Our courses focus on enhancing students' writing skills to adapt to various academic and professional contexts. In the first semester, we offer English 100I, 101, and 113, which lay the groundwork for understanding diverse rhetorical situations and genre-specific writing. In the second semester, students can advance their skills through English 102 and 114, which also incorporate multimodal communication. Explore our course descriptions below if you're new to our university, and feel free to reach out to our Core Writing faculty with any questions.
Course descriptions
Course descriptions and student learning outcomes
A student learning outcome (SLO) is a statement that describes what students should know, understand, or be able to do at the end of a course or program. They are also used to help determine initial course placements for incoming students.
English 100I
Composition Intensive (3 credits plus 2 credits of labs)
In 100I, be prepared to explore rhetorical processes, emphasizing audience, purpose and occasion of writing. You will learn how to adapt your writing in different genres for different audiences. You will also receive an extensive background in strategies of planning, drafting and revising.
In order to provide extra support to help you master those processes, English 100I pairs with two small labs (100L and 105L, with eight students in each section) run out of the University Writing and Speaking Center that provide personalized attention to help you successfully transition into college writing. One lab focuses on building writing skills and the other focuses on building reading skills.
Note: English 100I is equivalent to English 101 and those who pass ENG 100I move directly into ENG 102.
English 101
College Composition I (3 credits)
In 101, be prepared to explore rhetorical processes, emphasizing audience, purpose and occasion of writing. You will learn how to adapt your writing in different genres for different audiences. You will also receive an extensive background in strategies of planning, drafting and revising.
English 101 does not include the extra support provided by the labs in English 100I.
English 113
College Composition I for International and Multilingual Students (3 credits)
English 113 is similar to English 101 and students can choose to go on to English 114 (Composition II for International and Multilingual Students) or into English 102 after completing the course.
What is unique about English 113 is that it is taught by an instructor with training in working with speakers of English as a second or additional language, so you can receive more tailored feedback on the linguistic aspects of your writing as you build your confidence in writing in different genres.
English 100I, 101, and 113 share the same learning outcomes. By the end of ENG 100I /101/113, students will be able to:
- Use reflection and feedback from others to reconsider prior knowledge about writing and construct new knowledge about writing (CO1);
- Identify features of rhetorical situations (e.g., audience, subject, composer, context, constraints, exigence, genre, and medium) (CO1);
- Create purpose-driven texts that respond to a variety of rhetorical situations and that anticipate and adapt to the needs of different readers (CO1);
- Apply critical reading practices, such as annotation, analysis, and discussion, to draw on and integrate a variety of sources when composing (CO3);
- Employ flexible strategies for drafting, reviewing, revising, rewriting, and editing (CO1);
- Recognize the value of different languages, dialects, and/or registers in engaging with different rhetorical situations (CO10);
- Use style, spelling, grammar, and punctuation conventions that meet genre- and audience-based expectations (CO1).
English 102
College Composition II (3 credits)
English 102 builds on foundational writing habits provided in our earlier courses and asks students to engage with contemporary rhetorical situations or problems by immersing themselves in the research practices, methods of analysis and genres of writing necessary for engaged discussion in a public conversation. Students are introduced to ongoing debates through various perspectives, including scholarly, public and popular genres, in order to map rhetorical conversations.
Please note that most sections of English 102 are offered in spring semester—if you have already completed English 101 or have otherwise placed into English 102 before the fall semester, you will likely need to wait until the spring semester to complete English 102.
English 102 and 114 share the same learning outcomes. By the end of ENG 102/114, students will be able to:
- Use reflection and feedback from others to reconsider prior knowledge about writing and construct new knowledge about writing (CO1);
- Engage in responsible, systematic research practices informed by critical reading and rhetorical analysis, including locating and evaluating a range of materials (CO3);
- Ethically synthesize and integrate the ideas of others using an appropriate citation style (CO1);
- Produce coherent, well-supported arguments in different modalities in response to an ongoing public conversation (CO3);
- Create purpose-driven texts in different modalities that respond to a variety of rhetorical situations and anticipate and adapt to the needs of different readers (CO1);
- Recognize the value of different languages, dialects, and/or registers in engaging with different rhetorical situations (CO10);
- Use spelling, grammar, style, and punctuation conventions that meet genre- and audience-based expectations (CO1).