Undergraduate Research and Writing

The Milligan College Composition Program offers a 2-semester sequence that begins with a focus on rhetoric and argument during the spring semester of the freshman year. The initial foundation in argumentation prepares students to read, think, and write critically in preparation for work in all disciplines. Students learn the art of rhetoric: how to recognize effective arguments, how to construct effective arguments, and how various rhetorical situations shape the context of effective communication. As sophomores, students begin to focus on advanced analysis and synthesis in the broader context of the Humanities and of their specific disciplines. This unique course prepares students to think, read, and write in upper division liberal arts classes as well as in their various fields. Students build on the first semester's rhetorical foundation by focusing on different citation styles, longer essays, and multi-faceted argumentation.

The Writing Faculty showcases some of the most innovative and well-written research in a Research Forum at the end of the semester:

Aristotelian Virtue in Grapes of Wrath
by Chelsea Farnam 

Be Seen and Not Heard:  Gender Messages in The Little Mermaid
by Jennifer Sheldon

Postmodern Pew Fillers:  Keeping in Children's Ministry in Sync with Emerging Generations
by Katy Fox                      

Science and Christian Theology: An Unlikely Duo
by Joel Perry                     

The Legacy of John Maynard Keynes and the Economic Stimulus Package of 2008
by Danny McKeehan       

Between a Pit and a Throne: How Medieval Thought Affects a Modern America
by McKenzie Pfeiffer        

Cold War Culture and Its Influence on Literature
by Jessica Durden            

From Recognition to Restoration:  Community and Connectivity in John Donne and T.S. Eliot
by Aaron Jones                

Four-letter Revolutions:  Dada and Punk
by Greta Blosser              

Nonviolence in the 21st Century
by Danielle Thomas          

Writing Proficiency

Success in college, as well as your future professional endeavors, requires good writing skills. The ability to think critically and write effectively, utilizing the conventions of standard written English, is an essential outcome of a Milligan education. Milligan College therefore requires many of our entering students -– both first-time and transfer students –- to complete a writing sample prior to enrollment in the college. Click here for details.