This course is designed to help students develop grammar mechanics, reading, writing, and comprehension skills. Students will read texts of various literary genres: poetry, novel, drama, and non-fiction, and will be able to understand the importance of text structure and understand how authors' lives and historical events impact literature. This course also includes instruction on writing argumentative essays as well as strategies for writing research papers, citing sources, doing oral presentations, and using proper reference materials for research. In addition, students will also understand the use of euphemisms, oxymorons, and other literary elements. Also, instructions on proper style formatting follow the Modern Language Association Chicago Manual of Style.