76-275 Introduction to Critical Writing
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
The course introduces students to the foundations of critical writing through close reading, interpretation, and critical approaches to literature. Students will learn to deepen the complexity and credility of their claims, and practice new ways to improve clarity, flow, and argument coherence. First attending to humanities-based thesis-driven writing, we will work to understand nuanced features of the genre. Students will dissect model academic texts to better understand scholarly argumentation, rhetoric, and structure, before transitioning to crafting their own critical essays. The course then shifts midway to experimenting with critical writing beyond academia, prompting students to translate claims about literature, cultural production, and more to public-facing audiences. Our course's method for critical writing instruction will be to workshop drafts of your essays—providing students practice at oral presentation, peer review, and critique, and fostering skills for writing critically in diverse academic disciplines and professional contexts.
Prerequisites: 76-101 or 76-102 or (76-106 and 76-107) or (76-108 and 76-106) or (76-108 and 76-107)
Offered: Fall 2026, Fall 2025
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