1 session, Saturday February 28th, 2-4pm Eastern Time

online

$80

Enrollment Opens Jan 1, 2026

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Research and reporting can be intimidating endeavors: diving into historical archives, citing public records, leaving your house and talking to people. But the work of a “researcher” and a “reporter” can also look like going to the library, visiting a museum, chatting with a professor, or quoting someone from one of the genuinely nice corners of Reddit. In this two-hour class, we will study how research and reporting allows us to indulge our curiosities, develop our areas of expertise, and collect first-hand experiences beyond what just organically happens to us. These practices, essential tools of all writers, help us attain knowledge that can elevate our work and, as personal essayists, do more than just expose and exhaust ourselves on the page.

This class is for writers of all levels and no prior writing experience is required. This class is built around generative brainstorming exercises that will guide students to multiple essay ideas and potential avenues for research and reporting they can pursue after class. We will also review an excerpt from an optional reading (complete PDF will be provided). We will end with a short Q&A, time permitting.

Enrollment opens January 1, 2026

About the Instructor

Matt Ortile is an editor and writer who has taught creative writing seminars for the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, Tin House, Kundiman, Poets & Writers, PEN America, and elsewhere. He is the author of the essay collection The Groom Will Keep His Name and a co-editor of the essay anthology Body Language: Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves. He is also an editor for print and digital at Condé Nast Traveler, and was previously the executive editor of the literary magazine Catapult prior to its closure.