Let Me Explain

What does it take to explain something well? How can explanations engage, even fascinate, audiences? In this course, students build skills in explanatory writing and reporting. We read Pulitzer Prize-winning stories from the Explanatory Reporting category and analyze how top journalists use narrative, and a companionable writing voice, to untangle complex issues. You’ll conduct research, interview experts, and create many short explanatory pieces yourself—in print, audio, video, and through oral presentation. Over the semester your work might explain: a social issue, a scientific process, how an artist creates something, and/or why people behave or feel the way they do. Application and instructor approval required at the beginning of the term. S/NC