English 110 (including night, Saturday, and computer-supported versions, designated N, S, and C, respectively) is an introductory writing course that employs methods of rhetorical and cultural analysis to provide students with the tools to think, write, and speak analytically about print and non-print texts. The course fosters the reading and writing skills that all academic disciplines emphasize, such as active and analytic reading, persuasive, informational, and exploratory writing, and presentation of manuscripts that reflect attention to audience expectations and genre conventions.
Students may practice these skills in a variety of ways both in and outside of class, using a variety of software tools, including word processing and presentation programs and web-based classroom communication. While individual instructors may employ differing themes, emphases, and texts, all are in agreement as to course outcomes. Students who complete English 110 in any of its forms should demonstrate that they are able to:
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understand writing as a recursive process involving varying strategies for invention, drafting, revision, and editing
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focus on a purpose
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create and sustain essay structures that suit purpose and content
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recognize and write in a variety of genres appropriate to their audiences
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make meaningful revisions in their writing
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read critically and respond analytically to print and non-print texts
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practice (when necessary) appropriate means of documenting the knowledge from sources that they incorporate into their texts
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control surface features such as sentence construction, syntax and punctuation
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critically examine their own writing and that of their peers and others
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write for multiple purposes including inquiry, learning, reflection and communication
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elaborate on their ideas and assertions in ways that reflect understanding of their audiences and rhetorical choices
If your placement exam (an essay you wrote during the registration process) indicates that you may not be ready to succeed in an English 110 class, you will be placed either in 109.01 or in 110.03. Some students fear that placement in one of these courses means that they are somehow not as smart as those who place into 110. This, of course, is not the case. Rather, your placement essay suggests that you would benefit from gaining further control of the writing skills that are the basis of success in 110 and many other courses...
There can be numerous reasons for this: it may be quite a while since you have done any writing in an academic setting; your high school may not have emphasized the same kinds of capabilities that are expected at college; you may not have had much experience with purposeful discussion of ideas in writing; or you may just never have liked writing and done as little of it as you could. Whatever the case, 109.01, 109.02, and 110.03 are designed to provide you with opportunities to develop writing strategies, to gain greater awareness of your writing strengths and weakness, and to acquire the confidence to take the risks that will enable you to grow as a writer.
English 109.01 and 109.02 prepare students for success in their first-year required writing course. Both -.01 and -.02 are organized around themes chosen by the instructors. These themes provide the basis for reading, discussion and writing. In recent quarters the theme of 109.01 has been autobiography and personal experience; the theme of 109.02 has been popular culture. In both courses, a key element of the course work is the exchange of ideas between you and your classmates. This exchange will take the form of peer review of some of your writing, a group presentation final project, and daily classroom discussion and writing activities.
What and how you read will greatly influence what and how you write. Therefore, these courses feature daily activities in both reading and writing. You will work with several kinds of texts, including video, print, and Internet, and you will read in several genres, including autobiography, critical essays, and commentary. Expect variety! You will also create several kinds of texts, including spoken, written and jointly written, and you will write in several genres, including essays, summaries, short analyses, and critiques.
As students progress through both classes in the 109 series, they will be continually honing their critical thinking abilities, developing and supporting assertive opinions, engaging logical oppositional arguments, and moving toward offering reasonable solutions.
If your English Placement Test indicates that you should take 109.01 and 109.02 before enrolling in a 110 course, you should begin the sequence as soon as possible. This will allow you greater flexibility in scheduling and will provide the foundation you need for effective writing in courses you are taking outside the English Department.
English 110.03 and 193, which must be taken simultaneously for a total of seven credits, offers a curriculum similar in many ways to that of English 110, with one key difference: peer writing consultants. English 110.03 students work weekly in groups of three to five, assisted by a peer writing consultant, to prepare a presentation that is part of their course grade. They also meet once weekly individually with a consultant at the Writing Lab to work on assignments for class. In other words, 110.03 students are expected to achieve in the same ways that 110 students are, but have more formal support in meeting those goals. This support is called on the course schedule ?English 193.? When you enroll in 110.03 you must sign up for the corresponding 193 as well. Once you have successfully completed 110.03, you have completed your first-year writing requirement. Visit the English 110.03 website to get more information about the course.
At the end of each writing course you will give your teacher all your work in a folder. This folder should contain all essays and other graded writing that you have completed during the quarter. We encourage students to retrieve their folders at the Lab starting at midterm of the quarter after they completed the course; please be prepared to show photo ID when picking up the folder. Folders are kept in the Writing Lab for two quarters and are then destroyed.