ENG 100, Basic Writing Practice
English Composition Program

In this developmental writing course, students learn to write expository essays that reflect on and respond to ideas that they encounter in the published texts they read in the course. ENG 100 familiarizes students with the conventions of academic reading and writing, increases their awareness of audience expectations, introduces common forms of organization, and teaches strategies for controlling sentence-level patterns of error.

Placement in this required course is based on RUA scores. While most students will not have had college composition prior to this course, some may have earned transfer credit in ENG 101 and/or 102. We do not grant transfer credit for ENG 100.

Texts

The program director orders a standard instructional writing text for all sections from the campus bookstores. In addition, each instructor chooses and orders a collection of essays (either online or at the appropriate campus bookstore). Review copies of appropriate anthologies are on reserve in the composition staff offices at the Downtown and Robin campuses. While some instructors incorporate a rhetorical models approach in their courses, we encourage instructors to make critical reading, response, and active interpretation the cornerstones of student work in ENG 100.

Essays

Students in 100 are required to write frequently (at least weekly) both in and out of class--a semester minimum of 20 pages of revised, passing writing. While these essays are the central learning activities of the course, they also function as practice exercises in preparation for the final exam, upon which students' grades are determined. In the weeks prior to the exam, instructors should assign writing tasks that resemble the final exam in order to prepare students for the crucial performance of the semester. These samples will also serve as a portfolio to be considered in determining the final grade if a student's performance on the final seems uncharacteristically borderline.

Final Exam

At the beginning of each term, all ENG 100 instructors will submit a short reading (usually 4-5 pages) and a writing prompt for consideration as a final exam assignment. The prompts should neither summarize the reading nor interpret any aspect of it; instead they should be open-ended and direct students to consider particular ideas in the reading. The program coordinator will select three of the submitted readings and prompts and distribute them as early in the term as possible for review by all ENG 100 instructors. Instructors will have an opportunity to suggest revisions of the prompts and a final edition of the exam will be distributed by the middle of the term. This early distribution insures that both instructors and students understand what students will be expected to do. Instructors should not discuss the readings with students or try to direct their choice of texts; they should, on the other hand, protect each student's freedom to choose the reading that most interests him.

Grading

The final exam essays are read by at least two readers, the instructor of the section and a designated second reader for each section. Disagreements between readers' assessments are resolved by a third reader--usually a program director. Based almost entirely on the performance in this final exam, grades in ENG 100 will be assigned as follows:

    P (pass): Performance conforms with the guidelines for proficiency in ENG 100

    IP (in progress): Performance does not conform to the proficiency guidelines. Only students enrolled in ENG 100 for the first time and who complete all course requirements are eligible for an IP. Students earning an IP must repeat the course. If the enroll in the next regular term (spring or fall) they will not incur an additional tuition fee.

    F (fail): Performance does not meet the proficiency guidelines after completing the course a second time, or student did not complete the course requirements.

Instructors must send a copy of their final grade rosters to Joyce Vernay, Room 724, Downtown, so that the program can send letters of instruction to all students who earn an IP grade.

Students in Tuition Reimbursement programs should submit names and addresses of contacts so that we can send a letter explaining Roosevelt's "no grade" policy and verifying that a passing performance equals a C or better.