A Guide to First-Year Writing Courses

 

English 101—College Reading and Writing (3 semester hours)

 

English 101 introduces students to writing as an extended, complex, recursive process and prepares students for English 102, which more rigorously examines the forms and structures of argument and means to approaching multiple audiences. In 101 students will write weekly and will work on essay organization and development. The course will emphasize close reading, summarizing, and analysis of expository tests, including student writing.

 

English 102—Written Argument and Research (3 semester hours)

 

This course provides students with advanced training in communication skills emphasizing the writing and reading of argumentative prose and adapting writing to alternative audiences. Students will write weekly, including such texts as journals, reading response logs, summaries of argumentative texts, argumentative papers, and longer papers integrating secondary research. Activities include close reading of sample texts, both student and professional. Some sections will emphasize special topics in both reading and writing.

 

Students who do not pass the Writing section of THEA must successfully complete English 100 before enrolling in English 101.

 

English 100: An introduction to those aspects of reading and writing necessary for college-level literacy. Students write weekly and revise papers extensively in order to develop an understanding of (and appreciation for) the methods and purposes of revision and an ability to shape essay sand frame arguments in effective and convincing ways. English 100 students receive additional support via small writing groups led by a peer tutor with whom they meet twice a week. Students must prepare a Final Portfolio that proves they are ready to meet the demands of English 101. May not be used to satisfy any degree requirement.

 

Students who do not pass the Reading section of THEA (but DO pass the Writing section) may be concurrently enrolled in English 110 and English 101. Students who pass English 100 may be concurrently enrolled in English 101 and 110, though this will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

 

English 110: A course designed to help students work through the various reading and writing projects assigned in their writing-intensive courses (English 101, 102, etc). Students work in small groups with a peer tutor in order to sharpen their abilities to read the imperatives of a given writing or reading project/situation and shape their discourse to successfully address these imperatives. Much emphasis is placed on the important ways that the reading or writing process used must take into account the writing or reading task at hand. May not be used to satisfy any degree requirement.

 

If you have questions, please contact Dr. Shannon Carter, Director of the Writing Center/Basic Writing Program (and Interim Director of First-Year Composition) at 903-886-5492 or Shannon_carter@tamuc.edu.