Writing is an essential part of Liberal Studies. Every course requires that students write to demonstrate their mastery of material. This foundational writing course introduces GLS students to the kinds of observational, reading, research, analytic, and writing practices upon which they will depend throughout their undergraduate careers and beyond. Students work in modes from self-examination to cultural analysis that lead them into the research process, helping them utilize writing as a tool for exposition, exploration, synthesis, and argumentation. The course includes various forms of writing to help students recognize the habits, practices, and intellectual assumptions that may limit their writing and scholarship. Emphasis on independent work of increasing sophistication in research methodologies yields a fuller understanding of the role of the essay in contemporary writing. Course materials and activities engage global issues and perspectives, with an emphasis on the junior year study site as one of the objects of investigation.