | "Molding Your Prose" has served as an introductory writing course, and an introduction to Dr. McMenomy's courses for the last fifteen years.
No materials are required for this course.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Molding Your Argument • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 8 or above • [Summer course]
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: Bruce McMenomyClasses meet from June 15, 2010 to August 10, 2011Wednesday 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM ETTuition: $150.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | Modeled on "Molding Your Prose", this course involves developing a sequence of arguments from the same topics by varying their structure to correspond to a range of pre-defined forms, from simple thesis statements and simple paragraphs, through the five-paragraph essay, the Thomistic scholastic model, and the Roman rhetorical outline applied by Cicero and his contemporaries.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | At the beginning of the summer, each student selects a controversial position on which he or she will be willing to argue both sides. We therefore tend to exclude morally volatile issues.
Each week, students present their arguments from one side or another of the question, according to the formula for that week, and post them on the class bulletin board. They then prepare critiques of each other's work in round-robin fashion, and discuss how each work fulfills the demands of the form.
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Prerequisites
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| | None, though this course naturally builds on "Molding Your Prose". The course may be re-taken with profit.
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Recommended background
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| | Some familiarity with writing about expository matters is useful, but not required.
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Instructor's Notes
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| | No materials are required for this course. The course has been offered to enthusiastic classes for three years previously.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Molding Your Style • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 10 or above • [Summer course]
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: Bruce McMenomyClasses meet from June 15, 2011 to August 10, 2011Wednesday 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM ETTuition: $150.00
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Website
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Description
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| | "Molding Your Style" introduces students to the almost inexhaustible range of possibilities for stylistic manipulation, by recasting a given source passage (about a page) into the style of one or another of the great stylists of the English language. Along the way they learn some of the tools of stylistic analysis and criticism, as well as ways of recasting their writing to create different moods and effects. The course is accordingly good preparation for both writing and critical literary study.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | At the beginning of the summer, each student selects one source passage from a list provided; each week he or she recasts that passage in the style of the author of the week, and posts the resulting exercise to the bulletin board for the class. Students write extended critiques of each other's work throughout the summer; depending on the size of the class, students may be asked to write on all the other students' work, or just one or two.
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Prerequisites
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| | No formal prerequisite, but some awareness of prose style as a deliberate and controlled phenomenon is essential. It is highly recommended that the student have taken at least some literature course.
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Recommended background
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| | Builds naturally on "Molding Your Prose" and "Molding Your Argument"; almost any background in literary reading and writing is likely to prove beneficial, and it is probably particularly suitable to those who are pursuing creative writing generally. Students have taken the course several times with profit.
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Instructor's Notes
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| | No external materials required.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Practical Grammar • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 7 or above • [Summer course]
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section dates, meeting times, and tuition are still being determined.
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | Review the rules of standard written English by revising your own work. By the end of the course students will be able to write with more confidence.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | Weekly readings on the parts of speech, sentence structure, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation. Weekly assignments: lessons, quizzes, self-editing, or editing instructor-assigned examples.
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Prerequisites
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| | Two or three essays or other of your own non-fiction writing, 400 to 500 words each, that you can bring to the course.
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Recommended background
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Textbooks and Materials
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Painless Grammar
Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D.
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| | This text is required.
ISBN: 0812097815
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore
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Introduction to Writing for the College-bound • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 7 or above
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: John EspositoClasses meet from September 5, 2011 to June 1, 2012Wednesday 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM ETTuition: $425.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | In this introduction to the writing process, students will learn the basic steps required to write quality work in a variety of styles such as various forms of essays, news articles, letters (or e-mails), and basic short fiction and poetry if time allows. We will review the stages of the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, revision, and presentation/publication), and discuss the mechanics of writing in the context of the student's own work.
We will focus on short pieces in this class to keep the student writing regularly and to encourage quality in small works so the student is prepared to work on longer pieces in future classes.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | Homework includes: weekly lessons (in class and online reading) on mechanics, the art of writing, and types of writing; weekly short essays or stories in various styles; and a final portfolio of the students work.
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Prerequisites
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Recommended background
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| | No special background required.
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Textbooks and Materials
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Painless Grammar
Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D.
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| | This text is required.
ISBN: 0812097815
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore
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Rhetoric, Grammar, and Style • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 9 or above • [Summer course]
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: Emily JenningsClasses meet from June 13, 2011 to August 12, 2011Wednesday 7:45 PM to 9:15 PM ETTuition: $325.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | This class focuses on the elements of the craft of writing: rhetoric, grammar, and style. Students will study how to meet a rhetorical end through the effective use of words and their structural relationships (grammar), and through pleasing and clear arrangements of those words (style).
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | This course will include weekly reading and assignments, stylistic analyses, and writing. The writing includes one or two major papers and a final essay and exam.
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Prerequisites
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Recommended background
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| | Students in grade 8 may enroll only with the instructor's permission.
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Instructor's Notes
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| | Instructor is willing to work with enrolled students to select a chat time. Textbook information to be added later.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Writing Workshop I • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 7 or above
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: John EspositoClasses meet from September 6, 2011 to December 20, 2011Dates and times to be arranged with enrolled students.Tuition: $150.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | The writing workshop is a place where students can get unbiased opinions to answer the burning questions: "Is this piece of writing good?" and "How do I make it better?" Students post writing projects and receive helpful suggestions from the instructor and other students about ways to improve their work. The work the students post can be fiction or non-fiction and the source of the writing can be assignments from other classes, topics based on materials from Scholars Online literature courses, or writing the student is doing on his or her own. There are links to ideas for new writing projects if the student does not have anything currently in work.
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Meetings
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| | Please contact instructor for information on how often the course will meet online in chat.
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Homework
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| | Students will post work once per month, and do at least two assessments of others' work once per month (depending on the number of students in the class). The work is posted anonymously. The work can be a different piece each month, revised versions of the same piece, or part of a large piece. Students will be limited to posting 10 pages per month -- no posting an entire novel at once!
Students are expected to read posted information about the basics of various genres in order to give intelligent critiques of the variety of writing that will be posted. Students can do this reading at the time they critique a piece in a specific genre.
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Prerequisites
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Recommended background
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| | No special background required.
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Instructor's Notes
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| | Students will sign up for the workshop on a half-yearly basis, and may sign up for either or both (Writing Workshop I for September through the end of December; then Writing Workshop II for January through the beginning of June)
Students are expected to follow the course's guidelines for peer reviews. Students should also be willing to give and take recommendations with grace.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Writing Workshop II • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 7 or above
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: John EspositoClasses meet from January 30, 2012 to June 8, 2012Dates and times to be arranged with enrolled students.Tuition: $120.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | The writing workshop is a place where students can get unbiased opinions to answer the burning questions: "Is this piece of writing good?" and "How do I make it better?" Students post writing projects and receive helpful suggestions from the instructor and other students about ways to improve their work. The work the students post can be fiction or non-fiction and the source of the writing can be assignments from other classes, topics based on materials from Scholars Online literature courses, or writing the student is doing on his or her own. There are links to ideas for new writing projects if the student does not have anything currently in work.
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Meetings
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| | Please contact instructor for information on how often the course will meet online in chat.
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Homework
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| | Students will post work once per month, and do at least two assessments of others' work once per month (depending on the number of students in the class). The work is posted anonymously. The work can be a different piece each month, revised versions of the same piece, or part of a large piece. Students will be limited to posting 10 pages per month -- no posting an entire novel at once! Students are expected to read posted information about the basics of various genres in order to give intelligent critiques of the variety of writing that will be posted. Students can do this reading at the time they critique a piece in a specific genre.
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Prerequisites
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| | No special background required.
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Recommended background
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| | No special background required.
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Instructor's Notes
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| | Students will sign up for the workshop on a half-yearly basis, and may sign up for either or both (Writing Workshop I for September through the end of December; then Writing Workshop II for January through the beginning of June) Students are expected to follow the course's guidelines for peer reviews. Students should also be willing to give and take recommendations with grace.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Writing for the College-bound • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 7 or above
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: John EspositoClasses meet from September 8, 2011 to May 31, 2012Wednesday 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM ETTuition: $425.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | In this introduction to dialectic writing course you will:
- Write short articles and essays in various non-fiction forms such as exposition, argument, description, narration, memoir, and scientific/technical writing.
- Gain knowledge by editing your own and others' work and receiving feedback from the instructor.
- Learn the essentials of non-fiction writing: Voice, thesis, organization, development, semantics, and logic.
- Revise, revise, revise!
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | One to two essays per month; peer evaluations of some of the assigned essays; weekly lessons or quizzes; class meetings once a week. For each type of paper students receive a suggested list of topics. For many papers, students may choose an alternate but related topic that coordinates with an assignment from another class, or a personal interest.
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Prerequisites
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| | Introduction to Writing for the College-bound or equivalent course or experience. Students who have not taken the Introduction course must take a placement exam before enrolling in Writing for the College-bound.
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Recommended background
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| | No special background required.
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Instructor's Notes
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| | Students are encouraged to incorporate topics from other courses where appropriate.
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Textbooks and Materials
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The Norton Field Guide to Writing
Richard Bullock
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| | This text is required.
ISBN: 0393977765
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore
Other information: This is also referred to as "Package edition (September 18, 2005)." The Norton Field Guide to Writing With Readings is not required for this course.
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The Elements of Style
William Strunk, Jr., E.B. White
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| | This text is recommended; purchase and use is optional.
ISBN: 020530902X
Best sources: Scholars Online Bookstore
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Advanced Writing for the College-bound • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 8 or above
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: Bruce McMenomyClasses meet from September 8, 2011 to May 31, 2012Thursday 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM ETTuition: $420.00
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Website
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Description
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| | This course builds on the lessons learned in Writing for the College-bound, focusing primarily on organizational elements of expository writing.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | The homework for the course will involve completion of weekly assignments: there is normally one new assignment every other week, with the intervening week being used for rewriting. At both stages of the process, student papers are available for peer review.
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Prerequisites
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| | Students should have taken Writing for the College-bound, an equivalent course, or have equivalent writing experience. If there are doubts about appropriate preparation, please contact the instructor.
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Recommended background
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| | As the title suggests, this is a more advanced course, and hence it presupposes that students are already fairly capable writers and astute readers.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Advanced Writing for the College-bound • Offering for 2012 • Grade 8 or above
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: Bruce McMenomyClasses meet from September 6, 2012 to May 30, 2013Thursday 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM ETTuition: $420.00
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Website
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Description
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| | This course builds on the lessons learned in Writing for the College-bound, focusing primarily on organizational elements of expository writing.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | The homework for the course will involve completion of weekly assignments: there is normally one new assignment every other week, with the intervening week being used for rewriting. At both stages of the process, student papers are available for peer review.
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Prerequisites
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| | Students should have taken Writing for the College-bound, an equivalent course, or have equivalent writing experience. If there are doubts about appropriate preparation, please contact the instructor.
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Recommended background
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| | As the title suggests, this is a more advanced course, and hence it presupposes that students are already fairly capable writers and astute readers.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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Related courses
The following courses in other sequences may also be of interest to students of writing. You will find each course listed on the enrollment form under its own sequence.
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Theoretical Grammar • 2011 listing - for reference only • Grade 7 or above • [Summer course] • Latin Sequence
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Primary Instructor
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Sections
[Enrolled students will be notified if teacher schedules change between course posting at the time enrollment opens and the scheduled start of classes. Please see Tuition and Fees for refund policy.]
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| | Section 1 Instructor: Bruce McMenomyClasses meet from June 14, 2011 to August 9, 2011Tuesday 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM ETTuition: $150.00
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Website
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| | There is currently no teacher website for this course.
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Description
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| | A combination of linguistics, grammar, and history especially for the student who will be coming anew to the study of Greek or Latin (or, for that matter, to the study of English grammar).
We will look systematically at the theoretical underpinnings of grammar in the western languages, introducing such issues as the eight parts of speech (all eleven of them); the parts of a sentence; the varieties of clauses and phrases; verbs and their implications (including person, number, tense, mood, voice, and aspect); the many ways of understanding "names"; verbal nouns and adjectives; why Greek doesn't have a gerund and Latin can't do as much with an infinitive; and a host of other slippery little details that give translators trouble.
This course is designed to complement the Practical Grammar course; the two can be taken together for an energetic overview of grammar in action in written prose; either can be taken separately for its own purposes.
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Meetings
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| | This course meets once a week for discussion and review of assigned homework.
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Homework
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| | The homework will consist mostly of reading and also of finding examples of interesting usages in day-to-day encounters with English (or any other language).
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Prerequisites
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Recommended background
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Instructor's Notes
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| | Students who have not encountered any foreign language should find that this helps them understand the basic concepts that will be at stake in Latin and Greek, as well as those they need to know for their own writing.
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Textbooks and Materials
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There are no textbook or materials currently required for this course.
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| | Check instructor's notes above for additional information, or contact the instructor.
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| To enroll in any of the courses listed above, log into your Scholars Online Account Management Center using the login link at the bottom of any page and select the member you wish to enroll. If you do not have an account, you may create one using the Membership and Enrollment link in the SiteMap to the left of any page. |
Scholars Online is accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission.
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