English 101 & 102

The first course of the sequence, English 101, focuses on teaching you how to read texts critically and rhetorically: to analyze how texts work, how and why writers make the choices they do, and how you can use your knowledge of your audience and purpose for writing to make strategic choices as you develop your own effective arguments.

As a follow up to your English 101 course, English 102 is designed to build on the skills of rhetorical reading, critical thinking, and analytical and argumentative writing that you practiced in English 101 and to give you the chance to research and produce your own rhetorically effective projects. Whereas English 101 teaches you to analyze and write rhetorically forceful arguments (with a clearly defined purpose, well-developed subject, credible voice, and consideration of your readers), English 102 will teach you to produce new knowledge on a subject through various methods of inquiry into that subject and to share that research with both general and specialized audiences.

Since students come to First-Year Composition with varying levels of writing ability and different kinds of preparation in English, English 101 and 102 are designed to provide students with multiple opportunities for individual feedback and personal guidance in developing the particular skills they need.

The grading system does not include a grade for failure; instead, you receive an A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, or NC (for "no credit"), depending on your performance in the course. The NC grade does not affect your GPA; it merely indicates that you need to re-enroll in the course for continued practice until moving to the next level. A course average of C- will result in an NC for the course.