The purpose of this course is to help students at an advanced level of competence in Italian strengthen and refine their writing skills, by expanding their vocabulary and experimenting with more complex grammatical structures. Emphasis is given on the process of writing, reviewing, and revising/re-writing.

You will be exposed to texts from a variety of different genres and styles  (newspaper and magazine articles, essays, personal narratives, etc.) focusing on relevant aspects of  Italian culture and society. Film will have a fundamental role as a cultural and thematic thread.

Grammar will be reviewed in the context of the texts and genres analyzed.

This course is writing intensive. You will write several different types of texts of different length and purpose: letters, reviews, personal narratives, argumentative texts, etc.  You will also review your peers’ work and have your own work read and commented by your peers.  Re-writing will be required for most of your texts you’ll create for this class. At the end of the semester you will have a writing portfolio of about 20-30 pages in Italian.

The pre-requisite is Italian 4 or equivalent.

The course is taught in Italian and it is a pre-requisite to any 100- level course in Italian.

The textbook is Developing Writing Skills in Italian. Theresa Oliver-Federici. Routledge. 2008 ISBN 9780415432610