ENWR 1510 is designed to provide you with the tools to become a better writer. In this course, students will work on improving their writing skills while also learning about the history of detective fiction and film. While we work to become better writers and readers throughout the semester, our primary objects of study will be short stories and films that depict crime and those who investigate it.  We will discuss how reading a detective story is like the process of constructing an argument, and we will use this comparison to explore some of the fundamental tensions faced by detectives and writers alike: tensions between reason and emotion, order and chaos, empathy and judgment, and structure and creativity.