U.S. College Writing Seminar

Work directly with Ivy League Teaching Fellows and Writing Instructors to improve your analytical academic writing skills!

Modeled on the freshman writing seminars at Yale University, the U.S. College Writing Seminar provides students with the essential writing skills to succeed in U.S. high school and college: ​​

Master Essential Writing Skills

Program Structure

Check out some of the novels past students have read throughout the seminar.

Night

by Elie Wiesel

Animal Farm

by George Orwell

The Crucible

by Arthur Miller

The Outsiders

by S. E. Hinton

The Stranger

by Albert Camus

Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Of Mice and Men

by John Steinbeck

The House on Mango Street

by Sandra Cisneros

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

Things Fall Apart

by Chinua Achebe

Topic 1: Close Reading: How to Analyze Primary Sources

Topic 2: Generating a Research Topic 

Topic 3: Developing a Thesis Statement 

Topic 4: How to Outline a Research Essay 

Topic 5: From General Outline to Detailed Outline (Or: How to Select Quotes)

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Section 1: Producing a Framework 

Section 2: Writing Your Research Paper

Topic 6: Transition Sentences and Topic Sentences 

Topic 7: Block Quote Paragraphs

Topic 8: Paraphrased Quote(s) Paragraph  

Topic 9: Contextualization "Paragraph"

Topic 10: Introduction and Conclusion Paragraphs  

Topic 11: Editing

One-on-one writing seminar: 16 sessions.

Team-based writing seminar: 12 sessions, with a maximum of 10 students in each seminar.

Feedback from Past Students

"Shaun and I just finished our last writing class. The course was amazing and I really appreciate how much Shaun used his expertise in literary research to help me with my ability as a writer. I have gained a much more structural perspective on writing from my classes with Shaun. Thank you all for  offering me this wonderful opportunity to work with Shaun, and a big shoutout to Shaun for being a professional, patient, and talented instructor as he is. "

"Thanks Shaun, you are very helpful for teaching me writing! You always inspire me to develop my ideas and encourage me to never give up. Thanks for your patient and highly professional competence! I learned a lot lot lot of things during the whole milestone! You motivate my interest in writing!"

"I just wanted to thank you for your patience and guidance. The course was very enjoyable and I learnt so many things about writing that I have never come across before. I am now able to enjoy writing clearly and concisely which is always a pleasure. It was a truly valuable experience. "

"Thank you so much Dr. Halper!!! I really appreciate all the time you spent on helping, guiding, and teaching me. I learned many valuable skills that I can now apply to any writing assignment. So thank you tremendously for everything!! Hope to see you again in the future!"

"Taking classes with Jason is inspiring, he manages to challenge me on different aspects of writing yet also encourages me to explore my own topic of interest. As a fanatic for dystopian novels, I am always confident to share my understandings with Jason, who then will help me materializing these small findings into actual reflection on my writing assignment. Haven’t written a paper longer than 10 pages before the writing session, I now am equipped with sufficient skills to express my ideas in a deeper extent. An additional interesting note is that, as I submitted my work of this class: Ideological Tyranny: Parallel between 1984 and Totalitarian Theory, to a regional writing competition, I finished at the 15% among 1500 participants. "

"Hi Nikki, Thank you for teaching me so much regarding writing and just techniques in general! This has already impacted my high school career already, just imagine how much it would impact me in my life. Thank You!"