FPR 10 (Expectations)

The goal of the Freshman Preceptorial is to improve your critical reading skills, your critical analysis skills and your writing skills. These are distinct, but inter-related. While you undoubtedly have done considerable reading in high-school, you probably focused on issues of plot, character development, and so on. In this course, we will concentrate on what is called "close reading". This looks not so much at what the author is trying to say, but how he says it. The focus is on the language itself, and how that language produces meaning and resonance for us.

As you learn how to "take apart" a narration, you will improve your analytical skills, as these are what you will be using to understand the text. These close readings are the type of detailed analyses that will help you dissect and understand any difficult situation that you face in life, so these are not just literary skills, but life skills.

As we discuss the readings in class, and as you write about them yourself, you will be practicing your own ability to make arguments. One of the key aspects of any argument is the evidence you can find to support it, so you will have to call on your close readings of the texts for this. You must make clear and concise statements of your reasoning, and tie that to the text itself. Since you need to make arguments in nearly every aspect of your life, the discipline you learn in this course should benefit you for years to come.

FPR 10 (Winter 2003) web pages Created: 31 Dec 2002 Last modified: 05 Jan 2003 10:54:43 Comments to: dpvc@union.edu

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