English Composition Program

English Composition Undergraduate Courses

English Composition comprises a set of university-wide required General Education courses that are designed to help you develop knowledge and skills as you work to achieve the four Baccalaureate Competencies. The Baccalaureate Competencies are the critical abilities shared by all educated persons, and they comprise a major component of the General Education Program. There are four Baccalaureate Competencies: Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, Knowledge Integration, and Social Responsibility. English Composition focuses on Critical Thinking and Effective Communication.

Each composition course is part of a sequence that has been carefully designed to help you develop both critical thinking and effective communication. These competencies must be developed and honed over time, which is why we have sequenced these courses in the following manner, which must be taken in order:

ENGL101 - English Composition I

English 101 is designed to help students become better writers, readers, and critical thinkers. It allows students to understand the concept of voice, the significance of audience and purpose, and the potential power of their own writing processes. In 101, students learn that writing is an on-going process and that their written projects are works-in-progress. Therefore, rather than turn in one version of a written project for a definitive grade, students work on their writing throughout the quarter and include their strongest work--"final" drafts of each project--in a final portfolio at the end of the term. After successful completion of English Composition I, students should be able to:

  • Focus on a specific purpose;
  • Anticipate the needs of different audiences;
  • Recognize the differences among kinds of writing situations and genres;
  • Respond appropriately to different types of rhetorical situations;
  • Demonstrate a basic understanding of academic writing;

  • Recognize the difference between writer-based and reader-based prose.

ENGL102 - English Composition II

Like 101, English Composition 102 emphasizes critical thinking and persuasive writing skills. Students learn to read critically and analyze an essay's or book's content as well as its particular writing strategies. Throughout the quarter, they also consider their own experiences in the context of those they learn about through researching and reading work from professional writers and writing from other students. Thus their own writing combines personal experience with assertions about other writers' ideas and rhetorical strategies. Building on skills developed in English 101, students successfully completing English 102 should be able to do the following:

  • Understand the complexity of different kinds of arguments/issues;
  • Recognize that different writing situations call for different strategies;
  • Recognize that texts are in conversation with other texts;
  • Understand and demonstrate the ethical responsibility of the research writer to explore multiple perspectives on a topic;
  • Understand and demonstrate the ethical responsibility of the research writer to cite sources and report findings accurately.

ENGL289 - Intermediate Composition

Drawing from a specific topic or topics drawn from broad disciplinary fields, this intermediate level, General Education course builds upon and enhances the writing and reading skills developed in first-year writing courses (English 101 and 102.) The course emphasizes critical reading and writing, more advanced research and argumentative skills, and rhetorical understanding of discourse as it is used in different disciplines and discourse communities. This course will bridge students’ learning about writing from the first-year sequence to more advanced writing in their chosen disciplines in upper-level courses.

ENGL112 - Advanced English Composition I

A limited enrollment course in literature and composition. Admission based on the English Department's Placement Test. By completing English 112 and English 289, students fulfill the English Composition requirement of the college. All of the above goals listed for English 101, 102, and 289 are met in this two quarter sequence.

About the Program
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