ENC 4311 Roberts Spring 2021

In this course, we explore forms of nonfiction: journalism, personal essays, and investigative writing, focusing on the environment, both built and natural. Florida is Ground Zero for climate change, and while nonfiction can be about anything and take a multitude of forms, it seems incumbent on us to confront our challenges, from algae-choked water to sea-level rise to disappearing wetlands and oil spills in our oceans, as well as infrastructure problems. You will read different examples of nonfiction which look at the environment (in very different ways), perform some writing exercises and learn how to research, to observe and use prose to create both a picture and an argument. The goal is to produce a draft of an essay, 10-15 pages long, and a revision of this essay, both of which will be workshopped by the class. We will NOT be writing memoir in this course: our emphasis will be on facts to inform our prose.