First Year Writing Courses

For the most current schedule information, please visit the University's Course Finder.

• English 101 Composition as Critical Inquiry

  In English 101 "Composition as Critical Inquiry,” students learn how to analyze the multiple dimensions and meet the multiple demands of a variety of written rhetorical situations. Students also develop an array of strategies to help them navigate different genres and writing situations. These strategies include: reading, brainstorming, writing to learn and think, drafting, research (both textual and empirical), giving and receiving helpful responses, revision, editing and proofreading, publication, and techniques for researching writing processes, including their own.

  For more information see our English 101 Learning Outcomes on the Forms and Documents page.

• English 101.10

  ENG 101.10 covers the same material as English 101, while providing a more structured writing experience for students who decide they can benefit from daily writing.

  Students self-place into sections of ENG 101.10, which meets 5 days per week. The regular class sessions meet three days a week (M-W-F), and are taught by a single instructor.

  For the instructor of the course, 101.10 is the same content as teaching 101. The difference lies in the added writing lab consultant, who holds “lab” sessions on T-R. The instructor must meet with the consultant face-to-face prior to the start of the semester, before each new unit begins, and must be in contact with the consultant in some fashion on a weekly basis. The instructor will share his/her syllabus with the consultant and send updates about class activities to the consultant after each class. However, the instructor of 101.10 can save significant time in out-of-class meetings with students, since the consultant can do this work regularly, and he/she can also use the 101.10 opportunity to articulate a clear teaching pedagogy and to refine his/her teaching portfolio materials.

  Our goal is to assign every instructor in the program to 101.10 at least once during his/her time at ISU because the interaction with a writing consultant can have significant benefits for the instructor.

• Themed Sections

  Faculty and graduate stduents who teach Enbglish 101 occasionally offer themed sections which focus on a particular topic often of interest to a specific group of students.

  Recent Themed sections include:

  • Composition for English Language Learners.
  • Urban Teacher Preparation
  • Theater

• Eng. 145 Writing in the Academic Disciplines

  Students in English 145 will learn how to research, analyze, and write in their chosen academic disciplines. They will identify the conventions of their discourse communities and use these conventions in their own writing. While students in English 145 will learn the differences and similarities between their disciplines and other academic disciplines, most of the work in this course will be devoted to the study of their own disciplinary groups and chosen fields. Through flexible and rigorous research, students will be able to locate and define various genres of writing in their disciplines and gain the skills necessary to produce them. The overall goal of this course is to enable students to be successful writers and scholars in the academy and to help students produce genres of writing used in their professions.

  For more information, see our English 145 Learning Outcomes on the Forms and Documents page.

• Eng. 145.13 Writing in the Academic Disciplines (for Business and Government)

  ENG 145.13 is a specialized course that addresses disciplinary writing for majors who wish to focus on business writing.

• Eng. 145.12 Writing in the Academic Disciplines (for Presidential Scholars, and offered in fall only)

  ENG 145.12 is a specialized course that addresses disciplinary writing for Presidential Scholars.