UMass Lowell's First Year Writing Program

College Writing I (ENGL 1010) Course Description: A workshop course that thoroughly explores the writing process from prewriting to revision, with an emphasis on critical thinking, sound essay structure, mechanics, and academic integrity. Students will read, conduct rhetorical analyses, and practice the skills required for participation in academic discourse. Students will write expository essays throughout the semester, producing a minimum of four formal essays. 

Course Purpose and Objectives: In College Writing I, we study and practice academic writing. Students will extend and develop their rhetorical knowledge, and apply that knowledge through regular informal and formal writing. By generating writing that aims to respond, explain, analyze, critique, interpret, and synthesize, students will learn to engage audiences for a variety of purposes in a range of contexts. In this student-centered course, writers will hone their craft. Approaching writing as a process of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading, students will enhance the clarity and expression of their ideas.

Students will exit with an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses as writers; successful completion of this course will prepare students for the research writing they will begin to practice in CWII. All students completing College Writing I will produce four formal, essays during the course of the semester, working toward the following learning outcomes:

• Use accurate vocabulary to discuss rhetorical strategies, the writing process, and the features of an academic essay.
• Compose purposeful, well-organized essays that pursue complex theses in sophisticated ways
• Choose rhetorical strategies appropriate to purpose and audience
• Use the writing process, including feedback from others, to build essays with substantial content
• Demonstrate control in diction, grammar, mechanics, and style
• Practice academic integrity