When choosing any online writing course, I suggest reviewing:


This course is appropriate for those students preparing for, or in the process of completing, undergraduate study in Humanities or the Social Sciences. The course will have more limited use if you are preparing for, or completing, other degree studies. Although aimed at a higher level, it could also be of use for those studying A levels or Access courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
While basic essay writing is taught in this course you will need a good level of written English in order to complete university level assignments. As stated above this is not a spelling, punctuation or grammar course. You should also be able to read and comment upon short texts aimed at undergraduate Humanities and Social Science students.


Tutor input, group activities and independent work in the class. Students are encouraged to ask questions in every session.

All writing courses at City Lit will involve an element of workshop. This means that students will produce work which will be discussed in an open and constructive environment with the tutor and other students. The college operates a policy of constructive criticism, and all feedback on another student’s work by the tutor and other students should be delivered in that spirit.

For classes longer than one day regular reading and writing exercises will be set for completion at home to set deadlines.

City Lit Writing endeavours to create a safe and welcoming space for all and we strongly support the use of content notes in our classes. This means that learners are encouraged to make their tutor and classmates aware in advance if any writing they wish to share contains material that may be deemed sensitive. If you are unsure about what might constitute sensitive content, please ask your tutor for further clarification and read our . This course is a practical, step by step, guide on how to write an academic essay for Humanities/Social Science undergraduate degrees or A Level/Access courses.

It is NOT a spelling, punctuation or grammar course (see the English, Maths and ESOL Department if you need help with spelling, punctuation and grammar).

Full-time students may pay the concessionary rate for this course. To claim the concessionary fee as a full-time student, please book via our Enrolments line on (telephone temporarily unavailable).

Students say: .

This is a live online course. You will need:
- Internet connection. The classes work best with Chrome.
- A computer with microphone and camera is best (e.g. a PC/laptop/iMac/MacBook), or a tablet/iPad/smart phone/iPhone can be used if you don't have a computer but please note the experience may be less optimal.
- Earphones/headphones/speakers.
We will contact you with joining instructions before your course starts. The sources I will be referencing are the MLA 8th edition handbook and various reputable free online sources, such as Purdue OWL for writing techniques and Project Gutenberg for the great essays. There is no book requirement for this course. There is not one source that would encompass the full scope of the class. We will be starting with writing basics (thesis statements, 5 paragraph essays, .) but then moving on to academic research essays, literary criticism, and reading great essays to inform the students’ own style. No single source does this. WRITING THE ESSAY I: OBSESSED: WRITING ABOUT WHAT HAUNTS US. In this first-year writing seminar, we’ll visit the landscapes that leave their observers obsessed, and observe and put into practice our own writing obsessions. How can an incredibly close study of a subject find its way into our work? What's the difference between deep research and obsession? We'll read essays, fiction, and poetry by Jhumpa Lahiri (Italian language); John McPhee (truckers); Vinson Cunningham (sermonic essays); Jonathan Franzen (birds); Natalie Goldman (craft essay on obsession in Writing Down the Bones); Natalie Diaz (poetry); Roxanne Gay (Scrabble); Sarah Vowell (Assassination Vacation); Siddhartha Mukherjee (cancer); M.F.K. Fisher (frugality) Great Books Program students all need to know how to write a well-reasoned, coherent essay. This course introduces students to the art of defining a topic, doing high-quality research with limited resources, and writing an engaging and solid college-level paper.

Getting Started with Essay Writing - Coursera

WRITING THE ESSAY I: EVERYONE'S A CRITIC. Pop culture has historically been dismissed as frivolous or a passing fad, the fodder of naïve youth – but we all create and digest popular culture. Pop culture is, in many ways, a reflection of who we are at any given moment in time. Studying what’s popular allows us to deepen our understanding of humankind: age, race, gender, class, sexuality, nationality, and the realities of social, historical, and political contexts. These lenses, taken together or perhaps in opposition, provide opportunities to see ourselves authentically and to change, progress, and heal. In this first-year writing seminar, we will recast pop culture as perhaps the truest reflection of who we are, what we believe, desire, and value. The authors we will read are ideologically and stylistically diverse, but what they have in common is their concern with social, cultural, and political issues and their strong distinctive prose. Our discussions will focus not only on the ideas presented in the texts but also on the structural and rhetorical features of the texts themselves, the language in which the ideas are embodied. Students will develop critical writing and reading skills and make persuasive arguments through writing about the issues that are most prevalent in their lives. The writers and critics we may read include: A.O. Scott, Emily Nussbaum, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Zora Neale Hurston, Hilton Als, Hanif Abdurraqib, Susan Sontag, E.M. Forster, Zadie Smith, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Wesley Morris, Amanda Petrusich, bell hooks, and others.

Personal Essay Writing - NYC - Gotham Writers Workshop

WRITING THE ESSAY I: MEMORY AND THE SELF: In this first-year writing seminar we will explore how memory shapes how we see ourselves, others and the world around us. How do the circumstances under which a memory is formed affect us? How does the language we use to talk to ourselves and about ourselves inform how we assemble our sense of self? To what extent is the act of forgetting a core component in identity-making? As the semester progresses, we’ll explore work by science writers, essayists and novelists to understand the malleable nature of memory and its impact on how we interact with our reality. Students will critically engage with texts, audio, and video to ultimately construct their own arguments and ideas about this deeply personal, but vastly universal topic. This will take shape in the form of short ruminations and responses, a presentation, and one longer research essay.

Online College Essay Writing Courses for Students

WRITING THE ESSAY I: BRANCHING NARRATIVES. Every story can potentially branch in infinite directions. Why settle for just one? In this course we’ll sample the history of experiments in branching narrative, in writers such as Jorge Luis Borges and Ursula K. Le Guin, in electronic genres such as hyperfiction, in playful literary movements such as Oulipo, and in a variety of video games. We'll conduct nonfiction branching experiments of our own, using tools such as extravagant footnotes, second-thought annotations, and the nonlinear storytelling app Twine. And we'll discover that the research process is itself a garden of endlessly forking paths.