Writing Skills II is a course that follows on from and develops the skills learned in Writing Skills I. Its emphasis is on moving from the 5 paragraph practise essay form to a longer, more complex critical essay, introducing critical secondary sources from philosophers and literary thinkers. The short stories used are also longer and more challenging, using stories from James Joyce and longer stories from Doris Lessing.

Assessment is based on presentations from 'The Imaginative Argument' by Frank L. Cioffi, or presentations from the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, continuous course work, and two academic papers - one on a Joyce story, the other on a Lessing story, using critical secondary sources.