The IowaLink Program at the University of Iowa is a two-semester, academic support program for recruited students. The program provides an extended academic transition between high school and college for students who have demonstrated the potential to succeed at Iowa but who do not meet standards for regular admission. One of the features of the program is a course called Academic Seminar--Academic Seminar I and II is a course sequence designed specifically for the Iowa Link Program which introduces students to the university's academic culture, using an ethnographic, activity-oriented approach. The course carries a reading and writing component equivalent to that of a freshman composition course. In this paper the author/educator discusses the course, which she has been teaching for 3 years. While the developmental aspect of IowaLink stresses the cognitive and affective development of students, the paper argues that providing this kind of learning opportunity by itself will severely shortchange the students. It maintains that skills and cognition are the "phonics" of academic discourse in courses such as Academic Seminar. The paper suggests a two-fold approach: the use of cognitive and affective strategies within a critical literacy framework. It provides a detailed example of the establishment of a practice of critical literacy with the delineation of an education autobiography writing assignment students must complete as their first investigation. (Contains 10 references.) (NKA)