Advanced Composition
(Honors and Standard Option Available)
Teacher: Denise Boiko
Class days: Tuesdays, 8:45-10:00 a.m.
Textbook:
The Lively Art of Writing by Lucile Vaughan Payne (Signet, 1969). ISBN-13 978-0451627124
Writers INC: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning by Patrick Sebranek, Dave Kemper, and Verne Meyer, published by The Write Source, 2005 version. ISBN-13: 978-0669529951
Cost: $85/month
Advanced Composition will guide students through writing academic essays (comparison/contrast, descriptive, narrative, cause/effect, process, and persuasive), rhetorical analysis, ACT timed essays, college application essays, literary analysis essays, and subject-specific essays (such as those encountered in AP exams). Students will also write a research paper using MLA format, with long-term assignment goals and checkpoints.
Students will learn and practice writing techniques such as crafting a strong, arguable thesis, freewriting and prewriting techniques for content and organization, and extensive attention to the revision process. Students will receive instruction and examples in thesis development, essay organization, transitions, introductions and conclusions, and style techniques. Essays will be scored using a detailed rubric analyzing the student's accomplishments in the areas of content, organization, style, and mechanics.
This is likely the last year that Mrs. Denise Boiko will teach multiple classes at Emmaus Road Homeschool and/or other sites. During 2026-27, she may teach one Literature & Composition course but probably not Biology or Advanced Composition.