Improve your writing ability in this introductory course by learning how to read actively and apply the core components of effective writing.
Effective writing skills are necessary for success in college and in your future career. This course is designed to improve your writing ability. Pre-College English coursework focuses on basic writing skills, emphasizing four keys to good writing: unity, support, coherence, and sentence-level skills. You will also learn about the importance of writing and some considerations to keep in mind when approaching a writing task.
In Unit 1, you will learn why writing is important and how it differs from speech. You will learn how to identify purpose and audience and some important features of effective writing, including the four keys to good writing. You will also learn about prewriting strategies that can help you plan out a writing task. Unit 2 will go into greater depth about the first two keys of good writing: unity and support. You will learn how to write an effective topic sentence and support it with evidence. You will also learn about anticipating reader questions and using specific detail and description to make your writing come to life. Unit 3 will focus on the third key to good writing: coherence. You will learn about how to organize and connect ideas in ways that are logical and easy for readers to follow. In Unit 4, you will learn about the fourth key to good writing: sentence-level skills. This will include learning about sentence structure and avoiding common errors, punctuation, consistency, and word choice. In Unit 5, you will learn how to write a multi-paragraph essay. This will include learning how to write effective introductions and conclusions, write a thesis statement, and apply the keys to good writing on a larger scale.
You should keep a writing notebook (or have a designated place to save your work on your computer) and use it throughout the course to write your responses to prompts and practice activities. This course will help prepare you for ENGL001: English Composition I. This course assumes you have a strong command of the English language. If you do not, you should consider taking our English as a Second Language (ESL) courses first.
- Unit 1: The Importance of Writing and Getting Started
- Unit 2: Unity and Support
- Unit 3: Coherence
- Unit 4: Using Sentence-Level Skills to Proofread and Polish a Piece of Writing
- Unit 5: Writing a Multi-Paragraph Piece of Writing
- Explain the many purposes and value of writing;
- Identify key features of effective writing;
- Consider audience when writing;
- Plan and compose effective paragraphs and multi-paragraph essays;
- Demonstrate how to support ideas with evidence and specific details;
- Describe how to organize and show relationships between ideas; and
- Apply sentence level skills such as correct sentence structure, word choice, and punctuation to improve a piece of writing.
