Writing III: Logic & Persuasion

OFFERED 2026-2027

* Writing III is pre-requisite for the writing tutorial portion of all high school-level Scriptorium courses and all dual enrollment courses*

  • 2026-2027 Time & Tuition:
    • Mondays, 9:00 am – 10:30 am Eastern
    • Seminar with writing tutorial: $95 per month (10 months, August through May)
    • NEW! WRITING III SUPPLEMENT FOR ANCIENT HISTORY AND ANCIENT LITERATURE: Mondays, 10:30am-12:00 pm Eastern; The supplement will guide students enrolled in BOTH Ancient History and Ancient Literature to write all of their essays while learning the Writing III skills. The combined tuition for all three courses is $245 per student per month.
  • Location: Signal Mountain, Tennessee
  • Grades: 8th grade strong readers and up
  • Prerequisites: Writing II: Progymnasmata, or equivalent writing skills
  • Description: This course provides an introduction to expository and persuasive writing along with instruction in logic, poetry, and basic research techniques. These skills form the basis of writing assignments for most other Scriptorium courses. Persuasive writing – based on classical rhetorical models – requires the student to know and be able to explain both why his own position is strong and why his opponent’s position is weaker. Students will gain skill in identifying and organizing evidence, doing research, crafting warrant statements, using concessions, and refuting counterarguments. These skills are essential not merely for effective academic writing but for thinking through complex issues in all areas of everyday life.
  • Assessment: Students complete readings and daily-work/commonplacing. They also make weekly progress on various essays throughout the year; roughly eight essays are completed. In December and May, students present their best essays at Defense Day.
  • POTENTIAL BOOK LIST FOR WRITING III AS A STAND-ALONE COURSE – FINAL BOOK LIST WILL BE AVAILABLE MIDSUMMER:
    • The Art of Argument (Student Edition) – From Classical Academic Press
    • Gwynne’s Grammar – ISBN: 9781984897961 – Re-use from Writing I/II if you have taken either of those courses <= Please have available as you write throughout the year
    • Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing – Any Folger edition
    • Shakespeare, Macbeth – Any Folger edition, recommended ISBN: 978-0743477109
    • Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances – Penguin Classics, ISBN: 978-0140445213 <= Note that “romance” in the medieval sense means, “story of a knightly quest”
    • Twain, Huckleberry Finn, Recommended: Ignatius Press/Ignatius Critical Editions (ASIN: B01K0RHV4U), or Oxford World’s Classics (ISBN: 978-0199536559)
    • Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet – Scribner, ISBN: 978-0743234900
    • Lewis, Perelandra – Scribner, ISBN: 978-0743234917