Writing

Engage and Communicate is a course that emphasizes critical reading, writing, and thinking. The course is designed to engage students in meaningful intellectual discourse and to encourage students to explore ideas in a supported, small group setting, as they enhance their critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. Students will study the ways in which language shapes our lives as readers, writers, and thinkers and, in turn, how we shape language through engagement and communication. Students will compile a portfolio of their written work in the course for a final assessment. Writing 100: Engage and Communicate is designed primarily for entering and developing writers. Students who enroll in this course may earn 3 credits to be applied to the Distribution Elective requirement in the general education program. No credit awarded if student has already received credit for ENG 100, ENG 101, HUM 111, HUM 112, WRT 101, or WRT 201.

Writing in Community: Discover & Respond is one of two courses in the first year writing and thinking sequence designed to engage and develop students' critical reading, thinking, and writing skills in the context of our dynamic global environment. The course provides students with the tools to examine texts and media so that they can conduct college-level academic writing as well as develop an awareness of the social impact and responsibility of thoughtful writing. Writing in Community emphasizes conventions of writing (diction, syntax, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics), critical analysis of primary sources, logical reasoning and organization, modes of rhetorical persuasion, and evidence-based arguments. Specific focus will also be given to ways in which language, writing, and speaking impact and connect with local and global communities and necessitate thoughtful reflection on the part of the writer. Note: A grade of C- or better (1.700) must be earned in WRT 101 to receive course credit. The grade of NC (no credit) is given to students who have not achieved a grade of C- or better but who have completed all coursework. Students who take this course cannot receive credit for ENG 101 or HUM 112 or WLD 101.

Researching in Community: Examine & Explore is the second course in the first-year writing and thinking sequence. This course engages students in the process of conducting, writing, and presenting academic research, understanding differing disciplinary conventions in writing, as well as adapting content and voice to various audiences. Alongside continued focus on critical analysis and the conventions of writing in WRT 101, this course focuses on methods of college-level research, evaluation of primary and secondary sources, and the critical examination and use of qualitative and quantitative evidence when supporting an argument. The course enhances students’ abilities to engage in research, writing, thinking, and presenting in a variety of academic, professional, and interdisciplinary contexts. Students who take this course cannot receive credit for ENG 102 or HUM 113 or WLD 201.

Note: A grade of C- or better must be earned in WRT 201 to receive course credit. The grade NC (no credit) is given to students who have not achieved a grade or C- or better but who have completed all coursework.