Inquiry, Conversation, Argument: What is friendship for?

Course Description

Inquiry, Conversation, Argument (ICA) is a one-quarter intensive writing seminar that supports students in developing the skills and habits of mind necessary to participate at the University of Chicago and beyond. By emphasizing analytical composition and revision, this course helps students understand, practice, and appreciate writing as a recursive process. This process is both challenging and valuable, as it produces and refines ideas through sustained critical inquiry and as a means of cultivating free expression.

Each section of ICA is motivated by a distinct interpretive question, which students explore from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. Scaffolded sequences of exercises and essays help students learn to read critically and creatively, analyze evidence, structure complex ideas, and develop independent arguments by making original claims that contribute to ongoing intellectual conversations.

Instructor(s)

Agnes Malinowska