Reading, Writing, Traveling: An Exploration in Creative Nonfiction

Course Description

Who says you need to board a plane or take a road trip to travel? Wherever you are, being “in the moment” provides each of us a unique window of experience.

Good writers open up those windows for others with words by sharing their personal experience with vividness and intelligence. Reading inspires us to travel because we want to experience the places we read about first-hand. This course brings the pleasures and complexity of reading, writing, and traveling together – with no boarding pass required!

In this course, you will write about the places you have been, whether it’s the main street of your hometown or a faraway place you have visited on vacation. You will develop the skills to earn credibility through crafting a personal voice to inform your personal experience through good research and keen observation.

Writers in this workshop course will read and analyze literature about travel, compose and revise two personal travel writing pieces, participate in group discussions and peer review exercises. Using visuals and multimedia to enhance your writing is strongly encouraged.

"I really enjoyed the essay writing/revision process. I also loved my being able to communicate with other students in the class with me. I found their feedback very helpful and enjoyed learning from them and their writing styles."
- Reading, Writing, Traveling student, Summer 2015

Course Requirements:
Time commitment: Your course will open on a Monday, two days in advance of the Wednesday course start date to give you time to get to know Canvas (Brown's learning management system), review course expectations and strategies for your success, learn about your instructor, and help us to learn a bit about you. These introductory activities should take you just a few hours to complete.

Plan to spend approximately 10 hours per week on coursework. To be successful in this course, you must have reliable internet access, and will be expected to participate in the course multiple times each week.

Technical:
Computer with reliable, high-speed internet connection | Note: Mobile devices (smart phones, tablets) are also supported, but may be less than optimal for some required assignments. We recommend using these as supplemental access points in addition to your computer. We also recommend downloading the Canvas Mobile App for iOS or Android devices for the best experience on mobile devices.
Up-to-date Internet browser supported by Canvas, Brown's learning management system
Headphones, earbuds or speakers
Webcam and microphone
Adobe Flash Player browser plugin (Course elements may require Flash and will not work on an iPad.)
Word Processing application to save and open Microsoft Office formats (.doc,.docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx)

Special tech/project Requirements: Camera for still and video images (or smartphone)

Supplementary materials: None

Prerequisites: None